Confessions of a serial switcher

I have a confession to make. I have been disloyal. I have betrayed the expectations of those who counted on my custom. In the cold light of day I left them without a pang of conscience

I am a serial switcher. It is out at last. I have changed electricity providers at least three times in the last decade. Switched car insurance in the past month. And taken out a home loan from a lender who was not my bank.

I’ve had quite a few different mobile phone contracts and thanks to the really simple idea of number portability have chased the best deals with little effort and a handy return

And I have loved pandering to my own sweet selfish interests of not paying a zac more for basic essentials than needs be and putting one in the eye to those who presumed they owned my business.

Each time I was not just seduced by the promises of better savings and services but I was also affronted by the brazen and lazy assumptions I’d remain a rusted on customer for life.

This anti-competitive phenomenon assumes many consumers are too lazy or stupid to see the $11 billion of  savings all Australians could trouser by switching to better value providers be they power companies, supermarkets, banks or insurers.

Yes insurers who are perhaps the most guilty when it comes to bringing you in at what seems a low premium, jacking up the payments year by year and offering desultory discounts for multiple policy holders.

I well remember the disappointment mingled with anger of one  old couple at a consumer forum who had remained loyal to one well known insurer for 25 years.

Every 12 months they renewed without question their car and home and contents policies believing their regular custom would be rewarded by the best price.

Then they saw an advertisement for their insurer offering cover at far lower rates. They called up to avail themselves of the deal and learned the hard way the best prices are to acquire new customers and not retain loyal ones.

They pulled all their business away and now play the market and have more fun, feel more empowered and end up making savings they can put to much better use.

Life insurance can be a minefield. I had one broker, and I can’t recall how he found me, sell me a ‘special price’ bundle of life cover, permanent disability and income protection.

Each year he’d swan around in a new model Lexus to sign me up and each year the premiums would rise and rise. A long battle to find a trustworthy financial adviser paid off and he switched me into better cover at a far lower price.

The broker was furious when he found his fat commissions had shrivelled up. He called up almost in tears demanding to know what he had done wrong. Where could I start?

Last year with the same planner I switched life cover again as the premiums were again getting too high. I know he get’s a cut of the action but I know how much and the better value I get in return.

Sure I’m at the same bank despite my wife’s demands we switch to her credit union. But I need to know what the Big Four are up to , and as a friendly manager found some lost super for me ( without even asking), I might just stay put.

I’ve hung onto the same credit card because apart from very rarely forgetting to pay in time, and getting hit by penalties, I don’t pay any interest and use the points to get a new coffee machine every three years.

So live dangerously. Give it a go. Walk on the wild side and give your lazy providers the flick if they don’t come up to scratch. You too can be a serial switcher and laugh all the way to the bank.