Latest news with #Centrelink
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Major Centrelink warning as Australia's 'ancient enemy' returns
The ancient enemy is coming back again. Long-term unemployment. As our economy weakens, more and more people are spending longer and longer looking for jobs. Australia recently passed an unenviable milestone. The number of long-term unemployed – those looking for a job for over a year – is now higher than the number of short-term unemployed - those out of work for four weeks or less. RELATED Young Aussie 'gives up' after nearly 100 job rejections Centrelink pension warning for 4.3 million Aussies facing super nightmare Rare 50 cent coin sells for $3,050 due to 'unique' reason As the next chart shows, long-term unemployment had been below short-term unemployment for the last few years, following the economic surge in the pandemic. But now the orange line is snaking back above the blue unemployment can be seen as a normal, natural thing. It is fine for someone to hunt for a job for a few weeks, shaking the great sifter of the job market until it shows a shiny new job to them, one they really want. If your job is seasonal – events, movie-making, etc – then you might find yourself looking for a job often. It happens to people who think they have stable employment too. Your firm can go broke, your project can cancelled, you can be made redundant, etc. And you need to look for a job. That's life. While you're hunting for one, you count as unemployed. Where unemployment becomes a problem is when you can't find the next job. When that period out of work turns from weeks to months to years. That is when 'funemployment' stops being fun. The effects of long-term unemployment on the person experiencing it are well-known. It takes years off your life while decimating your mental health. Long-term unemployment hits us all It is also bad for the economy. The economy is made up of people and their skills. When people are out of work for a long time their skills weaken and wither. Someone who has not had a job for ten years doesn't know half the new tools people are using in the office, doesn't know the safety rules on site, etc. Even if they were once a hotshot they need training now. This adds up. If enough people become long-term unemployed our economy grows even weaker, because we lose those skills. They call this 'hysteresis' and it's a compounding effect in a weakening economy. Not to mention the fiscal cost. There are 800,000 Aussies on the Jobseeker payment, about 54 per cent men. Jobseeker is worth $781.10 a fortnight, with adjustments depending on your circumstances. It's important to remember that not all unemployed people are on Centrelink, and not all people on Jobseeker are unemployed. Some of the people receiving the payment are in work – about 20 per cent earn money - but at levels where their payment is reduced rather than cut off. Meanwhile there are about 600,000 unemployed people, not all of whom get the payment. Some are too young to get Jobseeker, others are unemployed too briefly to bother applying, and others would not qualify by virtue of their own or partner's income, etc. As the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) battles inflation and cools our economy, it is no surprise to see the time people spend on Jobseeker lengthening. The government reports 'exit rates' from Jobseeker and they are falling. People who got on the payment are now less likely to get off it again fast. As our economy slows, the conveyor belt from short-run employment to long-run employment is moving faster. Sign in to access your portfolio
9 News
a day ago
- Business
- 9 News
Banks to refund low-income Aussies more than $93 million
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Major banks will put more than $93 million back in the pockets of low- income customers who have been charged excessive fees, following the latest investigation by the corporate watchdog. Today the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will announce about 770,000 low-income customers who were eligible for cheaper banking fees will be refunded $60 million. The move is the latest development in ASIC's drive for major banks to pay back various account fees to people who were receiving Centrelink payments and other government concessions. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) announced today 770,000 low-income customers who were eligible for cheaper banking fees will be refunded. (A Current Affair) It means banks charging high fees to those who can least afford it will refund more than $93 million to customers, following ASIC's latest bank-fee review. "Despite the improvements banks have made during our surveillance, there is clearly work to be done," ASIC chair Joe Longo said. "It should not take an ASIC review to force $93 million in refunds or make banks assess their processes to ensure the trust and expectations placed in them are justified." ASIC's previous bank-fee report found banks had kept at least two million low-income Australians, who rely on Centrelink payments, in high fee accounts. In its latest report, the regulator cast the net over more banks and found even larger numbers of low- income Australians paying too much, particularly First Nations consumers. "Our latest work has seen the total amount of bank refunds nearly triple to $93 million, and over one million customers moved into low-fee accounts, saving them an expected $50 million in future yearly fees," said ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland. Products and processes across the 21 banks reviewed varied, along with banks' responses. Three of the four banks featured in ASIC's initial report - the ANZ Bank, Westpac and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank - have now committed to provide refunds of bank fees to a broader group of low-income customers who have been in high-fee accounts. Now after the latest review by the watchdog, more than 920,000 low-income customers are in line to receive refunds totalling more than $93 million. banks Australia finance Centrelink CONTACT US
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Over $93 million: Why banks are paying back low-income customers
Banks charging excessive fees to low-income Australians have committed to paying back another $60 million to more than 770,000 customers across the country. The commitment is part of a broader review into financial harm incurred through dishonour, overdraw and account-keeping fees on transaction accounts, released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Tuesday. Following the latest review, banks have now committed to paying more than $93 million in total refunds to more than 920,000 low-income customers. "Despite the improvements banks have made during our surveillance, there is clearly work to be done," ASIC chair Joe Longo said. "It should not take an ASIC review to force $93 million in refunds or make banks assess their processes to ensure the trust and expectations placed in them are justified." Last July, ASIC released a report highlighting excessive fees charged through transaction accounts to low-income First Nations customers, finding at least two million who relied on Centrelink payments had been kept in high-fee accounts. The report also included action taken by the four participating banks — ANZ, Bendigo Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Westpac — including promises of $28 million in refunds and the migration of over 200,000 low-income customers from high to low-fee accounts. Banking practices 'A much wider problem' ASIC's latest report casts a broader net over the banking sector, reviewing the products and processes across 21 banks, including the same four banks as its previous report. Among the other banks included were AMP, Bank Australia, Macquarie, National Australia Bank and Suncorp Bank. It's understood responses were sought from the banks, including how they were responding to recommendations from ASIC's earlier report. "What started as an initiative focused on addressing avoidable bank fees for low-income customers in regional and remote locations, particularly First Nations consumers, revealed a much wider problem affecting customers nationwide," ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said. What did the 2025 report find? According to the latest report, the four banks have paid over $33 million in refunds to the cohort of customers from the previous report — an increase on the $28 million that was promised. The banks also committed to over $60 million in further refunds to more low-income consumers. This includes three of the four participating banks — ANZ, Bendigo Bank and Westpac — committing to around $57 million in further refunds to over 730,000 customers. The approach of these banks was varied, including the types of accounts and fees subject to remediation. Seven additional banks committed to paying back $3.6 million, benefiting an extra 45,000 customers. When it comes to improving customer access to low-fee accounts, ASIC said three of the participating banks had worked to migrate over 815,000 more low-income customers from high to low-fee accounts. This included Westpac, ANZ and Bendigo Bank, while CBA was planning to launch a new nominal fee account. Seven additional banks had reviewed and improved their migration processes, while an extra nine had made it easier to access low-fee accounts, ASIC said. This includes five banks removing the requirement to attend a bank branch to show a Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card, Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card. Nine additional banks have also improved their internal processes to serve First Nations customers, the report says. This included six banks collecting information on customers who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander to inform their service delivery. "Our intervention has forced many banks to take action, but more needs to be done to ensure financially vulnerable consumers are not put in this position again," Kirkland said. "We encourage consumers to challenge their banks to ensure that they are in the best account for their needs. More importantly, we encourage banks to do more to proactively identify low-income customers and move them to low-fee accounts." How have banks responded? A spokesperson for ANZ said it has implemented a number of changes since ASIC's first report last year. "As part of our further work, ANZ has also taken a deliberate decision to expand our remediation payments, leading to a larger cohort of customers being refunded fees and interest. This applies to a broad set of customers, not just First Nations customers," they said. "ANZ believes taking an expansive approach to remediation is the right thing to do. We've already refunded thousands of customers and expect these payments to be completed by mid 2026." Also among ANZ's changes are automatically moving customers who receive particular payments into an ANZ account into a low-fee account, unless they prefer otherwise, improvements to its account opening process for these customers and setting up a dedicated support line for First Nations customers. A spokesperson for CBA said it "acknowledges ASIC's concerns and the importance of fair and accessible banking for vulnerable and concession customers". They said CBA had paid over $25 million to approximately 87,000 First Nations concession customer accounts in "goodwill payments" — not as remediation for any contraventions. Approximately $270 million in fees charged to about 2.2 million low-income customers between July 2019 and October 2024, referenced in the report, were "disclosed to customers and were charged in accordance with their terms and conditions," the spokesperson said. "The concession customer group is a diverse cohort, including customers with varying levels of income, savings and home ownership. "Our approach focuses on delivering suitable options for this broad range of needs, providing sustainable, full-service banking for all Australians — particularly those in regional and remote communities." The spokesperson said plans to migrate customers to its new nominal account are "temporarily paused pending the consideration by the ACCC of the proposed new authorisation for the Banking Code of Practice". SBS News also contacted Westpac and Bendigo Bank for comment.
AU Financial Review
a day ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Westpac, ANZ and Bendigo Bank to refund $60 million in unfair fees
Three Australian banks will pay nearly $60 million in refunds to low-income customers after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission found they charged high account fees to Centrelink payment recipients who could not afford them. The refund adds to $33 million the banks previously repaid welfare recipients living in remote and regional communities with large Indigenous populations.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
One change that could leave Aussies $830,000 better off at retirement
Most people think building wealth is about how much you save or how smart you are with your investing. But what makes the real difference isn't your income, your investment knowledge, or even your budget — it's how early you start. Consider an example of two people with the same goal of growing their money through investing. One starts investing just a few dollars a day from the age of 20. The other waits until they get to age 40, when their financial position is more settled, they're earning more, and they're able to invest a more 'meaningful' amount of $500 monthly. But when we look at the numbers, you can see that by waiting, the damage is done. Even though the late starter is investing more than triple the amount of money, they end up with less than half the amount of money at the end. This is the power of time — it works silently in the background, and if you ignore it, the cost is huge — even if you're doing everything else right. RELATED Expert's 'crucial' money tactic to retire with $2.9 million Centrelink's 'balancing' move could provide cash boost or expose debt Commonwealth Bank's fresh alert for millions over mass text messages The power of time (and compounding) Going back to our example, we've got two people, Emma and James. Emma starts investing $5 daily from the age of 20, and James is our late starter who invests $500 monthly from the age of 40. Because Emma starts early, her money has more time to grow — and that's where the magic of compounding comes even though she's investing less money overall, her money starts growing sooner. And through compounding, Emma benefits from growth on her growth, which cranks up her investment balance over time. Based on the Australian long-term (30-year) average sharemarket return of 9.8 per cent, Emma's $5 daily investment would grow to be worth more than $1.48 million by the time she's 65. For James, even though he's putting away $500 monthly, or more than triple what Emma is investing, he starts 20 years later. By the time he reaches age 65, his money has grown to just under $650,000. This is a solid result, but is $830,000 less — or less than half of the final amount Emma has from her much smaller investment. For James to 'catch up' to Emma given his delayed start, he'd need to invest around $1,250 monthly — or almost 10 times the daily investment amount Emma is putting in — all because he starts later. The cost of waiting It's not about earning more. It's not about investing huge amounts of money. It's about giving your money time to work for you. When you start early, you don't need to be perfect. You don't need to pick some hot stock that takes off. You just need to get started. Small amounts of money, invested regularly and consistently, are how regular people can build a life-changing amount of money. It isn't 'sexy', and doesn't need to be 'risky' — but it is effective. Waiting even a year to get started with investing can cost you a lot more than you think. Delaying by 12 months might not seem like much, but following our example above, waiting just one year to start your $5 daily investment (starting at age 21 vs 20), your final balance drops by $140,000. But it gets worse. If you delay to age 25, that's over $580,000 you'll miss out on. And if you wait until age 30, you're giving up a whopping $940,000 in investment growth. That's the opportunity cost of inaction — it's not just about not investing now, it's about future options you're missing. The earlier you start, the less effort it takes — and every year you wait, the cost of your inaction grows. This is the hidden danger of inertia. Most people don't realise the real cost of waiting, because it doesn't really feel like you're losing money. But you are, because you're giving up future wealth that only time can create for you. That's why time is your greatest asset. The longer you wait, the more effort it will take to catch up, and for most people that gap simply becomes too much — and they end up settling for an outcome well below where they really want to be. This works for anyone And the best part of all of this is that investing $5 daily is something that's possible for almost anyone. It doesn't require a huge income, lots of time, or heaps of experience in investment markets. Instead of stressing about trying to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars, simply automate a small daily investment and let it grow. Thankfully today, technology is making this easier, with dozens of investment accounts that can help you easily automate a regular investment. Follow this approach, and over time your investment growth will outpace how much money you're putting in — and eventually it will do more of the work than you ever could on your own. Most people spend too much time trying to predict the perfect time to invest, or waiting for their financial situation to get more comfortable so investing is 'easier'. But the real winners are the people that crack on and get started, and focus on being consistent over a longer period of time. The wrap Investing doesn't need to be some big, bold action you take once you have heaps of money. It just has to be consistent, and the sooner you start, the more you'll be rewarded. Don't wait until you make more money, or saving is easier, or even until you're more of an investing expert. You just need to make the decision — $5 a day today, or thousands monthly later trying to catch up. Because when it comes to getting ahead, how soon you start is the single thing that will make the biggest difference. Ben Nash is a finance expert commentator, podcaster, financial adviser and founder of Pivot Wealth. Ben's new book, Virgin Millionaire; the step-by-step guide to your first million and beyond is out now on Amazon | Audiobook. If you want some help with your money and investing, you can book a call with Pivot Wealth here. Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, you should consider whether the information is appropriate to your circumstances before acting on it, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a finance in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
