Which Savings Account for EVERYTHING (Salary Deposits, Everyday Transactions, Frequent Flier Miles, etc.)

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  demiurge on 20/08/2016 - 23:58

  +2

  Ubank USaver Ultra for domestic use. Citi Plus for overseas.

  • 

    c64 on 21/08/2016 - 07:53

    +2

    ubank's online banking is a slow, buggy, bloated, unreliable p.o.s. i would go nuts having to use it constantly

    • 

      tomsco on 21/08/2016 - 08:01

      +1

      I still have a UBank account open as I can't be bothered telling certain people of my new details.

      They've updated their site and it definitely seems much better than it use to be.

    • 

      tanoshiiki on 21/08/2016 - 16:46

      It wasn't the best when it started, but I think with upgrades, it has got worse!

    • 

      Peck on 21/08/2016 - 16:46

      +1

      I agree with both 'demiurge' and 'mtg'. Also if you have both an NAB account and a Ubank account (Both are NAB), then transfers are very quick - like just a couple of hours.

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  bluesky on 21/08/2016 - 01:04

  +12

  There are a few good accounts that fit a number of your criteria. Which to choose will depend on your priorities:

  ING is quite good, as long as you deposit $1000 each month :-

  • The $1000 deposit can be satisfied by your salary deposit.
  • Use any ATM (by any bank, anywhere) for free.
  • Interest for the savings acct is fairly high - currently 2.75%.
  • Many in this forum have reported their customer support and app to be good.
  • Until Sept 30, there is a 2% cashback when using paypass. But this will no longer apply after that.
  • 50c cashback for using eftpos for withdrawal of more than $200.
  • The pair of accounts to open are ING Orange Everyday and ING Savings Maximiser.

  Ubank, as someone has mentioned above, is also very good, if you deposit $200 or more a month.

  • The $200 deposit can be satisfied by your salary deposit.
  • Use of NAB ATMs and rediATMs for free.
  • Interest for the savings acct is high - currently 2.87%.
  • The pair of accounts to open are Usaver Ultra transaction and Usaver savings.

  Citibank is good if cheap usage overseas is high priority :-

  • Good for overseas travel; no foreign fees for using Citibank Plus Debit card linked to transaction account.
  • Introductory high interest only first 4 months, currently 3.4%, but on-going base interest 2.0%.
  • The pair of accounts to open are Citibank Plus, and Citibank Online Saver for the high interest savings.

  As for credit card, check around since there are plenty of choices. Feel free to have a look at my comment here, which is only on Amex fee-free credit cards. Credit card is where you can get the rewards (e.g. frequent flyer miles), since none of the above provide rewards (once ING withdraws the 2% cashback).

  Hope this info helps.

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  starbearer on 21/08/2016 - 10:53

  +1

  Thanks everyone for your replies. Looks like ING fits my requirement for the time being.

  Any thoughts on Bank of Melbourne and ME bank? Infochoice rates BoM as the highest interest paying savings account and ME has the free ATM's thing plus cashback as well.

  • 

    bluesky on 21/08/2016 - 12:31

    +2

    MeBank - I did not include MEBank because in order to get the high interest (3.35% curently), you need to do a paypass transaction every week. And since you might even travel overseas to middle east, just not sure if that would be convenient or possible for you. If you miss a week, you may get a low base rate (1.55%) for the entire month.

    As someone in the forum made me laughed, describing it as jumping through hoops to get the relatively high rate of interest. Otherwise, it is quite OK.

    Also, the user interface is fairly primitive - although I believe they are revamping this.

    Bank of Melbourne - Once again, the Maxi Saver provides a high introductory interest for a 3 months (3.2%), then reverts to a base interest (1.95%), which is way lower than the above accounts.

    • 

      starbearer on 21/08/2016 - 12:47

      +1

      Thanks! That's a great analysis. I would think that the $75 referral bonus of ING makes up for the higher interest rate… for me anyway, since I'll be starting off from $0.

      Great catch on the BoM. Did not know that.

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  verio on 21/08/2016 - 15:22

  There is no such thing as a single universal bank account that will be good both for everyday banking, foreign transactions and frequent flyer miles. Every account is different and has different pros/cons. All you need to do is to understand your priorities and decide what account to open based on the info available on the internet.

  • 

    starbearer on 21/08/2016 - 18:28

    Thanks for your reply.

    I'm not looking for utopia, just something which comes close among the ones available. I wrote my requirements coz that's the first question which would've been asked had I asked something like, "I'm dumm… Wot banky accounto ta get… bla bla?"

    Whichever has the best benefits tailored to what I need, from the ones available is what I was asking.

    I have researched quite a bit, however, just thought of asking to understand others opinions on this fine community.