Bank Fees Income Reaches $11.6 Billion

Bank Fees Income Reaches $11.6 Billion

22 May 2009

The Reserve Bank of Australia has released figures that illustrate that bank fees income are growing at their fastest rate in five years with the banks in Australia reportedly collecting approximately $11.6 billion in 2008, up from $10.5 billion collected in 2007.

Of this amount, average household were responsible for 83 percent of these fees or $961 million through credit cards and deposit accounts, within this, 20 percent of all fees banks charged in 2008 were due to penalty fees. This is figure of 83 percent is an increase of 8 percent from households with businesses fees paid increased by 12 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of Australia did state however that its results also found that consumers' use of banks services had risen significantly over recent years and not a significant rise in banks fees, which the RBA attributed to the increase in fees income.

Consumer advocates stated on the results and explain that this increase should also be attributed to the federal government's deposit guarantee and the banks increasing market share.

However, after the release of data the Australian Bankers Association stated that these high fee-paying trends could be easily reduced by consumer changing their banking habits. They suggested that by always using your own banks ATM's, paying credit cards repayments on time and not overdrawing from accounts would result in significant savings.

It should be noted though, that the Australian Bankers Association did not take in account savings that occur when consumers move into low-cost accounts.

See if your are getting the most from your banks and compare bank accounts here

Back to News Index | Back to Home