Affordable
banking

Basic bank accounts

Banking should be affordable, whatever your income or financial situation. That’s why banks offer a range of simple transaction accounts with no account keeping fees, free monthly statements and other useful features. These ‘basic bank accounts’ are designed to help people reduce their banking costs and save more money, and are perfect for low income earners, as well as customers under 18 years old, tertiary students and retirees.

The basic bank account is offered to people on low incomes. Generally, to qualify for a basic bank account, a customer will need to hold a Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, and will usually be asked to pay any income support, family assistance payments or social security benefits they’re entitled to into this account.

Some banks do not have any eligibility criteria and offer a free transaction account to all customers.

For more information on basic bank accounts and how you can apply, visit our Affordable Banking website.

ATM fee-free initiative

As part of an agreement between the banking industry, non-bank ATM providers and the Federal Government, initiated in 2012, many Australians living in selected remote Indigenous communities now have access to a fee-free ATM.

A full list of these ATMs is available on the Commonwealth Treasury website, where you’ll also find an outline of the eligibility criteria for the fee-free initiative, set by the Federal Government.

Participating banks are ANZ, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne, Bankwest, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited, BOQ, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, HSBC, ING DIRECT, ME Bank, NAB, St. George, Suncorp and Westpac.

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