Help me pick a new bank ...

DH and I are with ANZ and have been for about 15 years.

We pay $2 a month for the luxury of the account, almost $100 p/an for a single Visa with rewards program, and not much else because we pay basically everything either on the c/card or online.

Interest rate on the c/card is around 20% which is just stupid, and if we want another card so DH has one in his wallet, that would be another $40 odd. We both also have a mastercard, not with ANZ.

We're looking at getting a new joint account, a c/card each, and account for DS1 and DS1.

We also have a m/g which we might refinance, if we can get a good enough deal (interest rate is 7.15% variable (or thereabouts - fixed term portion has expired) with unlimited redraw - not with ANZ.

I've had a browse online, but everyone's deal IRL seems to be quite different from what is on the different banks' websites.

Who are you with and why?

I'm with Bank West and pretty happy with them. Their service is great & they do have a zero annual fee credit card if that's a winner for you. I know you're in Vic but I'm pretty sure they have a few branches over their & if not recently became a part of CBA so you have the same access at CBA tellers etc. Just something to look into that you mightn't have because of the apparent distance :)

We're with Police&Nurses Credit Society. We like them for the mortgage (40 year term) and the fees, but would never recommend them because of the sheer lack of service any time we need something.

We moved over to St George bank about 9 months ago because the 'big banks' were a pain in the ***!!!

We have what they call a cents saver account which is awesome!!! Check it out online as its a bit of a pain to explain on here but it works really well for us. You are also allocated a personal banker in a branch so basically if you have any questions etc you call a normal number and get straight through to a normal person, rare these days. We are in the process of swapping out credit card over from ANZ (worst customer service ever!!!) to St George as well and I think the SG interest rate was about 13.49% of purchases.

Dont use Bank of Melbourne. They are St George rebadged but they're not like the old BoM at all. Useless doesnt begin to describe them. We've had so many issues with them stuffing things up, we're moving everything away from them. Once the fixed term part of the m/g is over, we'll move that too.

We plan on investigating Bendigo Bank one day when we have the time.

Bendigo Bank for mine.

Our mortgage is with St George/BOM - they're useless. Can't send out something as simple as a statement and we're in the process of completing our house sale and they keep losing the forms sent to them by the conveyancer, then acknowledge they have them, then lose them again :wall:

We were with Bendigo Bank - with them it really depends on how good your bank manager is as the community branches are somewhat privately run. The reason we left was the fees for DH's business account were insane so we switched to Comm Bank and have had no issues whatsoever.

Staff Credit Union - it is awesome.

We use a combination of Police Credit Union and ING Direct. I love ING Direct and have been talking to DH about moving everything over to them.

We're with CBA because they were kind enough to give us a last minute loan after Westpac pulled out AFTER giving approval. The broker arranged it. For the annual sum of $350, we get a mortgage with a 0.7% discount of the advertised variable rate, a credit card with rewards points (approximately $20,000 spend = $100 bonus) and no fees, 50day interest free period (don't know the interest rate as I've always paid it off) and a fee free transaction account. We also have full mortgage offset account. I've never really had any problems with them customer service wise. We did find out that if you fix your interest, the offset account doesn't fully offset the interest. They are also shockers for increasing interest rates above the RBA :( but I think they all do that. I've used several banks in the past (CBA, bendigo, suncorp, westpac, ing, macquarie, boq) and the only one I've had issues with is westpac.

I really like Bendigo bank. Been with them for 15 years and never had a problem. But if it's no fees you want, can't go past ING. I can use anyone's ATM for no fee when I get out $200 or more. No ongoing charges. Its fab!

Im with st George too. They were on the phone half hour after opening when my wallet was stolen and my accounts emptied.

Our branch manager is great but like a PP said they can be a tad slack.

We just moved from Bendigo to NAB. Bendigo were charging us about $20 in monthly fees if we didn't select "credit' for every transaction plus a monthly $3.00 debit card fee!

NAB have been fantastic, NO FEES WHATSOEVER :)

ME Bank. You need to be a member of an industry super to get the best deal. We changed from ANZ & refinanced. We pay an annual amount but our mortgage rate is 6.08%. We have an offset account, an eftpos card attached & a m/c debit attached to an everyday account included. You can get a credit card included as well but we don't use them.
The boys have there accounts with Bankwest.

I use Police Credit Co-op for my accounts, no fees at all and I can use Westpac branches and ATMs for deposits and withdrawals. I do think you might need to know someone to refer you. NOt sure about credit cards because we dont' have one - mortgages are with CBA who have been great with interest rates on both our mortgages.

We are with St George and have been for about 10yrs. We've had very few problems over the years. We dont pay account fees and all that stuff, and they are really helpful whenever we go in. We dont have dredit cards or a home loan, so cant help you there though.

CommBank here! The Wealth Package that was mentioned before is a great product if you have a mortgage. If you don't want to refinance yet you can still get few free banking by having your salary deposited into the account, as long as $2000 is deposited a month then the monthly fee is waived.

Thanks, all!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Can't decide ...

We're going to switch too.

Coming from me, that should tell you something :lol:

As soon as I lose my staff benefits (which amount to diddly squat really) we're switching, if not before. We will probably look at ME as DH is a member of an industry super fund. The ILs are using ME and they are very happy.

We are so getting jibbed on our mortgage. Considering I'm staff, that's terrible. And the customer service is abysmal.

Yes, it is!!

I'm part of an industry super fund, so maybe I should look into ME too ...

I remember back in the day, stacks of kids at primary school had Dolarmite accounts with the CBA ... I wonder if they still have them ...

Oh yes! Dollarmites still exist! :) CBA have given us very good customer service with our mortgage... but they are so useless with business accounts etc.

Westpac and ANZ I've only used them as part of my work and will never use either personally. Their customer service is awful and they never have enough staff! Plus one of them has a nasty habit of losing important documents. Nope, not for me.

If you were in SA I'd send you to DH - he's a bank manager lol

We are bank west!!! Love love Love them it's just a pain depositing in store (we are in melb only 2 Csc near us - city and watergardens which both are half an hour away)

No account fees, I had a loan (lowest interest) my dad has his home loan (lowest interest) we have separate accounts and a joint account, a bonus saver and dd's savings in the kids bonus saver (deposit up to $250 a month and it's 10% interest - we deposit $50 a month and transfer $200 from previous savings account for her).

Lovely to talk to on the phone and in store I don't think I'll ever go back to a big 4 now!!


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