Bank account fees and charges

Bank account fees and charges vary between banks and between bank account products. Here are the most common fees and charges that you will likely see attached to a bank account:

• Bank account ATM fees. Most transaction accounts charge for foreign ATM withdrawals, and while they brag about their large networks and you always plan to use only the free machines, there will inevitably come a time - or many times - when you simply need to use the nearest machine - and get charged upwards of $2 for the privilege. Note that some accounts have wider fee-free networks than others.
• Bank account transaction fees. Many accounts either charge for electronic and EFTPOS transactions, or have a limited number of free transactions. Find a free transactions account.
• Bank account monthly fees. Many, if not most transaction accounts charge monthly fees for the privilege of holding your money. (They typically cover other privileges such as ATM withdrawals, EFTPOS transactions, online transactions and the like.) Hopefully, for that one monthly fee you'll receive unlimited transactions, or a sensible number of limited transactions, which means no unexpected mountains of activity charges.
• No bank fees accounts. These idyllic transaction accounts tend to impose some less idyllic conditions - but if you can meet them, you'll be as close to banking heaven as it gets. You're often looking at a combination of: minimum monthly deposits, limited free transactions and online access only. Show me no fee bank accounts.
• Overdraw charges. The subject of increasing debate, steep penalties of $30 or more are incurred when you run your money account out of moolah.