The Commonwealth Bank has unveiled major changes to one of its main everyday account offerings that will see some customers charged $3 to withdraw their own money. Customers taking money out at bank branches, post offices or by phone are charged $3 per withdrawal.
The withdrawal fee is only waived for customers who are under 18 or have an aged, disability or war veterans' pension.
Macquarie Bank.
Bank Australia
Don't forget that they tried this, who cares about backtracking? Get rid of them asap. Show them that this is unacceptable.
CBA have backtracked on the change as customers start leaving the bank….
It may well be a temporary pause whilst they get people used to the idea. The proof of the pudding will be 12 months from now.
Nah, they'll back down.
Let’s see on that. After all we now pay transaction fees on credit cards. They have closed down a bunch of branches. From what the ABC said previously this whole issue applies to accounts that are currently being grandfathered out and no new accounts have been put in place since 2016. They will probably just move people across to the new accounts, with a grace period, then wait a while to announce an end date to the grace period.
Frankly I’m more concerned about the accounts with a monthly $4 fee. You can, at least, take money out fee free from an ATM.
accounts with a monthly $4 fee.
None of my accounts has a monthly fee, and if they did, I'd close that account.
@jv: The worst part is the accounts that generally have these fees are people who are poor. They may not have an alternative option that doesn’t have a fee attached because they can’t meet the fee free thresholds. They may have few choices available.
Is that you Ron?
So CBA eliminates most of the ATMs. Customers need to travel further to get to branches to either access to ATMs or withdraw from the tellers. Longer queue are expected. So you can queue for the free ATM options or pay $3 for the "fast track" services. Cba now makes withdrawing own money with tellers a premium service.
Maybe woolworths and coles will implement this too. Free if using self check outs but you need to pay extra for human attendants.
its a push towards making Australia a cashless economy. Though CBA has paused its decision for now, but it will come soon again.
Not even in the second half of the decade yet so they still have plenty of time to meet the 2030 objective.
That's it, enough is enough I have moved out from CBA as well, sayonara CBA!!! They can have "cashless" in their vault
Gimmie the kasshhhhhhhh!!!
(profanity).
Last month ANZ reduced interest free period on their rewards credit card(may be other cards as well) by 10/11 days.
These organisations are getting greedier .
Next step will be charges on every deposit and every transfer.
A day will come when you lglance at an ATM your card will be debited a fee for glancing at their ATM.
At most of the local markets, major bank's ATMs have been replaced by private ATMs which charges $2.50 to $3 per withdrawal with a limit of 300 max per withdrawal.
Just another one of their less-than-subtle nudging techniques to encourage people to use cash less and less and make it difficult to do so. Banksters salivate about going 100% digital and having "absolute control".
cashless system only will benefit the bank, to the extent the banks can have "unlimited" $$$$$ just as long as they record it somewhere
Looks like Commbank has paused the $3 fee to withdraw cash in branches and post offices.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-04/commonwealth-bank-cas…
The Commonwealth Bank will hold off on plans to migrate customers to a new account that would see them charged a $3 fee to withdraw cash in branches and post offices.
The move, announced on Tuesday, angered the bank's customers and was widely criticised by both sides of politics.
A proposed $3 fee on cash withdrawals from Commonwealth Bank branches for some customers has been paused in response to national fury.
I made a post about this 3 years ago. I thought this was always the case. They ended up waiving the fee as I only ever used it once to withdraw cash which was over the daily limit from an ATM to buy a car.
Commonwealth bank has also been closing down branches and removing numerous ATM’s in Perth…
Not sure if it's just journos who twisted it in the first place but everyone talking about "cashless society" IMO have missed the point.
It's not a "new" fee. It's them forcibly retiring an old account type (Complete Access) where in-branch withdraws were free… I have one, and have used this feature but rarely because as people say, long lines. But sometimes you need to get a lot of money or in easier denominations. Being charged $3 just for that is a joke.
Making people go to the ATM instead is IMO hardly doing much for the whole "cashless" society discussion.
I laugh when the bank announced in the backflip that they just poorly communicated the changes. Smart Access account is an inferior product, full stop. Saying the monthly fee is cheaper is a farce because I suspect most people would get paid into it and have the fee waived anyway.
Banks grandfather out accounts all the time. I suspect the CBA will sit back and wait for more of the grandfathered accounts to close before trying this again. They haven’t allowed new accounts to be opened since 2016. Why is being charged $3 for a large amount transaction a joke? That cost certainly wouldn’t even cover the cost of the teller to do it.
Less people are using ATMs as well. Many, if not most, people use credit and debit cards. There are plenty of articles on the costs of money handling and how companies like Armaguard need to be propped up because much less cash is transported nowadays. I certainly know businesses that are cash free. You can use debit cards fee free.
From a Bank’s perspective it is much cheaper to go electronic. Reduction in costs gives more wiggle room for better interest rates and returns to shareholders. I agree for teller transactions for those who struggle with alternate means but why not have “user pays” apart from that?
You're kidding yourself if you think they are going to change their interest rate policy on loans or savings because of this change.
If you still need money from the ATM, they still need to transport it. Again IMO that's conflating a $3 branch withdraw fee with the wider move to cashless.
I've got no disputes it's better for the bank and their bottom line. They can do far worse to profit more as a business… doesn't mean people can't call it a joke for a corporation providing a service. On that logic thank god people aren't charged for using staffed checkouts at supermarkets (not that I use them).
Just because a service was traditionally provided on a free basis it doesn’t mean it will continue to be so. The bottom line of a business is to extract the most money for the smallest cost. The basic rule of Capitalism. With the increase in cashless transactions less money is going through the ATMs therefore less cash needs to be delivered. If you don’t think the banks are steaming ahead to cashless you are fooling yourself. There is a reason why we have Government mandates that certain businesses have to accept cash. That Banks have to still provide cash deposit and withdrawal options in country towns. If it was the preferred way for businesses the mandate wouldn’t be necessary.
What banks want is high value customers. People who take out loans, people with reasonable amounts if money passing through their accounts, people who pay fees for credit cards then don’t pay them off every month, etc. Their lowest costs are people using electronic transactions. They don’t make money off people who are low value and require high cost interactions. Their answer to “I’ll go elsewhere” is “there’s the door”.
I don’t make the rules I’m just telling it like it is. The CBA will still be plotting for a way to reduce these costs, they are just looking for a less noisy way to implement this.
Looks like this initiative is on pause for 6 months for now:
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/commonwealth-bank-pauses…
I get what they're trying to do but they could have picked a better time for this. Personally, I'm against it since cash is king despite Armaguard closing up shop soon and everyone moving towards cashless.
It makes very little sense to go cashless when they have surcharges for card whilst cash has historically never had anything like that. Some businesses even offer discounts for using cash as well.
I suspect they didn't expect the massive publicity & public backlash.
yeah they usually play fair but I think its a serious business cost to them that they are finding hard to justify with the move to cashless.
thank god i use dex
cash is king
And royalty doesn’t always continue.
Recently noticed the new notes & coins with the king. They feel unbelievably plasticky & cheap especially the coins, just like euro money when I was there a few years back. Monopoly money!!!
i'm sure we will get charge using our cash soon, what a society!
God save the King
CBA charges account withdraw fee from home loan account for many years now. I was charged once about 10 years.
I don't like it. Another despicable way to force a cashless society. I already hate that these large banks charge you a monthly fee to keep your money there. Now this!
You should probably get charged a $3 fee every time you use it then since it's so good.