(^58) ABC October 2017 busnews.com.au
FINANCE GRAEME McDONALD
Dollarsandsense
W
hen is a fee a fair fee or just simply
pro¾t making? No matter what you
do in business, and a certain extent in
your personal life, there seems to be a
fee attached.
Use your credit card online or over the phone and a
transaction fee applies. Usually it is declared, and the usual
response to any query about it is ‘the banks are charging
me a fee so I have to pass it on’.
Yes, banks and credit card providers do charge a fee
but in the main it’s nowhere near the fee that you are
being charged. Have you ever gone online, bought tickets
to a show and had them emailed to you to print out and,
for the privilege of it, been charged anything from $5.50
upwards? What the ... I’m using my internet and my
printer and my time. Come on!
In recent times, one of my pet hate fees, the one for
using another bank’s ATM, has now been dropped. Firstly
by the Commonwealth Bank, and shortly after by the rest
of the big banks following suit. It’s about time. Taking
money from another bank’s ATM is, in real terms, no
different from depositing another bank’s cheque through
the bank, and no fee applies to that.
Nowadays everything in the¾nance world is linked,
and your account balance is ‘live’. Basically every bank
is linked to each other at a very high level and they know
what the balance of your account is the moment you put
your card in the machine.
Likewise, your credit history is ‘live’ as well. Miss a
payment, ¾ nance commitment, utility or anything else by
a few days and, depending on the company, you may well
¾ nd it appearing on your credit report the next time you
apply for ¾ nance. You can actually monitor this through
Graeme
McDonald
A member of the
Money Resources
Group
p: 03 8699 5000
f: 03 9690 9484
m: 0401 189 160
e: graeme@
moneyresources.
com.au
Equifax, the national credit reporting body, for a small fee.
They will send you an email advising you of any changes
to your score along with advice of any enquiries.
Now, many people I talk to – typically younger clients –
have a very relaxed attitude to this sort of thing: “It’s only
my gas bill”, “It’s just a car payment, no big deal, I paid
it eventually”. Well it is a big deal now; more and more
companies are relying on credit reports to understand the
true nature of the customer they are lending to. A history
of being late on payments, regardless of where, will affect
your credit score. The lower your credit score, the higher
your starting rate will be. All ¾ nanciers, regardless of their
status in the market, set your rate based on this credit score
and their own rating of the security that’s being offered.
There is a solution to these problems: it’s called
communication. If you are in trouble, speak to the
company involved. If you speak to them prior to the
payment being required, they are more inclined to help –
and will follow you up a couple of weeks down the track.
Whatever you do, don’t ignore the issue and expect it to go
away. Unlike a bad haircut, it’s not going to get better in
two weeks.
Well, enough from me for this month. If you have any
questions or you want to discuss any matter please feel
free to drop me an email or give me a call, I’m always
happy to listen and give my opinion.
The views expressed above are those of the writer and not those of
the Publishers of this magazine. If you want to know more on this, or
you have a suggestion for an article please feel free to email me on
[email protected]. The above information and / or
scenarios are for information purposes and should not be treated as
speci¾ c advice. Please refer to your accountant or ¾ nancial advisor
for information related to your own particular circumstances.
ATM fees are on the way out in Australia but there are more pertinent expenses
for individuals to keep track of, writes Graeme McDonald
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