Helping you to save on fees day by day, the St.George Complete Freedom Student Debit Card and transaction account charges no monthly fees, as long as you are under 21, or a student or apprentice. You will also pay no ATM withdrawal fees when using major bank ATMs here in Australia, or when using any of the 50,000+ ATMs within the Global Alliance network.

What’s great?

To help you work out whether the Complete Freedom account from St.George is right for you, we’ll take a look at its main features and fees.

You Can Save Every Day

You want an easy way to access your money, but you don’t want to pay through the nose for the privilege? No one wants to throw money away on fees, especially when they’re young. Which is why the St.George Complete Freedom account is a great find. Not only can you use its Visa Debit card to pay for stuff with your own money, you will pay no monthly fees as long as you are under 21, or a student or apprentice.

Aside from monthly fees, you can also save on ATM withdrawal fees when you withdraw cash at the ATM. Whether you are using any of the major banks’ ATMs here in Australia, or any of the ATMs within St.George’s Global Alliance network, you will pay no ATM withdrawal fees (although bear in mind, other fees may apply).

You Can Access Your Own Money

When you use a credit card, you typically pay an annual fee, plus interest on your balance when it carries over month to month. When you use a debit card, such as the St.George Complete Freedom Student Debit Card, you use only your own money, with no interest or ongoing fees to worry about.

You can shop online, you can tap and go at the checkout, you can withdraw cash. You can do pretty much everything you would do with a credit card, with fewer potential costs to cover.

Your Can Keep Your Money Safe

It’s your money, so you’re probably quite attached to it. Which is why St.George provides a fraud money back guarantee. With this guarantee, you will receive a full refund of any money taken from your account if you are a victim of fraud and tell the bank about it straight away.

You Can Keep Track of Your Transactions

It’s also likely you want to be able to monitor your transactions, so you know exactly what is coming into and going out of your account. That’s where St.George’s award-winning mobile banking app comes into play. Here are some of the features you may find useful:

• Spend Tracker: Spend Tracker groups your transactions into categories, making it easy for you to monitor your spending, and create changes where needed.
• Card Lock: Misplaced your card? Accessing Card Lock, you can instantly lock your card for up to 15 days, giving you a chance to find it.
• Cardless Cash: With Cardless Cash, you can withdraw cash from St.George, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne or Westpac ATMs using just your phone.
• Alert Notifications: By setting up SMS or email alerts, you will always know where you stand with your account.
• Beem It: Link your card with the Beem It app to pay or get paid by anyone, anytime, securely and in real time.

You Can Pay With Apple Pay

And if that isn’t enough functionality for you, you can check out Apple Pay as an option. Simply sync your card to Apple Pay for a faster checkout online and in store.

You Can Get Something Back

St.George is currently offering $40 cashback to new accountholders who open an account by 24th January 2022 and within 30 days of account opening deposit $500 and make 5 eligible debit card purchases. Yep, it’s that easy. After making the deposit, you will receive the $40 cashback into your account, which you can then spend as you like.

Note, this offer is not available to applicants who currently hold or who have held a transaction account with St.George Bank, Bank of Melbourne or BankSA, or who have benefitted from this offer in the past.

What’s worth considering?

So, we know there are no monthly fees to cover, and no ATM withdrawal fees when using participating ATMs. But, there are other fees to be aware of. Outside of the bank’s ATM network, you will pay a $5 ATM withdrawal fee to access your cash. The bank also charges a dishonour fee and overdrawn fee, but these can be avoided with smart account management.

When using your card overseas, or at overseas retailers when shopping online, you will pay a 3% foreign currency conversion fee, although that type of fee is not unusual with debit cards.

Why should you choose it?

If you are under 21, or a student or apprentice, the St.George Complete Freedom account for Young Adults and Students could be well worth looking into. You can use your own money to pay with the St.George Complete Freedom Student Debit Card, while effectively managing your transactions using the bank’s app. You can save on monthly fees, helping to keep your outgoings to a minimum, while getting your hands on a neat $40 cashback.