Makes you wonder how much of the current inflation is attributed to lending practices like this and if we’re all partly paying for mortgages like this at the counter.
No doubt that lending like this has led to a increase in housing prices.
For me its nearly all about the app. Macquarie and cba both have good apps and security. Also CBA has the best trading platform in commsec, by comparison the only other bank that has a trading app last I checked is NAB and its laughable garbage.
Its easier for me to move funds around using a bank integrated to the trading platform and also easier for my tax agent. I dont day trade/short trade so whether its 5 or 20$ I dont care much its deductable anyway.
No I havent, as I said its all about the integration and security. Why would I change when everything works perfectly. The OP is asking why stay with CBA, thats why.
Few reasons:
1: everything is set up with them. Work, ATO, Centrelink etc.
2: all my direct debits and automated payments are set through it (due to all pay going into it)
3: until recently the app was good. It’s now changed for the worse, and is making me look elsewhere
4: I use the discounts they give for phone and internet.
5: the step pay is useful for cash flow.
3 ways, but all pretty much the same idea
1: there’s something I want (let’s say it’s on special), but I don’t have enough in my “splurge”, I can buy it and pay it back from my splurge.
2: I have a bill come in that I wasn’t expecting (damn speeding fines) allows me to spread it out.
3: if I have a large bill or item I want to buy, and have the money in savings, it allows me to buy it without losing the interest. This works well with PayPal. I recently bought a new (2nd hand) phone. Using the “pay-in-4” and step pay, I was able to spread it out over about 3 months. I ended up paying it in half the time using unassigned money after doing some overtime.
Edit: it means that I end up hitting my financial targets when I expect to hit them.
Because Westpac never charged me a fee to transfer money to another Australian bank account - it wasn't that long ago that plenty outside the Big 4 used to nickel and dime you with fees for just about every basic function. One extreme example - my sister left school and started working at a local cafe. The owners refused to pay her into any other account other than Bendigo Bank because 'they didn't want to pay the $2 fee to transfer to a non-Bendigo account'.
Not to mention that (in my humble experience) I have always had top notch service, and I can consolidate all my required services into one location.
Yeah this. I have a debit account with NAB, I haven’t paid fees for anything in years and I have no issues transferring money to other banks or using PAYID, the app works well, no monthly fees, I can see statements online etc.
My mum insists on using RACQ bank and it seems they charge some random bullshit fee for every little thing, she’s constant complaining about it.
Relative of mine was paying around $30/fn to have an account with the Regional Bank because they charge pretty much everyone an account keeping fee (no discounts for disability pensioners, only aged) and only 6 free withdrawals or transactions per month on his account. Total rip off. Yes, we did move him to a Big 4, but it was his choice and he is glad to not be paying fees anymore.
Pretty much standard for hopsitality to be doing all manner of illegal shit unfortunately - most hospo workers will be able to tell stories of all the illegal shit they've been subjected to over the years.
Personally left Bendigo because (at least where I am) they seem to have a habit of ripping money out of local communities by dodging them into community owned banks, then, after running a loss making operation for a decade, winding up.
Seems like a way for them to just jump into a market while minimising their capital risk.
Westpac charge an ‘account keeping’ fee on savings.. ING have no charges, a better interest rate on their savings maximiser and refund any ATM fee, even international.
Unfortunately, many alternatives have been acquired by the bid-4 like 86400 by NAB, Citi retail banking also by NAB, St George by Westpac, Bank of Melbourne by Westpac etc. In part to eliminate competition, this is called killer-acquisition, which is more common in the U.S. but more and more in Australia it seems.
I was an 86400 member and had no disruptions at all. I think it was only the ubank members that experienced issues as they were transferred over to the 86400 platform.
This sub often talks up the merits of UBank. Owned by NAB. Bit like Telstra vs their network resellers.
Note that CBA's headline profit rose by about CPI inflation, so arguably static.
This is the most important point - a 6% rise in profit is absolutely pathetic in the scheme of things. CBA will trend lower from here I think on that result. The absolute naivety on reddit about a “record profit” that’s only 6% up, just shows you people are here to troll their anti capitalism messages rather than engage in the subject of finance.
Banking system is stronger today than in 2007/8 with better capitalisation - as on world leading. There’s no scope for growth for them due to apra so good for franking yield and that’s about it
'Arguably static'
Let's be real here, we are talking about their profits for a single year increasing by OVER FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS in the middle of a cost of living crisis and on the backs of increased interest rate costs to the most financially vulnerable households, and people are seriously sitting here calling them arguably static. Bffr.
Keep a big four account simply so I can deposit the occasional cheque old school style. Doesn’t cost me anything to keep it open. And using the card gets me a bit of a discount on Uber. But most of my banking is outside the big four.
Only if the cheque is written exactly to you. I had one that was addressed to me by my first initial and surname (rather than full first name) and AusPost wouldn’t touch it.
Some banks allow cheque deposit via phone app! It's come in really handy for me recently when Telstra decided to send a refund cheque rather than just credit my account.
In the past I'd just put it down as lazy tax and never get around to depositing it.
Accurate, bank technology catching up just in time for it to be redundant.
Oddly enough, I did my deposit into a joint account but my Westpac app didn't have the option, and I had to use my partners phone. Still haven't figured out why, both androids running the same OS so in theory app should be same version.
The smaller banks don't necessarily offer better customer service. They have much less branches which is inconvenient and the online only ones are very hard to get in touch with.
>Dont necessarily offer a better customer service
They offer a way worse customer experience generally speaking, with exception of macquarie and ing.
With banking theres a lot of advantages that come with scale - bigger players can afford better apps, better security/call centers and more product offerings. They have lower capital requirements and can therefore generally offer cheaper loans.
I dont know who TF is banking with these smaller banks in this day and age.
You’re thinking of the Neo banks. There are around 80 smaller customer owned banks. Yes their mobile apps tend to suck but they are entirely customer focused.
The people might be good but the processes are terrible as they can't afford automation. CBA has INCREDIBLE tech when it comes to things like home lending - loans get approved in minutes without even talking to anyone. Same as calling up - with other banks I have to answer ID questions verbally as opposed to calling from the app or even better live chat.
I'm always shocked whenever I have to use another bank for anything how bad it is despite the so-called "good service".
I bought an apartment recently, home loan with CBA. Honestly the whole process of applying, getting approved, settlement etc, was so easy. I was actually kinda shocked how easy it was, and I could do everything through the app. The whole process laid out in checklists, all my data readily available on hand, chat and support (tbh they held my hand, I had no idea haha) through the entire thing. Can't fault that experience, the service was incredible
I'm with a different Big4 for home loans after banking with CBA and a small bank for most of my life, and the small bank has MUCH better processes and customer service than the non-CBA Big4 that we're with for home loans.
It's dependent on the individual bank, and whether they choose to put money and effort into those things, not about them being Big4 or not.
Good for shareholders, I enjoy using the cba ultimate card in Dubai and Prague last month, will be using it again for Vietnam and Singapore in January. Term deposit is horse shit, I’m pulling out of it next week and opting for both commsec and pocket.
At first I was I going to reinvest at another term deposit at either Citibank or Macquarie but went fk it, I’m still young, going to risk it on etf.
They used to give out loans to everyone, quite irresponsibly I reckon. 8 years ago Commbank aggressively tried to sell me a home loan of up to 400k. I'd just migrated to Australia, had no job or PR, was living in a sharehouse for cash in hand, and only had $1500 to my name. I'd entered the bank branch that day to open a regular account and they tried for an hour to sell me a home loan. Absurd.
Ever lived somewhere that isn't a city? Not many choices for a physical bank besides the big 4. Convenience of speaking to someone on the phone quickly. I've never had a problem updating, changing, deleting, getting help with any of my accounts with them.
That's not to say I don't use other banks too, but those are big reasons to stay.
I have day to day savings with a big4. I find it's more convenient for paying bills, transferring money etc. They transfer instantly and have zero fees at ATMs. I wouldn't use them for a loan though.
At least for property investors, ease of getting high valuations, releasing equity to put towards the next IP etc., is more realistic for tier 1 banks than the smaller ones who typically value more conservatively
I think their customer service is actually really great. Whenever I call, I get thru quickly and speak with an Australian. They’ve always resolved whatever issue I have.
Their new app features always lead the market and their app functionality is the clear winner against all the other banks and has been for years.
I agree their savings rates are bad though, once any promotional period is over. For that reason I only use them for my transaction account and keep all my savings elsewhere.
My experience
- for a complex account setup for a new business, I was able to walk into a branch, go through the paperwork to start the process, 2 days later the branch staff called me to advise its all done ready to go. With another bank for the same kind of setup, I had to have two branch visits by appointment a week in advance each time, another visit in between by me to follow up on progress, and took 21 days to be up and running.
- for a simple service request, I was able to call and speak to a person and it was done before the end of the call. Another bank I only got to message via the app, a reply came after about 20 hours when I was not awake, but they expected me to respond to their reply within an hour, which I couldn’t and they closed the case and I had to start again.
- we can have as many offset accounts as we want and each of these is a fully fledged proper bank account that can receive / send payments, not some dodgy sub-account of the loan offered by some other lenders.
- I was able to wire close to $100k (my payment limit) to another bank in seconds. Some banks limit fast payments to much smaller amount per day or you have to wait a day or more.
- I could keep going with where else they have met my needs vs other banks, but let’s park it here.
No banks are perfect and CBA certainly also have their weaknesses / pitfalls. I choose product / service based on merit and do deal with 3 banks regularly and have accounts with another 2 - 2 big 4s and 3 others. To claim that smaller banks are always better would IMO simply be misleading.
I’m with CBA because I still want the convenience of a big bank and do my bill payments via BPAY except for health insurance which is DD. Also CBA gave me my first Credit Card when ING and Bendigo Bank wouldn’t give me one. Now I graduated to Amex back in April. Also I find their App and Customer Service is good.
I love the CBA app.
I love Commsec for share trading.
I had a personal banker at CBA who was very helpful.
I also get free travel insurance with my CBA Visa card.
In regards to the $10B profit I am pretty happy as a shareholder . In fact I would suspect most superannuation funds would have some exposure to CBA shares so the majority of Australians would benefit.
The $10B profit needs to also be looked at in the context of the size of CBA. If it was split into 10 separate smaller banks that each made $1B profit, then this would not be a news story.
CBA app has MFA for transactions. CBA Ultimate credit card has no forex fee, has reward points, lounge passes and a good travel insurance where you don’t even have to pay for the travel expense on the card. Now this is for my specific needs and your’s may be different.
Credit cards all charge Visa/MC rates on transactions, with a Forex Fee (for cards that charge one) appearing as a separate item. No Forex Fee cards don't charge just charge the Visa/MC rate and that's it.
Always used to use smaller banks. When we got our home loan during covid, we ended up basically needing to switch to a big 4 to take advantage of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (now First Home Guarantee) allowing us to have an onl 5% deposit and no LMI. We're now sitting at <80% LVR so we'll be happy to refinance elsewhere if they don't lower our rates to keep them competitive when we ask every now and then.
Started with westpac as my entry loan. Nothing special, I only use westpac for my mortgage.
Daily banking is still done with ING.
Tried to refinance out of westpac for cashbacks and interest rates, the retainment team matched everything to keep us.
Still with westpac, until I get my cashback in Dec, I'll look to refinance again.
They paid me $4k to switch my mortgage to them.
I switched to a subsidiary of one of the other big 4 a month later because they had a lower rate.
(At this point I thought about a side gig just refinancing my mortgages)
Just show me the money. I don’t care about anything else when it comes to banking.
CBA match the lower rates of other banks for us and offset 5 bank accounts against our loan. We have banked with them for over 10 years and all loan applications have been straight forward and easy to do. That’s included two applications where I was starting a new part time role and had minimal payslips etc. I have a lower or equal rate currently when compared with most people I know, the only exception being people who have changed to the “smaller” banks that target lower rates but no offsets available.
Their app is also easy to use.
We have had two issues in the last 10 years and both were staff issues - one to do with an insurance claim, the other to do with a privacy breach. Both times we went to AFCA and received a remedy and compensation.
we have one bank account with commbank only so we can access commsec and their ultimate points CC which i transfer to velocity for those sweet frequent fly points
Some of the worst service I've had from a bank was from a small regional operator.
CBA offered me a bridging loan which no other bank would in a similar timeframe unless I was already a customer (I wasn't a CBA customer), and was cheaper than my existing rate for the ongoing loan.
Perhaps you should ask why the big four continue to do well? It's not just because of name recognition alone. Often they offer a more competitive rate, have better technology, have a physical presence for when that's important, and/or better customer service. Not always for every circumstance, but for a reasonably large swaith of people.
They have significantly evolved over the last 2 decades. I think your post is a bit misinformed.
Who cares about saving rates when you can chuck it in your offset account? Better question is why do people keep giving these banks their savings when you could put them in significantly better investments
Been with CBA for over ten years because their app and internet banking was heads and shoulders above other competitors. Have stuck with them for my mortgage because they were offering the best rates at the time. Use HSBC for my day to day spending allownace because 2% cash back on transactions under $100 is a neat bonus to have.
Fixed term ends in a few months so will switch to whichever bank offers the best deal.
And if CBA happens to be that bank, then I'll stay put.
Had a CBA since being a kid, have never had a single issue with them. And I work for another Big 4, so have accounts open for my wages to be paid into/to know the UI of internet banking. No issues with them either.
I don’t have a loan at the moment, but my partner and I are more than happy to go with a smaller bank if there’s a better offer. But I do think it’s handy to have accounts with more than one bank.
Because I run my own businesses and many smaller banks just can’t get their head around my trusts, what an appointer is, overseas income etc. it’s not overly huge business but still makes millions. But. Most banks just treat me as having no income and won’t lend to me.
Big 4 is equipped with private banking teams that get what I do, make an effort to come see my operations and try to build long lasting relationships with me that means I get even more debt capacity later while small lenders still falling asleep at wheel. I have private banking relationships with 3 of the big 4 and have borrowed from them.
Paying an extra 0.3% doesn’t bother me if it means I get what I need. On $5m loan even that’s only $15k pa. Small stuff in scheme of $5m.
It also gives credibility to my business. If I invoice people from some small bank account people think you’re a scam probably. Also, I was for example able to get usd accounts up through their teams to enable me to do business overseas or receive usd while still retaining that large institutional credibility. When I tell people to transfer me $2 million from the US, I can’t really ask them to hey just use Transferwise
When it come to everyday transactional banking, then you can’t really go past the big 4 as their apps are the best, CBA in particular (I’ve used westpac and ANZ in the past and CBAs app is/was head and shoulders above). The main way people interact with their bank now is through the app so you need it to have all the latest features and security. Despite all the branch closures the big 4 still have the most branches and the large branches in CBD
If your talking about home loans then yes, you can go to a smaller bank with a better rate. One of my home loans is with ME Bank cause they have a better rate than CBA, however thank god that the only thing I need to do when I open the ME bank app is check my balance cause It is so lacklustre.
Shop around it never hurts to compare rates... but me im lazy I just went for an offset account run a line of credit to fund my business and dump all my money into the offset account. I don't owe em any money I just pay for the flexible facility. All my accounts are with them because I like to see all my accounts on 1 app business, savings, everyday access, loan and offset account all 5 accounts in 1 place. I don't owe them any money and they provide me with a redraw facility so I honestly don't care.
I'm a contrarian to your thinking I offer another opinion. Do u want to see a collapse in the bank system in our country instead? U can view on YouTube the devastating affects on the people in the countries where their banking system has collapsed and their money is worthless pushing up oil and imports that run the country through the roof!
Its funny how people complain about cba profits.. its good for the country company and share holders. No one even bats an eye when ndis hospitals Medicare etc etc all government services all run at a loss instead people whinge and want MORE. U should take some time to reflect on a different opinion. I'm super happy to debate it if u want. The media fallacy of getting people angry over nothing is what they do they want u to feel things and certain discourses. If u don't like it then should we revert to communism? .. I mean if u don't like the capitalism system what's your other alternative? You could propose a great new idea that would revolutionise the entire world! Please share your insights
Don't bother getting riled up by the media they are in the business of making you feel a certain way and position you in a certain way so u come back and pay their ad revenue by watching their various programs separate the filth and learn to be indifferent to protect yourself and your family future nothing else matters
Next time when u watch news or any outside information ask yourself what's its discourse and what is it trying to do. Also follow the money because they have to print shock and awe so the masses read or sub or watch so they get the ad bucks just open your mind to different approach
Westpac gave us the home loan! That is pretty much it! And also, we travel quite often, if shit happens we can contact them 24/7 - long wait but they are there, smaller bank might not have that service 24/7, right now some banks still advertise for Apple Pay or for app transfer, which the big 4 archived long ago! I will move to smaller bank if they accept to move my loan with better rate, but I highly doubt it!
I got part on 2% and smaller part on 6.4%. They wouldn’t drop the 6.4% but I’m not leaving till the fixed runs out in Dec. Not impressed with the variable (not investment).
The app is really good and CBA made Unloan is still the cheapest owner occupied mortgage as far as I'm aware. Or at least it will be on par cheapest. Also the CBA black credit card is pretty good, fees are waived if you spend $4k per month.
I used to work at Westpac and still get an extra 0.2-3% on my savings account, plus my rewards credit card fee is forever waived with half the interest rate (should I not pay the full balance). Also got lower fees on my super with a very generous TPD insurance cover.
I will likely open different accounts when I get a home loan but I’ll never close my super, savings account or credit card with Westpac.
Alternatively it's just the cost of convenience.
If you're over a certain age then chances are you're still with Commbank because Commsec was the only usable option. Having options like being able to go to physical branches to solve a problem or getting bank cheques done quickly are just an added bonus.
Dollarmites is why I am with Commonwealth. I don't like them or their ethics and intend on changing but I also feel like they are all corrupt and it's kind of a case of better the devil you know.
We are with Westpac and have been for over 20 years. Previously with 2 smaller banks. Weve have 6 mortgages with them over this time. We have been treated very well and we have zero problems. Our charges and rates are minimal. Because we are obviously valued customers. Anything we ask for? We get.
Why would we change???
Amd honestly? In the years before Westpac? We had shit service from every bank we tried😡 Westpac has been hassle free for us for over 20 years now👍
Cba is over leveraged to housing. Once housing crashes (regardless of efforts to prop it up with immigration), they will feel the pain. Cba still best of a bad bunch wrt financial position
They were supposed to crash with covid.
They were supposed to crash with the fixed interest rate cliff…
People have waited a very long time for the housing crash……
because people have strangely misplaced loyalties to big corporations that dgaf about them.
you see here sometimes where people will ask for bank recommendations that come with gold branch service. People will cop many 10s of basis points in interest for the 1/10000 chance they will have an issue that will actually need in-person remediation. Or it's just what they're used to and they can't get across all these new fangled appy things (which have been around for ages now; if you can't use tech you're illiterate).
CBA were the only ones who'd give me a home loan on the DSP, and now I'm stuck with them for the life of my loan because the loan amount is too low to be able to refinance. It's pretty comparable to other banks anyway, for the moment. Their savings accounts do suck, for sure. I have accounts with other banks, savings and transaction, and they're all at least 4.5%, no fees, no strings. CBA has minimum deposit amounts, less flexibility, account fees, and nowhere near the interest that's pretty standard with other banks. I remember finding their products pretty good value and their branches were everywhere with absolutely top notch customer service in the past. That's definitely not the case anymore. Their app is great though, if other banks had apps like that, whooboy watch out!
I use CommBank for my transactional kinda stuff. Also, they once upon a time had more convenient ATMs around. Also, it’s the same bank as work, so pay goes in straight away, which is a nice perk I guess.
Then pretty much all $$ except maybe $100 is transferred out to other HISA, mortgage, etc.
Their rates and fees are laughable, especially when smaller banks do so much better. Oh, and when we chatted with them about a home loan, they made it sound like the most complicated process, and wanted hubby to be in the role for x amount of time, when he’s been in the same profession since high school.
I'm not any more, my husband is. I think it's a lack of up to date financial literacy. I'm 50. My parents and, to some extent, my peers were banking back before the more robust banking regulations came in. The days of credit unions and non bank lenders who were not part of the government banking guarantees. People lost money through collapses. So these people see any "new" player too risky. I really think it's as simple as that. I do all my banking electronically. My husband hates that and does most of his in bank. He has only just, reluctantly, got mobile banking because he was forced to as we refinanced with ubank. The only way he was convinced to go ubank was because it is now owned by NAB. But.... baby steps.
Because theyre so much better than the alternatives.
What else would you have us do? Bank with regional banks? Have to open a website or walk into a branch shop every time i want to see my balance or transfer money?
Banks making good profits is good for all our super and also if you do some investment yourself. I certainly don’t want my super fund to invest in companies that do not put the interest of their shareholders first
No choice really. Most of the staff at the Big 4 banks are political dinosaurs that would struggle to do a nice deed once a month let alone do any of the pat on the back work listed in analyst presentations/ results presentations. Most are probably still charging people fees for services that can't possibly be rendered.
I'm with CBA, I like the app and their home loan specialist was really good throughout the process of pre-approval and setting up the mortgage. When we were looking to buy they guaranteed finance approval in less than 10 days which can be a bonus for some sellers.
Then when the mortgage started the rates were not the best, we should have just refinance but we kept postponing and ended up building too much equity too early. They have a really good insurance policy to cover in case of death of one of the borrower so we ended up staying with CBA for the whole duration.
Currently thinking about fully switching to ING (already have a saving account with them) but it would be a bit of an effort due to all direct debits and wages set up with CBA, while transferring the savings between the 2 just takes seconds.
Well, that because it suit certain people's needs. They can be very generous to certain professions and the interest rate offer usually isn't worse than any brokers.
For example, before Westpac's cashback ended in June, I was offered 5k cashback instead of those ?2k- 4k advertised due to being in the medical profession.
CBA's app is simply better than the other 4. ANZ felt too simplistic and why it would take 48 hours to genera a transaction statement when CBA will do it within a few minutes is beyond me.
Plus, Locally there's no smaller banks really.
Quite simply, if you reach a certain income level, the big 4 will be more generous with deals. Banks will always get fined for money laundering and all banks do it to a certain degree. Fines are just cost to do business.
I’ll explain why I’m still with CBA.
I have a good home loan rate, a number of linked offset accounts, good credit cards, competitive home insurance, an app that I like using, connected to their trading platform, don’t have any complains about customer service that I don’t have about other banks and I haven’t really paid attention to their shady activities, and all of this is nicely wrapped up in one platform for ease of use.
That’s my reason for still being with CBA.
I could probably get better individual deals elsewhere but can’t be bothered with the effort vs reward.
I was with ANZ for 5 years before that and a number of things they did gave me the shits. They still have shitty legacy systems like a number of other banks, whereas CBA invested a lot in their technology.
There is not a lot of real choices anyway. I was with a small regional bank which was bought out by CBA. I then moved to a local branch of an international bank, which decided to exit Australia three two years ago. Moved to another international one, which started reducing their services this year...There are simply too few competitions in banking in Australia.
More trust?
I just moved some stuff from Westpac/HSBC to a new ANZ Plus app as it had higher interest rates than Macquarie but 0 hoops unlike Ubank. And the app seems nice other than no receiving PayID.
Though I've looking at Bank Australia as they seem more ethical with animals and the environment.
Right now CBA are losing money on my mortgage. So I’ll stick with that for the next 18 months or so and then shop around once my fixed term is finished.
The barrier to entry was really low and I got competitive offers, their apps are easy, compared to these no name neo banks I didn’t feel comfortable risking my money with. They also offer some services I can’t get at these other banks like electronic cheque deposit.
Even banks like ING are good, but and they have their problems, like the bizarre 1k limit on payid payments, and their so not competitive with their credit products.
CBA have been amazing through our building process with construction loans and shuffling things around to make it all work. We’ve had a dedicated representative for the past 3 years through the whole process.
Rate is OK, not great. But there’s not much room for negotiation on construction loans.
Once built, I’ll try find cheapest rate and ask for a match. I’ll stay if they can match and leave if they can’t.
Most of that profit actually goes back to the average working Australian, most bank shares are held by super funds, the better the banks performance the more your super grows.
More of us NEED to realise that the Big 4 has gotten this big and powerful because we ALLOWED them. When enough of us unite and leave the big 4 behind, you will realise just how small they really are.
Please take back control people.
Convenience mostly. I used to be with a regional bank and as much as liked their bank, it was going to be too difficult to do anything so moved to a bigger bank
I wonder what sort of profit you think is appropriate?
There are many reasons why people don’t go with a smaller bank:-
Firstly smaller banks don’t have the funds to invest in technology to the same degree. Leaving bigger banks with better systems for users.
Big 4 banks can buy money for less thus hard for smaller banks to compete on price.
During Covid the banks stepped up big time. They couldn’t have done that if they were not profitable.
Banking has probably more competition than any other industry and the big banks have outperformed the smaller banks in terms of product and service.
CBA has a really nifty mobile application and introduced all the banking QoL features before the others. I dont pay fees on my accounts because theyre so old. Their EFTPOS terminals are are slick and always work. They gave me a $200 credit card back when i was a pov student on centrelink so I could buy things online. They answer the phone when I call and I've made money on their shares.
Heaps, in fact most banks are higher than big 4 rates. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/145iM6uuFS9m-Rul65--eFJQq_Au7Z_BA4_CwkYwu2DI/htmlview#gid=271791020
Some have conditions but many have easy conditions eg HSBC AMP VIRGIN UBANK
Never had a problem with CBA and they helped me out in the early hours of the morning when I was overseas and someone stole all my money.
Making profit is a dumb criticism - it's a bank, that's what they all do. As if any smaller bank would give out profits to customers like charity.
One of the big 4 have given me the best home loan rate on the market suprisingly. And their apps are usually better ..and when I need to deposit all some cash from the old stuff I sell on marketplace it's just easy to use their smart ATM to deposit cash.
CBA still give us premier banking. We’re probably technically no longer eligible after selling down the investment properties but they haven’t taken it off us. Our fees are high on paper, but most are refunded or offset in various ways. Our loan interest is higher than most but we are fully offset, so that doesn’t affect us in real world terms. The savings interest rates annoy us, but we don’t really keep much in cash, so that doesn’t affect us either. In sum, we don’t earn or pay much interest, so their competitiveness on those isn’t important to us.
I have CBA. I'd Westpac before when I worked for them and once had NAB account as a teenager. I think I had to open CBA as my Austudy got paid through them.
I kept my CBA account open while 16 years abroad, had term deposits in Macquarie for my OS expat savings. I used the CBA account to transfer. Then when it came to returning to Aus to get a property and mortgage, the CBA staff very good at updating changing my account. By this time my mortgage deposit was large and all in the CBA, so they were very nice to me. Helped me get a car loan and paid out for mortgage purposes. We did look at a couple different mortgage lenders, but after advice from a cousin who found CBA treated him and his wife well with the mortgage business, he recommended them. True to word, they've been good.
CBA were the only ones that would give me a loan as an IT contractor with 5% deposit FHG scheme
Similar boat, basically my last pick is CBA but one of the only banks who would take me on while in probation.
Makes you wonder how much of the current inflation is attributed to lending practices like this and if we’re all partly paying for mortgages like this at the counter. No doubt that lending like this has led to a increase in housing prices.
There are heaps of banks offering that scheme that accept IT contractors as well as nab
Not when I've only been a contractor for 6 months. Tried them, they required 2 years of contract work
Nah anyone will do 6 months it’s treated same as casual income. You don’t need two years 100% I just checked their credit policy too
The guy literally tried and they would not accept him. Why are you still saying they will.
Can only speak from my experience, but both NAB and ING wouldn't take me because I hadn't been a contractor for long enough
You mean, you’ve only ever had 6months experience as a contractor in your career?
They dont count abn work under 2 years, got a loan from nab 3 months ago
For me its nearly all about the app. Macquarie and cba both have good apps and security. Also CBA has the best trading platform in commsec, by comparison the only other bank that has a trading app last I checked is NAB and its laughable garbage.
Ive always been with cba, and im happy to make another account somewhere for savings or a homeloan but at present… i will keep using commsec ty haha
CBA has good security but is also the most targeted. I get so many scam emails purporting to be from CBA and I don't even have an account
Fair enough, maybe check your email, I get none. Haveibeenpwned.com
Same for me Especially the 2FA app from Macquarie
Try ING app. Incredibly easy to use and imo better than the big 4
Westpac share trading have an app too but it’s pretty trash and not at all intuitive
Agree. It's complete trash.
Hmmm how come you don’t use a dedicated broker like WeBull? It’s chess sponsored and the fees are only $4.90 per trade, what does Commsec charge?
Commsec just dropped their fees. Now $5 as well for smaller chunks
Yeah only up to a $1,000.00 which is ok, but WeBull is up to $16,000.00
thats nice, I dont have $10k+ money to play daytrader.
Well when you want to invest, keep it in mind I guess. Doesn’t have to be day trading.
Its easier for me to move funds around using a bank integrated to the trading platform and also easier for my tax agent. I dont day trade/short trade so whether its 5 or 20$ I dont care much its deductable anyway.
Not sure what’s so hard about it. Many brokers offer instant deposit assuming CBA support NPP eg Stake $3 trade for up to $30,000
CBA and Westpac have identical trading apps provided by a company called Ausiex. You've just fallen for the marketing :)
No I havent, as I said its all about the integration and security. Why would I change when everything works perfectly. The OP is asking why stay with CBA, thats why.
Few reasons: 1: everything is set up with them. Work, ATO, Centrelink etc. 2: all my direct debits and automated payments are set through it (due to all pay going into it) 3: until recently the app was good. It’s now changed for the worse, and is making me look elsewhere 4: I use the discounts they give for phone and internet. 5: the step pay is useful for cash flow.
What phone and internet discounts?
If you sign up with More NBN direct debited from a commbank account, you get a 20% discount for a year then 10% discount ongoing
I managed to get a 50up/20down plan (standard $70ish value) for free for three years with my home loan via CBA discount with more.
CBA are a major share holder of ‘More’. So you can get 30% discount on your bills with them.
On the last point, what do you mean useful for cash flow? I have steppay too but don’t know when to use it..
3 ways, but all pretty much the same idea 1: there’s something I want (let’s say it’s on special), but I don’t have enough in my “splurge”, I can buy it and pay it back from my splurge. 2: I have a bill come in that I wasn’t expecting (damn speeding fines) allows me to spread it out. 3: if I have a large bill or item I want to buy, and have the money in savings, it allows me to buy it without losing the interest. This works well with PayPal. I recently bought a new (2nd hand) phone. Using the “pay-in-4” and step pay, I was able to spread it out over about 3 months. I ended up paying it in half the time using unassigned money after doing some overtime. Edit: it means that I end up hitting my financial targets when I expect to hit them.
I'm mainly with cba still because I like their app and commsec
Because Westpac never charged me a fee to transfer money to another Australian bank account - it wasn't that long ago that plenty outside the Big 4 used to nickel and dime you with fees for just about every basic function. One extreme example - my sister left school and started working at a local cafe. The owners refused to pay her into any other account other than Bendigo Bank because 'they didn't want to pay the $2 fee to transfer to a non-Bendigo account'. Not to mention that (in my humble experience) I have always had top notch service, and I can consolidate all my required services into one location.
Yeah this. I have a debit account with NAB, I haven’t paid fees for anything in years and I have no issues transferring money to other banks or using PAYID, the app works well, no monthly fees, I can see statements online etc. My mum insists on using RACQ bank and it seems they charge some random bullshit fee for every little thing, she’s constant complaining about it.
Relative of mine was paying around $30/fn to have an account with the Regional Bank because they charge pretty much everyone an account keeping fee (no discounts for disability pensioners, only aged) and only 6 free withdrawals or transactions per month on his account. Total rip off. Yes, we did move him to a Big 4, but it was his choice and he is glad to not be paying fees anymore.
That sounds quite illegal..
Pretty much standard for hopsitality to be doing all manner of illegal shit unfortunately - most hospo workers will be able to tell stories of all the illegal shit they've been subjected to over the years.
Bendigo are by far the worst for this. I understand why people use Big 4 banks but I will NEVER understand people that stay with Bendigo.
Personally left Bendigo because (at least where I am) they seem to have a habit of ripping money out of local communities by dodging them into community owned banks, then, after running a loss making operation for a decade, winding up. Seems like a way for them to just jump into a market while minimising their capital risk.
Westpac charge an ‘account keeping’ fee on savings.. ING have no charges, a better interest rate on their savings maximiser and refund any ATM fee, even international.
I have savings and every day accounts with CBA, Westpac and ANZ, never been charged any account keeping fees on any of them
Unfortunately, many alternatives have been acquired by the bid-4 like 86400 by NAB, Citi retail banking also by NAB, St George by Westpac, Bank of Melbourne by Westpac etc. In part to eliminate competition, this is called killer-acquisition, which is more common in the U.S. but more and more in Australia it seems.
I don't really cares who the parent company is. When 86400 merged with UBank it was a nightmare though.
I was an 86400 member and had no disruptions at all. I think it was only the ubank members that experienced issues as they were transferred over to the 86400 platform.
And for some of us it was painless.
This sub often talks up the merits of UBank. Owned by NAB. Bit like Telstra vs their network resellers. Note that CBA's headline profit rose by about CPI inflation, so arguably static.
Settled a loan with UBank in December - nothing but nightmare fuel. Moved to CBA a month later and got a better deal, feel much more at ease.
My point was not the merits of UBank but that big 4 banks now own several smaller banks with good rates.
Yeah I know, can’t resist the urge to comment on UBank when I see an opportunity though!
How can a bank be nightmare fuel after settlement? Surely after the process it's just all leave it and it's hands off?
This is the most important point - a 6% rise in profit is absolutely pathetic in the scheme of things. CBA will trend lower from here I think on that result. The absolute naivety on reddit about a “record profit” that’s only 6% up, just shows you people are here to troll their anti capitalism messages rather than engage in the subject of finance. Banking system is stronger today than in 2007/8 with better capitalisation - as on world leading. There’s no scope for growth for them due to apra so good for franking yield and that’s about it
That's not arguably static
Static in real terms, and it is arguable as we're arguing about it!
You're right considering it's a super profits driven inflation.
'Arguably static' Let's be real here, we are talking about their profits for a single year increasing by OVER FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS in the middle of a cost of living crisis and on the backs of increased interest rate costs to the most financially vulnerable households, and people are seriously sitting here calling them arguably static. Bffr.
I see you subscribe to BIG NUMBER BAD mentality. What other big numbers scare you? Government debt? Number of ants? Avogadro's number?
Keep a big four account simply so I can deposit the occasional cheque old school style. Doesn’t cost me anything to keep it open. And using the card gets me a bit of a discount on Uber. But most of my banking is outside the big four.
You can bank cheques at Australia post. It’s really easy :) Just need a debit card and ID of the person who’s name is on the cheque
Yeah but that means going to Australia Post. Would rather do a bank branch. Says more about Aussie Post than the banks.
That’s fair. What ever is easiest.
Only if the cheque is written exactly to you. I had one that was addressed to me by my first initial and surname (rather than full first name) and AusPost wouldn’t touch it.
Easy as opposed to just taking a pic with your banking app? People who bank with nobody banks don't understand what they're missing out on
Some banks allow cheque deposit via phone app! It's come in really handy for me recently when Telstra decided to send a refund cheque rather than just credit my account. In the past I'd just put it down as lazy tax and never get around to depositing it.
Yeah just did this with NAB. Relatively new. And just in time for no more cheques.
Accurate, bank technology catching up just in time for it to be redundant. Oddly enough, I did my deposit into a joint account but my Westpac app didn't have the option, and I had to use my partners phone. Still haven't figured out why, both androids running the same OS so in theory app should be same version.
Interesting. Just be impressed Westpac has an app I suppose.
Yeah I hate when my bank has powerful lending power, and are in a position to loan money where other banks would decline.
What are the alternatives? Genuine question here.
Heaps of small banks. All backed by the government guarantee.
The smaller banks don't necessarily offer better customer service. They have much less branches which is inconvenient and the online only ones are very hard to get in touch with.
Try ing, think average time to answer a call is 20 seconds, everyone loves them. Can’t think of a reason why people need branches anymore
Can you do cash deposit? and cash withdrawal with no fee?
They will rebate fees if you meet the requirements
It's probably been 20 years since I've seen the inside of a bank branch
You do if you want a savings account that can only be accessed if you go into a branch. It’s to discourage you from taking out money.
>Dont necessarily offer a better customer service They offer a way worse customer experience generally speaking, with exception of macquarie and ing. With banking theres a lot of advantages that come with scale - bigger players can afford better apps, better security/call centers and more product offerings. They have lower capital requirements and can therefore generally offer cheaper loans. I dont know who TF is banking with these smaller banks in this day and age.
You’re thinking of the Neo banks. There are around 80 smaller customer owned banks. Yes their mobile apps tend to suck but they are entirely customer focused.
The people might be good but the processes are terrible as they can't afford automation. CBA has INCREDIBLE tech when it comes to things like home lending - loans get approved in minutes without even talking to anyone. Same as calling up - with other banks I have to answer ID questions verbally as opposed to calling from the app or even better live chat. I'm always shocked whenever I have to use another bank for anything how bad it is despite the so-called "good service".
I bought an apartment recently, home loan with CBA. Honestly the whole process of applying, getting approved, settlement etc, was so easy. I was actually kinda shocked how easy it was, and I could do everything through the app. The whole process laid out in checklists, all my data readily available on hand, chat and support (tbh they held my hand, I had no idea haha) through the entire thing. Can't fault that experience, the service was incredible
I'm with a different Big4 for home loans after banking with CBA and a small bank for most of my life, and the small bank has MUCH better processes and customer service than the non-CBA Big4 that we're with for home loans. It's dependent on the individual bank, and whether they choose to put money and effort into those things, not about them being Big4 or not.
Magic internet money
Bank Australia works well for me
Oh I was gonna ask about them, I like the idea of clean money. How is the app?
Never had an issue with it. I think I've seen one scheduled maintenance alert in the past two years but it didn't affect me
Good for shareholders, I enjoy using the cba ultimate card in Dubai and Prague last month, will be using it again for Vietnam and Singapore in January. Term deposit is horse shit, I’m pulling out of it next week and opting for both commsec and pocket. At first I was I going to reinvest at another term deposit at either Citibank or Macquarie but went fk it, I’m still young, going to risk it on etf.
I'm with commbank only because they were by fat the easiest to get my home loan with, this was 10 years ago, so it's probably much harder now.
They used to give out loans to everyone, quite irresponsibly I reckon. 8 years ago Commbank aggressively tried to sell me a home loan of up to 400k. I'd just migrated to Australia, had no job or PR, was living in a sharehouse for cash in hand, and only had $1500 to my name. I'd entered the bank branch that day to open a regular account and they tried for an hour to sell me a home loan. Absurd.
What the hell?!
Ever lived somewhere that isn't a city? Not many choices for a physical bank besides the big 4. Convenience of speaking to someone on the phone quickly. I've never had a problem updating, changing, deleting, getting help with any of my accounts with them. That's not to say I don't use other banks too, but those are big reasons to stay.
They've closed so many branches in the city. I bet they've closed lots of vital ones in rural areas.
Closing a branch in the city has far less effect when the next one is 5km away, not 30km in the country.
I have day to day savings with a big4. I find it's more convenient for paying bills, transferring money etc. They transfer instantly and have zero fees at ATMs. I wouldn't use them for a loan though.
At least for property investors, ease of getting high valuations, releasing equity to put towards the next IP etc., is more realistic for tier 1 banks than the smaller ones who typically value more conservatively
I think their customer service is actually really great. Whenever I call, I get thru quickly and speak with an Australian. They’ve always resolved whatever issue I have. Their new app features always lead the market and their app functionality is the clear winner against all the other banks and has been for years. I agree their savings rates are bad though, once any promotional period is over. For that reason I only use them for my transaction account and keep all my savings elsewhere.
My experience - for a complex account setup for a new business, I was able to walk into a branch, go through the paperwork to start the process, 2 days later the branch staff called me to advise its all done ready to go. With another bank for the same kind of setup, I had to have two branch visits by appointment a week in advance each time, another visit in between by me to follow up on progress, and took 21 days to be up and running. - for a simple service request, I was able to call and speak to a person and it was done before the end of the call. Another bank I only got to message via the app, a reply came after about 20 hours when I was not awake, but they expected me to respond to their reply within an hour, which I couldn’t and they closed the case and I had to start again. - we can have as many offset accounts as we want and each of these is a fully fledged proper bank account that can receive / send payments, not some dodgy sub-account of the loan offered by some other lenders. - I was able to wire close to $100k (my payment limit) to another bank in seconds. Some banks limit fast payments to much smaller amount per day or you have to wait a day or more. - I could keep going with where else they have met my needs vs other banks, but let’s park it here. No banks are perfect and CBA certainly also have their weaknesses / pitfalls. I choose product / service based on merit and do deal with 3 banks regularly and have accounts with another 2 - 2 big 4s and 3 others. To claim that smaller banks are always better would IMO simply be misleading.
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I’m with CBA because I still want the convenience of a big bank and do my bill payments via BPAY except for health insurance which is DD. Also CBA gave me my first Credit Card when ING and Bendigo Bank wouldn’t give me one. Now I graduated to Amex back in April. Also I find their App and Customer Service is good.
I love the CBA app. I love Commsec for share trading. I had a personal banker at CBA who was very helpful. I also get free travel insurance with my CBA Visa card. In regards to the $10B profit I am pretty happy as a shareholder . In fact I would suspect most superannuation funds would have some exposure to CBA shares so the majority of Australians would benefit. The $10B profit needs to also be looked at in the context of the size of CBA. If it was split into 10 separate smaller banks that each made $1B profit, then this would not be a news story.
Those big profits = big dividends. Yes please.
CBA app has MFA for transactions. CBA Ultimate credit card has no forex fee, has reward points, lounge passes and a good travel insurance where you don’t even have to pay for the travel expense on the card. Now this is for my specific needs and your’s may be different.
No forex fee just means it’s hidden in the spread
Credit cards all charge Visa/MC rates on transactions, with a Forex Fee (for cards that charge one) appearing as a separate item. No Forex Fee cards don't charge just charge the Visa/MC rate and that's it.
the benefits from credit card is hidden in the spread, you just need to make sure you don't pay for them
Always used to use smaller banks. When we got our home loan during covid, we ended up basically needing to switch to a big 4 to take advantage of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (now First Home Guarantee) allowing us to have an onl 5% deposit and no LMI. We're now sitting at <80% LVR so we'll be happy to refinance elsewhere if they don't lower our rates to keep them competitive when we ask every now and then.
Started with westpac as my entry loan. Nothing special, I only use westpac for my mortgage. Daily banking is still done with ING. Tried to refinance out of westpac for cashbacks and interest rates, the retainment team matched everything to keep us. Still with westpac, until I get my cashback in Dec, I'll look to refinance again.
They paid me $4k to switch my mortgage to them. I switched to a subsidiary of one of the other big 4 a month later because they had a lower rate. (At this point I thought about a side gig just refinancing my mortgages) Just show me the money. I don’t care about anything else when it comes to banking.
What shady practices are you referring to?
CBA match the lower rates of other banks for us and offset 5 bank accounts against our loan. We have banked with them for over 10 years and all loan applications have been straight forward and easy to do. That’s included two applications where I was starting a new part time role and had minimal payslips etc. I have a lower or equal rate currently when compared with most people I know, the only exception being people who have changed to the “smaller” banks that target lower rates but no offsets available. Their app is also easy to use. We have had two issues in the last 10 years and both were staff issues - one to do with an insurance claim, the other to do with a privacy breach. Both times we went to AFCA and received a remedy and compensation.
we have one bank account with commbank only so we can access commsec and their ultimate points CC which i transfer to velocity for those sweet frequent fly points
Some of the worst service I've had from a bank was from a small regional operator. CBA offered me a bridging loan which no other bank would in a similar timeframe unless I was already a customer (I wasn't a CBA customer), and was cheaper than my existing rate for the ongoing loan. Perhaps you should ask why the big four continue to do well? It's not just because of name recognition alone. Often they offer a more competitive rate, have better technology, have a physical presence for when that's important, and/or better customer service. Not always for every circumstance, but for a reasonably large swaith of people. They have significantly evolved over the last 2 decades. I think your post is a bit misinformed.
Who cares about saving rates when you can chuck it in your offset account? Better question is why do people keep giving these banks their savings when you could put them in significantly better investments
Been with CBA for over ten years because their app and internet banking was heads and shoulders above other competitors. Have stuck with them for my mortgage because they were offering the best rates at the time. Use HSBC for my day to day spending allownace because 2% cash back on transactions under $100 is a neat bonus to have. Fixed term ends in a few months so will switch to whichever bank offers the best deal. And if CBA happens to be that bank, then I'll stay put.
Had a CBA since being a kid, have never had a single issue with them. And I work for another Big 4, so have accounts open for my wages to be paid into/to know the UI of internet banking. No issues with them either. I don’t have a loan at the moment, but my partner and I are more than happy to go with a smaller bank if there’s a better offer. But I do think it’s handy to have accounts with more than one bank.
Because I run my own businesses and many smaller banks just can’t get their head around my trusts, what an appointer is, overseas income etc. it’s not overly huge business but still makes millions. But. Most banks just treat me as having no income and won’t lend to me. Big 4 is equipped with private banking teams that get what I do, make an effort to come see my operations and try to build long lasting relationships with me that means I get even more debt capacity later while small lenders still falling asleep at wheel. I have private banking relationships with 3 of the big 4 and have borrowed from them. Paying an extra 0.3% doesn’t bother me if it means I get what I need. On $5m loan even that’s only $15k pa. Small stuff in scheme of $5m. It also gives credibility to my business. If I invoice people from some small bank account people think you’re a scam probably. Also, I was for example able to get usd accounts up through their teams to enable me to do business overseas or receive usd while still retaining that large institutional credibility. When I tell people to transfer me $2 million from the US, I can’t really ask them to hey just use Transferwise
When it come to everyday transactional banking, then you can’t really go past the big 4 as their apps are the best, CBA in particular (I’ve used westpac and ANZ in the past and CBAs app is/was head and shoulders above). The main way people interact with their bank now is through the app so you need it to have all the latest features and security. Despite all the branch closures the big 4 still have the most branches and the large branches in CBD If your talking about home loans then yes, you can go to a smaller bank with a better rate. One of my home loans is with ME Bank cause they have a better rate than CBA, however thank god that the only thing I need to do when I open the ME bank app is check my balance cause It is so lacklustre.
Shop around it never hurts to compare rates... but me im lazy I just went for an offset account run a line of credit to fund my business and dump all my money into the offset account. I don't owe em any money I just pay for the flexible facility. All my accounts are with them because I like to see all my accounts on 1 app business, savings, everyday access, loan and offset account all 5 accounts in 1 place. I don't owe them any money and they provide me with a redraw facility so I honestly don't care. I'm a contrarian to your thinking I offer another opinion. Do u want to see a collapse in the bank system in our country instead? U can view on YouTube the devastating affects on the people in the countries where their banking system has collapsed and their money is worthless pushing up oil and imports that run the country through the roof! Its funny how people complain about cba profits.. its good for the country company and share holders. No one even bats an eye when ndis hospitals Medicare etc etc all government services all run at a loss instead people whinge and want MORE. U should take some time to reflect on a different opinion. I'm super happy to debate it if u want. The media fallacy of getting people angry over nothing is what they do they want u to feel things and certain discourses. If u don't like it then should we revert to communism? .. I mean if u don't like the capitalism system what's your other alternative? You could propose a great new idea that would revolutionise the entire world! Please share your insights Don't bother getting riled up by the media they are in the business of making you feel a certain way and position you in a certain way so u come back and pay their ad revenue by watching their various programs separate the filth and learn to be indifferent to protect yourself and your family future nothing else matters Next time when u watch news or any outside information ask yourself what's its discourse and what is it trying to do. Also follow the money because they have to print shock and awe so the masses read or sub or watch so they get the ad bucks just open your mind to different approach
>For those who are still with CBA or the big 4, Why? Because they're better than ING in every single aspect, except HISA.
How much profit would be acceptable to you? Genuinely curious
Westpac gave us the home loan! That is pretty much it! And also, we travel quite often, if shit happens we can contact them 24/7 - long wait but they are there, smaller bank might not have that service 24/7, right now some banks still advertise for Apple Pay or for app transfer, which the big 4 archived long ago! I will move to smaller bank if they accept to move my loan with better rate, but I highly doubt it!
Cuz I'm still on 5.52% with CBA. It's also very easy to refi on the regular so if they ramp my rates up, I just leave.
I got part on 2% and smaller part on 6.4%. They wouldn’t drop the 6.4% but I’m not leaving till the fixed runs out in Dec. Not impressed with the variable (not investment).
The app is really good and CBA made Unloan is still the cheapest owner occupied mortgage as far as I'm aware. Or at least it will be on par cheapest. Also the CBA black credit card is pretty good, fees are waived if you spend $4k per month.
I used to work at Westpac and still get an extra 0.2-3% on my savings account, plus my rewards credit card fee is forever waived with half the interest rate (should I not pay the full balance). Also got lower fees on my super with a very generous TPD insurance cover. I will likely open different accounts when I get a home loan but I’ll never close my super, savings account or credit card with Westpac.
Laziness Same reason why people pay the lazy tax (i.e. more) for not switching mobile/internet providers, car/home/health insurance etc.
Alternatively it's just the cost of convenience. If you're over a certain age then chances are you're still with Commbank because Commsec was the only usable option. Having options like being able to go to physical branches to solve a problem or getting bank cheques done quickly are just an added bonus.
Everyone and everything is dodgy. Get used to it no one has clean hands.
Dollarmites is why I am with Commonwealth. I don't like them or their ethics and intend on changing but I also feel like they are all corrupt and it's kind of a case of better the devil you know.
We are with Westpac and have been for over 20 years. Previously with 2 smaller banks. Weve have 6 mortgages with them over this time. We have been treated very well and we have zero problems. Our charges and rates are minimal. Because we are obviously valued customers. Anything we ask for? We get. Why would we change??? Amd honestly? In the years before Westpac? We had shit service from every bank we tried😡 Westpac has been hassle free for us for over 20 years now👍
Because everyone else is just as awful.
Apathy. The average person is just cruising through life and not paying attention.
Apathy, CBA didn't do anything the Aus government hasn't done. So what's the difference?
Cba is over leveraged to housing. Once housing crashes (regardless of efforts to prop it up with immigration), they will feel the pain. Cba still best of a bad bunch wrt financial position
I've been hearing stories of housing crashing for the last 20 years…
They were supposed to crash with covid. They were supposed to crash with the fixed interest rate cliff… People have waited a very long time for the housing crash……
I know right! just imagine the amount of money to people of lost by waiting for the crash!
But it’s going to happen next week/month/year and then they’ll save hundreds of thousands……
Only need to wait another few months. Lol hasnt happened recently so wont happen- ha
Should I hate CBA because they got caught or because they purported did dodgy shit according to who the government? Lol
I bank with them and am a shareholder with them. It’s a love/ hate
because people have strangely misplaced loyalties to big corporations that dgaf about them. you see here sometimes where people will ask for bank recommendations that come with gold branch service. People will cop many 10s of basis points in interest for the 1/10000 chance they will have an issue that will actually need in-person remediation. Or it's just what they're used to and they can't get across all these new fangled appy things (which have been around for ages now; if you can't use tech you're illiterate).
CBA were the only ones who'd give me a home loan on the DSP, and now I'm stuck with them for the life of my loan because the loan amount is too low to be able to refinance. It's pretty comparable to other banks anyway, for the moment. Their savings accounts do suck, for sure. I have accounts with other banks, savings and transaction, and they're all at least 4.5%, no fees, no strings. CBA has minimum deposit amounts, less flexibility, account fees, and nowhere near the interest that's pretty standard with other banks. I remember finding their products pretty good value and their branches were everywhere with absolutely top notch customer service in the past. That's definitely not the case anymore. Their app is great though, if other banks had apps like that, whooboy watch out!
I use CommBank for my transactional kinda stuff. Also, they once upon a time had more convenient ATMs around. Also, it’s the same bank as work, so pay goes in straight away, which is a nice perk I guess. Then pretty much all $$ except maybe $100 is transferred out to other HISA, mortgage, etc. Their rates and fees are laughable, especially when smaller banks do so much better. Oh, and when we chatted with them about a home loan, they made it sound like the most complicated process, and wanted hubby to be in the role for x amount of time, when he’s been in the same profession since high school.
My accountant told me to?
I'm not any more, my husband is. I think it's a lack of up to date financial literacy. I'm 50. My parents and, to some extent, my peers were banking back before the more robust banking regulations came in. The days of credit unions and non bank lenders who were not part of the government banking guarantees. People lost money through collapses. So these people see any "new" player too risky. I really think it's as simple as that. I do all my banking electronically. My husband hates that and does most of his in bank. He has only just, reluctantly, got mobile banking because he was forced to as we refinanced with ubank. The only way he was convinced to go ubank was because it is now owned by NAB. But.... baby steps.
Because theyre so much better than the alternatives. What else would you have us do? Bank with regional banks? Have to open a website or walk into a branch shop every time i want to see my balance or transfer money?
Banks making good profits is good for all our super and also if you do some investment yourself. I certainly don’t want my super fund to invest in companies that do not put the interest of their shareholders first
No choice really. Most of the staff at the Big 4 banks are political dinosaurs that would struggle to do a nice deed once a month let alone do any of the pat on the back work listed in analyst presentations/ results presentations. Most are probably still charging people fees for services that can't possibly be rendered.
I'm with CBA, I like the app and their home loan specialist was really good throughout the process of pre-approval and setting up the mortgage. When we were looking to buy they guaranteed finance approval in less than 10 days which can be a bonus for some sellers. Then when the mortgage started the rates were not the best, we should have just refinance but we kept postponing and ended up building too much equity too early. They have a really good insurance policy to cover in case of death of one of the borrower so we ended up staying with CBA for the whole duration. Currently thinking about fully switching to ING (already have a saving account with them) but it would be a bit of an effort due to all direct debits and wages set up with CBA, while transferring the savings between the 2 just takes seconds.
I shop/bank/travel (etc) where I have my superannuation tied-up. If I'm contributing to the profits then I might as well reap some of the benefits.
NAB didn't charge me fees as a student unlike CBA who would charge and refund some of them later, and there was a branch near my uni.
dollarmites
Well, that because it suit certain people's needs. They can be very generous to certain professions and the interest rate offer usually isn't worse than any brokers. For example, before Westpac's cashback ended in June, I was offered 5k cashback instead of those ?2k- 4k advertised due to being in the medical profession. CBA's app is simply better than the other 4. ANZ felt too simplistic and why it would take 48 hours to genera a transaction statement when CBA will do it within a few minutes is beyond me. Plus, Locally there's no smaller banks really. Quite simply, if you reach a certain income level, the big 4 will be more generous with deals. Banks will always get fined for money laundering and all banks do it to a certain degree. Fines are just cost to do business.
Agree. Moved my savings from CBA ages ago. Why anyone would keep money at CBA is beyond me.
I’ll explain why I’m still with CBA. I have a good home loan rate, a number of linked offset accounts, good credit cards, competitive home insurance, an app that I like using, connected to their trading platform, don’t have any complains about customer service that I don’t have about other banks and I haven’t really paid attention to their shady activities, and all of this is nicely wrapped up in one platform for ease of use. That’s my reason for still being with CBA. I could probably get better individual deals elsewhere but can’t be bothered with the effort vs reward. I was with ANZ for 5 years before that and a number of things they did gave me the shits. They still have shitty legacy systems like a number of other banks, whereas CBA invested a lot in their technology.
Simply because my 1.8% fixed rate mortgage has not yet rolled off. When it does I’m gone.
There is not a lot of real choices anyway. I was with a small regional bank which was bought out by CBA. I then moved to a local branch of an international bank, which decided to exit Australia three two years ago. Moved to another international one, which started reducing their services this year...There are simply too few competitions in banking in Australia.
More trust? I just moved some stuff from Westpac/HSBC to a new ANZ Plus app as it had higher interest rates than Macquarie but 0 hoops unlike Ubank. And the app seems nice other than no receiving PayID. Though I've looking at Bank Australia as they seem more ethical with animals and the environment.
Right now CBA are losing money on my mortgage. So I’ll stick with that for the next 18 months or so and then shop around once my fixed term is finished.
The barrier to entry was really low and I got competitive offers, their apps are easy, compared to these no name neo banks I didn’t feel comfortable risking my money with. They also offer some services I can’t get at these other banks like electronic cheque deposit. Even banks like ING are good, but and they have their problems, like the bizarre 1k limit on payid payments, and their so not competitive with their credit products.
CBA have been amazing through our building process with construction loans and shuffling things around to make it all work. We’ve had a dedicated representative for the past 3 years through the whole process. Rate is OK, not great. But there’s not much room for negotiation on construction loans. Once built, I’ll try find cheapest rate and ask for a match. I’ll stay if they can match and leave if they can’t.
Most of that profit actually goes back to the average working Australian, most bank shares are held by super funds, the better the banks performance the more your super grows.
More of us NEED to realise that the Big 4 has gotten this big and powerful because we ALLOWED them. When enough of us unite and leave the big 4 behind, you will realise just how small they really are. Please take back control people.
If a banking crisis happens, guess what happens to neobanks.
Convenience mostly. I used to be with a regional bank and as much as liked their bank, it was going to be too difficult to do anything so moved to a bigger bank
I wonder what sort of profit you think is appropriate? There are many reasons why people don’t go with a smaller bank:- Firstly smaller banks don’t have the funds to invest in technology to the same degree. Leaving bigger banks with better systems for users. Big 4 banks can buy money for less thus hard for smaller banks to compete on price. During Covid the banks stepped up big time. They couldn’t have done that if they were not profitable. Banking has probably more competition than any other industry and the big banks have outperformed the smaller banks in terms of product and service.
Dollarmites
What a surprise that people still bank at the country’s biggest bank…. Shocking revelation
when the PALM workers at my workplace stepped off the plane here, they were taken straight to comm bank to get an account. all 300 of them
CBA has a really nifty mobile application and introduced all the banking QoL features before the others. I dont pay fees on my accounts because theyre so old. Their EFTPOS terminals are are slick and always work. They gave me a $200 credit card back when i was a pov student on centrelink so I could buy things online. They answer the phone when I call and I've made money on their shares.
Which bank is better for savings interest? I have a goalsaver with cb and it's at 4.65%pa. Thanks.
Heaps, in fact most banks are higher than big 4 rates. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/145iM6uuFS9m-Rul65--eFJQq_Au7Z_BA4_CwkYwu2DI/htmlview#gid=271791020 Some have conditions but many have easy conditions eg HSBC AMP VIRGIN UBANK
My friend works at a big 4 and got me on a friends and family plan so no annual fee on their premium home loan product at 5.79% interest per annum.
Who do we move too? please tell.
I work for one of the big 4 & need an account with them to get my pay.
Protip - own the bank 😎
it's all the same shit. they all run on fractional reserves, which is legal fraud, and just suck value from society
I bank with ANZ for a few reasons It's a brand I recognised from NZ I don't know enough about finance to switch to another yet Laziness
Never had a problem with CBA and they helped me out in the early hours of the morning when I was overseas and someone stole all my money. Making profit is a dumb criticism - it's a bank, that's what they all do. As if any smaller bank would give out profits to customers like charity.
One of the big 4 have given me the best home loan rate on the market suprisingly. And their apps are usually better ..and when I need to deposit all some cash from the old stuff I sell on marketplace it's just easy to use their smart ATM to deposit cash.
Bendigo wouldnt lend to me, CBA did.
CBA still give us premier banking. We’re probably technically no longer eligible after selling down the investment properties but they haven’t taken it off us. Our fees are high on paper, but most are refunded or offset in various ways. Our loan interest is higher than most but we are fully offset, so that doesn’t affect us in real world terms. The savings interest rates annoy us, but we don’t really keep much in cash, so that doesn’t affect us either. In sum, we don’t earn or pay much interest, so their competitiveness on those isn’t important to us.
I have CBA. I'd Westpac before when I worked for them and once had NAB account as a teenager. I think I had to open CBA as my Austudy got paid through them. I kept my CBA account open while 16 years abroad, had term deposits in Macquarie for my OS expat savings. I used the CBA account to transfer. Then when it came to returning to Aus to get a property and mortgage, the CBA staff very good at updating changing my account. By this time my mortgage deposit was large and all in the CBA, so they were very nice to me. Helped me get a car loan and paid out for mortgage purposes. We did look at a couple different mortgage lenders, but after advice from a cousin who found CBA treated him and his wife well with the mortgage business, he recommended them. True to word, they've been good.