ANZ fiddles with retail fees

Penalty fees are being changed, but not exactly lowered, at ANZ as the bank catches up with reform of this controversial suite of fees instigated several months ago.

ANZ on Friday said it will charge reduced penalty fees each day an account is in breach of the contract terms rather than once, as at present.

So while penalty fees will fall to $6 from $35 (on transaction accounts) and will fall to $20 from $35 (on credit cards), the penalty fees apply day after day, and accumulate, up to a limit of 10 charges per breach each month.

For customers on Centrelink benefits and with a "basic" account for ANZ, the bank has now scrapped the fees altogether.

Other customers with an ANZ Access account will pay a monthly fee of $6, up from $5.

The bank also scrapped more than two dozen fees on long forgotten service options, such as the special clearance of cheque by messenger, clerk mail or telephone. The scrapped fees on this and other, less exotic items were steep, no doubt in order to deter customers though few staff would have known about them anyway.

ANZ will not introduce the new fees until mid December 2009, lagging other major banks for which next month is the common starting date.