If you’re still paying a monthly account keeping fee to store your money in a savings account, it might be time to break up with your bank and shop around for a better deal.
Monthly account keeping fees add up and over time can take a big bite out of your hard-earned savings. The good news is that there are so many savings accounts on the market that don’t charge you a fee for storing your savings, so it really doesn’t make sense to stick with a bank that does.
Compare high interest savings accounts with no account keeping fees
The table below displays some of the highest interest rate savings accounts with no monthly account keeping fees.
Provider | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.01 | 0 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | |||||||
Life (< 30 years) (Monthly deposit) | |||||||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | |||||||
Online Saver | |||||||||||||
| 0 | 200 | 1 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | |||||||
iSaver | |||||||||||||
What do account keeping fees cost?
According to Savings.com.au’s research, the highest monthly account keeping fee we could find is $6 while the lowest is $5 (among those that do charge this fee). That means you could be paying between $60-$70 every year in account keeping fees, which could erode most of the interest you’ve worked so hard to earn. Over the course of five years, that’s over $300 wasted in account keeping fees alone.
Most savings accounts these days don’t charge account keeping fees, so the average is close to $0.
What other fees do bank accounts charge?
Monthly account keeping fees aren’t the only fees bank accounts charge. They may also charge EFTPOS transaction fees, ATM fees, international fees (currency conversion and money transfer), overdrawn account fees, over the counter withdrawal/deposit fees, paper statement fees, and phone transaction fees.
There are some savings accounts that charge $0 for each of these different fees. You can see some of them in the table below.
Provider | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 1 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | |||||||
Life Saver | |||||||||||||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | ||||||
Online Saver ($1-$100k) | |||||||||||||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | ||||||
| FEATURED | Savings Account (Amounts < $250k)
| ||||||||||||
Savings Account (Amounts < $250k)
| |||||||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | $product[$field["value"]] | More details | |||||||
Online Saver | |||||||||||||
How to avoid bank account fees
It can be hard to find a truly fee-free bank account as many banks will still charge fees for things like making ATM withdrawals, international transactions, or to replace a debit card you’ve lost.
However, there are a few ways you can avoid the more common bank fees:
Choose the right bank account for your needs
Make sure you choose a bank account that suits your individual needs. For example, if you know you regularly make ATM withdrawals, it doesn’t make sense to choose a bank account that will charge you a fee every time you do so.
When you’re shopping around for a bank account, make sure you check the bank’s list of fees. This can usually be found on the bank’s website, or in the terms and conditions.
Ask if you’re eligible for fee waivers
Full-time students or people on the Age Pension can be eligible to have their fees waived, so check with your bank to see if you’re eligible for a waiver.
Check your balance regularly
We’ve all been caught out by an overdrawn account fee before because we didn’t have enough money left in our account to cover an upcoming payment. This is why it’s important to check your balance regularly to make sure you have enough in there and set reminders for any upcoming bills or payments (such as an Afterpay debt or your monthly internet bill) so you’re not caught out.
Savings.com.au’s two cents
The key takeaway here is to avoid bank accounts that charge a monthly account keeping fee at all costs. There are dozens of bank accounts on the market that don’t charge any account keeping fees, why would you pay for one that does?
Monthly account keeping fees can really add up, and over the course of five or ten years, you’ve potentially wasted hundreds of dollars in unnecessary account keeping fees.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
Denise Raward
Emma Duffy
