Sad to close bank accounts

I went into SuncorpMetway today at lunch time and closed all the bank accounts and credit cards that I had with them. The primary account was one I opened in about 1982, when I was 14, and I've had the same PIN, and known the account number by heart these last 24 years.

I had very mixed emotions: relief, sadness, nostalgia, elation, among others - a much stronger brew than I had expected. Back in the day (until the mid 90s really) I paid no fees to have accounts with them, and earned interest on minimum daily balances on every cent I had in there (up to 9 or 10% at the height of the interest rates "we had to have" - and BTW, I believed Paul Keating on that score). I could withdraw cash for free from any ATM around the country that had a CashCard logo, and it was the first financial institution that didn't make you fill in forms - just line up, and the cashier would swipe & print the details, and all you had to do was sign.

The service has got a lot more expensive since then - and more mixed in quality as well... the last straw was when I was talked into switching to a new credit card "product" which supposedly had a lower interest rate... what the didn't tell me was that there were more fees on everything, and that the internet banking service was severely restricted. Previously the credit card was just another account, and I could do everything from it. But the next card didn't allow BPAY or future dated transactions... which I use plenty.

Now I'm back in the arms of a not-for-profit organisation.... Heritage Building Society, and I'm excited that they consider cross-subsidisation (in favour of the small account holder, rather than against them) to be a good thing!