Consumers are justifiably fed up. The goal posts keep moving farther apart, too far apart. The groundswell of consumer frustration is spilling on to the streets. Like Lavender, bank customers all over Australia are protesting the closure of branches. Grassroots organisations such as Bankwatch have been inundated with new members .
Consumers rightly point out that having a bank account is an absolute necessity.
Changing banks is not an option as all banks have identical fees and charges. Worse still, the Government and its regulatory agencies seem limp in the face of the enormous power which banks wield. Unfortunately, answers have not been forthcoming. Australian banks consistently point to our low interest rates to justify their having to apply fees and charges to services they traditionally provided without a fee. This is somewhat disingenuous as countries with similar economies and banking systems to ours also have low interest rates, yet their banks do not see it necessary to hit their customers with equivalent fees and charges.