Declutter your banking to save time and money

If you’re finding it difficult to monitor your accounts, it may be time to straighten them out, or in finance terms – consolidate your banking. It’s sure to bring flexibility to your banking as well as saving you time and money.

Start by bringing all your accounts to the same place. This will make organising your money easier and give you more control over your finances, says Nicolas Emery, head of deposits and transactional banking at ME.

“Consolidating your banking needs can simplify your life,” he says. “It’s easy to lose track of where your money is going when you have accounts scattered across different banks. Once you lose track, it’s harder to budget and discipline your spending and saving.”

Getting rid of unnecessary complexity in your banking is a good idea.

Keeping tabs on multiple accounts requires more time and effort than necessary, Emery says.

“Having multiple banking products means managing a range of different repayments dates, dealing with a mountain of statements and facing a raft of varying interest charges and fees,” he says.

“It can all become confusing, time consuming and challenging to manage.”

A major advantage of consolidating is being able to do your banking in one online portal. Some banks have tracking applications built into their portals that monitor savings and categories of spending.

Best of all, keeping your hard-earned in one bank could save you money, says Emery.

“Many banks have loyalty programs that waive fees if you bring all your products over to them,” he says.

“Having multiple banking products with different fees and charges scattered across a number of institutions could work out to be more expensive.”

Consolidating bank accounts may seem like a time-consuming task, but banking reforms enforced from July 2012 mean it’s now easier to switch banks. Emery says the new “tick and flick” reforms removes the burden of having to edit the details of all your automatic debit and credit transactions.

Switching to ME is easy and cost-effective. ME offers a range of personal bank accounts, including the EveryDay Transaction Account, which gives you convenient and flexible access to your cash with no monthly account-keeping fees.

With ME your money can be withdrawn without charge from more than 3000 ME, Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA ATMs across Australia.

Customers who open their first EveryDay Transaction Account also receive 5 per cent cash-back on PayPass™ Tap & Go purchases for 6 months from account opening. This offer has recently been extended until May 1 and can help you save even more as you consolidate your accounts.

This content was sponsored by ME. Conditions, fees and charges apply on EveryDay Transaction Account. Consider if this product is appropriate for you. For more information, go to mebank.com.au or click the logo below: