They are offering 5.11%p.a. variable rate on their new USaver High Interest Savings Account.
About USaver
Get a great rate, and the flexibility to transfer your money anywhere, anytime - with USaver. You can even set up different Savings Buckets for each of your savings goals, track your progress & make regular contributions with an Automatic Savings Plan.
Referrer and referee each receive $10 after referee makes 5 settled card purchases within 30 days.
I had the account open last Friday. It was the quickest one without any paper work and "my money box" VDOs were so interesting that I watched all of them at once. However, there are two issues I have. I rather want to speak publicly here as Gerd probably answers quicker and clearer than the customer service system and you guy may want to know the problems as well.
Firstly, if you go to http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/savings-account/ubank/u… and click "show all detail". You will see a green tick on direct debit. I was misled by this. I though that I'll be able to debit UBank account for my credit card and mobile phone bill. Well, my account was already opened and I am happy about 5.11% (+.1% ASP) interest rate. My concern is other people might fall into the same trap!
Secondly, but more importantly, the date recording system seems weird to me. If you do a transaction to credit your UBank account today, it seems to be IMPOSSIBLE to credit any money in today. This sounds strange. Isn't it?. But it's probably true since I did two tests on it. If you want to make a deposit by debiting your account using "automatic saving plan" (ASP), the system will ask you to put a date greater than today, no matter you do this during banking hour or after hour.
I also tried a direct credit to the UBank account. I transfered my money from CBA to UBank. I did the transaction in normal banking hour and CBA should forward the info to UBank by the same day. Unlike other banks (which I've tested), Ubank recorded the transaction on the following day. So one day interest is missing. Will it be better if you don't direct credit your Ubank account at all, but rather use ASP instead so that you don't lose one day interest? For example, instead of crediting you salary into UBank which the money will be credited to you account on the following day, you can credit it to any transaction account and use ASP to take the money to UBank which will be recorded on the same day.
This account works in the same way as all other online savings accounts. Direct Debit means that you can login to Ubank and ask it to take money from an external account and it will give you interest on the transaction date as it is aware that the money will be coming.
If you transfer money via CBA to Ubank it goes overnight, the same as if you paid your friends ANZ account. Ubank does not get the money until the following day and they then put the money in your account on that day. For it to go in the same day you transferred you would need to send it RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) which your bank would charged you anywhere from $15-$30 for.
Yes, the term "Direct Debit" is sometimes confusing. However, this information is from infochoice, and in their way of presenting information, I believe that it means whether the account is allowed to be debited or not.
I used to transfer money from CBA to several banks but not ANZ. The money is available on the following day, but the recorded date is the day I made the transaction at CBA. This means no interest is missing. I don't care when the money become available, but I concern about the date recorded in the system as the interest will be calculated based on this information.
Bank West does a good job in term of " transfer $". You are earning interest from the date if you direct debit $ from your linked account even your $ is still at another bank. ( dont know if Ubank can do the same thing).
I don't think so. As I said before "If you do a transaction to credit your UBank account today, it seems to be IMPOSSIBLE to credit any money in today."
I was talking about " bankwest', not ubank
Ubank has improved their system. You will not lose one day interest rate from direct credit.
On you internet banking, you will see two columns-Statement Date and Transaction Date. Though the transaction date is the day after, but the statement date is the day direct credit takes place and you will earn an interest from that date.
I looked into this product and its pretty good in terms of convinience and reliabilty and excellent customer service. I tried out their services and only found 3 things that could be improved in terms of security. Its fair to assume that anyone who opens this account will intend to place their entire savings (say $25000).
The daily limit to withdraw is $20000 which is extremely high as in case your account was hacked you will face a bit hit and both the ubank and you are in for a bit liability. Most banks have $5000 as daily limit (in commsec cash account you can configure to any number) which will minimise the loss. And also give time to react with the alert services avaialble on ubank website (that service is pretty good).
For their alert services (you can set up to get sms and/or email when a credit/debit above certain amount has been made. However, it will be good to have the sms security feature i.e. you have to provide the security code send to your mobile to update the limits. That ensure you always know when your limits have been changed or there is any activity on your account via email and sms. Otherwise if someone hacks your account they can transfer the money out without you knowing by easily changing the limits to an high amount.
Lastly, in terms of breaking in the entire security model of the website revolves around sending the security code to the phone. This sounds pretty secure. However, at this cyber age it makes you wonder whether it is possible to intercept someones sms messages. I found some pages on google which suggest that you possibly could (
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070621161253AA…
http://www.google.com.au/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.moz… ).
So, it seems that it is a long shot but I wouldn’t think its impossible given that some people can hack into most secure government websites. Based on that I would personally feel more comfortable where ubank could have option of only transaction money to one sing le account nominated by you. That is true for rest of online saver accounts offered by the other banks (bankwest, hsbc, etc). They only allow you to link a single account to your online saver account. That way the hacker has to go through security systems of 2 different banks in order to steal the money.
I must say I am thinking of worst case scenarios. But its just me. UBank offers roughly 0.6% more compared to bankwest. Using simple interest its roughly extra $150 before tax on saving of $25000 that you would get if you put your money in bankwest at 4.5%. So, if upon the user to work out if that $150 a year is worth for an extra piece of mind. Let me know if issues I raise are unreasonable. These are just my 2 cents after trying out the account.
There's always a compromise between security, functionality, convenience, cost/complexity, etc. and it's difficult to configure them in a way that satisfies everyone. I think UBank has struck a pretty good balance.
People who prefer a single linked account are hardly starved for choice, and whether it's inherently more secure is debatable. For example, a linked account change for a BankWest online savings account performed by snail mail doesn't trigger an alert.
Folks - thanks for having a detailed discussion on our new product. We're taking some good notice of it in terms of further improvement opportunities.
Speak soon,
Gerd
yeah, another friend also picked up ubank feature of "transfer to any" and decided not to join..
i rang up earlier and the guy i spoke to was quite good. the only problem i had was that when he asked for my details, at the end of the convo, he asked for my security code. wouldnt my name, dob, address etc be sufficient considering i was only asking a basic question. it wasnt like i was getting a new password or something
I just opened an account. I like the layout etc but it is very confusing. I can't even work out how to deposit money into the account!! Any ideas?.. i know dumb question.
Hello -
here are two ways of depositing funds in your USaver:
Use the BSB and Account number to initiate transfer from another bank account (eg via internet banking or branch transfer). The BSB and account number appear in your account list on the first screen after you login
Set up a linked account and then initiate transfer from the linked account to USaver from within ubank.com.au
To do this, select Manage My Accounts link on the left after logging in to ubank.com.au
We will then send a "penny credit" to your linked account with a refernce number in the transaction description. Once the penny credit arrives in the linked account, you will have to return to ubank.com.au and enter that reference number. This is to ensure that the linked account is actually yours (otherwise you could debit other people's accounts).
Once set up you can initiate transfers to/ from your linked account easily from ubank.com.au
Hope this helps.
If you'd like more assistance, feel free to call 13 30 80 24/7
Speak soon
Gerd
I set up ASP on Tuesday to start on Wednesday. It is now the third business day since the money is credited to my account.
The amount is still on hold. When will it become available?
In the account detail section, it still appear to be 5.11%. The ASP I set up is not less than $100 a month. This should give me .10% right? Why is it still 5.11%?
I called them up regarding similar issue. They mentioned that they hold the amount for 4 days due to Compliance (Anti-Money Laundering requirements) as we are doing a direct debit from linked account. I guess that makes sense. So, it doesn't make much difference as you are still getting the interest from day 1. Otherwise, you can simply transfer money from your other bank into this one. That's a normal approach anyways. But then you loose one day's worth of interest.
add one more question to this Auto Saving Plan bonus rate..
if I set up an ASP, but I transfer some extra money outside of ASP to USaver, what will be the interest rate for this 'extra' money? 5.11% or 5.21%?
look at the clock now and have to anticipate this question to be answered next week..Wish everyboday have a good weekend!
I am not a ubank representative but I think I can answer your question. Firstly, bonus interest that you will get will be 5.12% not 5.21% (i.e. 0.01% on top of 5.11%). Also, as long as you have ASP setup for mimimum $100 a month, you will receive 5.12% interest on your balance. So, the extra money will get that bonus 0.01% interest.
I have done quiet intense research on their product. It's pretty good. However, personally I wouldn't transfer my saving there because of the 'transfer to any' feature. I prefer it to be only linked on one account. UBank totally missed that option while designing the product. The whole point of savings account is that you don't really intend to transfer money that often. I am pretty sure that are quite a few people who would agree.
Hello - the interest rate for accounts that have an ASP of at least $100/ month linked to them is 5.21% p.a. for the entire balance up to $150,000 (ie regardless of whether the balance was built via the ASP or with lump-sum deposits).
You can have multiple accounts with a different ASP linked each and the bonus rate applies to each one of those.
Speak soon,
Gerd
My ASP already started on Wednesday. However, when I log in and go to Accounts->Account Details->Select Account:->Ubank Saver A/C->Submit
I get this "Interest Rate Applicable: 5.11"
I just wonder when will it change to 5.21%? or it will not change at all?
@SummerMan: Hello - I'm actually not sure myself :)
I'll find out though …
Either way, don't worry, you'll get your bonus interest as long as you qualify.
Speak soon,
Gerd
Looks great! Great Service! I am happy to transfer my money to Ubank now :)
I am also curious about SummerMan's question. Does anyone else here open ASP, and what's your experience?
I also agree with goblin5566 that we need some more security when the money is to be transferred. Maybe a txt message will do good?
@jpeng: Hello - UBank uses SMS based "second factor authentication" for money transfers.
Speak soon,
Gerd
this is a bad deal at this time. we need more consumer spending to save our economy.
WTF? I was singing praises at how great the signup process was at UBank.
But this has got to be the worst signup process out of any bank I have been with.
I recieved a letter today saying I personally had to go out to a participating aust post to show ID, otherwise I can't withdraw any money. Why can't I just scan my ID and send it in?
This is pathetic, and no where in the sign up process did I see I had to do this.
Hold on and clam down… I received that too.
I thought you only need to do it if you havn't did it online yet…
I'll try to withdraw $10 and see if it work…
MY BAD
Sorry, it's all good, didn't read it properly. If you provided your details online you don't have to do anything else. I just saw the enclosed form and jumped to conclusions.
Hello folks - I'll ask the team to look at that letter again. It seems to be confusing, so we can probably make it clearer.
Speak soon,
Gerd
Sorry, it's not confusing, but you did need to read all the pages to know what you had to do… I just saw the form on its lonesome and thought the worst :P
Perhaps it could be made clearer by saying it on the form itself?
Not necessary though, as I see it's probably just me and not reading it all.
@applebyte: Hello - we're changing the letter to only send the relevant identification clause to people who haven't done it alrerady.
Speak soon
Gerd
Thats good we can ignore that online verification. Just set up/confirmed that ASP for the extra interest. Really looking forward to getting nearly double the interest for a while!
This plus my $0 credit card really makes your money work for you, so to speak [with no risk compared to shares etc].
Gerd,
I have opened a USaver account and set up ASP for $100 every month. If I open another account with the same name, will both accounts get the extra 0.1% interest?
Or do I need to have an ASP of $100/month for each account?
Cheers
I think it's for each A/C and the limit of $150,000 is for each A/C as well.
Gerd,
On another note, if I direct credit my salary into my USaver account which is at least $100/month, do I still need to have ASP to get the extra interest?
Cheeers
Sure. You need to set up ASP only to get 0.1% bonus
Correct. But a good question, I'll look into whether we'd be able to recognise salary deposits as regular ASP-type deposits
Gerd
Can you actually get a monthly statement or can you only get the transaction history online.
went to my post office yesterday. Presented my driver's license, ubank form and uni student ID card. However, Student ID was rejected by post office since it is not recognised on their system. Lucky me had medicare card with me. Got the form signed and sent off. Maybe Gerd can please look into that.. I already lodged a complaint with Aus Post. thanks :)
You could have signed up online and done online verification through UBank directly, instead of going to the post office.
You only need to have 2 of the followings for online verification of UBank:
* Australian Passport
* Medicare Card
* Tax File Number
* Employment Visa (Foreign Passport)
* Be enrolled with Australian Electoral commission
Some quick thoughts / suggestions / possible improvements :
* SMSed security code should say what it is for (e.g. transfer to account Y, or set up an ASP from account X).
* There doesn't seem to be a very quick way to move money to/from the linked accounts. I can enter all the details manually on the "Pay anyone" page (but that's manually re-entering all the same info that has been entered & verified before as a linked account). Or I can set up a "One off transfer" on the "Link accounts page" (but the one-off transfer can only be for tomorrow, thus losing a day's interest, and it seems like it can only transfer in, not out). An easier way to transfer immediately in & out would be a good user improvement (or it is already there and have I missed this?)
* If you set up a one-off transfer, it should default the date to tomorrow (since that's presumably going to be a sensible default value).
Other than these few very minor quibbles, Ubank is a great service, and I'm enjoying using it & think it's a great aid to savings. Positive vote from me.
Great. No problems setting up account. All done online.
ID check,
Linked account,
Automatic Saving Plan,
SMS confirmation — all no problems.
Except… the site is so slow. The graph in the middle is nice, but relies on Flash. And Flash on the Mac… tedious. Also apart from the account balance, there isn't much other information on the account window. I then have to open yet another window to "Manage My Accounts".
Other than that, it works well.
I concur, there's no need to use Flash. Takes up more bandwidth and uses more of the computer's resources.
A good user-interface design would show the options for "Manage My Accounts" immediately after log in.
ubank replied that the bonus .1% start to apply the following calendar month after setting up the ASP.
Oh no! It's unfair. Isn't it?
In the following calendar month, the rate might fall and you might consider other place to put your money in. 5.21% is just a lie?
Hello - we need to make sure the ASP money actually makes it into customers' accounts. And because interest is paid monthly, the next month is the earliest this is possible.
The ASP is really designed for people who plan on saving regularly towards a specific goal.
Speak soon,
Gerd
But infochoice advertises your rate as 5.21% (including bonus rate). Who will responsible for it if this is not true?
The interest rate is going to climb up soon and may help with this.
However, if UBank reduces the rate before next month, 5.21% advertisement will be a lie. Isn't it? Since no one will ever get the advertised rate.
Hello - UBank advertises the current USaver rate as 5.11% p.a.
We also define the bonus as 0.10% p.a. on top of the prevailing rate of the time.
Unfortunately we don't control 3rd party sites' content, but I'll look into Infochoice's rate display rules, and we'll get in touch with them if required.
Speak soon,
Gerd
I'm sure that you can do something about it. I check infochoice everyday and infochoice is sometimes quicker than banks in changing the rate! Some banks leave high rate advertised on their website for a while, but infochoice update the change immediately.
One more thing is that Ubank now have a direct link from infochoice. It means something. Initially they don't provide such a link!
Hello - the issue was that Infochoice display the "maximum rate" in that field and we can't control their data structure. This is because many banks have the "intro" rate and the ongoing one. That said, we're talking to them to do our best.
Gerd
Thanks Gerd. It doesn't matter as we are receiving 5.21%. It have been proven to be true.
just opened my account.. i agree, no need flash and fancy stuffs… and why need to open another window to manage our account? hope ubank can keep the rate high. thanks
My first ASP payment was taken out of my account on friday and still hasn't cleared. Why does it take so long? My previous deposits (non ASP deposit) took 2 days max.
It takes 1 week for ASP to clear, even though it was taken out by my bank on day 1.
I would concur with others about the security of the ubank website. $20,000 daily limit, even though SMS two-factor authentication, seems to be too high for comfort. Secondly, there is no receipt if you make any payment from the account. Ie, the payment transaction will show up in your transaction history, but no unique sequence number or receipt number will be used (which I found a bit worrying) given all other internet banking from other banks (including NAB's own internet banking) issues receipt number for transactions.
Greg, is uBank going to do anything to address these concerns?
Hello -
We're actually getting a whole range of feedback from risk settings being "too conservative" to them being "not conservative enough". It's hard to serve all equally but we're looking for the consensus.
The receipt number hasn't come up before. It doesn't provide any additional security or traceability. All transactions can be fully traced by us if need be.
Speak soon,
Gerd
I set up a new USaver account and have been depositing some money every day for close to a week now.
Ubank shows the deposits made on the weekend were not added to the account, till the Monday.
I thought Friday's transfer is suppposed to be listed as being banked on Saturday
Saturday as Sunday
etc …
I think you'll find that they run daily "batch" update processing 5 nights / week, Mon-Fri.
There will be a "close-off" time-of-day, after which any transactions won't be processed until the next working-day's update.
Transactions will still display via the "enquiry" files, but aren't processed to the "master" file until run through the daily update.
\_/7
Hello -
the Australian banking system runs on working day batches only, so we're not able to clear anything on the weekend - as much as we'd like to :)
Speak soon,
Gerd
Sadly no, I don't mean I have to wait till Monday to see everything went through okay.
I mean, I can see deposits 11/9, 12/9 … then 3 deposits on 15/9.
I was expecting to see deposits 11/9, 12/9, 13/9, 14/9 and 1 deposit on 15/9.
:(
Can anyone suggest a long term saving account that can be opened in a child's name.
UBank has an 18 and over requirement.
No UBank for me; they suggested I open in my name, but then i need to pay tax on any interest.
Try Bankwest or Suncorp or go to infochoice for more infomation.
Possibly ANZ will waive fees for a child's savings account … I'm not sure though. I haven't looked into their terms and conditions recently.
CBA have a statement account for -18yo, with nil fees - "Youthsaver".
http://www.commbank.com.au/personal/accounts/youthsaver/defa…
It pays "bonus interest" for each month with a deposit + nil withdrawls.
\_/7
CBA pays 3.01% with at least 1 deposit, no withdrawals
Suncorp pays 3.75 with at least $20 per month combined deposit and one withdrawal allowed
Sounds good.
Any fees on the Suncorp A/C??
\_/7
Hello -
you need to get proper tax advice of course, but as far as I know you are liable for tax as long as you "control" the account even if it's in your child's name. Better be careful.
Speak soon,
Gerd
has anyone else had trouble accessing the ubank account in the past 24 hours?
I've got UBank service back now.
I put in their address and the browser (Firefox on Windows XP) would wait without displaying anything. I tried refreshing and typing the address in again a few times.
I got the same result with IE.
I got the same result hours later.
I called them on the phone; they were very friendly and logged a call for me that there was a service outage in Melbourne (even though they could not see it).
That was yesterday.
This morning it's back to normal. :P
Also tried doing a pay anyone (UBank to a Comsec Investment Account). Transaction entered around 3pm. The money showed in my destination account the next day.
Plus it's possible to do Pay Later transactions as well.
Allowing for the transactions over the weekend being delayed till Monday … it might be possible to set up fund transfers to BPAYing accounts, 5 days before the bill is due and have the BPAYing account set up to pay the bill 2 days before the bill is due …
Though that's attempted at an individual's own risk.
Hello folks - there was a Telstra network outage that day that affected many consumers and businesses - apologies!
Gerd
Hi Gerd,
Usaver is good and I like it. The only problem is UBank does not have transaction accounts, it will take days to transfer my fund around. If Ubank offers a good transaction account like ING Orange (or even better) than it makes perfect combination.
The other side of the coin is that it will be too good. If it offer such account, Ubank will become a market monopoly. You know, after that, bad thing can happen.
We'll try to do the "better" one … :)
Speak then,
Gerd
Their page so slow… and freeze for so many times i try to log in
and definitely nothing is wrong with my internet connection as i got 600kb download speed atm
they need to work this out… unsatisfied
Hello -
we're aware of first time speed issues and the team have deployed changes a couple of days ago that should make the load much much faster.
Sorry about the issue,
Gerd
Oops, ubank.com.au is temporarily unavailable
Unfortunately we’re undergoing maintenance or experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment.
As a result, the services available on the UBank website are temporarily unavailable. We'll be back as soon as possible.
We realise that this is a bit frustrating, but the good news is that our Direct Banking Centre is always open. Please give us a call anytime on 1300 822 660 (or +61 2 8756 0855 if you’re calling from overseas) and speak to a real person.
=========
again… This happens so often.
Hello -
I'm unaware of this (normally get a SMS when a system is down). I'll check with the team and see what's the issue.
Speak soon,
Gerd
It should work. Why not try again, and if no success let me know?
Thanks
Gerd
I use Safari/Firefox on Mac. It still doesn't work. Please check it out.
@SummerMan: Sorry still looking into it. No problems have been reported and I just tried myself with success.
Regards
Gerd
@ggschenkel: Safari can’t find the server.
Safari can’t open the page “https://www.ubank.com.au/ub/portlets/login_validate/Oblogin_validate.jsp” because it can’t find the server “www.ubank.com.au”.
Safari can’t find the server.
Safari can’t open the page “https://secure2.ubank.com.au/ub/web/customer-home” because it can’t find the server “secure2.ubank.com.au”.
Server not found
Firefox can't find the server at secure1.ubank.com.au.
@SummerMan: Hello - would you be able to contact us via email to [email protected] ? pls include your name only (no other private information or account info pls). I probably have to have our online folks speak to you. If you have any screen shots that might help us out as well.
Thanks so much,
Gerd
@ggschenkel: I use IE on Windows and get away with the problem. If this is really a problem, other people will let you know soon.
By the way, will UBank consider issuing a security token at all so that people with a large sum of money can do a transaction with you?
Hello - we use SMS based second factor authentication to ensure secure transactions. Many of our customers have deposited and transacted substantial sums with us. Tokens tend to be cumbersome as people don't normally carry them with them. We are piloting a new technology though that will break this trade-off.
Speak soon,
Gerd
A mobile phone or a token can be carried with a customer anyway if he/she would like to. However, a mobile phone work only in a certain part of ther world or even only in a certain part of the country. I would like to use a token because I travel overseas a lot. Does UBank offer any solution for people like me?
Sorry, we don't cater for geographies that have internet, but no mobile phone access at the moment. In general, the mobile phone is considered as more convenient, but I appreciate that this might not be the case in your specific circumstance.
Speak soon,
Gerd
@ggschenkel: Hello Gerd,
I also travel overseas a lot and my mobile phone doesn't work in many places. What solution do you offer to customers like me and SummerMan?
Or are you just going to uncaringly reply "sorry, we don't cater to customers who travel overseas"?
regards.
Yes, SMS security codes are great for transactions, but what are UBank's plans to make login secure? At present a simple keylogger is all that's needed to capture ID and password.
…
summerman, i'm on a mac and ubank has been working fine for me all night … might be ur connection
Thanks but it might not be the case. I pull the LAN cable from my workplace mac and plug it into my Windows PC and it work fine.
Hello, it's Monty here (Head of Online, UBank), We've had a few reports of customers on "3G" wireless connections (more often than not through Optus/reseller of Optus) reporting some issues. We believe it might be an ISP/Network caching issue, however we're investigating and asking impacted customers to contact their ISP - We're contacting ISPs from our end too. We can confirm 100% that our service is fully operational and UBank network connections are working as expected. Thanks, Monty H
I'm on an Australian university network. After switching to Windows machine, it just worked fine. I can do the transaction I want for today.
I try again on my Mac using Safari. It is now working well. Thanks for your investigation.
Hi Gerd, RBA has increased the cash rate by 25bp y'day, is UBANK is going to increase the savings account interest rate by that as well?
Interesting question! We are looking forward to hearing from you, Ubank.
Another rate hike today… the 5.11% is nearly as good as the big 4 banks, as well as BankWest etc etc… are UBank going to raise their rates now that the RBA has gone up by 0.5% since the 5.11% rate was started?
They do- it's called Nab iSaver.
Nab has just copied ANZ who has a subsidiary called Onedirect. The only difference is Onedirect has loan products so I can only assume that uBank will be doing the same in the future.