Can't you dump 2k into ME Bank then transfer it straight out like you can do with other banks?
ubank: From 01 Oct 2025, Save Account Balance Must Grow to Earn Bonus Interest » All Comments
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.
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.
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?
Talk is cheap?
But I want to have my money and earn interest on it too!
It’s getting to that point.
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
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 bankhigh share price means the bank is making a lot of money. It typically means that they actually charge high fees! Look at CBA!
A low share price might indicate the bank isn't well run, but that's fine as long as you are under the deposit insurance scheme.
So for a consumer, the interest and structure is the important aspect, and share price is irrelevant.
@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.
The greed of these banks never ceases to amaze me!
Anything to screw people over, "oh how bad for you, your balance is $1 lower than last month, 0% interest for this month."
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 interestI 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 unsuitableThat'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.
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.
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
For this reason i just have 2 accounts, one that is quite high, and the second with much lower, that way i still get interest on both but if i need to spend a decent amount of money i wont lose the bulk of my interest
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.
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!"
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 uBankSneaky 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.
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%
The framing of the changes as "to make things easier to understand" and then sneakily adding an additional challenging requirement is so shady.
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.
what a load of steaming horse puckey:-
"we're making things easier for you"
my arse
Very disappointing news.
😂😂😂😂
Welp, time to finally close the account. Them reducing the functionality (no longer able to pay / direct debit from 'save ' account was already terrible.
Yep, time to close this account. Just opened account with Macquarie today.
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
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.
Thanks for the heads up on this. Looks like Macquarie is the go.
I remember when evolving meant something else…
I'll advise Macquarie and Oxford accordingly.
Apparently now it means "enshitifying".
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.
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 :)
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.He will probably get the money back and some legal costs. This isn’t America.
He was already offered $1,500 but had to sign away any admission of guilt from NAB. He refused and took it further.
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.
@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.
@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.
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.
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.
But much easier to blame someone else than take responsibility.
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.Brb opening Macquarie account…
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.I'm with Credit Union SA and they don't have hoops and the interest rate is OK
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.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.
So calling them every 4 months and hoping you get a renewed intro rate, isnt a "hoop"?
@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.
BOQ seems to have a decent interest rate account as well.
Best of luck with their app!
ME bank 4.85% ? Seems very low hassle as well
Make it 4.6
make it 3.6 as thats what its currently at
Did the message change or did i reply to the wrong person? I read ubank 4.85% which is down to 4.6%
There are two ME accounts. One is 3.6% and the other is 4.85%
https://www.mebank.com.au/banking/savings-account-interest-r…@try2bhelpful: Both 0.05%, SaveME 3.85% with min 4 card transactions. HomeME 4.85% with min $2K deposit.
The HOMEME looks good. Can you do bank transfers out, pay bills etc from that account or do you have to do those transactions from the SPENDME account?
It looks like you have to do your $2000 deposit into your SPENDME account to qualify for the high rate on your HOMEME account.
And so there would be 2 steps. Step 1 deposit $2k into SPENDME; Step 2 transfer it into the HOMEME account. Am I correct? Thank you for your attention.That's correct for the 2 steps. Pay externally only via spendme
Yes, and if your HomeMe has reached the max $100K, you can withdraw the interest amount - or withdraw as much you needed, and still earn the bonus rate.
Great, so now I can get the higher interest rate on my entire balance rather than just some of it.
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.Thanks for the comparison. So Macquarie is just 4.5% and no hoops at all, none?
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.
I'll be moving there i think. Cheers !
@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 …
@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.
@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 !
@Hangryuman: You can do direct debit from Macquarie Savings account. It's a unique feature of Macquarie Bank.
Recommend going with Macquarie. Lost my shit with INGs 5+ purchases. Where I did make 5 purchase before months end but they didn't count those transaction which were still Pending… Hence im planning to close the account soon
Correct. No hoops whatsoever.
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.
What about ME HomeME?
4.85% and $2000 deposit?
That is $2000 per month.
4.85% only to the first $100k, after that it is 2.85%
Disappointing. ubank was great to use in conjunction with ING. Will have to check out Macquarie and others over next few months and switch over. Hope they take a big loss of customers from this!
Macquarie is not great
4.85$ just for 4months - 1 timeThen drops to 4.5%. Still OK.
for u its ok but for rest its not
@Swa8821: Which is better? This change means I have to move away from UBank and Macquarie is the leading contender.
@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.
@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: 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.
@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.
@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.
Nope, ubank has now lost the plot…pulling away…..
Macquarie: Thanks for the free promo ubank
Does anyone hate the language the banks use in these communications?
"Evolving the way you qualify for interest". Do they mean de-evolving?
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.
Wow how exciting. Thanks NAB.
It's gone to shit after NAB took over
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
Who is everyone going with?
Macquarie
nope.
just 4.85% for 4months - 1 timeThen 4.5%.
@try2bhelpful: to each its own I guess! some customers are even happy in the likes of around 3.85% as well
At the moment, there are 3 obvious choices for people who liked ubank's low hoop approach.
ME Bank's HomeME: 4.85% for $2k monthly deposit, no withdrawal or balance growth conditions, up to $100k.
$100k cap for a home deposit seems a bit odd, but that's just the branding. You can use it for whatever you want.
If you already use HSBC's 2% off transaction account, then you can transfer the same $2k between HSBC and ME Bank to kill two birds with one stone.
Australian Unity's Freedom Saver offers 4.85% up to $50k and 4.5% up to $250k with zero hoops.
For giant balances and zero hoops, Macquarie offers 4.5% up to $1 mil.
There's 2.5 months until ubank's changes takes effect, so I think everyone should breath, take some time to think things through and make a final decision in September.
It's also worth noting that some banks (like ubank already has) may lower their rates out of cycle with the RBA, so the exact numbers and positioning may shift by September/October.
This is a really helpful comment, thanks for posting it. As it stands i'll go with Aus Unity but, as you say, we'll see in a couple of months i guess.
One thing I haven't mentioned is usability and ease of access.
I.e. how are the mobile apps, whether they are mobile only and the desktop interface (if it exists at all).https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.macquar…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.mebank.…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.austral…It's noteworthy that Macquarie has 500k downloads with 1k ratings averaging 3 stars, while the other 2 have far less downloads and are averaging 2 stars.
ME Bank have more than 3 times the reviews of Macquarie despite having fewer users and Australian Unity has only ~50 reviews.It's quite clear that although the people aren't completely happy with Macquarie's app, they are okay with it and it is more mature with more users.
ME Bank has more users than Australian Unity, but people are complaining a lot more about it.
Australian Unity has the fewest users and fewest reviews.Also, Macquarie last updated their mobile app this month, Australian Unity last updated their app in March and ME Bank hasn't touched their app since September last year.
Some people may be swayed by Macquarie being more on top of their software updates, having more app users and higher app store ratings.
Others may be more willing to put up with bad software.@scalebearer: I just switched to Macquarie.
The App is slick and the signup process is flawless via the app.
Just signed up a joint transaction account and individual accounts in less than 20min.
The App also allows users to switch between users/account holders on the one device.
Macquarie makes uBank look like a 3rd rate outfit.
I replied elsewhere in this thread, just be careful with Australian Unity:
"When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.":
https://www.australianunity.com.au/banking/savings-accounts/…
1 The ongoing variable interest rate applicable to the Freedom Saver Account is determined by the value of the balance in the Freedom Saver Account. Balances up to $5,000,000.00 are eligible to earn interest as outlined by the interest tiering structure set out in the Schedule of Interest Rates – Transaction and Savings Accounts. When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.
This means if you are lucky enough to have more than 50k in your account, say 50,001 dollars, you lose a chunk of interest immediately.
@naviln: Yeah that's stupid. I assumed it would be like marginal tax rates where it's applied to the balance above a threshold cos, you know, that makes sense. To apply it to the entire balance is really stupid. Anyway im not that close to 50k myself but obv this would be a dealbreaker for those who are over it.
Does Australian Unity have Osko and PayID?
For HSBC I only need to do the transfer thingy every second month. Last time I did was early July, August still generates cashbacks.
For a list of all the savings accounts…
https://goo.gl/FufTQPI'm off to Australian Unity, 4.85%, no playing around with transfers, purchases, balances, etc.
Depends on your balance.
I can't see it clearly stated if these are interest bands or if the rate applies to your entire balance.
https://www.australianunity.com.au/banking/savings-accounts/…
Account balance range — Variable interest rate
Up to $50,000 — 4.85% p.a.
Over $50,000 to $250,000 — 4.50% p.a.
Over $250,000 to $500,000 — 3.75% p.a.
Over $500,000 to $5M — 3.25% p.a.Check the website, I think it is terrible: "When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.":
https://www.australianunity.com.au/banking/savings-accounts/…
1 The ongoing variable interest rate applicable to the Freedom Saver Account is determined by the value of the balance in the Freedom Saver Account. Balances up to $5,000,000.00 are eligible to earn interest as outlined by the interest tiering structure set out in the Schedule of Interest Rates – Transaction and Savings Accounts. When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.
Awful service and procedures. I deposited $50k then they dropped the rate from 5.5% to 5.2%. Max withdrawal $1250 per day, so I withdrew $1250 and then they said I had to call them to increase the limit.
When I called, they said a "manager" was required to authorise it but she was on leave, so they blocked my account until she returned. 2 weeks later, insisted on doing a full KYC that required taking a selfie video, sending 3 different certified ID proofs and a copy of the bank statement from where I sent the $50k.
Then a 1-hour phone interrogation about every transaction on that bank statement, which revealed that she did not understand her own bank's products (found it "suspicious" that I sent $1250 to the transaction account and then $1250 from the transaction account to my other bank - because the saver account doesn't allow external withdrawals), did not understand the difference between citizenship and tax residency, and thought that I was being scammed by sending money from my other account to my broker to invest in the VGS ETF.
Wtf, that's wild
I had no such problems. It was quick, don't even remember doing it. Just know that I have a $10k transfer limit.
Check the website, I think it is terrible: "When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.":
https://www.australianunity.com.au/banking/savings-accounts/…
1 The ongoing variable interest rate applicable to the Freedom Saver Account is determined by the value of the balance in the Freedom Saver Account. Balances up to $5,000,000.00 are eligible to earn interest as outlined by the interest tiering structure set out in the Schedule of Interest Rates – Transaction and Savings Accounts. When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.
This means if you are lucky enough to have more than 50k in your account, say 50,001 dollars, you lose a chunk of interest immediately.
just got the email reducing the rate to 4.6%
guess its back to ING then
ING isn’t all that bad if you do use it as your international transaction acc. If you can’t hit the savings increase, just go on the internet banking site and change your next months interest bonus acc to another savings maximiser, put in $1 and transfer your money at the beginning of the next month.
Thanks - better off using a fx fee free credit card for international purchases and can always do 5 x 1c partial transactions at self checkout at supermarkets. Just hassle of running through hoops every month and then transferring if you dont get bonus interest!
The amount of changes you need to keep track of with this bank are crazy.
I will put my hand up and say , yes I very rarely read these emails, and previously lost a bit of money when i never read the email that started i needed to deposit a certain amount each month to activate bonus interest. Had been with them for years, this was my set and forget account where if I had extra money it went into an account.
Then came the one where I need to create a new savings account, get a card just to activate interest on my accounts?
I joined this place when it was just an online thing….
I cant keep up.
What ever happen to : account gives you xx% interest.
Now its like, twist this knob, press this button, jump over this square get your savings interest rate.
Forget an email, withdrawal some $ from it. no soup for you.
It is called the lazy tax. If you want the interest rates you jump through hoops. It is why the old “high interest” accounts drop off the rate to make way for the new ones.
Macquarie is the last dog in the fight for no hoops savings - 4.5% up to $1M
All other banks have too many hoops and/or low max balance.
just for 4months only - 1 time
That's for the intro rate of 4.85%, afterwards it is 4.50%
Stop posting the same thing over and over again. The ongoing interest rate isn’t too bad either for no hoops.
its your money. if you earn 5% or 0% I dont care
@mecusherb: yeah true that very weird that people should worry about their funds rather than others people's funds?
just for 4months only - 1 time
It's not a honey moon rate and it is the best you're going to find with no hoops or small max balance. You trolling?
its your money. if you earn 5% or 0% I dont care
@Swa8821: You are continuing to post the same comments over and over again with nothing to justify them.
SEND THEM A MESSAGE: I've just messaged UBank through their app (very easy to do) and told them I will be closing my acct if they go ahead with the change to bonus interest on 1st Oct. I also told them that others I knew only joined them because of their approach to bonus interest. Will it work? Dunno, maybe not, but if enough people message them with similar sentiment they may take pause. This is often what happens when small, innovative companies get taken over by bigger companies - NAB bought the online bank "86400" in 2021 and merged it with UBank. The acquirer then gradually imposes their processes and strategies, pretty well negating the value that made the target company attractive in the first place. Has happened with Telstra and others.
change in bonus rate has been already effective from today not 1st oct. u wasting your time on Ubank
The change I am referring to is the change that is taking effect from 1st Oct (which is how to qualify for bonus interest).
yes but that is very later. I moved all my money today only.
Do you mind sharing what you write? Keen to add bodies to the campagin but too lazy too think. Will use AI to reword so it's not identical with yours. Cheers!
NAB retracted that fiasco with 28 Degrees not that long ago. I closed my account 2 days before they withdrew, "new fees"? I think it was.
I wonder if they crumble under pressure again?
5 minutes to sign up with Macquarie, I'll be transferring all my dollars on the 1st of next month to MQ and UBank can manage my 48 cents.Macquarie isnt giving a good rate either after 4months
u have to transfer again after 4monthsWhat does NAB have to do with 28 Degrees?
I'm with Macquarie, but don't be surprised to see them drop their rates as well, even before the next RBA meeting. They're all doing it.
The problem is if you withdraw any money you cancel that months interest.
Let's say you have $100 at the end of September. You deposit $10 in Oct. Your account balance is $150 now. On the 30 Oct, you have an expense/or you need to repay for credit card an amount of $50. Now your account is only $60. Since $60 < $100, you earn no bonus. You need the account to be at least 101 to get the bonus rates.
Let's say you have $100 at the end of September. You deposit $10 in Oct. Your account balance is $150 now.
Bad maffs. Back to school with you.
@cashless: so can you explain whether this $1 is similar to ING 3rd condition of growing balance or worse than it?
Not the way I would read it.
“From 1 October, in order to earn bonus interest, by the end of the month, the sum of the balances in your non-offset Save accounts must be at least $1 more than the sum of your balances at the end of the prior month, excluding any interest credits you may have earned.
For this purpose, month end is at 11.30pm (Sydney time) on the last calendar day of the month.
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.
We’ll also make some changes to the app and online banking experience to help customers see whether they’ve met the bonus interest criteria for the month.”I think as long as the amount is more than $1 above on the last calendar day of the month then the rest of the month doesn’t matter.
This is the problem :
You have $100,000 in your saving account, and every month you put in $1.
Then you get your $375 (what ever the monthly interest rate is)Then you use you hard earned saving and take the yearly holiday. lets say $10,000.
Now your account is $90,000
Now you are not over, you are under your previous amount, and you just forfeit that $375 interest you get, now you got $0All fun and games saving, but there will be a time you use that savings account, you know saving for something…. then you lose
@MaxiPower: Yes, but it doesn’t mean you can’t withdraw money ever it just means you need to make sure it is topped up by the end of the month.
@MaxiPower: Bang on, so they've just clipped around 8.3% of what you would have earned over the annum for every month you fail to meet their guidelines.
@MaxiPower: $100K losing one month's interest of 4.6%/12=0.383% would lose $4600/12=$383 every month you don't have an increased balance after (prev.month's?) interest.
so each month like that reduces your effective interest rate from 4.6% to 4.2%, 3.8%, 3.5%, 3.1%, 2.7%, 2.3%, 1.9%, 1.5%, 1.2%, 0.8%, 0.4%, 0.04%
so after 6 months you might as well have put it in Macq Svgs at 2.5%pa
Yep, same process as ING. EoM balance needs to be: PM Balance AFTER interest + $1 (ING is $0.01). You will see your EoM balance (with interest) sometime on the 1st of next month, after they've done all processing.
Exactly. It’s basically a 1 month term deposit. Macquarie is at call. And depending on your balance it can take days to move it with the transaction limit of $20,000. I understand it’s possible to call them and organise a one off larger transaction, but that involves call wait times and a bit of stuffing around.
This isn't adding $1 per month, it is having the balance at the end of the month being $1 higher than the at start of the month.
If you buy something and decrease your balance it could cost you an extra $1000 in lost interest.
You are missing the fact the UBank savings account has become a defacto Term Deposit.
You can’t pull money out and get paid interest.
Names checks out - good summarising and analytical skill there
Can't be the real MechaHitler as no Nazism detected, though.
You can, as long as it's replaced before the eom. Nothing like a term deposit although I get your point.
One option is to use your Ubk for savings and have an alternative transaction account.
Obviously situations vary for individuals and this is a backward step for many customers.
The grow balance requirement shouldn't impact anyone because if you haven't moved elsewhere by Oct then nothing would make you change banks.
Has anyone used P&N bank? Whats the experience considering there is no way to check if conditions have been met for bonus interest?
Just move to Macquarie. 0.1% less but no effort.
GAME THE SYSTEM? If you have $50,000 in a Save account and on the last day of the month you move $49,000 to your Spend account for a day, that means your Save account total is $1,000. Next day you move the $49,000 back into Save to earn interest until the last day of the new month when you move $48,999 (or whatever amount leaves you with at least $1 more in your Save account) to your Spend account for a day. This means you're missing out on interest for 2 days in the month, which effectively reduces the 4.60% to 4.30% in this extreme example. On the plus side you get the interest on balances up to $1M. On the down side it's another hoop and the interest rate gets reduced. Maybe a middle ground where you just float out $10k at the end of every month to account for a need to withdraw?
dont have that much time to spend on them
Set a buffer amount and put in a no condition (or condition is just deposit done by the buffer amount any way) saving account in another bank.
The key seems to be not let Ubank capture your full money on the last day of any month if you can't grow the money by yourself but still stay with it.
in that example, rather than changing the amount you move each time, set 3 scheduled payments
1. move the 49k from Save to Spend on last day of month,
2. move $1 from Spend to Save on last day of month (guarantee Save increases by $1)
3. move 49k from Spend to Save on 1st of monththis change is annoying as (besides another hoop to keep track of), it's out of sync with my HSBC schedule for the 2% cashback, which I already had set as an auto 2k Spend-to-Save-HSBC-uBankSave cycle for the 1st of the month not the end.
Besides interst rate I liked uBank (86400 when I joined) for not having foreign transaction fees. Looks like Macquarie is the only one with all the former benefits of uBank, and the interest rate (as is) might as well be the same if you're giving up interest on any days in order to have a transaction buffer.
well time to invest in Bank Stocks
Already there. If you have Super then it likely includes bank stocks.
i pulled out 30k out 6mth months ago and went 15 each in NAB & Westpac, they're paying close to 4.5% + 30% franking credits… essentially (for me earning under $135k), it's taxfree. if you're under $45,000 you'll get money back from the ato. it's nice to out 20% aside to work harder.
The change on increasing balance makes UBank completely unsuitable for me.
You can’t even use it to pay bills as when you debit the account you lose the interest.
UBank have turned their “savings account” into effectively a one month term deposit.
I already have a Macquarie account so will move everything there. The big hassle is that I have to create a whole bunch of billers in Macquarie that I used to pay from UBank.
This sucks so bad. Might even just keep my cash in AAA on Betashares Direct. 50% CGT Discount almost gets it to bank interest levels.
Just thinking aloud here. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but given the "interest" is paid as distributions, the 50% CGT discount doesn't come in to play, does it? Or can this be achieved with a DRP?
Shit, you are completely right. That kills it. Off to Macquarie then.
Would be interesting if this starts a bank run with everyone pulling their funds out of ubank. At least with the latitude credit card fee thing people didn't have deposits with them.
Interesting thought. I’m guessing most UB customers will not notice it unless it bites them. I’m sure UB have done their market research. I think they are hoping to attract the over 250k balances they haven’t had before, which is a different type of customer.
I think if you had over 250k it would be better to spread the funds over different ADIs as your deposit is only guaranteed for 250k per ADI. A lot of people have noticed this ubank change and are pulling funds out, myself included. At least it's backed by NAB in case there is a bank run.
Yet another example of why we need portable bank account numbers.
It was discussed in parliament some years ago but the banks complained loudly that if the policy was mandated then they would have to be more competitive to keep customers.
That is a bit like wanting a portable personal home street address.
The 6-digit BSB number actually stands for Bank-State-Branch. So with portable bank account numbers you won’t be able to know what bank it is from the number.
no it's like having a portable phone number. I mean think of the poor telcos if you had the right to switch between them and you got to keep your number! all the paperwork they'd have to di!
The only reason a portable phone number became important is that banks, companies and institutions started using mobile phone numbers as authentication and two factor authentication systems because privacy groups decreed that an Australia Card Number was a bad thing.
The BSB is different but yes it can be changed but also make the system less robust.
Plus the biggest problem for me is not the BSB, it all the billers I have to re-enter in another bank.
The only reason a portable phone number became important is that banks, companies and institutions started using mobile phone numbers as authentication and two factor authentication systems
Nope, they were portable well before sms.2fa.
It's the exactly same excuse the Telcos used against number portability. ACCC forced the introduction of Mobile Number Portability on 25 September 2001.CBA didn't introduce SMS OTP until.2007, NAB were trialing it in 2005, but didn't introduce it until 2007, Westpac didn't introduce it until 2009 for non-businesses customers ANZ who knows but they were using sexurID only back in 2008.
So you are wrong about it being anything to do with banking, it was all about the ACCC giving customers the ability to have choices. The Telcos used the same "it's complicated", "it's burdensome", "it's a security risk", "Fraud will increase", "Customer confusion and service disruption", "Customer retention issues", "Contractual & Technical issues". all sound recently familiar? Same BS excuses.uaed by the Telcos 25-30yrs ago.
Can't say I've ever cared which bank my money is going to or from so long as it goes to the correct person/entity.
The current PayID system does not show the BSB number or the account number and I doubt that will be changing.If it really were important for users to see which bank was involved it would be simple to add a prefix or suffix to the account number.
BTW, one of the reasons that account number portability was discussed was that it would mean that existing direct debit and direct credit details would move with the account meaning that there would be no need to re-enter details for billers etc.
No love for AMP at 4.7%?
4.2%
+ 4.20% pa Bonus Interest Rate
This is the ongoing bonus variable rate when you grow your account balance by at least $250 (excluding any interest earned) by the end of each calendar month.
Same ridiculous condition.
Didnt realise that was the case.
When will this change, it's still showing 4.7% for me
0.50% pa standard rate + 4.20% pa Bonus Interest Rate = 4.70% pa total rate
The AMP Cash Manager from the Accounts Leaderboard sheet doesn't appear to show under personal banking on the website now but still accepts applications.
No hoops other than balance needs to be between $10k - $5m to earn interest.
Your account balance Your interest rate $0 - $10,000 0% $10,000.01 - $250,000 4.5% $250,000.01 - $5,000,000 3.85% Greater than $5,000,000 0%
Must grow balance
is it similar to ING grow balance condition or different?
this whole thing with these banks is all stupid… make us do lot of hoops
These hoops are both to try catch you out, so that they save on having to pay you interest. The other is to keep you from moving the money away, which lowers the bank's cost of capital (for their loans).
So basically if your balance doesnt grow with any of these banks, you might as well move the whole lot out and into a bank that doesnt have this requirement?
Exactly. It's too risky and one month where you forget/need money/etc will totally destroy the economics! Better off with just a slightly lower rate with less stringent restrictions
Cheers. So doesnt matter what time of the month you withdraw and move it (for interest purposes)?
Any account with the 'grow balance' restriction - if you need to move hte money, the most economical would be moving on 1st of the month so you lose as little interest as possible. If you move on 20th of the month to a new account, you lose 20 days worth of interest at the higher rate
Instead of "the whole lot" it's possible to have a reasonable buffer to take advantage of the higher paying banks. For example, you have $100,000 in the ubank Saver account, and you estimate that you won't spend more than $30k. So you can
- Keep $70k in ubank Saver (4.6%)
- Move $30k to Macquarie Transaction + Savings (4.5%)
- Use Mac bank for everyday banking, keep the rest in Mac bank savings as "buffer"
- Move at least $1/month from Mac savings to ubank to fulfil ubank's condition
The balance of your buffer might go up and down depending on how you spend, but it can still earn reasonable interest without being penalised. On the other hand the bulk of your savings will still earn at higher interest rate.
For some (I myself included) it's just too much work.
70k @ .1% would be roughly $6 a month loss or 20 cents a day + take off tax on top of that.
The ubank version of the theory of evolution is destined to turn us all into monkeys -:)
I will be moving all my savings out of uWank in $20K OSKO chunks from today (like most everyone else)
I was about to ask what the max amount(s) you can move without having to bend over and sing moon river.
Can you use PayID or is it overnight standard EFT for the 20k max ?
If 20k is the limit then its a bit rich that they give you less than a days notice of the change in rate.
why waste so much time on them? why not just do a large transfer by increasing your transfer limit on a day. I did it today
What's the maximum you can increase it to?
your maximum balance.
call them quickly as they close by 7:30pm today
Is the increased transfer (over $20k) still Osko same day?
yes but has to be done before 6pm
Depends how much time you have to waste on the phone to prove who you are. I mean they are not going to just accept your word that who you are is who you are and let you transfer what you like.
Can you give a an indication of what type of rectal exam you need to go through first before being approved.
its not much questioning just 4-5 questions which are basic, and then followed by OTP verification
exactly as to not waste any time on them (on the phone) -:) I will take my $100K out in 5 days and interest loss is minimal (about $1.50)
its not much questioning just 4-5 questions which are basic, and then followed by OTP verification
@Swa8821: My Ubank account was hacked in 2021 with internal involvement (a dreadfull experience) so the last thing I want is to answer questions of a personal nature
All the good things about Ubank (of past times) are gone
- used to have auto-feed from saver to spend account when the card was used
- used to be able to pay and have direct debits from Save Account
- used to have $100K per day transfer limit to linked acccount(s) (only had to call for higher amounts)
- used to be able to use online system without an SMS each and every time (device verified once and remembered)
- did not have a balance increase requirement
Now even AMP @4.70% up to $500K ($250 increase per month) with a $250K daily transfer limit looks better than AMP, the only option better with Ubank is that the transfers are all OSKO to $20K (or the temp increase) - I wil only used them as an interim transfer bucket & keep no money there.
Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but we're already monkeys.
Im sick and tired of these banks making us do hoops etc. every bank giving a good interest rate asks us to monitor every month as if we have no other work but just to do these things. it was not so complicated few years prior to Covid when it was just simply getting a good rate once deposited money
Exactly, it's not like they aren't playing with our money and making interest off of it for themselves, now they need you to dance and waste time.
ANZ caught out my old (79) father with a similar change midway through his investment. If you miss your bonus interest for sneezing, they pay you nothing.
Pretty much fails the pub fairness test..I have majority in Macquarie as no frills with good rate. I have some in Rabobank which I don't touch (other than adding deposit bonus), and $100k in uBank which I will now move to Mebank homeme
Pretty easy to set up a Macquarie account and their authenticator is pretty good so far. Got fed up with ubank removing biometric login and passkey didn't work well. Time to vote with my feet in 20k increments lol.
ditto
Time to vote with my feet in 20k increments lol.
you can call them up to increase the transfer limit to whatever you have in your balance.
For anyone that currently uses a macquarie savings account, does it have a similar feature to ubank currently where I can have multiple savings - or even just separate "buckets"?
You can open multiple savings accounts although I'm not sure if there's a limit to the number you can have. I have two.
I wanted to know the same thing and found that you can have up to ten saving accounts.
Yep, looks like you can have a can have a combined total of 10 accounts, them being either transaction or savings accounts.
You can also do transfers directly from the savings accounts, bpay etc. scheduled payments and whatnot which is better than UBank.
Yeah I'll be leaving. Everything good about Ubank is gone.
is the $1 condition similar to ING condition?
Kinda but it's $0.01 for ING
both are honestly an annoying conditions,u have to be on the lookout at the end of the money to increase your balance
Thank goodness for this thread, otherwise I would have completely missed it.
Off to Macquarie, beyond the interest rate, Ubank sucked anyway.
Drained my account to $0 the moment that they reduced the interest rate from 4.85% to 4.6%. Sorry 4.6% is not even competitive. Email came through at 11.58am today that they were dropping their rate today. Not even a reasonable amount of time given as forewarning of the rate drop.
Their recent "app improvements" to pay anyone is a joke. Still so many steps just to transfer money out.
same . transferred all my money.
very very strategic timing of emails. not even at 9am
mine came at 10:40am
AMP Bank GO have just released a new savings account that pays 4.50% and there are no conditions attached. The rate is not the highest out there but considering what you see is what you get it’s a good deal and the new app is pretty easy to use and you can set up I social savings spaces within your main savings account. Worth a look if you’re considering switching and their linked transaction account allows you to earn qantas points so you can divide your savings up to either earn interest or Qantas points or both !
Even if there were no other accounts paying more, it would still be better to stick with ubank at 4.6%… at least until October.
do you know what is the daily xfer limit and if the xfer is instant ? eg NPP or Osko?
pretty sure there is no daily transfer limits and they have NPP / Osko PayID, Most payments I have made come through immediately except for first time high value payments which can get held sometimes but they usually clear within 24hrs.
ok thanks! will take that into account!!
Transferring all my savings back to ING now
Why is Macquarie the preffered alternative ? I'm sick of ubank tbh
4.5% interest - not the highest but far from the lowest these days.
No hoops for interest. You earn in on any money in your savings account.
Easy access to discounted gift cards - including 3% off Coles
App is really easy to use and well laid out.
You can pay from your savings account, so no worries about transferring it first before direct debits come out.thx for your insight I'll transfer to Macquarie
I'll be using Me Bank for my house deposit for the slightly higher rates, and Macquarie for the rest. Except that I may be getting my home loan soon and if it's through Up Bank, as I plan to, I'll just put most in there (offset accounts) with just some emergency savings in Me Bank. Just waiting on some info before I can take the plunge and apply.
And no $20k daily withdrawal limit as well.
Ffs i didnt know macq lets you direct debit from savings. I opened the transaction account when ubank stopped letting it and park $1k for direct debits.
The customer service person on the phone tonight said the 1st October "increase balance" requirement was just something they were considering, not definite, and that Ubank would notify customers before then with whether they were going ahead with that or a different change or none.
Not sure if they misunderstood, or if that's the new PR spin from Ubank (to defer complaints and hold onto our money longer or to somewhat walk the unpopular decision back).. Maybe the negative feedback and people transferring money out is hurting.
The new spin gave me one more thing to add to my complaint!
Ubank would notify customers before then with whether they were going ahead with that or a different change or none.
They emailed it today.
Consider us all notified that they are going ahead with it, and if they aren't, not sure I wanna bank with a company that just throws ideas out there with the aim to see which ones are border line just bad enough to not lose customers :)The reduction in interest rate with no notice was pretty definite.
my complaint about this I raised
they said - its a business decision, we will close your complaint!!!!
That was a rude response you got. They sound like they have some better customer service reps and some not so good.
For what it's worth, I was told the process was they would put in my complaint, and I'd get two emails, the first to say my complaint was lodged, then another to say it was closed, but that it didn't mean they just discarded/ignored it, it meant they had actioned it and sent it to the relevant team. Without them clarifying that I would have been upset at the second email.
I thought it was interesting that Ubank has a new Welcome Bonus Rate for the Save account of 5% for new customers, and in the offer T&Cs "To be considered a new customer, you must not have held any Ubank branded products in the previous 24 months."
That's a long time to wait after closing all accounts to be eligible for a future honeymoon rate.. Wondering if it's better to keep them open with tiny balances for any stray incoming payments I might have forgotten to change..
And sucks for any new customers taking up the offer then finding out later the cool new account gets a very uncool increase balance restriction.
Has anyone tried P&N Savvy Saver bank account?
The hoops are fairly easy to fulfill, and there is no grow you saver account requirement bollocks.Up to $100K. 4.90% rate.
2 of the hoops, one is doing in ING
Australian Unity Freedom Saver 4.85% for up to $50k with zero hoops
I replied elsewhere in this thread, just be careful with Australian Unity, read the fine print:
"When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.":
https://www.australianunity.com.au/banking/savings-accounts/…
1 The ongoing variable interest rate applicable to the Freedom Saver Account is determined by the value of the balance in the Freedom Saver Account. Balances up to $5,000,000.00 are eligible to earn interest as outlined by the interest tiering structure set out in the Schedule of Interest Rates – Transaction and Savings Accounts. When your balance increases to the next interest rate tier you will receive the interest rate for that tier on the entire balance of your Freedom Saver Account.
This means if you are lucky enough to have more than 50k in your account, say 50,001 dollars, you lose a chunk of interest immediately.
So if I make no withdrawals, deposit $501 (was $500) to get the bonus rate on the 10th of the month, and return $500 on the 15th of that same month, then I'm fine?
Assuming I had to withdraw, I'd move the lot to ING for that month. Lower rate, but still better than 0%
From 1 October 2025 (so there’s nothing for uBank to do now)
I’m evolving the way I engage with banks. From 1 October 2025, I’ll be closing my uBank account in response to the continued enshittification of savings conditions.
This means that instead of growing my balance by a token $1 each month just to be eligible for bonus interest (which, let’s be honest, is looking more like a bonus chore), I’ll be reducing my balance to $0 and growing my peace of mind instead.
For example, if my combined balance is $1000 at the end of September, it will be $0 and happily elsewhere by the end of October (bank fees and bureaucratic nonsense don’t count towards the joy of leaving).
Just like uBank, I’ll treat each month as ending at 11:30pm (Sydney time) but with less hoop-jumping and more freedom.
Don’t worry, there’s nothing uBank needs to do differently right now just prepare for my exit.
For now, continue inventing new ways to make saving more complicated than it needs to bePlease send to UBank. In return you will receive a case reference number and no action.
At this point you're probably better off buying stocks/houses instead of using a savings account.
Well apparently, Millennials and Gen Z think current interest rates are punitive so interest rates need to be lowered to encourage (more) consumption and borrowing. Savers be damned.
The much maligned today Boomers would have killed for current rates in their time.
boomers wouldn't have killed for today's cost of living and housing though..
Housing was cheaper relatively, everything else was 💩
But Homes were more basic
Wages were lower.
Interest rates were much higher, well above 10% for an extended period
You had to build a “relationship” with a bank then beg them to give you a loan and they expected a big deposit.
Today’s common appliances were much more expensive or not invented yet.The quickest local cars were slower than today’s Camry.
@Grok: hahahahah yeah ok
So my postie Dad didn't just buy a house whilst having 4 kids as easy as you like. Get off it.
@mecusherb: Did your dad order uber eats every few days, have holidays at the drop of a hat, have a house full of fancy technology and drive new cars?
Plus housing didn’t get expensive because Boomers gamed the housing system. Housing got expensive because governments gamed the GDP calculation and labour system.
People like you simply don’t want to make the sacrifices involved. Every young person I know has bought a home.
@Grok: No, so you're saying housing was relatively cheaper which is correct. Everything else was shit? But then go on to mention all these other expenses that exist now.
So no he didn't order uber eats (mainly due to the non existence of that company) but we had takeaway every Friday, every child had a hobby, he had hobbies, mum had hobbies and we went on Holidays.
If every young person you know has bought a home I can only put that down to you not knowing that many people.
I have a lot of savings now, more than it cost my parents to build a house on an acre block but I'd be lucky to get a 2 bedroom apartment within distance to work. Or should I just move to the country and commute for 4 hours a day….are those the kind of sacrifices you are talking about?
@mecusherb: Buy an apartment and work your way up the ladder.
Or
Invest your money aggressively and rent.
Both can work out.
But don’t do what many young people do, which is complain, blame Boomers while spending their spare money on lifestyle.
Cry me a river, things have never been so good.
@Grok: You're delusional and contradictory. Things have never been better
Also, if every young person you know owns a house how is it that you know that every young person takes holidays and buys the latest tech? Doesn't add up, it's almost like you're making things up, imagine that.
We are very semi retired (due to health issues, ages 57,54), and live off the interest from savings from the wife and I that both have accounts in UBANK and ING. We earn just over 1K a month from a small contract I have, then have some dividends which are not 'monthly'. Our expenses outweigh our income so our balances do drop.
We are going to have to have a think about what to do as of today.
From research just now, I suspect we will cancel the direct debit for out monthly expenses from ubank (that then went in and out of ING) - and now open a maqcuarie account that can be used as the 'drawdown' account and leave other sums in the ubanks/ING just getting interest.
Knowing my luck, If I move it all to Maquarie, then they would change their rules and on the move again!
We still have 6 years minimum before super access.
Living off interest is a bad idea.
A little late now with markets at all time highs but a much greater emphasis on sharemarket investments would have given you income and growth.
Even so, for example, even at today’s historically high prices, if you bought 3000 ANZ for ~$90k you would receive ~$2400 twice a year in dividends. You probably can’t fully take advantage of imputation credits but the return is still excellent. Do the math. Even if the shares dip the dividends don’t necessarily follow (baring major events).
Also Australia isn’t exactly a hard country for people in your situation. Welfare payments are extremely generous to people like you. You need to aggressively take advantage of this (if you haven’t already).
This is not financial advice as I don’t know blah blah blah.
We do have shares. Hence dividends.
We have a thirds rule, third shares, third cash me and third cash wife. We don’t pay any tax and under threshold and get the shares imp credits, but we get no benefits. Don’t qualify for any.Yes, I know inflation can eat into and interest, but that’s the same for all here.
Shares can go down. I lost a load 20 years ago. I know it comes back eventually but still…….
Only three years before one of you can access super. You can work part time and still access super under 'transition to retirement' rules. If you have retired completely and sign a declaration to this then you can access your super completely, even if you go back to work.
Has anyone looked at BCU Bank? 4.90% overall rate, with only requirements of depositing $500 from outside bank account and then 5 card transactions per month. Seems pretty competitive.
Sure but for how long tho. They don't have history at being regularly up near the top. No harm in putting money there tho and departing if things change.
time to leave. ive only been with them for like 2 years and they seem to be getting worse and worse during that time.
Macquarie all the way.
There any keep-interest loop holes anyone can find in the event the bonus isn't met (eg the ING savings Maximiser switch).
Otherwise I guess the month I spend under i'll be pulling it all out and moving banks!
Been with Ubank for over 10 years, they are totally insane doing this.
19 years and 6months for me… I'm seeking a new Bank and Macquarie is its name-o
How have you been with UBank that long when they were established in 2008 i.e. 17 years ago?
I was with the original Ubank since 2012, 86400 since 2019 and stayed with them after the switch to being Ubank. Have used others at the same time, but they've been my main for most of that time. I'll finally be closing my accounts as there is nothing left of what I originally liked of the bank
Literally just joined last month.
Oh well, back to the drawing board lol.
Me too, I procrastinated creating a HISA for ages, and finally created a UBank account and transferred a chunk of savings.
Then this happens a few weeks later lol
To avoid some of the issues arising from setting all your direct debits with a bank that keeps changing the rules, I have all my bills direct debited to a single credit card (Coles MC). I use to pay the credit card via automated direct debit from CBA once a month. I now do not even do that, when I receive the monthly credit card bill I just schedule BPay payment from whatever account suits (in my case Great Southern Bank) to go out on the due day (or business day before that). Absolute control with minimal effort.
all bills from credit card - sounds good, except many billers now add (soon to be stopped - one can hope!) credit card surcharges like 1.5% or more for credit card transactions
I can agree it might be worth to avoid the PITA of changing direct debit bank accounts - lemme guess - $30Kpa of bills at 1.5% might cost $450pa in CC fees ?
hmm - I'll give it some thought … thanks for the suggestion for what works for you !
Oh this is deal breaker unfortunately for me. Will switch to Macquarie
Ffs, i ditched amp and ing because i cbfed with the grow bs, now gotta switch again
Does anyone know if Macquarie consider the first 4 months as the date you sign up, or calendar months?
Just checked..
applies for four months, from the date the account is opened;
Thanks, guess ill open it on the 1st
ubank is pathetic now……
I had a major illegal process to pick with them when I said a JP cannot sign a ubank form which states my DL is identical to the original. In NSW JPs can only sign photocopies of original documents, they cannot sign paperwork to state original documents are true and identical of copies. The JP even highlighted the section in the JP handbook stating it's illegal.
I went back to ubank and said "you do know what you're asking in NSW is illegal from a JP, here's the law"… gave them the link and also the JP handbook.
I got an email back stating they needed the form to be signed by a JP not even addressing the illegal concerns.
I made an ombudsman complaint, a ubank senior complaints rep got back to me and he didn't address that what I've given them and their process is illegal….. he brushed it off…..
How can a bank be so ignorant?
If I had two accounts with different banks that have some growth requirements, all I need to do is transfer the entire balance once a month to the other one, right? I only have a few k so this shouldn't be an issue, but if the bonus only kicks in the next month, then I'll have to manage three accounts?
Just make sure that you are playing by their rules eg with ING you need to meet their criteria in the current month to earn bonus interest in the following month.
It was this very reason that I opened the ubank acct. Purchased a car from money in ING savings and needed somewhere to sit the remainder of the cash for the rest on the month. I'll just swap it back if I need a large withdraw in the future.
UBank has followed ING's game plan: Implement as many trip hazards as possible to avoid paying bonus (the vast bulk) of interest.
true
wonder if other banks implement, what will the average customer doThe bank that doesn't implement these hoops will get more deposits, which lowers their cost of capital in making loans. Unless if they can't get their loans up, which can happen i suppose.
Yes, but at least with ING you get paid 5% interest to dodge trip hazards! UBank wants you to do it for 4.6%…
You forget to add: with no card purchase and much higher cap.
Isn't Ubank 5% up to $100k?
Nope, now its just a blanket 4.6% this month
Sheesh… I had just opened an account 12 days ago, but I've yet to transfer any money into it. I might as well just close it now and sign up with Macquarie.
5 minute call, no wait to increase balance to 100k.
Instant out.
Don't forget to still deposit 501 into u bank to collect this (half)month's interestDon't forget to still deposit 501 into u bank to collect this (half)month's interest
Did you read the part where they state in a bold heading?
"From 1 October 2025 (so there’s nothing for you to do now)"
"there’s nothing you need to do differently right now."
$500 deposit is still required till September.
If you wait until 1 October, you will forfeit all the bonus interest if you choose to leave.
Id recommend moving now, or next month at the latest@leeroys_dad: You worried too much as people are in different situations and with different strategies. I didn't neg your comment.
@leeroys_dad: Now I’m confusing myself. When is the best time to move all my $$ out? After I have done the $500 deposit for the month?
I don’t want to make a costly mistake. This is doing my head in and making me so anxious 😥@Vanjane: All good. As long as you transfer out before 30 Sep, you'll still be given the bonus interest (providing you met criteria).
If you transfer all your funds on/after 1 October, then you won't earn bonus interest.To quality for bonus interest, just deposit $501 each month.
So your plan could be this:
1. Deposit $501 into Ubank (e.g. 17 July) to qualify for bonus interest
2. The next day (18 July), move all funds from UBank to another high interest savings such as MeBank
3. On 1st of Aug, move the uBank bonus interest into MeBankOr substitute dates so that 1 and 2 are both before 30 Sep
@leeroys_dad: Ahh, thank you so much. You are very kind. I have a lot on my plate at the moment and I really appreciate this. All the best 👍
@Bargaphile: The best way is to leave anytime during August and September after you have deposited $501 that month. You won't lose interest during Aug or Sep. You'll only lose interest from 1st October if you balance doesn't increase by the end of the month.
I'd suggest setting up your new bank account first (e.g. Macquarie), depositing $501 into Ubank in Aug, then transferring all Ubank money into Macquarie. Then check Ubank on 1 Sep and transfer Ubank interest into Macquarie
I feel sorry for y'all that can't just schedule a 1$ payment into your ubank account once a month.
Ubank's hidden plan is to not pay a customer one month interest per year on average. One person is highly likely to have big spend in one month in a year.
For example, one person buys a holiday package or car for the price more than his monthly income. In that month, he is unlikely to grow the balance unless he plans it ahead. But after that month, he can grow the balance as normal.
Another example, one person pulls out all the money out for a new homeloan. The date is unlikely to be the very beginning of a month. He'll get paid no interest for the last month with Ubank.
I feel very sorry for y'all that can't comprehend financial t's and c's and how various people may utilise their accounts differently.
If I wanted funds locked up with penalties for occasionally using them I'd open a term deposit.
at first I understood that we will only be required to add $1 of new funds per month to qualify for the bonus interest rate. But what you are saying is that the nett balance of your account/s must grow by $1 with new funds, so if you make a $1000 withdrawal during a month, you will need to put it back in there in the same month to qualify for the high interest. This is not made very clear by ubank via their examples. I will reach out to them to confirm.
This is my understanding.
If you withdraw $1000, you need to put back in $1000.01 (for example) to incur the bonus interest.
Same process as ING when I was with them.
@hasher22: 'If you withdraw $1000, you need to put back in $1000.01 (for example) to incur the bonus interest'
I think you meant 'you need to put back in $1001'
@Hangryuman: Oh it has to grow by $1 or more? Bruh lol
So it even has a minimum deposit…. When I was with ing, if I remember correctly, it can be 1c added to incur interest.
I feel sorry for anyone who believes a bank holding your own money hostage in any way is acceptable.
The entire point of saving is to eventually spend it, whether it be on a large purchase like a car/holiday or an unexpected expense.
By accepting an increased balance condition, it effectively restricts any spending to below the average amount you save every month, all year round, forcing you to have a backup savings account just for those occasions where you do have to dip a bit more into your savings.
Why do that when options like ME Bank's HomeME exist where they just ask for a $2k monthly deposit for the same rate/slightly higher?
'I feel sorry for anyone who believes a bank holding your own money hostage in any way is acceptable'
yairs it's absolutely outrageous - but waddya gonna doo … ?
in other news, your money is not held hostage - I expect you are free to transfer it out anytime you choose - and believe you are tangentially complaining about free market changes to offerings - where the business has chosen to change what they offer.
I learned about effective communication - first clarify the actual problem, then work out what you are going to do about it.
But complaining about your money being held 'hostage' … um, yeah nah sorry …
You have hit the nail on the head here. People are free to remove their money at any time if they want to so it isn’t being held hostage. They can pick and choose what institution they want to store their money and at what conditions they want that to occur. They could pull out all their money and go to other investment options or work out how to store it securely. The emotive language is not conducive to the reality of the situation.
Complaints actually work. It's called feedback and is factored in as data for businesses, companies and organisations.
Especially when it's affecting their bottom line businesses/clients look at these.
So I don't know what the downvotes are for - it's a completely valid point.@surfingedge: Not going to, but when they see their customer base moving assets post complaining might make them reconsider.
Once they finally get rid of cash, then we'll really be at their mercy.. be it with negative interest rates or who knows what else.
For now the only hostage situation is under the guise of KYC
i dont like hoops, let alone jumping through them :’(
I was looking around where I can move my remaining Ubank savings to & noticed that Unity Bank is also dropping their up to $50K rate from 4.85% to 4.60% (it is contageous)
https://www.australianunity.com.au/banking/-/media/Banking/D…
but at least they are doing it at the end of the month and there is an advanced header notification on their web site.
Dang it, was just really starting to get used to uBank… Off to Macquarie haiyaaa
their interest rate dropped too. Moved to amp @ 4.7% up to $0.5m balance instead.
Leaderboard says you have to grow your account by $250 with AMP. On $200,000 for example that equates to a >$1K (~$783+250 in the first month) increase in your balance, increasing EVERY month.
Anyone with Rabobank? They're offering 5.15% HISA for four months for new customers. I joined Ubank on June 30 so am a bit annoyed. Will move the money out elsewhere and cancel account.
Bankwest 5.15% is easier - rabobank only allows transfer out to one linked account, no OSKO so transfers take a few hours and not on weekends
Thank you. Completely forgot about BW!
Reverts to 3.6% after the honeymoon period. Okay if you're happy to grab and go.
Commbank Goal Saver has %5 interest, and you just need it to go up each month. You can withdraw, but bonus won't happen that month.
?? their website says it's 4.45%
Yeah sorry, I should have checked. I thought it was 4.45, plus a bonus, but that's inclusive. Still I find it better than other banks where you have to meet several requirements to hit it (when it's not your main bank account)
AMP Cash Manager is 4.5% no hoops, for 10k to 250k balances. For those looking for someone other than Macquarie. But Macquarie has a lot better online banking experience.
Feels like a ANZ - ANZ Plus product, which eventually also implemented the growth hoop. And AMP alteady introduced the growth hoop so i would say itsnjust a matter of time
the amp cash manager account has some eligibility requirements.
You have to be
- Companies or organisations (including financial institutions)
- Non-SMSF trusts
- Government entities
- Charities
- Partnerships
Oh I just realised the link I had was for the business banking site, they don't have it listed on the on the personal banking page, perhaps to push customers to the pending grow your balance product.
But I think they do let individuals sign up for it too, that's what I did via the "My AMP" app, they just needed personal ID, asked nothing about entities.
Their interest rates for AMP Cash Manager are displayed on their personal banking page too where it says:
Eligible parties include:
- Personal Customers
- Sole Traders
Boooo Big L by UBank
I dont follow bank activities closely but this is likely one of the reasons for the Ubk interest drop and new rule.
"In May, NAB posted a 1 per cent jump in cash profit to $3.58 billion for the first half, with revenue for the period rising 1.7 per cent to $10.3 billion, helped by higher income from its markets trading divisions. The bank’s net interest margin (its funding costs compared with what it charges for loans) was flat.In short they need to skim OUR margin to boost THEIR margin and hope inertia stops most of us from moving. I'll wait until the RBA does what it should have done earlier this month and see where investor rates sit then. Almost certainly 0.25% lower given the unemployment numbers. Next meeting is mid August.
Meanwhile, if you need a laugh (and who doesn't these days) head over to the shovel: RBA Reassures Australians They’ll Lower Interest Rates as Soon as Economy Collapses
Anyone moving to MeBank, don't forgot to transfer $2001 into your spendMe account this month, to activate bonus interest in your saveMe for next month!
need to find an alternative for daily banking
Macquarie made the cut
Zero hoop jumping , close enough to a good interest rate.
Now to hope they don't change to introduce hoops :)For any one cosidering P&N or BCU (same bank), as an UBank replacement, be aware they will require you to provide them with a selfie (it is an easy pass for me).
No bank should have a selfie as an identity confirmation/verification requirement. It is not a legaly mandatory requirement & infringes on privacy laws.
This is just a lot of BS from some banks that think that they are a law above everyone else (ok they are Police affiliated - that explains it -:).Requirements to open a P&N account If you’re new to P&N Bank you can use either of the following photo identify documents to open your account online via our website: a valid Australian Drivers Licence, or an Australian Passport You will also need access to your mobile phone with a camera and will be asked to take a photo of your identity document and a selfie. This is so that we can confirm your identity with official record holders. This is the same as Macquarie bank.
They don't tell you this optional though, it's a sly and sneaky tactic to get implied consent for digital face fingerprinting.Opened accounts today with Macquarie and required no selfie or images of identity documents
they'll eventually ask you to give them (digitally) some ID like driver license or passport (which have photo).
They don't do it on account open to prevent friction to opening an account.
@sangohan: you mean separate to providing identity document details which are validated during sign up (numbers, state etc only, no actual upload of images)?
ive seen no mention of that in any other macquarie threads or discussions elsewhere :/
Asked me to go through their app when I tried to log in after being communicated via their login page to contact direct and was sent a link.
Link sent me to their app to scan my face.
Just a heads up.This was after I scanned my passport via their app.
Same for BankWest. I called them to check before starting the application, so I didn't give them any personal information unnecessarily.
It looks like so many banks are requesting that now. They all want to know everything about you and if that wasn't enough they also want your photo. Just so YOU can give THEM YOUR money to keep!
And they keep all this information on their data storages and backups around the world. For ever. Ready to be hacked. Medibank, Optus, Qantas. And probably many more that we don't even know about. Who will be next?
And when that happens they get away with just a useles "sorry".
If more people refused they would be forced to back down, since it is not a legal requirement. But the majority of people just comply. As usual…Dead right. These issues were brought up during one the the earlier major hacking events but I've seen little evidence of compliance or change with the storage of ID data, let alone regulator action. Banks are certainly being given rev ups wrt bogus accounts used for washing cash associated with crime but that seems to be the extent of it.
Surveys are likely even worse with many I've come across actually being hosted (supposedly) by American entities.
DVS services already exist, sometimes via an intermediary - although they may not always work as I dscovered with a super transfer a fdew months ago.
For those who aren't aware:
https://www.idmatch.gov.au/
More detail here - esp wrt face recognition: https://www.idmatch.gov.au/access-our-services"Most organisations using the Identity Verification Services will not need to keep copies of your identity documents, which helps to protect your privacy.
The Document Verification Service (DVS) checks whether the biographic information on your identity document matches the original record. The result will simply be "yes" or "no". The Document Verification Service does not check facial images. There are currently 14 different identity documents are verifiable through the Document Verification Service, including birth certificates, driver licences and Medicare cards.
Currently, access to the Face Verification Services (FVS) is only for immigration documents (visa and citizenship) and passports. States and territories have agreed to provide driver licence images under an intergovernmental agreement signed by the Council of Australian Governments in 2017.
Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia are the first states to provide their data, with others to follow in a phased rollout over the next two years."
States and territories have agreed to provide driver licence images under an intergovernmental agreement signed by the Council of Australian Governments in 2017.
So they already have your photo and can apply any facial recognition to anything they want and for any purpose they want. And also provide that facility to banks or whoever else they see fit or whoever pays a fee for the service.
Any form of privacy is really dead for ever.@Mad Max: But you do have time to post misleading rubbish apparently. Common affliction, which has a cure - do some basic effing research before you give us the benefit of your opinion.
@Igaf: Yeah, sometimes, not very often, I have time to comment on OZB. Unlike you that seem to be always here posting bs all the time. I guess you don't have much better to do with your life.
@Mad Max: I get it. You prefer quality over quantity, as your post above so clearly demonstrates /s.
I broadly agree with your sentiments wrt personal security but that doesn't excuse your ignorant rant above, especially since there's plenty of good information in the links I posted. As I said, common enough affliction.
I am little confused
"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."
For an example scenario:
Just say I have $250K balance in the save account at the end of October, UBANK will provide the interest of $1K on the 1st of November. I then spent the $1K on the 1st of November. At this time, the balance is back to $250K on the 1st of November. Before the end of November I transferred $1 into the save account, so by the end of November the save account balance is now at $250.001K.
On the 1st of December, would UBANK provide the interest of another $1K?
Agree,Ubk have not been clear about this (just as they haven't been explicit about the 0% interest payable if you dont grow your save accounts by $1 - by not doing so they've probably violated the Banking Code of Practice and possibly FI reguations wrt transarency for customers).
I've raised a written query with Ubk but it hasn't been answered yet. I suspect they will do what ING does. ING claculates your interest on 1 Nov but backdates it to 31 Oct, so in effect your eom Oct balance is $251,000 which is then your new target for Nov. Many people would assume that Ubk's target will be +$1/month (plus any other net deposits) - eg $250,001, $250,0002 etc - because they state "excluding any interest credits."
VERY poor all round.
The balace incease requrement is the same for all banks
Balance at end of month (before interet is paid) must grow next month by whatever interest is paid for the previous month + the amount required to add (e.g. $1, $200, $250 etc.)
So f you take the interest out and add $1 you no longer qualify for the bonus (well any interest really) for that month …
Probably, but have you confirmed it with Ubank?
extract from Ubank email - it clearly states that increase must be in addition to any interest earned - if still in doubt please do call them
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) by $1 each month.
This means your total savings balance on eligible accounts needs to increase by $1 as at the end of the month. For example, if your combined balance is $1,000 at the end of October, it would need to be $1,001 at the end of November (excluding any interest credits you may have earned).
@Ave Maria: Yes read that. It isn't explicit about interest allocation and muddies the waters by multiple references to the "+$1" requirement (likely actually "interest+$1" as you say). For example, if interest is allocated on 1st of next month then the +$1 they've trumpeted is indeed that, because you can move the interest out before the new eom. If they do as ING does (very likely) and backdate interest then the +$1 claim is massively diluted.
Being explicit about conditions is a (quasi) legal requirement. Failing to explain the process they will use in simple, easy to understand language contravenes the Banking Code of Practice and possibly FI regulations, as I wrote elsewhere.
They've done a similar thing with their "bonus" interest, which isn't "bonus interest" at all since it appears it's an either/or situation. Either you get ZERO interest or you meet their "interest?+$1" and get 4.6%. Explaining both things simply and clearly isn't rocket science - they can easily rework other banks' explanations if they don't have internal competence.
Bank Saving accounts that currently have no increase (or a work around) and no ZERO withdrawals requirement (but may have applicable criteria for max rate).
All of the below are fairly easy to open online by providing just a passport or driver licence + Medicare number (no requirement for a Selfie - at least in my own past experience).
ING is the best rate on offer and even thought techically has a growth requirement (and hoops) those can be bypassed (documented elsewhere - just do a search).
CBA is listed as I can easily visit a branch and can do up to $250K OSKO daily transfers to my other accounts and every now and then offers a competitive rate.
St George is a very special case, as it used to be no limits & best rate but gradually became a very restrictive product (like what AMP and UBank have been up to), however it has accessible brances and a $100K daily OSKO limit from transaction account plus direct debits from Incentive account. It is much better than what Ubank offers at present.
For a set & forget, no hoops, no hard limits account Macquarie bank is the clear winner. Which account to use is a personal choise based on priorities and convinience.
Financial Institution Product Name Max Amount Interest Rate Card Trans Deposit to Transaction Grow by Daily Transfer Limit Scheduled Payments Direct Debit Useful Tips ING Bank Savings Maximiser $100K 5.00% 5 $1000 1 cent $20K - $5K OSKO - Higher via App - from Orange No No Buy 5x$1 Amazon Gift Cards. Flip between 2-3 accounts each month to bypass growth requirement. Members Equity Bank Home Saver $100K 4.85% N/A $2000 N/A $20K - $5K OSKO - Higher via App - from Spend No No Transfers between BOQ & MEB are instant. Bank of Queensland Smart Saver $250K 4.75% 5 $1000 N/A $25K - $5K OSKO - Higher via App - from Everyday No No Buy 5x$1 Amazon Gift Cards - Transfers between BOQ & MEB are instant. Great Southern Bank Home Saver $100K 4.75% 5 $2000 N/A $30K - $5K OSKO - Higher via Call Yes No Buy 5x$1 Amazon Gift Cards - Instant OSKO Transfer for Deposit in/out. St George Bank Incentive Saver $249.99K 4.65% N/A N/A $50 $100K - OSKO only from Freedom Account Yes Yes Multiple Incentive accounts allow unlimited deposits. Flip between account pairs to bypass growth requirement. Macquarie Bank Savings Account $1 Million 4.50% N/A N/A N/A $100K NPP with Authenticator App Yes Yes Multiple Accounts allowed. Macquarie Market Place offers Gift Card discounts. Commonwealth Bank Goal Saver No Limit 4.45% N/A N/A 1 cent $20K normally but can be increased permamently to $100K-$250K* OSKO No** No Flip between 2 Goal Saver accounts each month to bypass the growth requirement. *$100K at branch $250K relationship manager. **Payments allowed but not Scheduled. Good thread. Ubank was the last holdout I used that did not have an increase balance hoop. Add the low rate, lose interest rate for month withdrawal penalty, it is over between us. Only point I have to add to the discussion is, I am also done with chasing slightly higher interest at the expense of supplying my email, mobile, passport or drivers license or medicare care card. Corporate Australia has proven (hacks) that they don’t care about protecting your information, Australia consumer personal information privacy laws are some of the weakest in the “western” world. Data can be held indefinitely, even decades after quitting as a customer, and under the “know your customer” rule/law, they don’t have to delete your data, even when requested in writing, as in the UK, EU. I was shocked recently to experience this with CBA. They had all my personal data, even though I quit using them in 2009. Refused to delete.
Has anyone who signed up with Macquarie recently following the ubank change received your debit card? If so is the expiry month July or some other month?
Just received mine and the expiry is in Nov for some reason. Not a big deal but never had a card that doesn't expire the same month it was issued in.
Haven't received mine yet, but had the same thing with my new CBA card. Old card expired in March, new card arrived and has a January expiry.
Great thread, agree that Macquarie is still the best from a bank perspective (fantastic app and 4.5% is still a very strong rate these days).
There are some non-bank options out there too, I've been using Earnr for the last year or so and get 6.00% up to $50k with no growth requirements (even better rates if you don't need the cash for a while).
Interesting!
What's Earnr, exactly?
It's not a HISA but an investment product. Check their PDS on how they use investors' deposit.
Yeah, I've had a bit of a read.
Sounds like it's a fixed income product, offering units in a trust that invests in different tranches of cash deposit and credit and riskier property securities, which pay a return post management fee (not guaranteed) rather than an interest rate, and in the case of insolvency the creditors may not be able to return some or all of the investor's capital. Managed by corporate financial fundies operating under Bendigo & Adelaide bank.
I may have got some of those deets wrong, I did a quick read not a proper study.
I wouldn't say it's a "bad" product, but it's definitely a different product. In fact, I'm interested in reading more and on similar fixed income products that offer on-call liquidity. But, due to being on a higher point of the risk/return curve, this doesn't sound like where most people want to be parking their savings…
@BargainHunterDon What percentage do you invest in the Earnr Everyday compared to conventional bank deposits elsewhere?
It varies (~25% at present) but like I said I've been using them for the last year or so and it beats having to constantly review the eligibility rules.
As an aside they've paid the 6.00% every single month without fail
25% kinda sounds like a sweet spot.
Yeah, I liked reading up on it, I'm interested. I'd like to do a more extensive search on products like this that have higher fixed interest returns which have the same on-call liquidity as a bank deposit.
Obviously, the key difference is that it's investable capital that has at least some degree of loss risk. Understanding the product and risk and getting the balance right for your needs is where the personalised approach to it is needed.
It won't take away from the need to continue allocating a majority of savings into cash deposits, as you can't take any capital loss risk when the goals of your savings is to ensure safety in preservation and access to cashflowing your expenses needs and short-term future needs for emergency funds or savings goals.
Do they prefill ATO
Bye NAB and subs…
From Macca to MQG. who cares?Macca?
MQG ?
Macquarie Group
Not sure about Macca, though. Maybe it's colloquial for Macquarie too, but I've never heard it, and I'm not sure @payless69's comment would make sense 🤷🏼♂️
When is the best time to move out of Ubank? Also what is the max transfer limit? How do people move their money? Bit by bit?
Last month would be best when they announced the rate drop! But since you're asking now then ASAP before the 1st Oct.
You can transfer up to the default max amount daily or ring them up and request change that amount, up to you, this has been discussed in last 3 pages.
Collected July's interest and zero'ed the ubank accounts. Calling them up to close all accounts today.
I think leave it in ubank until the new requirement comes into play at 4.6%, towards end of September start moving it to Macquarie at the 4.85% rate for 4 months before it goes back to 4.5% in the fifth month.
I think this is the most prudent approach.
The RBA is almost universally expected to cut rates at the August meeting after choosing to skip cutting in July, so the rates for various banks will jump around between now and when ubank's deposit increase requirement comes into effect.
At the moment the frontrunners are Macquarie, ME Bank and Australian Unity, but how much they decide to cut once the RBA cuts is uncertain.
Waiting until the 2nd half of September allows for all the changes to settle and it will become clearer which ones are the best choices.
Mystate is also a good option but requires the small hassle of 5 transactions
https://mystate.com.au/bank-accounts/saving-accounts/bonus-s…4.5% up to $500k with a $20 monthly deposit and 5 transactions.
Same interest rate as Macquarie, but with more hassle and a lower cap.
Completely redundant unless MyState and Macquarie cut at different rates in the 2nd half of August.
@scalebearer: Depends how many $$$ people have, some people like to spread a maximum of 250k at one institution for the government guarantee
Probably a good idea. I was about to switch to Aus Unity but maybe should wait for a while and see what they all settle to in September
Pro-tip: for those leaving ubank for a less hoopey one - wait until they give you your interest for the month before closing your savings account - otherwise you will forfeit any interest that hasn't been paid to you yet. Found out the hard way.
Makes sense
Thanks I thought it was calculated daily so assumed prorata. So I guess it makes the most sense to change accounts on September 1?
It is calculated daily.
Empty the account ASAP but you have to wait until 1st Sep to get the interest
Oh sorry I misread this. So you can take the money out but not close the account. Thanks
If transferring a large sum from Ubank to Macquarie, I assume you have to call up to do that as there is only a 20k daily transfer limit?
Did I read somewhere that the Macquarie account has to be opened for a period first before Ubank can do that? I havent opened the Macquarie account as yet
Yes or you can do 20k per day without calling. You would only lose $1.37 interest (before tax) by doing 100k in 20k chunks going from 4.35% to 4.6%
Why would ubank care how long your macq account has been open. As long as it's a valid account number it will work.
However macq has a habit of closing some new accounts the day after opening due to "suspected fraud".
Interest rate as of today 4.35%, commensurate with the Reserve Bank drop, and thus removing the possibility that last month's stand-alone drop was just greedily jumping the gun, and that the RB's August drop would be ignored by them.
So confirmation that they've dropped 0.25% compared to their competition, and thus hammered the last nail into their grave.
Ubank is 4.35
Macquarie has dropped to 4.25
Mystate to 4.25
ING to 4.8So they have effectively just realigned themselves with the lower bank offerings and not competing against ING
You forgot ME SpendME, best of the lot
What's the rate? I am seeing 3.60%, and there are criteria to meet?
Can I ask why you recommend ME SpendME?
Unsure why you got negged. +1 for
In their app I sent them feedback on the rate requirements change and they are logging it as a complaint and apparently passing on the feedback.
It is a real pity as I really liked the ubank experience but will now be leaving.
I did the same thing. Logged a complaint, and spoke to someone on the phone about it when needed to up the daily transfer limit. I tried to be super respectful to the Ubank person, knowing the decision was not their fault personally and it was out of their hands, and the Ubank CSR was very understanding also. Nonetheless, literally don't have a dollar sitting in Ubank anymore..its all with Macquarie.
made this call yesterday too, think they might be getting a few ppl all doing the same thing
anyone have problem transferring to amp? says "We couldn't make a payment to this account as it may be closed. Please check the details and try again."
Be aware that Ubank pays no interest for the month in which you close your account.
How can they pay interest into a closed account? transfer the $$ out, keep it open to collect the interest, then close the following month.
Never act on impulse. There's no harm to leave it open for some months.
What a coincidence that at the moment I cannot access my ubank accounts to transfer all money out…
They would be implementing the change to show you need to grow your balance by October 1 and not just a $500 deposit, it was always going to require some downtime to do that
Great. Wait times on the phone are 1hr+
That was on my to do list today also. Increase my limits and get the money out of there!
Think I'll try to hold out til 1 October…
Money all gone from Ubank. Shame really, I was with them a long time.
Hopefully other vote with their feet against these banks that feel they can rip people off
What a PIA the Macquarie Bank App. and their Authenticator App. are!
Really? I'm a new customer with them too, currently overseas, and had zero issues. Authenticator app works well. Macquarie card was the only card I could successfully add to Grab/Bolt transport apps etc. Other cards needed sms verification etc.
yeah really liking it myself. good to have a bit of added security imo
This 'grow balance' thing is indeed tricky - I checked my previous end of month Ubank balances - I did notice there was a month when the saving balance was lower than the previous month.
Thus the only way to handle this is to have Ubank as another saving account - similar with what I did to ING account. I do have Macquarie account but not using it much previously - this account will be my primary account now.
People realizing it ahead are of the minority. Most will think it doesn't happen to me.
UBank was always my flexible account, with Rabo and AMP having a better rate at the cost of a growth requirement. I treat these like term deposits and never take money out.
Something to consider if you were going to move money in and and out of an account with a growth requirement is this - It just takes one mistake way in the future to lose a months interest. This will negate YEARS of your gains from that slightly little higher interest rate. In my opinion it's just not worth it.
Soooo… if I were to transfer a large sum of money on the last day of the month,
From my savings account into my spend account
Then I could transfer it back into savings on the first day of the month…
Would this then GROW my balance??Technically yes, but you lose one day interest, 12 days per year. Maybe just move a portion for growth purpose next month.
There are better options like StG (BoM, BSA) with 4.40% p.a. require growth, but treats each saver separately. Open 2 savers, set a remind on the 1st of every month, move the whole balance from one to the other to satisfy growth.
Thanks.
Might be easier, just to go with Macquarie
would you risk it by transferring on the last day or the day before?;)
Yes, normally I would.
But if I happened to have a bigger than expected bill for a month, or a spur of the moment holiday.. can't risk loosing a whole month's interest
I have a question about the new bonus interest starting October 1.
If I start the month with $1,000 and increase it to $1,001 by the 1st of the next month, does that qualify?
Also, what happens if I grow it by $1 (to qualify), but later my balance drops to $900 during the same month? Since I already reached the $1 growth requirement once, would I still qualify for the bonus interest, or does my balance need to stay above the month's starting balance the whole time?
What they see is what your balance start of the month and end of the month, it won't matter if it fluctuates down within the same month.
Okay so it has to be higher then than from at the start of the month
Excluding interest
Great. Wait times of 1.5hrs…
This morning I transferred all my current balance and the interest for September except for one cent to Macquarie.
Downloaded the interest summary for 25-26 then deleted the App from my phone.
It was a good ride with UBank they were the best for many years but not any longer.
Isn't it easier to get the bonus interest now? Only have to deposit $1.00 to the account now, versus $500 before.
Of course, ING still has a better rate.This is what confuses me this morning. In Ubank app it says 'Deposit $1 to your savings to earn bonus interest' ($1 changed to $249.69 as I've withdrawn all balance) - I guess they tell you what's needed to be deposit at the time the app was opened - to some people who opened the app early of the month - they think they just need $1 - but if you open the app at the end of the month - you may not be eligible anymore and need to deposit more.
So you earned $248.69 interest in Sep. You emptied savers on or before 30 Sep so that Ubank only took the Sep interest as your Sep balance that is $248.69.
To continue doing this, one cannot empty savers on 31 Oct, but leave the Sep interest amount plus $1 as the minimum.
The interest appeared on 1 Oct and I've withdrawn all my money out of Ubank before 30 sept. I'm not using Ubank anymore after today.
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.