Choosing a savings account - UBank, ING, etc?

Lwhiterice on 01/11/2017 - 16:57
Last edited 01/11/2017 - 17:31

Hi guys,

I'm trying to find a high interest savings account. I am a full time student living with parents, and I make about 20k on the side; potentially more next year. Currently on CBA GoalSaver/Netbank Saver. Ideally, this account will let me withdraw once in a while without missing out on interest. If possible, I'd like to bank with one institution to keep it simple. Thing is I'm self employed, and get paid very infrequently (every few months).

I was tossing up ING, UBank, RAMS, and ME bank.

Thoughts on each:
ING - 2.8%, requires $1000 deposit monthly. Get paid too infrequently.
UBank - 2.87%, requires $200 deposit monthly. Also get paid too infrequently.
ME bank - 2.95%. Weekly tap. Possibly?
RAMS - 3%. No withdrawals.

Any opinions?

Edit: I also get paid occasionally in cash, is depositing money with a branchless bank annoying?

Financial

Comments

  • djsweet on 01/11/2017 - 17:01
    +8

    With ING and UBank you can just transfer the money back and forward between bank accounts to meet the monthly deposit requirement.

    • whiterice on 01/11/2017 - 17:04

      Yeah, I was thinking about that too. I'd prefer to bank with a single institution, but I've read that people have had pretty good experiences with ING.

  • marcusv on 01/11/2017 - 17:12
    +2

    I really like ING in terms of customer service and their banking app. They usually have a referral promo where you get $75 for signing up as well.

    • whiterice on 01/11/2017 - 20:58
      +1

      wow, thanks for letting me know. I googled the promo code, $75 for nothing. So good.

      • Bizfro on 04/11/2018 - 19:57

        Do they actually have a promo on now? I can only find expired ones

  • linda1979 on 01/11/2017 - 17:28

    I've heard great things about ING

  • CyberMurning on 01/11/2017 - 17:57

    Ubank and ing. Enough. Unless you have 200k the difference is not worth comparing with have 4 accounts to manage.

    • Colombian on 02/11/2017 - 11:39

      Just curious, what if you have 200k or more? what would you recommend?

      • CyberMurning on 02/11/2017 - 11:50

        great question!
        i'll come back to you in couple of years, at the moment i am far from owning $200k

        stay tune

      • joungs on 02/11/2017 - 13:40

        200k in ING and 200k in Ubank. Better protection under FCS too. You really shouldn't have 400k+ in cash

        • SomeGuyOnOzB on 02/01/2018 - 19:29

          or Ubank 2.8% and AMP 3.0%, sending $2000 Ubank -> AMP and $2000 AMP -> UBank each month

      • Camm90 on 05/11/2018 - 20:58

        I use ING as my usable savings account (2.8%pa with no withdrawal penalties) and RAMS (2.8%, 500k limit, no withdraws) as my bulk savings.
        I keep my ING balance close to the savings limit and the rest goes into RAMS. Could also use Ubank instead of ING if you want to have a high savings limit (200k vs 100k). I hate the Ubank website so I went with ING.

  • Godric on 01/11/2017 - 19:29
    +1

    I switched from CBA to ING a while back, no regrets, yet.

  • Ms Bargainer on 01/11/2017 - 19:36

    I have ING, UBank and Rams and like them all.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/11/2017 - 19:38

    ING is great. I moved my savings from Bankwest to ING. Won't be moving my transaction accounts though.

    • Jolakot on 01/11/2017 - 21:51

      If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you move your transactions account?

      • [Deactivated] on 01/11/2017 - 22:11

        Because I like having my savings separate. I don't like seeing it grow, I prefer surprises haha

  • p1 ama on 01/11/2017 - 20:40

    I am a full time student living with parents

    Don't put your money in a savings account, you're better off putting it into some sort of low-fee fund, e.g. an ETF that tracks the ASX200. Unless you have plans to spend the money in the short term, you shouldn't be trying to save now, interest rates are horrible for that.

    • whiterice on 01/11/2017 - 21:03

      I was thinking about keeping 5-10k in savings for some liquidity and putting the rest in a Vanguard ETF or something. Should I use CommSec?

  • AlloAllo on 03/11/2017 - 09:01

    To get the full 2.87% p.a. from UBank you need to hold a a USaver Ultra transaction account as well.
    This has something they call a "sweep" to/from your linked USaver account. This is set to a default of $500 but can be manually reduced to a minimum of $100. It can't be turned off. This amount will earn no interest.
    Whenever your USaver Ultra transaction account balance falls below the minimum it is automatically topped up from your USaver account.
    It takes money earning 2.87% (admittedly as little as $100) and puts it in a zero interest account to "help" you.

  • marcusv on 03/11/2017 - 14:08

    ING just increased referrals to $100 for the referrer and referee

  • ctd on 03/11/2017 - 17:44

    I'm a fan of ING. Their app + internet banking are very good, they support Apple+Android pay and the rest of their fees are generally reasonable.

    Regarding deposits with branchless banks, you can deposit cash at any Post Office and it appears in your account immediately. The only thing I find I can't do with ING is go to a branch and throw a bucket of coins into a coin counting machine (which for me is an infrequent but occasional need).

  • emboon on 07/11/2017 - 09:30

    With RAMS, if i deposit $200 now? Do i get the 3% interest this month or it will only trigger for december?

    • Camm90 on 05/11/2018 - 20:59

      It will start the day it's deposited. So if it clears on the 7th of Nov, it starts from then.

  • alexshel on 03/11/2018 - 22:04
    -1

    RAMS is 2.80% (not 3%), isn't it?

    Also, these 2.80 consist of 1.15% p.a. variable base rate and bonus 1.65% p.a. when you deposit at least $200 each month and make no withdrawals. *Conditions apply

    Sounds like term deposit account. If you withdraw, you lose bonus 1.65.

  • blutek on 05/11/2018 - 16:06
    -2

    A bit lower, ANZ Progress Saver is 2.4% with $10 deposit monthly.
    Has some transaction fees after the first free one monthly.

    • E5TOQUE on 09/11/2018 - 16:25

      ANZ is rubbish. If you make any widthdrawls in the month they give you a pissy 0.01% interest rate.

      UBank, ING, Macquarie, ME Bank, CUA all allow you to make widthdrawls out of your savings with no impact on the interest rate they pay you.

      In UBank, ING and Macquarie's case they also don't charge you international fee's.

      In UBank and Macquarie's case they allow you to width drawl money directly from your savings without needing to transfer it to a linked transaction account.

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