What a pain for you. But speaking of banks, we have recently closed a few a/cs with CBA. They leave you holding on the phone for absolutely ages. We had money on deposit and the rates were very low, so after a lot of research, we have opened some accounts with Great Southern Bank. They are actually a not for profit credit union.
So far very good, problem is they are in Queensland so no branches in WA. But they answer the phone very quickly, it took me a while to get my head round their different accounts, but we have two saver a/cs. You need to add $250 per month, which is fine for us. But what I didn't realise was that if you make a withdrawal during the month and don't top up to your previous balance, the interest rate drops to their basic 0.10% so you lose your extra 4.75% interest for that month. Now I have got my head round it, this is fine. We also opened a joint a/c for a slightly lower interest rate, which we will use for everyday payments.
They have a secure messaging service as well, which is good. There is a lot to read, but they are rated very highly.
I have not applied for a credit card, we still have VISA and AMEX for now.
We also previously opened a/cs with Rabobank, but what I find annoying is that you have to link it to CBA eg. You cannot even transfer between acs, without putting the money back to CBA first. Their rates are good but this is annoying.
