I received an unexpected payment that pushed my balance over 250K in my UBank account, so I'm not sure what happens to my bonus interest now.
Has anyone had this happen to them before?
From what I've read, it seems like I'll still be earning bonus interest for the rest of this month, but I might not be eligible for next month?
Get some eneloops to level down a bit.
You can give it to me, then you can get the bonus :p.
Seriously though, maybe the TOS is worth diving into? I've never used a UBank account but I did see:
To be eligible for bonus interest on your USave account/s in any calendar month
The total Daily Closing Balance of all of your USave accounts and USpend accounts must not be more than $250,000 at any point during the previous calendar month, including…..https://www.ubank.com.au/content/dam/ubank/documents/uspend-…
Page 8/9.
So lines up with what you have above.
Congrats on your balance
You can save which is great, but you should be investing your money so that you accumulate gains rather keeping them in a place where they slowly lose their value.
Thanks. I would normally agree but I have a different time horizon than the average person at the moment.
I have gone over the limit numerous times and still received the bonus interest. Also the monthly
PLEASE NOTE INTEREST RATE EFFECTIVE FROM 01-Aug-2019 IS : xxx% P.A
note remained at the bonus rate for the following month. However, I withdrew the excess funds quickly same or next day. There are some similar comments on this page in the UBank Whirlpool discussion.
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/90kv06m3-3
So you may be lucky. It is stupid that customers are disqualified for bonus interest for the whole amount if they go over $250k. Most FI's pay the bonus interest up to a specific amount and anything over that just earns the base rate.
This is super helpful. Thank you! Sounds like something they apply manually rather than automatically (or maybe the threshold is set higher than 250K in the system to allow for mistakes)
It is stupid that customers are disqualified for bonus interest for the whole amount if they go over $250k.
That is how lending works. The more customers lend to the bank the less they give back to the customers.
Make another account.
So is it…
IF Your balance is $250,000 you get - the full rate of bonus interest
BUT
a) IF Your balance is $250,001 you get - 0% bonus interest on the whole amount
Or is it…..
b) IF Your balance is $250,001 you get - the full rate of bonus interest on the first $250,000 and 0% on every cent above that
I am leaning towards B
It has been a couple of years since I did it, but for me having a balance over $250,000 meant 0% on EVERYTHING for the remainder of the month AND the following month.
Quickly looking at it, their terms seem to suggest that this is still the case:
"If you meet the bonus rate criteria this current month, you’ll start earning the bonus variable interest on your USave savings accounts from the 1st of the following calendar month."
I messed up in Jan (conditions not met = 0%), fixed the balance in Feb (conditions met = 0%), bonus interest applied from Mar onwards.
At the time I was not happy and pulled my money until I saw the bonus interest rate under 'account details'.
Interesting! Hope that doesn't happen to me. How much over did you go and how persistent was it? I think if it's a mistake and swiftly brought back below the maximum they will be lenient but let's see whether they put their money where their mouth is. It makes sense, because otherwise I'll shift all my deposits to another bank, and I haven't been bothered (to date) to hunt and seek for that extra 0.05% p.a. offered by other banks.
Update: Spoke to customer service and they seem to suggest that as long as you swiftly bring it back below 250K they will be lenient about it. They told me to check in again at the beginning of the month and if the bonus rate was removed, to get in touch again and they will waive it. (Similar to if you've ever missed a credit card payment by a few days before by accident, they will cover the interest accrued over the interest-free period and return the account to an interest-free state if you ask nicely)
In response to your question above, I'm sure it was only a hundred dollars or less. I have definitely had luck with pretty much every bank by calling. Operators seem to have discretion to make these problems go away. It's usually presented as a one-time special favour - probably to gain customer loyalty. I can guarantee that no bank will do you a solid if you don't make that call though.
I appreciated that UBank actually makes it available online to see what your actual interest rate is. Most of them hide this until the monthly statement.
They just changed the terms for the better now. If you are over, you'll be paid interest on the first 250k rather than nothing. Starts in March.
Saw that! Makes so much more sense. Probably took their devs 6 months to build that and not PayID 😆
Yep can't believe they still don't have payid.
My guess is they won't be building PayID functionality themselves - since they are buying 86400 bank:
NAB outlined that once the acquisition is complete, it would combine UBank's customer base, brand, and staff with 86 400's team and technology platform.
If they get regulatory approval for the acquisition, they will merge Ubank with 86 400. Sounds like they will be adopting a lot of 86 400 technology:
UBank CEO Philippa Watson said that 86 400’s "experience and technology platform" would help UBank meet changing customer needs.
"We are looking forward to having the 86 400 team join us to help deliver the next generation of simple, fast, and mobile banking solutions," she said.
Not so good if we like them to remain separate banks, for diversification purposes (they both are among the top banks offering competitive rates). Also, it will be disappointing if they decide to get rid of the browser interface of Ubank, and have only the app (as with 86 400). But hopefully, they will retain both.
Have you figured out whether they are still separate ADIs for the 250k deposit guarantee?
@hayfeverman: Once the acquisition is complete I doubt it. They will all be under the one ADI umbrella as is the case with, for example,
Bank of Melbourne, BankSA and St George Bank are covered under Westpac and UBank is covered under NAB. It certainly limits flexibility if you want to have large deposits in UBank and 86400.
@hayfeverman: Yeap, what Yola said. For those impacted, will need to consider other banks. ING used to be good but is making one jump through hoops (starting Mar, where balances must increase to get the bonus rate). Macquarie seems good for now, although could be completely different by then - things change so fast in this space.
https://www.ubank.com.au/contact-us
Maybe time to split your money up