For many banks and credit unions, monthly fees have become a thing of the past. Here’s a list of transaction accounts that allow you to do your everyday banking without fees:
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Beyond just being fee free many accounts offer perks with very low bars to get them, ING being one of them.
It is almost a dogs breakfast trying to compare one to another including the perks, but anyone researching their options should check and cross check perks that have low bars and good benefits.
For example for a $1,000 pcm deposit and 5 debit/credit card transactions pcm ING gives a 1% rebate on direct debit utiltiy bills (for most utility companies), 5 rebated cash outs for for-fee ATMs, and bonus interest on a linked Maximiser that takes it to a heady (considering 0.1% is common) 1.35% under another easy to manage condition.
As with super, it is not just about fees it is about the total package 
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I use member owned bank P&N Bank. To date I have never been charged a single fee on any of my accounts at all
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My wife and I have a shared Commonwealth Bank of Australia account and for the last 30-odd years we have never paid a single cent in fees (we get interest paid on our balance every quarter), but there are some rules of engagement which work for us:
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We do not use internet banking.
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We do not use cheques.
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We do not need or use transactions at the counters on bank’s premises.
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We do not use mobile phone or apps for any transaction.
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We use ATMs only at reputable locations (always inside buildings).
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We pay 95% of all bills in cash and in person (Post Office, and similar).
In summary, perfect scenario for us.
When we migrated to Australian in early 90-ies, we were financially poor and the banks charged us for not having enough money at the end of each month. So, not only we were quite poor but the bank charged us for it! Tax on poverty. I then declared that I will never allow it again.
Same applies to credit cards. We probably use it just few times a year and no monthly fees have been charged ever.
As others said, look around and make informed decisions on what suits you best.
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I swtched to Macquarie from the Newcastle Permanent because “The Perm” was not doing Apple Pay and for a year had been saying “soon” (its taken them another 4 years to get there). At the time I switched, Macquarie was one of a few banks that seemed to fit my needs. ING was another, cant remember why I didnt go with them. One of the perks of Macquarie which works for me when I want cash (rare) is in using “foreign” not-Macquarie auto tellers, your fee is automatically refunded. That said, I havent used cash for nearly 3 years.
Oh yeah. I forgot. They also give interest no matter how small the balance. eg I received 10c last week!! Rich!
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I have accounts at both Macquarie and ING.
Macquarie has a fairly good online saver rate and no games to play unlike ING. But if one plays ING’s game they are a bit better. The only downside I found with Macquarie is their debit card is only ‘credit mode’ so there is no way to use it as an EFTPOS debit card to escape surcharges when that is even possible. For most I doubt that would be one of their top considerations.
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I’ve actually NO idea about that, didnt know. I use my Apple Watch for all payments these days, and apart from not exposing my DC number to the vendor, I’ve no clue how it all works.
