Hi All,
Thought I will share this for the benefit of those with this account, or contemplating one in the future.
TLDR
Even if bonus conditions were met, their statement on the website:
"If you earn bonus interest, we calculate it using your daily closing balance
throughout the month." - may not apply!
Detailed Version
The way NAB Reward Saver calculates bonus interest is counter-intuitive.
E.g. even if bonus conditions were met in February 2015, 27 Feb and 28 Feb could
miss out on the bonus rates.
The Reward Saver account is advertised as one which earns bonus interest
when you make at least one deposit and no withdrawals for the month.
Quoting this NAB webpage: (within the Interest & Fees tab)
http://www.nab.com.au/personal/accounts/savings-accounts/nab…
"If you earn bonus interest, we calculate it using your daily closing balance
throughout the month."To earn the bonus interest, make no withdrawals and at least one deposit in
the month. (We need to receive the deposit on or before the second-to-last
banking day of the month.)"
Note the phrase "throughout the month"!
Some background :
With NAB, monthly interest is added on the Friday prior, if month end falls on a
weekend. So, interest was paid on these days:
30/01/15 (Fri) - for interest up to 30/01 (excluding 30/01)
27/02/15 (Fri) - for interest from 30/01 to 27/02 (excluding 27/02)
31/03/15 (Tue) - for interest from 27/02 to 31/03 (excluding 31/03)
My case
I made a deposit and did not make any withdrawals in February, and on
1/3/15 (Sun), I withdrew all the funds from my NAB reward saver to a
NAB Isaver account.
Timeline:
27/02/15 (Fri) - interest paid for Feb (note: did not include interest for 27/02 and 28/02)
01/03/15 (Sun) - a withdrawal took place online.
02/03/15 (Mon) - the date NAB deemed the withdrawal,(fair enough as this is well-known).
31/03/15 (Tue) - interest for period 27/02(incl)-31/03(excl) paid.
Interest Paid
Here are the interest rates used to calculate interest paid on 31/03:
27/02/15 (Fri) Base 0.75% only - unexpected! Bonus conditions met in Feb
28/02/15 (Sat) Base 0.75% only - unexpected! Bonus conditions met in Feb
01/03/15 (Sun) Base 0.75% only - fair enough due to withdrawal on 01/03
The bonus conditions were met in Feb as the interest paid on 27/02/15 reflected this (included the bonus).
Action:
I went to a branch, and asked if this was correct, and the Customer Service
personnel showed me the booklet with this fineprint for NAB Reward Saver:
4.2 Subject to clauses 4.3 and 6, NAB may also pay bonus interest calculated
on the daily credit balance of your account as at the end of each day up to
and including the day before the last banking day of each month and if
applicable will credit the interest to your account the next banking day.
So they have this covered, and "throughout the month" does not mean throughout the month at all! Thought this is kind of misleading!
This brings up an interesting point. Consider this scenario:
Scenario
26/02/15 Thu - a withdrawal took place.
27/02/15 Fri - Interest at 0.75% added for period 30/01-27/02 (excl 27/02), due to 26/02 withdrawal
Between 27/02 to 31/03 - no withdrawal, and one deposit in March.
So, which of these two would apply ?
1) For 27/02 and 28/02, bonus rates would be given, as they fall between the
27/02-31/03 interest cycle, and during this period, bonus conditions were met.
Irrespective of the withdrawal earlier in Feb, since that was the previous
interest cycle.
In other words, NAB is simply trying to align its definition of "month" to its interest calculation cycle. And not trying to take advantage of its customers.
OR
2) For 27/02 and 28/02, once again, only base rate (0.75%) would be given. Citing withdrawal on 26/02 (even though it belonged to the previous interest cycle). But for the rest of the March, bonus rates would be given, since bonus conditions were met for March.
Perhaps someone here already knows the answer and can shed some light on this.
Many thanks.
TLDR my head hurts.