Many people may have used Australian bank cards in other countries, sometimes to return home, and sometimes to travel to other countries.
Perhaps we have not noticed that Australian banks charge extremely high fees for overseas consumption. According to statistics, the annual handling fees and foreign exchange fees used by Australians for overseas credit card consumption are as high as 2 billion Australian dollars!
In this regard, the new fiscal minister Josh Frydenberg made it clear that such charges are too high! He said:
Millions of Australians travel abroad each year, using credit cards or Visa and Master Card, banks abroad and charging far more fees than any other country.
In particular, developed countries such as Europe and America, their citizen travel abroad to use bank card consumption, processing fees are obviously inferior to Australia.
Fees for overseas credit card transactions are reported to have risen from about 1% in the early 2000s to nearly 3%, which may have exceeded the costs banks spend on dealing with foreign exchange transactions.
The Josh Frydenberg has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Council (ACCC) to investigate the banks that charge fees.
According to figures released by the World Bank, Australia is the third-highest exchange rate country in the G-20, after South America and Japan.
Rod Sims, President of ACCC, presented a set of analyses:
At this rate, if an Australian sends 1000 Australian dollars overseas, it will cost an average of 9 Australian dollars more than the British pay the same amount, and 23 more than the United States.
That's a pretty scary number, and Australia's banking institutions have already made a lot of money from their customers.
At the same time, Rod Sims said: "ACCC will examine why Australian credit card companies, including the four big banks, can continue to charge such high fees!"
It is reported that the issues in the ACCC investigation will include:
Pricing of foreign currency exchange services;
The cost of providing foreign currency exchange services;
Nature and extent of competition between companies providing services
How prices are communicated and the factors that limit the effective comparison of prices by consumers
Not only that, there are hidden rules for foreign consumption, and there is a difference between the exchange rate provided by the bank and the real-time exchange rate.
There are suspicions that banks are also making profits in this way.
If through the ACCC investigation and disclosure, banks can reduce overseas consumption charges, which is no doubt good news for consumers! May as well call for this initiative of Australia's government!