Consumers may have themselves to blame for missing out on $6.1 billion in annual savings from the Big Four banks.

Switching home loans and other borrowings to cheaper providers can save customers big bucks but general laziness gets in the way, according to Infochoice.

The financial comparison firm indicated that home owners who had a mortgage with the big four banks could save $5.6bn on their home loans.

The quarterly cost-of-banking research report also found that there was a huge $275 million to be saved on credit cards by taking business to cheaper competitor, and a whopping $482m on other financial lending, such as car loans.

Annual banking costs could be cut by 20 per cent, or $4,300 according to the report.

"The real anomaly is that, while the four major banks offer increasingly less competitive products, they continue to increase their market share," Infochoice chief executive Shaun Cornelius said.

 Funding pressures that exists in the non-bank sector have enabled the major banks to get ahead.

Plus, mergers and takeovers such as the Commonwealth Bank acquisition of Bankwest and Wesptac’s takeover of St George bank, have resulted in the Big Four securing more than 90 per cent of new mortgage business.

Mr Cornelius points out that the major banks are much more expensive than their smaller rivals when it came to overall costs of banking, including service and transaction fees, ATM fees and interest rates.

Despite the major banks having access to cheaper sources of funding, such as the lower fee to use the federal government’s wholesale funding guarantee, because of their higher AA credit ratings, they continue to be more expensive to consumers.

Savings from switching home loans can amount to several thousands of dollars per year, and while there were costs involved in switching, most can switch for less than $1,000 with only a few experiencing higher costs.

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