Tools to help you in the fight against hidden bank fees
Are you frustrated by the constant shaving away of your finances through the nasty fees and hidden costs imposed by the banks and other financial providers?
If so take heart in the news that innovative personal finance tools are helping Australians fight back against the big banks, which collectively now earn $53,000 from us every minute.
The staggering scale of that profitability – equal to $1200 a year for every man, woman and child has been exposed as often imposing fees that bear no relationship to costs while also shifting unaware customers onto ineffective products.
The sheer size of the fee issue has been exposed by ongoing legal proceedings by 150,000 account holders against all the major banks, and others, seeking the return of about $200 million of allegedly ill-gotten gains from just one type of charge.
While such class actions have been a welcome development in the battle for fair play – there have been lesser-known but significant advances at the individual consumer level too, courtesy of innovative online services.
A new breed of web-based tools is showing up sneaky practices by analysing individuals’ financial records. Armed with that knowledge, customers can then challenge charges or obtain a better deal.
Monetise is one such tool that allows you to scrutinize your finances to enable a more transparent view of where your money is going. Recently launched in the Australian market, Monetise can realise significant savings through a mix of improved savings rates, reduced borrowing costs and reduced fees.
Monetise CEO Taichi Hoshino checked his own banks accounts and discovered he was doing himself out of $1600 a year. “I’m very much the type of consumer who benefits from this — time poor and a little lazy,” Mr Hoshino said.
“Historically, the banks have monopolised information to the detriment of consumers. We are riding a crest of innovation which can be broadly described as empowering the consumer.”
Monetise is hoping to emulate the success of another service, two-year-old Pocketbook, which helps 130,000 people work out where their money is going. Pocketbook’s technology can identify bank fees and alerts users if they are suspiciously large.
Pocketbook automatically organises your spending into categories like clothes, groceries and fuel – showing you where money is being spent. You can be notified of fees charged to your accounts and don’t have to ever miss a bill again with their automatic bill detection. “A lot of people have had fees reversed,” said Pocketbook founder Bosco Tan. The service also learns when regular payments are due and warns users not to be late. Mr Tan hopes his service will soon be able analyse users’ cashflow to project whether they will face credit card interest in the coming month.
There are also comparison websites such as www.finder.com.au, which allow you to check fees and costs of various financial and other service providers directly against each other.
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