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4.75% p.a. Interest on All Deposits: Incentive (Grow Balance $50 Per Mth), Maxi (for 3 Mth) @ St George/BOM/Bank SA

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4.75% p.a. Interest on All Deposits: Incentive (Grow Balance $50 Per Mth), Maxi (for 3 Mth) @ St George/BOM/Bank SA
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puglikesabargain on 05/05/2023 - 10:20 stgeorge.com.au (374 clicks)
Last edited 20/06/2023 - 14:04 by 1 other user

Although better deposit rates currently exist elsewhere for similar products, St George will shortly increase their savings rate to 4.75% in line with the latest RBA cash rate increase. The same rate applies to the equivalent Bank of Melbourne (BOM) and BankSA products.

Note, no maximum or minimum deposit balance requirements apply to this rate - ie good for those who have > $250,000 to deposit.

"Incentive Saver Bonus Interest: Grow your account by at least $50 a month (for customers 21 or over) or $0.01 a month (for customers under 21) and your account balance does not fall below $0.

Maxi Saver Bonus Interest: If you open a Maxi Saver account and you have not held an Maxi Saver Account before and you are a personal customer, you'll earn an Introductory Promotional Fixed Bonus Rate on top of the standard variable interest rates (standard base rate and bonus rate when the bonus rate criteria is met) during the Promotional Rate Period. The Promotional Rate Period is the first 3 months from the date your account is opened. Standard variable rate will apply to all Maxi Saver accounts".

Savings.com.au and Open Comparison Leaderboard provide information on other rates currently available in the market - https://www.savings.com.au/news/rba-savers-may-2023 and https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/145iM6uuFS9m-Rul65--e…

Financial Bank Account Savings Account

Related Stores

St.George Bank
St.George Bank
Bank of Melbourne
Bank of Melbourne
BankSA (Bank of South Australia)
BankSA (Bank of South Australia)

closed Comments

  • TanedaR on 05/05/2023 - 10:29

    Better lock in a 18-month 4% than a 3-month 4.75%

    • puglikesabargain on 05/05/2023 - 10:31
      +4

      Not so sure about that, there are "experts" who think the 'peak' is potentially one percent higher than the current official cash rate because of problematic rising "services inflation" linked to wage increases……hence potential scope for further rate increases in these variable at-call savings accounts ie >5 percent in the near future.

      • TanedaR on 05/05/2023 - 10:39
        +4

        Inflation won't go down for sure.
        But I don't think % will keep going up, probably 0.25%-0.5% more the most.
        At some point, reserve banks around the world will have to admit that they just cannot control inflation due to decoupling and geopolitics.
        they will give up the 2-3% inflation target as it's no longer achievable,
        and they will keep the current % or even lower it at the end of this year to prevent hand landing for the economy.

        • puglikesabargain on 05/05/2023 - 10:44
          +3

          Yes but keep in mind Australia's official cash rate is still trailing other leading economies and we have economic factors such as a surge in immigration and the chronic labour shortages that are putting pressure on wages, hence services inflation. Therefore, yes there is scope for further rate increases, maybe greater than your forecast peak.

          I certainly would not lock into a 4 percent term deposit rate at the moment, at least for a substantial deposit. JudoBank and AMP offer much better term deposit rates anyway. Just a thought….

    • bkksam on 05/05/2023 - 11:03
      +1

      Judobank lock in 1 Year 4.65% p.a. paid monthly: 2 years 4.75% p.a. paid monthly : 3 & 4 years 4.8% p.a. paid monthly: 5 years 4.9% p.a. paid monthly

    • Russ on 05/05/2023 - 23:20

      than a 3-month 4.75%

      Only the maxi saver interest rate drops after three months, the incentive saver's total interest rate stays at 4.75% until StGeorge/BOM/BankSA change their policies, or until the reserve bank changes their cash rate.

      See my comment below, for how to achieve the bonus interest rate every month, even when your balance decreases or you take money out.

  • ozchobie on 05/05/2023 - 10:32
    +2

    Meh. Just get ubank.

    • impoze on 05/05/2023 - 10:33
      +1

      have they announced an increased rate yet?

      • ozchobie on 05/05/2023 - 10:35
        -1

        Not yet with this week's hike. Crossing fingers itll be closer to 5 so i can close my ING.

        But still at 4.6% with no time limit which is pretty good.

      • izkai67 on 07/05/2023 - 09:55

        they will soon, I m happy with ubank, auto pilot and you get bonus, monthly expenses paid by credit card and get points.

    • Quppa on 05/05/2023 - 13:20
      +1

      UBank won't raise their rate (still 4.6%) until the 1st of June if past months are anything to go by, and in the meantime this is a better deal if the grow-by-$50-each-month hoop is acceptable.

      BoQ (if you're 35 or under) and ING are still better bets.

      • izkai67 on 07/05/2023 - 09:57

        ING is not for eveyrone, max $100k is another problem. ubank and BOM is better in general

    • wetwork on 05/05/2023 - 20:25

      Do ubank answer their phone yet?
      Or have they sorted out their transition process?

  • miasommers on 05/05/2023 - 10:35

    Can confirm St George are an absolute trash bank in my opinion.

    • nightelves on 05/05/2023 - 10:46

      Can confirm a lot of trash goes out of St George.

    • wetwork on 05/05/2023 - 20:26
      +1

      In my opinion no.
      Have had much help from them over 25 years or so.

  • runamuck on 05/05/2023 - 10:46
    +4

    Down side with this product is that if you take any money out, you will lose the interest on the whole balance since you need to grow the balance by $50.

    • Russ on 05/05/2023 - 23:09
      +1

      But you can have two incentive saver accounts, as I do.

      Say you have $1000 savings, put it into the first account.

      At the start of next month, withdraw the entire balance (including the interest and bonus interest), subtract any money you need for that month, and deposit the remainder into the other incentive saver account.

      Rinse and repeat every month. Your deposit easily meets the conditions for receiving bonus interest, as the balance increases by much more than the $50 required. You're just flipping your entire balance (less any money you take out) from one account to the other, at the start of each month.

      And as you can do the transfer online, you can do it on the first day of every month, even if if is during the weekend. You'll lose one day worth of interest every month, but you're still getting a pretty good interest rate.

      This way you can continuously get the bonus interest rate, even when your balance decreases.

      Note: if you have a home loan, you're almost certainly better putting your savings into the home loan's offset account. Interest from a savings account is considered as income and will be taxed at your marginal tax rate; interest saved on your home loan is not taxed at all.

      • Mad Max on 06/05/2023 - 10:05

        When you have 2 Incentive Accounts, do both qualify for the high interest rate?
        If the money goes straight from one Incentive Account to the other, why do you lose one day worth of interest every month?

        • Russ on 06/05/2023 - 10:48

          The account with zero balance doesn't get the bonus rate, but you'd be getting zero interest from it anyway, so it doesn't matter.

          You lose one day of interest because you don't get interest on the day of the transfer, as the money hasn't been in either account for a whole day. All banks who calculate interest daily do this, otherwise you could circulate your balance between a dozen accounts every day and get interest from all the accounts.

          • Mad Max on 06/05/2023 - 11:29

            @Russ: Thank you Russ.
            I remember reading somewhere that interest is calculated daily on the day closing balance. If that was true you would not get interest on account 1, but you would get it in account 2.

            • Russ on 07/05/2023 - 22:07

              @Mad Max:

              interest is calculated daily on the day closing balance

              You may be right. My incentive saver accounts currently have zero balance (as I have a home loan to feed), so I'll shift $250 into one of them on the last day of this month, and see if I get $0.03 interest overnight.

              • Mad Max on 08/05/2023 - 09:41

                @Russ: Yes, good to know how things work!
                So have you actually done the switch between your 2 incentive accounts and confirmed that it works to get the bonus interest? Just asking because you mention that you currently have zero balance in them.

                • Russ on 08/05/2023 - 20:28
                  +1

                  @Mad Max: Yes, I've done the swap many times in the past, and received the bonus interest, without making any deposit. Sometimes I withdrew the entire balance to my transaction account, and deposited less money into the "other" incentive saver account, effectively making a withdrawal while achieving the bonus interest rate for another month.

                  A couple of times I had unexpected expenses in the middle of the month, and had to get some money out. I still flipped the remaining balance over to a third incentive saver account, better to get half a month of bonus interest than not.

                  I only have a third incentive saver account because the bank discontinued a different type of bank account I had, and they converted it into an incentive saver account. But it came in useful!

    • izkai67 on 07/05/2023 - 09:58

      same thing with ING even more hoops to watch, BOM max balance to get bonus is $250k, better than ING.

  • Fergy1987 on 05/05/2023 - 10:49
    +3

    Ugh hope GSB matches it so i dont have to move my money.

  • FujiFruit on 05/05/2023 - 10:55
    +2

    I’m waiting for virgin or amp to increase

    • puglikesabargain on 05/05/2023 - 10:56
      +2

      I think AMP will be a little way off, as they delay increases (if any), but hopefully BOQ, ING and Virgin will announce soon ….

      • Danam on 05/05/2023 - 13:11
        +1

        AMP sure are useless when it comes to increasing their rate, but they are still currently better than this deal at 4.8%.

  • Yola on 05/05/2023 - 10:57
    +1

    In the last week have withdrawn all my funds from Bank of Melbourne. They had a great rate but were slow to increase so fell behind. Took 3 days to transfer out as the max each day is $100k. No problems and may go back.

    • bresmith on 05/05/2023 - 11:00
      +2

      slow to increase? they have been one of the first to increase for several months now.

      • pennypincher98 on 05/05/2023 - 11:59

        Yes slow to increase. In the last few months they've been desperately playing catch up but you look back at 2022.

        The initial increases that virtually every other bank did weren't made which didn't instil confidence for future performance.

  • macr0hard on 05/05/2023 - 11:12

    I might’ve had a maxi saver before but closed it, currently have a complete freedom account. Would I qualify for the bonus?

    • bresmith on 05/05/2023 - 11:14
      +1

      Money needs to be in incentive saver or maxi saver to get this interest rate.

  • pennypincher98 on 05/05/2023 - 11:53
    +1

    Meh too late St George. Interesting how Westpac Life is increasing by 0.3% though (larger than the hike), seems they're finally realising people are leaving for better rates lol

  • payless69 on 05/05/2023 - 13:26

    Thanks Westpac for recycling over and over them piled up hoops. Antique collectors are running their feet off.
    Geheimtipp: NAB bottomed out on the ASX today. Can't see them going belly up anytime soon.

  • Danam on 05/05/2023 - 13:30

    Does anyone know if the increased rate will apply to those on the current 4.6% welcome rate?
    Most banks pass it on, but some lock in the sign up rate when there is a bonus period.

    • Quppa on 05/05/2023 - 14:20

      Out of interest, is it the 'grow your balance each month' requirement that made you choose Maxi Saver over Incentive Saver?

      Macquarie I know doesn't increase the bonus rate once you've signed up.

      • Danam on 05/05/2023 - 14:28
        +1

        I went with the Incentive Saver. They both had a 4.6% welcome rate, but the Maxi Saver drops to 1.1% after the welcome period. Incentive Saver stays at 4.5% as long as you deposit >$50.

        Having these 2 confusing products co-exist is just one of many things I don't like about BOM - but nothing I can't live with for the short term.

        • Quppa on 05/05/2023 - 15:05

          Incentive Saver has no welcome rate - (as of May 12) it's 1.85% standard + 2.90% bonus (when you meet the grow-balance-by-$50 requirement) = 4.75% total.

  • shoppe on 06/05/2023 - 10:08
    +2

    Come on UBank, lift your game!

  • Hector on 08/05/2023 - 15:29

    I've got a Bank of Melbourne Incentive Saver and St George Incentive Saver … show up on one screen (but different BSB). That was a surprise.

    Even though they're under one customer number… is bonus interest (eg grow each account month-on-month) treated as if they are separate accounts?

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