Which bank will raise its charges? theage.com.au

Which bank will raise its charges? - National - theage.com.au: "Which bank will raise its charges?
By Bridie Smith
Consumer affairs reporter
May 11, 2005

Hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth Bank customers will have to pay monthly account keeping fees when the threshold for fee-free accounts leaps from $20,000 to $50,000 at the end of next month.
From June 29, a monthly $5 account keeping fee - $60 a year - will apply to customers whose combined savings and loans balance falls below $50,000. Withdrawal fees ranging from $2 to $30 will also apply.
A spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank defended the changes yesterday, saying that the bank was responding to a more competitive deposit market.
'The cost of providing free facilities for customers is increasing significantly so the bank has made a decision to increase the threshold,' spokesman Steve Cookson said.
He said the Commonwealth Bank had the largest customer base in Australia for deposit accounts and that margins were being squeezed.
The increase in the threshold comes less than a week after the bank boosted charges on selected internet transactions. From July 1, Commonwealth Netbank customers will be allowed only three free, third-party or schedule payments a month before the fees kick in. Extra payments will cost 50c each.
Australian Consumers Association spokeswoman Lisa Tait said bank fees collected from households increased from $1.2 billion in 1997 to $3 billion in 2003.
She said consumers were increasingly being made to pay for inadequate services and it was unfair to expect customers to park their savings in low-performing accounts just to avoid monthly account fees.

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