Sell your privacy for $100 with BankWest Transaction Account Zero Hero

I have been shopping around to find some solution where I would be able to cut down the cost of my bank transactions to the minimum. My current savings account costs me in terms of maintenance and transactions fees. I'm that kind of person who prefers to do everything if possible via Internet banking and therefore the number of transactions related to my account is high. Nowadays this is very easy and my bank visits are now somewhere around 2 visits per year.

During my exploration journey I have come across a BankWest Transaction Account. The bank's offer for this account is simple:

* No ATM fees Australia wide.
* Unlimited electronic transactions.
* No account fees.

From a first look this account seems to be very promising. No account and ATM fees and Unlimited Transactions. On the second thought you ask your self: "What does it mean Unlimited Transactions !". What is so fantastic about Unlimited Transaction ?. I have the same feature on my current account but it costs me money. I'm sure that many other banks offer the same feature for their customers as well. Unlimited transactions free of charge would make more sense. Anyhow, I was really tempted to get more information and the name of this bank account: "Transaction Account" pushed me even further into the investigation.

I have approached bank's staff and asked more questions in order to get idea what am I dealing with. It turned out that transactions are not free ( except the transactions made within BankWest), as well as to pay a bill it will cost me 50c each. Wow, this is what they call "Transaction Account". However, when I try to reduce my transactions and be little bit more organized, this account would help to save some money, because currently I pay more for account maintenance, than I would pay for transactions with my new Bank west "Transaction Account" and I would not have any ATM withdrawal fees.

Then I said to my self: "OK, lets try it and see what it is about !! so I decided to go forward and open up a joined account with my partner. I and she took out our ID's and went to the separate bank's office to complete the required steps in order to get this account.

Now, the funny part actually started. I thought that this would be an easy step and supplying our names, address and DOB's to the bank staff will suffice. However, it turned out to be complete, personal and credit check exactly like the one you would get when applying for a Mortgage or Personal Loan. Questions relater to:
- gross yearly income
- where do we work
- how long do we work for current employer and also how long did we work for the previous employer
- do we have a assets
- do we own a car
- what is employer's phone number
- etc.

To express my concern about all those questions I have asked them, if they are sure that we are filling up the correct application. The bank staff assured me that this is because "BankWest Transaction Account Zero Hero" gives me the ability to over drawn my account for anything less than $100 and I would no be charged. So therefore, they need to have some kind of assurance for their $100 investment in us. I and my partner looked at each other and could not believe this non-sens. We are going to sell our private information to someone for 100 dollars?

I understand that all businesses should do some kind of research of the marked, but this is very convenient way of doing it . Client will loose all private information for nothing. Doing a credit check for personal loan or mortgage makes sens, but asking me for what number of shoes I wear and where do I work and how much I earn just because there is $100 credit available seems to be big overkill and abuse of personal privacy.