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About Transaction Accounts

RateCity provides transaction accounts news and features to keep you up to date with the latest in industry issues and trends. By keeping up to date with transaction account news and features you can make more informed decisions about choosing the best account for you. Before you search, compare and apply for the right transaction account, take a look at the latest transaction accounts news and features at RateCity.


Top Full Service Accounts - Bank
CompanyProductFeesApply
nab
Classic Banking 0.00Apply
AMP Banking
First Account 5.00Apply
ANZ
Access Advantage 5.00Apply
Commonwealth Bank
Complete Access 6.00Apply
Rural Bank Limited
Everyday Acct-All Access 11.23Apply


Personal Transaction Accounts - Interest Rate
Company NameProductRateApply
AMP Banking
First Account 5.15Apply
Sutherland Credit Union
Super Access 4.70Apply
St George Bank
Investment Cash Account 3.25Apply
Police&NursesMut Banking
FairSaver Account 2.50Apply
Credit Union SA
Tertiary Student Account 2.25Apply



Transaction Account News & Features

 

23rd July 2010
Australians spend more than $51 million per month on ATM fees
Australians are still paying unnecessary ATM fees but there are ways to avoid the sting. RateCity investigates. In today's fast-paced world, one of the most convenient ways to access your money from your...

12th November 2008
How transaction fees work
The right transaction account for you will depend on how you do your banking, whether you have multiple accounts and loans with the one provider and how many transactions you make per month. Let’s...

17th October 2008
Switching bank accounts - a step-by-step guide
With the current state of the financial market, interest rates on deposit accounts declining by the day, and monthly account keeping fees eating into our hard earned savings, there’s no better time than...

21st September 2007
Money in, money out
veryday transaction accounts have been around long enough to become one of the most common accounts to be offered by banks and credit unions. However, the recent intense competition witnessed among online...

Hints & Tips

Make sense of it all with these Transaction Account hints & tips.


Types of Transaction Accounts
Know your habits
The A to Z of ATMs
Debit Cards
 
 
 

Types of Transaction Accounts

$       Basic Accounts - Designed to give pensioners, low-income earners and other welfare recipients such as health card holders' cheaper access to banking services. They will usually be an account with no monthly fee with limited free transactional ability.

$       Personal Transaction Accounts - Covering almost all transaction accounts that we use every day, these accounts offer access to a full suite of banking channels. These accounts can come in an "all-you-can-eat" structure where you pay one flat fee each month for unlimited own institution banking or pay as you go where you only pay for the transactions you use. It is for this reason that it is important that you assess how you transact before selecting your account.

$       All in One Accounts - An increasingly popular model, All in One accounts offer transactors a day to day account to transact with and an attached high interest savings account. The benefit of having the account as an all in one, rather then separate transaction/online saving account is that the time it takes for money to transfer between the two is almost instant.

    
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Know your habits

Before you choose which account is best for you, write down the various ways you transact. Do you:

  • Use Cash?
  • Use EFTPOS?
  • Use ATM's?
  • Use other institution ATM's? (These are normally the most convenient)
  • Use Cheques?
  • Use Direct Debit?
  • Use Bpay?
  • Overdraw your account?

All of these options can lead to the fees piling up on your account. As a result of know how you use/would like to use your account you can then choose the cheapest account for you.

 
 
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The A to Z of ATMs

ATMs make cash available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, ATMs don't just dispense cash. They can be used to check balances, deposit cash/cheques, even buy concert tickets and pre-paid phone credit!

Just about every transaction account opened in Australia today comes with an ATM card which also gives you access to the Australian EFTPOS (Electronic funds transfer at point of sale) network. Another card option that is becoming increasingly popular is Visa and MasterCard debit cards. More on these later.

The main attribute of ATMs are their convenience and accessibility, however if you don't use your own institutions ATM then this convenience comes at a price. For the first time ever in 2006, other institutions ATMs were used more then own institution ATMs. These other institution ATMs can end up costing you anywhere up to $2.50 so it is important that if you rely on these, that you find an account that can accommodate this fee.


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Debit Cards

The main advantage of debit cards is that they take advantage of global credit card networks like Visa and MasterCard, but allow you to transact directly from your cash account. As a result they are perfect for online purchases and using in stores without the hassle of worrying about credit.

 
   
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