Report shows Bank Fees Income Climbs to $11.6 Billion
22 May 2009
Bank fees income for the year of 2008 reported a massive figure of $11.6 billion, up from the previous years result of $10.5 billion. This is the highest figure recorded in five years with the Reserve Bank of Australia releasing the figures in its latest report.
Of this $11.6 billion figure, the RBA estimates that Australian households are responsible for 83 percent, or $961 million, an increase of 8 percent on 2007 with businesses responsible for 15 percent. What's more, 20 percent of this entire figure is attributed to penalty fees alone while the majority for consumers was from credit cards and deposit accounts.
However, it is important to note that the RBA concluded that banks fees had not risen but it was more a matter of consumers using banking services far more frequently than in previous years. Consumer advocates further stated that these results should also be attributed to the federal governments deposit guarantee and the Australian banks expansion in market share.
The Australian Bankers Association has also stated that these high fee-paying trends can be avoided by consumer changing their banking habits. The ABA suggested that consumers always pay their credit cards on time to avoid late fees, never overdraw from accounts and only use their own banks ATMs.
However, the Australian Bankers Association didn't take in account savings that can occur when consumers move into low-cost accounts.
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