As of July 1st 2012, the federal government has made it much easier for Australian¹s to switch their everyday transaction account over to another bank.

Historically, we all may have had more than one transactional bank account. But now the times have changed, the burden of having to stop direct debits from one bank account to another is no longer required.

Here is how it works. You select which transactional account you want to keep open whether or not your transactional account is with a bank, building society or credit union.

The process is simple as contacting the financial institution (bank, building society or credit union ) you want to stick with and ask them to contact your other financial institutions. They can request a list of any regular direct debits or credits which occurred over the past 13 months from that account. This will give you the opportunity to make a decision on what direct debits/credits you want to transfer across. If you decide to change your current arrangements, the financial institution you wish to change those direct debits/credits across to will help you switch them across.

If you think the process is hard, think again.   All that is required to make the changes is a signature which will authorise the financial institution to contact the relevant organisations with your new transaction account details.

This power has now shifted across to the consumer giving them the choice to switch without the hassle to make the necessary changes.

Finally, if your current financial institution is charging you fees you no longer want to pay then why not switch to a lower fee account or even better no fee account.

Kris Bondin is the Managing Director of Bills to Pay. As a qualified CPA accountant, Kris wanted to make a positive change to people’s lives when it came to their finances.

Bills to Pay was established to help both individuals and families carefully manage their money with the ultimate goal of helping people get to a healthier financial position.