I'm looking for a bank that offers an account with a good savings rate and has a debit card attached to it.
Everywhere I look the best they offer is a transaction account that has a card and then a linked savings account without a card. It's starting to drive me insane. I shoudn't have to give up a 5% interest rate just because I want a card.
Does anyone know of any options that are available?
I thought sweeping was removed when they merged with 86400?
See this discussion I had with another Ozbargainer earlier:
oh yes just saw it
This FAQ is related to an original ubank product that new customers can no longer access.
https://www.ubank.com.au/help/original/og-everyday-banking/a…
Just spend on a credit card and pay in full out of the savings account monthly; gets you more interest than you'd get withdrawing from the savings account for each transaction anyway, and bonus points from new card sign ups and transactions on top.
I want to avoid credit card as I'm trying to help someone manage their finances and I don't think they're ready for one yet
You can get very low-limit credit cards that would stop someone from blowing out a credit limit and struggling to repay it. I think a few FI's have credit cards with low or no annual fees and 1 or 2k limits on them
I was looking at a few that have a minimum $1k limit but I think I'll stick to getting them to see their actual money first before I introduce credit unless as a last resort.
OK, fair enough - they're a great tool if you use them responsibly but easy to go out of control with them too.
If you want to help someone manage their finances wouldn’t it be better to not give them access to all of their savings in a transaction account and at least add some friction to the process?
The envelope method is a good way to learn to budget and you can do that via a transaction account and multiple savings accounts.
Exactly
Literally only use the credit card like it’s your own money, and set up automatic direct debiting
Get it on a low credit limit if needed
How’s it any worse than having access to their entire savings pool…
And all the liabilities with doing everything from a single debit account
You get all the extra credit protections with it too
Only bank I know of that has an interest rate on the transaction account is Macquarie with 4.5% up to 250k
Oh wow, that looks like exactly what I need. Almost too good to be true. Are you with them currently? If so, what are your thoughts in general and on the app?
I am, but not as my main bank. I'd recommend them. App is decent.
Macquarie also refund all ATM fees and have zero international transaction fees. They do not have eftpos, so you can't do cash out at supermarkets. There are zero hoops to jump through and zero fees.
I moved over from CBA to Macquarie in January. So far they have been good. One limitation is no direct mechanism for depositing physical cash. I have workarounds for that but otherwise it's a good account that meets my needs.
No physical cash? How does that work
@m0tyrider: Actually, what I said above is not quite right. There is a way to deposit cash and cheques but it can be inconvenient if you live too far from their branches. Turns out I work close to the Melbourne branch is it's an option in my case.
You can make cash and cheque deposits in person at the following Macquarie branches only:
I thought it's safer if you have transaction account separate from savings. In the case of your card get unauthorized usage, only funds in transaction account are hit.
Definitely it. My brothers Commbank debit card got skimmed and they did lots of $19 and $38 til it was empty. Then Commbank had to let the transactions go through before refunding.
I opened a new Ubank account for my husband and transferred in a few lots of $10 as a test because I was paranoid before doing the big transfers and after the 3rd lot of $10 it blocked my account, which is pretty good in terms of safety.
This is exactly why you should always use a credit card for spending - your card will eventually get compromised, and it's a massive pain in the ass when your bank account gets emptied and you can no longer pay your bills etc ! When it happens to a credit card, it's the bank's money and the bank's problem.
Exactly, it's a recipe for disaster. I never keep more than $50 on any of my accounts that are attached to a Debit card.
Unless the merchant has been pre-authorised, most banks don't let overdraws on txn accounts if you've not requested it.
I've had instances where my credit cards have been skimmed $1K+. You call and dispute, they put the amount on hold, and a few months later, once the dispute has ended, the charge will disappear — you don't have to pay a cent.
While on a debit card, most banks don't refund you until the dispute ends. So you lose access to your own money and potential interest. Disputes sometimes take months to finalise.
I use Macquarie Bank. Both my savings account (no card) and transaction account (debit card) get really good interest rate for the amount of money in my account. Have found them to be quite good too with their app and support. Only drawback is not being able to deposit cash other than through the Macquarie branch lol. But I have a secondary bank anyway with Bankwest which I use for business and I just deposit cash into that account. But ye I think they're suitable for what you're looking for.
OP, any reason why it needs to be all in one?
If your friend has a reasonable amount of money to put in the account, you don't want to have that accessible on a card in case it's stolen.
In saying that, I would still use the Macquarie transaction account. Too many perks to pass up. I use it in conjunction with the HSBC Global Everyday card for the 2% cashback. But I would keep the savings account separate.
ubank? spend and save accounts, they can trigger automatic transfers