ubank: From 01 Oct 2025, Save Account Balance Must Grow to Earn Bonus Interest

SBOB on 15/07/2025 - 07:48
Last edited 15/07/2025 - 08:04 by 1 other user

As this just isn't the usual tweak to interest rates, and may impact those that use their account where the balance doesn't always increase, worth noting the new change ubank just announced on their website.

I know for me that makes ubank unsuitable and now need to find an alternative for daily banking over the new couple months.

https://www.ubank.com.au/savings-update

From 1 October 2025 (so there’s nothing for you to do now)

We’re evolving the way you qualify for bonus interest on your Save accounts. From 1 October 2025, you’ll need to grow your combined balance across all your Save accounts (excluding linked offsets and excluding any interest credits) by $1 each month.

Financial Bank Account Savings Account

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Comments

  • BigTop on 15/07/2025 - 08:00
    +40

    Turning into a joke now just to get a fair interest rate combined with a functional bank account. That leaves ME bank to offer reasonable minimal hoop interest, but a large $2000 monthly deposit requirement, or Macquarie with no hoops. I’d rather stick my cash under a mattress than give the banks cheap access to my money.

    • KangaDrew on 15/07/2025 - 11:32
      +2

      Can't you dump 2k into ME Bank then transfer it straight out like you can do with other banks?

      • md333 on 15/07/2025 - 12:53
        +3

        You can, although they did previously have a growth requirement as well. They dropped the growth requirement at the same time they dropped their interest rate to less competitive levels, so it wasn't very interesting at the time. They now look like the best option for high interest without a growth requirement. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if they drop their rates or add new conditions soon.

        ING hoops are pretty annoying but at least they are consistent and pay good interest.

        • KangaDrew on 15/07/2025 - 13:05

          I don't mind the transfer in/transfer out method as that can be automated to happen seamlessly behind the scenes. While I'm actively increasing my Save account balances with ubank each month as it is, I'm not too concerned about their new growth requirements. But I can appreciate that it causes resistance barriers and a more active management of accounts for others, so ubank's move is still pretty sh!tty.

          I'll just keep everything as is for now and see what happens with ME bank (and the offers from other banks) when the time comes.

    • topherboi on 15/07/2025 - 13:22
      +4

      I’d rather stick my cash under a mattress than give the banks cheap access to my money.

      Then do it, what's stopping you?

      • DoctorCalculon on 15/07/2025 - 21:14
        +5

        Talk is cheap?

        • topherboi on 15/07/2025 - 21:46

          But I want to have my money and earn interest on it too!

      • BigTop on 17/07/2025 - 13:44

        It’s getting to that point.

    • Dr Phil on 16/07/2025 - 21:21
      +8

      Well uBank have just extinguished thier wonderful competitive advantages. Therefore…….

      Macquarie Savings Account is now by far the best Savings account all around.

      • No hoops whatsover so you will ALWAYS earn your 4.5% interest without thinking about it
      • Full internet banking facilities including direct debits
      • 4.5% Rate applies up to $1M
      • By far the best bank in Australia with the highest share price

      Combine with a Macquarie transaction account if you want debit card facility

      • The best transaction account in Australia, also with no fees or hoops
      • The only transaction account that pays interest - currently 2.25%
      • Move money from your high interst savings account into your transaction account as required, on the spot, any time via the Macquarie app
      • Macquarie Platinum Debit Card benefits apply:- Lost Luggage Return, Card Purchase Cover and Wallet Guard Cover.
      • No Macquarie bank foreign exchange fees when purchasing or spending overseas
      • SBOB on 16/07/2025 - 21:41
        +8

        best bank in Australia with the highest share price

        Share price means nothing, you would be comparing market caps.
        Eg Macquarie is less than a 3rd of comm bank

          • Fobsessive on 18/07/2025 - 01:05

            @sangohan: Share price means nothing, you would be market comparing caps

          • T Man on 24/07/2025 - 10:59

            @sangohan: Share price going up is good for a company, yes. Current share price depends on the total market cap and number of shares on offer (so MacQ shares may not be as diluted / split as others, leading to a higher share price, but this doesn't mean they have better returns than CBA). e.g. if I split my shares 1 to 8, my company isn't doing any worse even though my share price just dropped to 1/8th of the former value.

            Realistically, you need to look at the dividend return of the bank as a percentage of investment, to determine if they're doing better or worse than others in terms of profitability.

  • djones145 on 15/07/2025 - 08:21
    -8

    sounds like a good business idea
    for a small fee of $9.99 a month i will guarantee 1 dollar will be sent into your account by the middle of the month so you get you bonus interest

    www.ozdontforgetyourdollar.com.au

    • SBOB on 15/07/2025 - 08:40
      +38

      I assume for most it's not the depositing of funds that's the issue.
      Growing the balance.
      I use my accounts with varying 5 figure balances over the months. The requirement it can never drop back one month else you get $0 benefit makes it unsuitable

      • apsilon on 15/07/2025 - 09:03
        +23

        That's exactly it, I deposit several hundred per month automatically but some months I decide to buy something and the overall balance ends up lower. This change will mean I lose out on a few hundred in interest that month. Guess it's time to move, as they've just removed the biggest pro of having an account with them.

        • Iggemo on 15/07/2025 - 11:23
          +14

          Yep, this sucks. My balance generally does grow but im looking at getting some dental work done over several months and will need to dip into savings, this is the kind of thing which will sting you and you get virtually no interest any month u need to dip into it. Really sucks.

          • payton on 15/07/2025 - 11:48
            +1

            @Iggemo:

            this is the kind of thing which will sting you and you get virtually no interest any month

            uBank sending you back to the dentist 👌, pain concerns

      • KangaDrew on 15/07/2025 - 11:41
        +7

        The requirement it can never drop back one month else you get $0 benefit makes it unsuitable

        Looks like they've been reading pages from ING's playbook

        From ubanks FAQs:

        We’ve heard your feedback about our products, so we’re simplifying our rates and increasing the limit on combined balances which you can earn interest on.

        For example, if you had $1000 across your eligible Save accounts at the end of the month, earned bonus interest of $5 combined, by the end of the following month, you’ll need to have $1006 across your eligible Save accounts to earn bonus interest.

        In what universe does "reducing rates" mean "simplifying" 🤨 They're not simplifying anything by adding more barriers and conditions to get past.

        • Hangryuman on 15/07/2025 - 21:14

          They're "simplifying" the amount of interest they intend to pay out

          but removing their need to pay interest to anyone whose total balance across their UBank accounts didn't grow by interest + $1

          "simples!"

  • cashless on 15/07/2025 - 08:25
    +45

    They're also reducing, from today, the key interest rate for savings <$100k from 4.85% to 4.6%.
    I thought the RBA held the base rate for July?
    "designed to make things easier for you"
    They only switched to 2 tier interest rates a few months back, now they're switching back.
    Sounds like Trump is in charge of monetary policy at uBank

    • sghetti on 15/07/2025 - 09:53
      +15

      Sneaky change. They're introduced an intro 4 month rate for new users at 5.00%. Shafting existing customers at the same time. Net result will probably be no change to customer numbers as they replace existing customers with new customers on the intro rate.

    • surfingedge on 15/07/2025 - 11:20
      +1

      They never said their rates have to follow RBA

      Ubank already dropped from 5.5 to 5.1 when RBA first cut by 0.25%

    • theknight27 on 15/07/2025 - 12:27
      +14

      The framing of the changes as "to make things easier to understand" and then sneakily adding an additional challenging requirement is so shady.

    • petestrash on 16/07/2025 - 07:10
      +1

      It's pretty shitty that in their terms they can change the interest rate without any warning, up to the day of the change. Most other changes to the account require them to give 30 days notice.

    • cannedhams on 16/07/2025 - 10:04
      +1

      what a load of steaming horse puckey:-

      "we're making things easier for you"

      my arse

  • finbar on 15/07/2025 - 08:29
    +12

    Very disappointing news.

  • GettingThePlus190s on 15/07/2025 - 08:41
    +30

    Welp, time to finally close the account. Them reducing the functionality (no longer able to pay / direct debit from 'save ' account was already terrible.

    • markwid on 15/07/2025 - 17:03
      +1

      Yep, time to close this account. Just opened account with Macquarie today.

    • mecusherb on 16/07/2025 - 10:40

      Oh this annoyed the living piss out of me. I just wanted a savings account. Then I had a secondary for "savings/buffer" but had to open a transaction account to move money back to NAB.

      Might have to look into shifting my account as I can't be assed with this new requirement as well

    • stanstho on 17/07/2025 - 16:39

      Me too. I hate uBank so much. In past they used to auto-move funds from your savings into your transactions when the balance was too low if you made a tap and go card purchase.

      Then they also royally stuffed up the "sweeps" functionality they had previously - where you could set it to automatically (overnight every 24 hours iirc) top-up ("sweep") from savings to your transactions account when it the transactions got below a certain number.

      Those two changes royally screwed me and has caused so many payment declines because previously I never had to think about transferring funds from savings into transactions - suddenly I need to do it manually every time I pay for something (and don't get me started on how often the app is down for maintenance)

      Not to mention how they bungled the merger when acquired :86 400. Took me over a year to get my new card they sent me actually live.

  • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 08:57
    +5

    Thanks for the heads up on this. Looks like Macquarie is the go.

  • holdenmg on 15/07/2025 - 09:09
    +6

    I remember when evolving meant something else…

    I'll advise Macquarie and Oxford accordingly.

    • smartazz104 on 15/07/2025 - 13:44
      +10

      Apparently now it means "enshitifying".

  • scotty on 15/07/2025 - 09:23
    +17

    The very same reason why many people moved away from ING. In order to assure the balance increase at the end of each month, you'll need to leave some buffer in your Spending account that should have been in the Saver account earning interests. Then you might as well moving to a bank with lower interest rate but lower hurdle.

    • bamzero on 16/07/2025 - 12:16

      Exactly, and I hope Macquarie takes note and doesn't join the circus and start adding hoops.

      Maybe I'm just lazy, but I've been happy enough to go with them for the simple fact that it's nice and simple there. They use your money and give you a decent rate for it without account fees, minimum deposits, growing balances, minumum transactions or whatever else they come up with (you know, the way it used to be back when I was a young un :)

  • [Deactivated] on 15/07/2025 - 09:30
    -3

    Pensioner robbed of $1,338 is taking NAB (UBank) to court for millions
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-14/pensioner-takes-nab-t…

    "I was sitting on the toilet and checking through my bank account" he said.
    Williams had calculated that $1,338 was about 5.5 per cent of his annual pension.
    And $379.05 million was 5.5 per cent of NAB's 2022 profit after tax.
    "Things need to be proportionate," he said.

    • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 10:35
      +4

      He will probably get the money back and some legal costs. This isn’t America.

      • ricadam on 15/07/2025 - 11:49
        +4

        He was already offered $1,500 but had to sign away any admission of guilt from NAB. He refused and took it further.

        • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 13:28

          Yup, I’m just saying what I think the outcome of the case might be. However, if the bank defends he may not win because he refused reparations.

          • picklewizard on 15/07/2025 - 16:27
            +8

            @try2bhelpful: Honestly, I hope not. This bloke epitomises boomer entitlement. Doesn't want a solution, just wants to be mad.

            By his own admission he handed details to the scammers, and then claimed that the bank still should have blocked the transaction. This alone is fine, it happens, I can understand this.

            But upon being offered more than that amount of money back, despite him being the weak link in the chain, he now wants $3 million. Righto mate.

            • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 16:31
              -1

              @picklewizard: The courts tend to have a dim view of people who don’t settle these things beforehand. Got to admit I’m a bit over the sensationalist speculative reporting on these sort of things.

            • squash on 16/07/2025 - 17:07

              @picklewizard: 300 million

    • Grok on 15/07/2025 - 14:08
      +7

      If you read the article it seems the pensioner actually authorised the creation of a Google Pay Wallet and gave the scammers the authorisation code.

      So it wasn’t a great theft by the bank.

      • PurchaseAnxiety on 15/07/2025 - 14:19
        +3

        That was my takeaway too. It's a pretty involved process to get a card added into a mobile wallet; there's very little chance he had no involvement. And the expectation that the bank was supposed to spot a several hundred transaction at a Coles within his state as fraud is also a pretty big expectation. He'd probably also be upset if he went on a road trip, stopped for a big supply shop, and got his card locked as a result.

      • DoctorCalculon on 15/07/2025 - 21:18

        But much easier to blame someone else than take responsibility.

  • jizmo on 15/07/2025 - 09:39
    +1

    Can't seem to bother them. ING never retracted their new policy's and how many thousands of people would have bailed out at the time.
    The only thing stopping me from looking offshore is if the AUD rebounds, I've lost a lot of money.

  • Gunther on 15/07/2025 - 09:56
    +13

    Brb opening Macquarie account…

  • bbinc on 15/07/2025 - 10:06
    +3

    Thanks OP. Certainly a very different product coming up.
    Guess the best day to move is first of any month, and get it done before the October change.

  • mreddie on 15/07/2025 - 10:20
    +1

    I'm with Credit Union SA and they don't have hoops and the interest rate is OK

    • Gunther on 15/07/2025 - 10:32
      +3

      Credit Union SA is terrible after the 4months honeymoon rate.

      Netsave Account
      Ongoing standard variable interest rate 1.00% p.a.
      4 month introductory bonus rate 3.85 % p.a.
      Total variable rate for introductory period 4.85 % p.a.

      • mreddie on 15/07/2025 - 11:25
        +1

        Yes correct but they have renewed my honeymoon rate twice when I've gone to cancel, just something to keep in mind - and of course it may vary depending on who you get on the phone. But yes I always move after the honeymoon rate ends with any bank.

        • RockyRaccoon on 15/07/2025 - 11:40
          +11

          So calling them every 4 months and hoping you get a renewed intro rate, isnt a "hoop"?

          • mreddie on 15/07/2025 - 11:43

            @RockyRaccoon: Hasn't been an issue for me so far, if the rate remains the same and no hoops it's only been a 5min chat - but whatever works for you.

  • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 10:32
    +3

    BOQ seems to have a decent interest rate account as well.

    • KangaDrew on 15/07/2025 - 16:21
      +1

      Best of luck with their app!

  • leeroys_dad on 15/07/2025 - 10:48
    +1

    ME bank 4.85% ? Seems very low hassle as well

  • JIMB0 on 15/07/2025 - 10:58
    +2

    Great, so now I can get the higher interest rate on my entire balance rather than just some of it.

  • Leiothrix on 15/07/2025 - 11:14
    +22

    I'll be changing my account to another bank.

    Make a purchase and it could cost an extra thousand dollars, that isn't really saving money.

    From a quick look around Macquarie looks the best, no deposit or growth requirements per month, 4.5% ongoing rate.

    From those mentioned above — using ongoing rates not bonus rates:
    BOQ SmartSaver: 4.75% & deposit $1k/mo + make 5 eligible transactions per month
    ME Bank SaveMe: 3.85% & make 4 Visa debit purchases per month
    ING Savings Maximiser: 5% & deposit $1k/mo + 5 purchases per month + grow account per month
    ING Savings Accelerator: 4.2% for balance > $150k, lower rates for lower balances.

    • Iggemo on 15/07/2025 - 11:20
      +3

      Thanks for the comparison. So Macquarie is just 4.5% and no hoops at all, none?

      • Leiothrix on 15/07/2025 - 11:27
        +15

        I'm just reading through the summary pages, but that is what it says:

        https://www.macquarie.com.au/everyday-banking/savings-account.html

        Unlike other high interest savings accounts, the Macquarie Savings Account is built without barriers. We don’t ask Australian savers to jump through hoops to meet requirements every month to keep earning our great savings rates.

        No monthly spend requirements to earn our great rate.

        No minimum monthly deposit requirements.

        No fees.

        • Iggemo on 15/07/2025 - 12:37

          I'll be moving there i think. Cheers !

          • Hangryuman on 15/07/2025 - 21:29
            -1

            @Iggemo: Beware - the more useful Macquarie Transaction account only pays 2.25%pa - it has a debit card, debit and mobile payments, Apple Pay and Gpay, ATM fee refunds in Oz, and transaction notifications - you must have a Transaction account

            The optional Macquarie Savings account currently offers 4.5%pa ongoing after 4.85%pa for the first 4 months on your first Macquarie account, but is less useful because it doesn't do the above

            at least that's my quick summary of https://www.macquarie.com.au/help/personal/transaction-and-s… - others can correct or advise

            so for the more useful account, 2.5%pa is kinda definitely meh …

            • bbinc on 16/07/2025 - 09:34
              +2

              @Hangryuman: This is correct, and useful for you to draw attention to it. It is however, easy to setup transfers from the Savings acct to the debit card, and keep a small balance in the debit card for spending needs. I find that easier than the hoops the others have.

              • Hangryuman on 16/07/2025 - 13:55
                +1

                @bbinc: Okay - then I might consider moving most from UBank to the Macq savings a/c for the 4.5% ongoing from 1 October

                and then transfer across from my Macq savings to top up my Macq transaction account as needed for my regular direct debits …

                Thanks !

                • timhn on 16/07/2025 - 19:24

                  @Hangryuman: You can do direct debit from Macquarie Savings account. It's a unique feature of Macquarie Bank.

      • timwog on 15/07/2025 - 12:42
        +1

        Correct. No hoops whatsoever.

      • idonotknowwhy on 16/07/2025 - 00:50
        +2

        Correct. I accidentally left a few grand in there for a couple of years, and was pleasantly surprised to find it had been paying interest each month.

        It's now my main bank, and has the best app of all of them.

    • Moo Deng on 15/07/2025 - 15:23

      What about ME HomeME?

      4.85% and $2000 deposit?

      • Leiothrix on 15/07/2025 - 15:31
        +1

        That is $2000 per month.

        4.85% only to the first $100k, after that it is 2.85%

  • lars06 on 15/07/2025 - 11:16
    +5

    Disappointing. ubank was great to use in conjunction with ING. Will have to check out Macquarie and others over next few months and switch over. Hope they take a big loss of customers from this!

    • Swa8821 on 15/07/2025 - 12:57
      -6

      Macquarie is not great
      4.85$ just for 4months - 1 time

      • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 13:20
        +2

        Then drops to 4.5%. Still OK.

        • Swa8821 on 15/07/2025 - 14:14
          -5

          for u its ok but for rest its not

          • apsilon on 15/07/2025 - 14:16

            @Swa8821: Which is better? This change means I have to move away from UBank and Macquarie is the leading contender.

            • Swa8821 on 15/07/2025 - 14:17

              @apsilon: ING or BOQ if you are under 35

              • apsilon on 15/07/2025 - 14:23
                +1

                @Swa8821: Not under 35 and ING has the same requirement to grow balance every month. BOQ has conditions indicated by ** but I'll be damned if I can find what they are.

                  • apsilon on 15/07/2025 - 14:32

                    @try2bhelpful: Found it, had to expand one of the sections. Need to deposit $1000/m and make 5 transactions from a linked account so I'd need to move more than my savings. Not seeing how it's a better option than Macquarie.

                    • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 14:33

                      @apsilon: Slightly higher interest rate.

                      • apsilon on 15/07/2025 - 14:36

                        @try2bhelpful: Yeah but only 0.25% after the first 4 months and only on balances under $250k (yes I'm over currently) and with extra hoops to jump through.

                        • try2bhelpful on 15/07/2025 - 14:39

                          @apsilon: True. Just another option for people to try. Particularly if people have to distribute between accounts to stay under the limit for each bank.

                • md333 on 15/07/2025 - 15:50

                  @apsilon: ING has a loophole allowing you to get around the balance increase (open 2 accounts and switch which one you nominate for bonus interest whenever you make a withdrawal). Also has consistently offered the best interest rate or near enough for decades, so worth figuring out how to use it. Does have a 5 transaction requirement which is more of a pain, but doesn't bother me now I have enough auto-payments to satisfy it.

                  • timhn on 15/07/2025 - 22:39

                    @md333: What auto-payment did you setup?

                • Igaf on 18/07/2025 - 00:14

                  @apsilon: ING's growth criterion is far worse, plus it has a deposit reqt.

  • sakanasama on 15/07/2025 - 11:49
    +6

    Nope, ubank has now lost the plot…pulling away…..

    Macquarie: Thanks for the free promo ubank

  • CaptainJack on 15/07/2025 - 12:02
    +18

    Does anyone hate the language the banks use in these communications?

    "Evolving the way you qualify for interest". Do they mean de-evolving?

    • DoaAn on 15/07/2025 - 20:51
      +4

      They desperately try to make it sound like it's not enshitification. Like how Ubank claimed removing the ability to pay out of savings accounts was making things better for us.

  • ATangk on 15/07/2025 - 12:05
    +1

    Wow how exciting. Thanks NAB.

    • Frosty17 on 16/07/2025 - 09:45
      +1

      It's gone to shit after NAB took over

      • gamma on 19/07/2025 - 11:11

        It was always under NAB but its true that NAB seem to have a knack for enshitification of anything and everything they touch.. 86400 (which caused the beginning of UBank's downward trend), Citi…
        I guess they try to bring everything down to their own level

  • Guybrush57 on 15/07/2025 - 12:06

    Who is everyone going with?

    • timwog on 15/07/2025 - 12:43
      +3

      Macquarie

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