How you lose money through laziness

When was the last time you went through all your transactions with a fine-tooth comb?

The truth is that most of us don’t have the time or the patience, but this laziness means you could be losing money in unnecessary debits.

Some of the biggest culprits are fees. No, not just those pesky ATM fees we know are sometimes an unavoidable evil, but all the different fees that can add up across your loans and bank accounts.

RateCity has compiled a list of the most common types of fees and the average amount you could be being charged without realising it.

Home Loan Fees

Most people will be aware of the different types of fees you can be charged with a home loan. However, a lot of these can be avoided as there are products available that do not charge a variety of fees.

RateCity has found the following information about the different types of fees for currently available home loans:

Discharge Fees:

• 4518 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $289.36
• 69 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Valuation Fees:

• 940 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $230.39
• 90 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Annual Fees:

• 2885 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $258.60
• 26 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Total Upfront Fees:

• 3131 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $509.76
• 74 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

While avoiding every single fee may not be possible, if you take the time to research different home loans you can avoid costly payments. For example, choosing a home loan that offers no annual fee can save on average $7,758 over thirty years.

Check out RateCity’s home loan comparison table which helps you to compare products via fees. For example:

Top home loans with zero estimated up front fees

Car Loan Fees

Another way you could be losing money through laziness is by not examining the fees charged in a car loan. RateCity has found the following information about the different types of fees for currently available car loans:

Application fee

• 216 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $200.46
• 47 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Missed penalty fee

• 164 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $20.15
• 51 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Ongoing annual fee

• 79 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $97.06
• 53 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Personal Loan Fees

If you’re looking to take out a personal loan, it’s best you carefully examine the fee structures and compare them against other available loans so you don’t get caught paying more than you need to.

RateCity has found the following information about the different types of fees for currently available personal loans:

Application fee

• 303 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $181.51
• 13 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Missed penalty fee

• 228 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $20.57
• 13 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

Ongoing annual fee

• 118 loans available with this fee
• Average fee cost is $85.28
• 95 per cent of products available have ZERO fees

More than half of personal loans available will not charge you an ongoing annual fee, so it’s important that you identify these loans before you commit to one.

Our RateCity personal loan comparison tools can be filtered by fees. For example:

Top personal loans with zero ongoing fees

Savings Account Fees

Another place you may be losing money without realising it is through monthly account keeping fees for your savings accounts.

The percentage of products with zero fees is around 99.9%, however there are some savings accounts available that do charge you monthly fees at an average of $4.85. As this type of fee is a lot less common, it would be reasonable to look elsewhere if your savings account charges you monthly.

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