This was posted 1 year 2 months 13 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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4.65% p.a. Interest on Home Saver Account on Balance up to $100,000 (Monthly Deposit & Spend Requirements) @ Great Southern Bank

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4.65% p.a. Interest on Home Saver Account on Balance up to $100,000 (Monthly Deposit & Spend Requirements) @ Great Southern Bank
Go to Deal
ginmi on 15/02/2023 - 11:24 greatsouthernbank.com.au (1052 clicks)
Last edited 15/02/2023 - 13:38 by 2 other users

Great Southern Bank (formerly CUA) has just increased the rates on their Home Saver savings account (which despite the name is just a standard savings account).

The current rate makes this product the second highest on the Savings Accounts leaderboard at the moment of this post (second only to ING).

In order to secure this rate you will need to:

  • Have an Everyday Edge account which is actually a pretty decent product. There are no account or transaction fees and you can also get a refund on international purchase fees if you meet the eligibility criteria for the bonus interest;

  • Deposit $2,000 to the Everyday Edge account each month; and

  • Make five purchases monthly with the Visa debit card they give you.

Their Internet banking and mobile app are both surprisingly good and at least on par with ING (if not better). Apple & Google Pay are also both available.

Happy saving.

Financial Bank Account Savings Account

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Great Southern Bank
Great Southern Bank

closed Comments

  • Unorthodox on 15/02/2023 - 11:30
    +10

    $100k limit - kinda crazy to think that amount actually doesn't go far deposit wise in this housing market/home buying wise….

    • ginmi on 15/02/2023 - 11:34
      +7

      100K deposit gets you a purchase price of 500K assuming a standard 80% LVR.

      According to this, as of Feb 1:

      • The median house price in Australia’s combined capital cities is $849,666 .
      • The median unit price in Australia’s capital cities is $608,121.
      • The median dwelling value in Australia’s combined regional areas is $574,835 .

      Yep. If you are actually saving for a house deposit and want to use this account for that, you won't get far with their limit.

      • Unorthodox on 15/02/2023 - 11:38
        +1

        Yeah, deal wise this is pretty good. Those who are either not in the BoQ age requisites or are avoiding them after the tech failures should move to this if their ING accounts are hitting the max.
        WBC's under 30s account has fallen behind as well.

        Will be interesting to see if this account passes on the interest rate increases. (Expecting at least another rate increase next month).

      • Zorololo on 15/02/2023 - 12:37
        +7

        It's crazy that all three of those median prices put property ownership outside what most single income families/people can afford in the current climate

      • muwu on 15/02/2023 - 13:06
        +2

        I agree that capital (i.e. home deposit) is the biggest barrier for first home buyers.

        The presumption of 80% LVR isn't applicable for most first home buyers in a modern context.

        Many first home buyers fall into two categories; (i) professionals who secure LVR 85-90% without LMI with select lenders, or (ii) those using LMI secured loans with LVRs ~5-18%.

        Although the feeling of paying someone else's insurance premium that doesn't protect you (i.e. LMI) sucks, I'm yet to hear a personal finance commentator advise against it. Generally, property appreciation negates the cost of LMI within 6 months of purchase on average, and delaying the purchase to lower the LVR results in a net loss (i.e. appreciation is greater than savings rate).

        I heard Vince Scully (old financial advisor, Life Sherpa) advise that a LVR 88% is the sweet spot for minimising the amount of LMI you pay and securing the first home as soon as possible with the lowest risk of defaulting (i.e. repayments to service the loan are manageable for most).

        Buying a first home is full of sacrifices. Although many things are different between generations, one thing that's constant is that your first few years of home ownership is difficult. Part of the financial reward is owning a high growth asset, realising equity that will far out speed your savings rate, and then having a lot more options for both refinancing your existing loan and for your second purchase.

        There's also the option of not buying your home. If you prefer, take the flexible of rentvesting and put your capital into other assets - which are generally better performing, because they appreciate more on average (because it's a strictly 100% investment decision) and they product income rather than for you to consume.

        Either way, stop complaining and get on with it.

        Or make a run for parliament.. 🤷🏼‍♂️

        • ninnypoop on 15/02/2023 - 14:47

          Hear! hear!

        • ninnypoop on 15/02/2023 - 14:50
          +1

          As someone who is currently saving for my first home, I'm going to look into what Scully has to say. It's interesting to think how things like the Vic home buyers fund changes the balance of LVR. You can reduce your borrowed amount, if you are happy with the government having a share in the ownership of the property

        • SydBoy on 15/02/2023 - 20:30

          well things will go bad as in NSW great Liberal National party has not introduced life long tax on home owners who CHOOSE to purchase home for yearly tax instead of one off stamp duty.. ! this will help and allow more investor to jump into market and makes getting home more competitive in my opinion. !

          vote carefully next election..> !

          • muwu on 16/02/2023 - 01:44
            -1

            @SydBoy: You're referring to land tax. New legislation in NSW as an alternative to stamp duty and likely to be the more popular option for first home buyers due to less capital required to purchase property at the outset.

            I've heard one investing commentator predict that there may be good opportunities in the lower/affordable residential markers in NSW because he predicts an upswing in demand from first home buyers now more capable of making a purchase.

            I'm interested in land tax initiatives because they appear to be an option for modernising our old stamp duty means of taxation, and may be more efficient.

    • treekangagaroo on 15/02/2023 - 12:22
      +3

      https://www.greatsouthernbank.com.au/bank-and-save/savings-a…

      Advantage saver offers 4.5% if you have more - still decent imho

  • DealWithReality on 15/02/2023 - 11:37

    How is this bank? The good , the bad and the ugly?

    • Unorthodox on 15/02/2023 - 11:39
      +3

      I joined a few years ago to get their sign on bonus.

      App is clean and better than a lot of the other players. No real issues tbh.

    • Assiduous on 15/02/2023 - 12:25
      +6

      They are quite happy to shaft their "members" by creating new savings accounts largely the same as the old ones and hoping you don't notice by slowly worsening the interest rate on existing account holders. Assume they are trying to rip you off like the big 4.

    • Love a bargain on 15/02/2023 - 12:52

      Quite backward in my opinion. Couldn't even do simple things like declaration of tax residency (or something like that - can't remember exactly) online. That's the final straw when I finally decided to close the accounts that I signed up a couple of years prior and had stopped using for some time (since their rates were nowhere near competitive). The staff at the branch had a weird attitude and wasn't very helpful either.

      Still sitting on the fence atm but this 4.65% interest rate might be enough to tempt me to give them another chance.

    • shoppe on 15/02/2023 - 16:08

      Years ago I had an account with cua, they were fine, but like all small fin institutions aren't very advanced.

      The only problem is the withdrawal limits when you want to move to another bank.

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 20/02/2023 - 11:53

      Reviews of the App on Google complained that you couldn't be sure of transfers or BPAYs working. It looks like this was fixed in January.

      I tested them out and found the following issue.

      Deposits of $0.03 setting up transfers and $2,000 deposited on a Saturday.
      Appears on their website as FAST PAYMENTs that went in immediately.
      It's now Monday 12pm, 2 days later and it's still saying I need to deposit $1,999.97 more for the month.

      It's a concern that they've recognized the $0.03 immediately, but are ignoring the $2,000 payment. All were FAST PAYMENTs that all showed up immediately and all were lodge about the same time.

      • SomeGuyOnOzB on 21/02/2023 - 20:34

        Update: I re-read the description. The $2,000 should have gone to the Everday Edge account. I deposited $2,000 this morning. It hasn't registered yet in the bonus requirements. Hopefully tomorrow.

        I also tried using the digital card in Google Wallet to pay at the local Coles, but Coles rejected this and a debit card from another bank.

        • souths123 on 21/02/2023 - 21:05
          +1

          yes, I tried to use the digital version of the card today too…mine didn't work either (I don't have my physical card yet, so thought I would use the digital….fail) Had to ring them, we are not the only ones with this issue. I (finally) deleted the card from google wallet (and what a pain that was this afternoon) and deleted the GSB app and redid the whole thing…will try again later in the week (If I don't have the physical card by then), I am not moving any money over until I know that the bonus rate is going to be unlocked….where does is show about the bonus requirements met (i.e. you have deposited $2000 into the edge account and made the 5 card transactions)? On the website, in the app?

          • SomeGuyOnOzB on 25/02/2023 - 20:19

            @souths123: I got the physical card and added it to Samsung Pay. (Still in Google Wallet)
            I went to Coles at a different location and it accepted both Samsung Pay and Google Wallet.

            Next problem was trying to log into the app. It's told me a number of times since I've started, that the password was wrong.
            I've checked it against my records and the app is failing some of the time . Today, I haven't been able to log into the app or on the browser. The app has a message about maintenance tomorrow morning but nothing about why it's not working right now.

            • souths123 on 26/02/2023 - 07:05
              +1

              @SomeGuyOnOzB: I did get my card, that worked, I also tried the card in wallet and that worked as well this time…have activated the interest for this month for the HSA. I have set up the app to use fingerprint login, so mine seems to work alright (atm) and haven't had any trouble logging in online either

              • DealWithReality on 27/02/2023 - 04:28
                +1

                @souths123: In the meantime ING has updated it's rates to 4.8.

                Have been ING for more than 4 years and never had any issues. The app is fantastic.

                • souths123 on 27/02/2023 - 07:32
                  +1

                  @DealWithReality: yes, I have ING as well. I am very disappointed that Virgin Money haven't moved at all…they are owned by BOQ, and they moved .15%, but VM did nothing

                  • DealWithReality on 27/02/2023 - 11:41
                    +1

                    @souths123: And there lies the catch - it's all about onboarding new customers. I won't be surprised if they start charging account maintenance fees after a certain timeframe.

                    Huge respect for ING - haven't seen them abuse customers through their T&C.

                    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 28/02/2023 - 09:44
                      +1

                      @DealWithReality: Yep, unlike the others, BoQ doesn't have that history of staying competitive. They were competitive briefly maybe 2 years ago then dropped right out of it.

                      Maybe they are doing the exact same thing with VM. Seems like they have more than they can invest so they won't be increasing the interest rate till customers withdraw a heap of invested money

  • sim36 on 15/02/2023 - 11:48
    +4

    choose ING and same hoops

    • 67Gateway on 15/02/2023 - 12:06
      +6

      Apologies, accidentally pressed the neg vote and didn't know how to revoke that.

      ING has an additional requirement which has to increase your balance every month

  • Celeriestix on 15/02/2023 - 11:54

    Great to see other banks following suit. Probably want to be with ING if you are willing to switch bank accounts for more savings.

  • Iwantthatbargain on 15/02/2023 - 12:01

    Why do these banks require 5 transactions on debit card?

    • Rimas on 15/02/2023 - 12:14
      +5

      Because they want you to make them your main bank for your everyday transactions that leads to having a few hundred or thousand dollars sitting in your transaction account earning no interest

      • Tleyx on 15/02/2023 - 12:16

        If they are your main bank for your debit card they make money on merchant fees for any expenditure

      • I like freestuff on 15/02/2023 - 12:44
        +11

        I’d say it’s more they are hoping you forget to do it so they don’t have to pay you any interest.

    • jimbler on 15/02/2023 - 12:15
      +1

      Because four is not enough.

    • ginmi on 15/02/2023 - 12:33

      They make money from card acquirer and transaction fees.

      I believe the card scheme (Visa or Mastercard) gets the bulk but the bank also gets a cut. It's another revenue stream for them.

      • Iwantthatbargain on 15/02/2023 - 16:36
        +1

        Like most of OZBargainers, I do 5 transactions of $0.01 every months, Not sure if Bank can get any money from these transactions

        • artkingjw on 15/02/2023 - 21:31
          +1

          Hi, I'm curious how you do these small transactions? Does the Beem It method work? I'm already using it for other accounts. Cheers

          • Iwantthatbargain on 15/02/2023 - 22:40
            +4

            @artkingjw: At Woolies and Coles, if you do self checkout, then you can split the payment

          • Chris T on 06/03/2023 - 07:32
            +1

            @artkingjw: From my testing with this account I can report that Beem It payments are treated as EFTPOS withdrawal transactions, and they are not counted towards the five eligible transactions each month.

        • souths123 on 21/02/2023 - 21:05
          +1

          same here

  • Associatedjcoccio @ Savings.com.au on 15/02/2023 - 12:07
    +3

    Great Southern Bank has also increased its Goal Saver account to 4.75% p.a. for customers aged 18-24 with balances up to $50,000.

    Notably, the bank has also increased Advantage Saver accounts to 4.50% p.a. for customers with larger balances from $100,000 to $750,000 - simply requiring a deposit of $250 per month.

    • Celeriestix on 15/02/2023 - 12:12

      I figured banks would drop the insane age limit or at least make them significantly more lenient after BOQ and ING. Any idea if we'll be seeing 5% soon or is that ING 4.8 going to be the best for a while?

      • Charlie Dont Surf on 15/02/2023 - 12:19

        Yes, soon.

      • ginmi on 15/02/2023 - 12:43

        I reckon you'll get 5%+ (with relatively reasonable qualification criteria) in 3 months time…but that also means mortgage variable rates will be 7.5%+

    • Sindex on 15/02/2023 - 12:14
      +4

      That 4.5% deal is worthy of a separate post.

      • Nedkellyinthebush on 15/02/2023 - 12:43
        +1

        I agree it’s actually a better deal than this one imo

    • victorheaven on 15/02/2023 - 12:24

      You need to grow the balance by $250 a month (which is arguably easier than the deposit and spend requirement)

    • RotundPolarBear on 15/02/2023 - 13:14

      The Advantage Saver looks a good offer.

  • Sindex on 15/02/2023 - 12:12

    Any guess from their past conduct if they'll pass on the next two rate rises like Ing and ubank probably will?

    • eggboi on 15/02/2023 - 12:23
      +1

      Eventually once you’ve opened accounts with all the main players as they leapfrog each other, you’ll be able to shift your balance around to get the best rate without having to make new accounts. Just set a reminder for yourself to check on the 1st of each month.

  • Willy Beamish on 15/02/2023 - 12:23
    +1

    whats a good acc i can dump my money into for interest without having to do stupid transaction shit every month?

    • yanyan1 on 15/02/2023 - 12:28
      +1

      Macquarie savings account

      Or if you can do $200 deposit every month, this ubank account

      • rdchristy2 on 15/02/2023 - 13:05

        That's only 4.5% for the first 4 months though. 3.7% after that.

        • rdchristy2 on 15/02/2023 - 13:05

          Macquarie savings account I mean..

          • yanyan1 on 15/02/2023 - 13:07

            @rdchristy2: You can take it out after 4 months

            • rdchristy2 on 15/02/2023 - 13:20
              +2

              @yanyan1: True dat. But Willy just wanting to dump his money and not have to do stupid shit to get a good interest rate.. 4 months flies by, then he has to change everything again..

              • Willy Beamish on 15/02/2023 - 13:42
                +1

                @rdchristy2: this

                • rdchristy2 on 15/02/2023 - 22:50

                  @Willy Beamish: @Willy Beamish my best 2 recommendations after all my research..

                  Up to 250k - uBank
                  4.1%.. from 3 March it's 4.35%
                  Only condition - deposit $200 per month.

                  Over 250k - Suncorp
                  4%
                  Conditions - Grow balance by $200
                  (Balance on 1st of the month must be $200 more when month ends). Only one withdrawal allowed to keep the 4% bonus. No maximum limit on this account though. All others have a 250k ceiling.

                  • rdchristy2 on 15/02/2023 - 23:19

                    @rdchristy2: Or Great Southern Bank - advantage saver 100k - 750k.
                    4.5% and grow balance $250 (exclusive of interest)

    • coxymla on 15/02/2023 - 12:28
      +1

      ANZ Plus Save, 4%.

      App only.

    • axlfan on 15/02/2023 - 12:55
      +3

      Ubank has been good for me in this regard.

  • chyawala on 15/02/2023 - 12:34
    +1

    Beats Virgin Money Boost saver by being more flexible and without locking in a time period. Virginmoney seem a bit slow. Definately change over to this.

    • ginmi on 15/02/2023 - 12:41
      +1

      yea, their app has been playing up a lot recently and they have no Internet banking

      • chyawala on 21/02/2023 - 16:40

        Virgins faults with their app and outages have left people cut off from banking. Call them up to complain and they will credit you 5000 pts as they have others. These can be redeemed for about $25 in gift cards. While your at it may aswell complain about the rate and tell them you're leaving.

        Its possible to initiate a partial withdrawal instead of unlocking. This will be completed in 32 days, and the full locked bonus interest rate will continue to apply to both the scheduled withdrawal and the remainder for the entire 32 days. This avoids the loss of bonus do to unlocking, and negates the need to unlock. Only choose to unlock unless you want to be penalised. Could be well worthwhile in getting ready to switch to ING, or at least let them see we are ready to sail ship unless they shape up to their competition.

    • Hiphopopotamus on 15/02/2023 - 12:44

      Don't jump ship too quickly, this is a good rate but how closely they follow future increases is unknown.

    • nokia3660 on 15/02/2023 - 13:46
      +1

      VM hasn't revise their rates yet after the recent RBA announcement. I am hoping they would beat ING

      • souths123 on 21/02/2023 - 21:09

        as they are owned by BOQ, they will prob only do .15%, same as they did, but I am hoping against hope they do the full .25%. Not holding my breath though

      • souths123 on 23/02/2023 - 15:18

        still nothing from VM….looks like they might stiff us altogether this month and bank the .25% and prob move next month after the NEXT rate rise

        • chyawala on 01/03/2023 - 12:52

          Today Virgin have removed the ability to withdraw from the Boost saver. It's unlock only now. I think we should question whether this is legal without notice to change these terms immediately.

          • souths123 on 01/03/2023 - 13:04

            @chyawala: wow, I will check the info on the website, but this pretty sneaky. If I had known that I would have put in a withdrawal for more than $2500 end of Jan (which came out yesterday) as I will go over the 250k mark in either April or May, depending on rate rises and what they pass on

            I have checked the website and I can't see that info. I have put in a query through their facebook page to see what they say

            • chyawala on 01/03/2023 - 14:45

              @souths123: Contacted Virgin and they confirmed it was a user app specific error, likely targeted due to making withdrawals. So it appears they they targeted my personal install, and the modification removed the withdrawal function. After they consulted the technicians, a reinstall fixed this. However then the transfer had an error and a few thousand are missing from the account, unaccounted for with no transaction history. Already had waited on hold for an hour. I'd like to see better service from them and more reliable internet banking. Also better savings interest rates.

              • souths123 on 01/03/2023 - 14:47

                @chyawala: wow, that isn't good. Hopefully it will all be sorted. I notice they are going to be doing app maintenance tonight

          • souths123 on 01/03/2023 - 14:40

            @chyawala: I have just checked with their facebook page and they say that it hasn't changed, so not sure where you got this info from?

  • maverick1 on 15/02/2023 - 12:39

    Rabo is doing 4.75%

  • RotundPolarBear on 15/02/2023 - 13:16

    Are their website and app decent, compared to Macquarie?

  • victorheaven on 15/02/2023 - 13:48

    Does anyone have experience moving money out of GSB? Daily limit seems to be capped at $30k (with OSKO sublimit of $5000). Would be a tedious process to move a large sum

    • backupper1 on 15/02/2023 - 14:36

      And also question in addition to above: is it old school in anyway requiring you to email etc to move >$10k etc .

      • ginmi on 15/02/2023 - 15:47

        Would love to know the answer to this specific question myself.
        If it is "yes" then it's definitely a deal breaker!

    • donotuse on 17/02/2023 - 22:16
      +1

      You can set a larger limit amount than $30,000 by calling them.

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 27/03/2023 - 13:29
      +1

      What I found out was:
      - daily withdrawal limits can be increased up to $250,000 using a phone call
      - the money must be in the account before they can give an increase (I only have a couple dollars in mine right now)
      - the increased limit will expire around 11:59pm that night

      This took a 30 minute wait in the queue on the phone.

      It also took 30 minutes sorting out a staff member who had the wrong understanding (she was sure that, every time you increase your balance during the month it increases the threshhold; she said she's been telling all the customers this)

      • SomeGuyOnOzB on 31/03/2023 - 08:49
        +1

        Call centre hours are 8am to 8pm for this.

        Increases are needed for above $30,000 withdrawal.

        I've increased the limits a couple of times with varying speeds. Both times very helpful people.

        Around 7pm weekday, around 40 minutes in the queue and told up to 1 hour to process.
        Around 8am weekday, instant response and told up to 3 hours to process the increase.

  • artkingjw on 15/02/2023 - 21:28

    Hi, RE the transaction rule, does the Beem It method work?

  • donotuse on 17/02/2023 - 22:14

    I just moved my entire Virgin Money Boost Saver to GSB Home Saver while awaiting Virgin's next move. (Already maxed ING)

    • asc on 19/02/2023 - 15:05

      VM seems to be taking their own sweet time. Hopefully they will raise the interest early next week.

      • donotuse on 20/02/2023 - 20:45

        seems many have locked their rates for 32d, making VM confident about the delay

      • SomeGuyOnOzB on 24/02/2023 - 13:11

        VM is under the BoQ ADI.
        BoQ did not stay competitive.

        VM made a splash with this rate when they appeared, but now they've failed to stay competitive just like BoQ.
        Watch for something better to come along. ING and UBank they keep increasing the rates regularly and will overtake VM in a month or so.

        Also, the lack of staying competitive may indicate they have all the money they need from us and they aren't fussed to start losing customers.

        • makemeonewithnothing on 28/02/2023 - 22:01

          ING passed VM long time ago. It's paying 4.80% now, against 4.60% from LockSaver or 4.30% without lock from VM.

          I moved all my excess-ING amount to GS Bank from VM with this nice 4.65% rate.

  • onlinereg33 on 24/02/2023 - 15:42

    Seems that when "$2000 deposit and 5 Visa transaction" criteria are used to activate the bonus rate for the current month instead of the next month.

    Then the question is: e.g you meet the criteria on the 20th of March, will you still get the bonus rate for the 1st of March to the 19th of March? Or you will only get the bonus rate starting from the day when the criteria are met in that month?

    • souths123 on 26/02/2023 - 07:08

      it is like other accounts where the activation is in the current month. As long as you meet the criteria before the end of the month, you get the bonus interest for that whole month, not the date it was activated.

  • sakg on 28/02/2023 - 20:51

    Its odd that i did 5 transactions on sunday but only 4 have been registered. Are they trying to hold 1 so that i won't meet 5 transaction criteria.

    • souths123 on 01/03/2023 - 13:13

      did it end up showing up? I didn't have that issue, sometimes it takes a few days for a transaction to change from pending to completed and they all have to be out of pending before the end of the month to qualify….any accounts that have this term, I always try to do the transactions early in the month to get it out of the way….just 5 x 0.01 card transactions at coles or woolies (split payment)

    • SuperLate on 03/03/2023 - 18:55

      I did 5 X $1 transactions at Coles yesterday. All of those are showing as completed now and none pending but still Bonus interest isn't activated. Account shows that I need to do 5 transactions to qualify for the bonus interest. Am I missing anything ?

      • Benjkmv on 15/03/2023 - 16:37

        Plus $2000 debit in the month, you need to meet both conditions for bonus interest rate

        • SuperLate on 15/03/2023 - 22:25

          Yes thanks, deposit was already done. Bonus interest is activated now, it took couple of days for it to show in the account summary though.

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