Is This a Privacy Breach for ubank?

lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 18:17
Last edited 03/10/2025 - 18:25 by 1 other user

I'm just trying to hear what people think about this situation I just experienced with Ubank.

Two days ago, like many people I moved my savings from Ubank to Macquarie so I called them up to increase my transfer limit. No issue with the transfer whatsoever however my partner received a text from them advising that I have increased my transfer limit to $xxxx.xx and that it would impact our shared savings account.

I was surprised because the transfer was out of my single account which I clearly confirmed with the staff on the phone whilst I was requesting the limit increase. And I understand it would impact the interest on our shared savings account, but I didn't expect them to specify the amount I was transferring out of my single savings account.

It wouldn't have caused any concern if the text didn't specify the amount. I would think in many situations this would have resulted in domestic disputes or arguments when the other party knows how much their partner has as some people don't share everything with their partner.

And if it's not a partner but just someone you have business with that shares an account with you for business purposes they should not know how much I have in my personal account.

Is this a breach of privacy from Ubank? I was going to call the OAIC today to seek their advice on this but they were closed by the time I rang them so I thought someone here might have the knowledge or experience related to this situation.

Thanks

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Comments

  • duk242 on 03/10/2025 - 18:29
    +11

    "I understand it would impact the interest on our shared savings account"

    That'd be why.

    • HardQuiz on 03/10/2025 - 18:36
      +1

      But the OP’s point -if I understood it correctly - why specify the amount?

      • duk242 on 03/10/2025 - 18:41
        +2

        The other person could probably work out the amount based on the change in interest in the shared account…. Probably… :P (and it wasn't how much they transferred, it was the change in the transfer limit?)

        I get where you're coming from though - If it was a case of someone sneaking away from a DV situation, this would really suck.

        Whether it's an actual privacy breach or not - I'm leaning towards borderline but no, as the accounts were linked.

        • lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 20:37

          the impact on the shared account would be that it may earn a lower interest for the month but that's not really the reason to reveal the increased limit.

          the whole point of having single accounts is to keep things separate, whatever in the shared account is shared. If my partner knows I have increased the limit to $52,570.90 (not the actual amount I requested but just to show how specific the text was, down to the cents) then they would easily know I have that much because the shared account only has $5000 for example.

          As I said it wouldn't matter if they didn't include the amount in the text, but once they've done that it is so open for the other person to know/guess what I am doing.

      • apsilon on 03/10/2025 - 18:45
        +3

        If it's a shared account both parties already have access to view all transactions so I don't see how them being notified of it in a text message is an issue. They could've just as easily seen it by logging in.

        • mskeggs on 03/10/2025 - 18:51

          I think in OPs case they have a shared account, but also a second solo account. And when they raised their limit they got the security notification, but so did the shared account person.

          • apsilon on 03/10/2025 - 19:29
            +1

            @mskeggs: I don't think it's possible for a solo account to impact the interest earnings of a shared account. I think OP is referring to having different (I can't recall the UBank term) pools of money within a single account. They may consider that pool theirs then their partner has a pool then they have a shared pool but in reality both account holders have equal access to the whole account.

            • mskeggs on 03/10/2025 - 19:39

              @apsilon: Fair, I have never had a UBank shared account. All the more reason to keep stuff private if you want privacy.
              Privacy is very important, but you need to do a minimum for yourself, as well as depend on suppliers.

            • lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 20:40
              +1

              @apsilon: no we have one shared account together and one single account each. They have no impact on each other apart from maybe the interest amount earned each month. So me taking money out of my single account should have been a private matter, or just keep the text generic without mentioning the amount of transfer limit.

              • freefall101 on 03/10/2025 - 22:13
                +2

                @lovafo: It sounds like all the accounts are linked despite the accounts being private, so are you are 100% sure if they have no impact on each other?

                I ask because a friend went through a messy breakup recently and found out the accounts are far more connected than they expected. My friend had money removed from their bank account because their ex had overdrawn an account and it was overdue, even though my friend had no visibility of that.

                It's a good reason to use different banks, because you might have private transactions, but banks can usually pull from one account to pay another account - thus the notification.

              • apsilon on 04/10/2025 - 05:49
                +2

                @lovafo: I still don't see how unrelated accounts can effect the interest earned. There must be a link and that's why they were notified.

      • jv on 03/10/2025 - 21:37
        -1

        why specify the amount?

        Why not?

      • Dr Phil on 05/10/2025 - 14:11

        What does it matter?

        They are partners so its not a privacy breach at all.

        But more to the point…

        What is OP trying to hide from thier partner??????

        Probably no harm done so I suggest OP chills out and enjoys the long weekend

    • Dr Phil on 05/10/2025 - 14:09

      Correct

      Interest is calculated across all savings accounts held in OP's name
      That would include shared ones

  • Dollar General on 03/10/2025 - 18:39
    +2

    What does their privacy policy state?

    I don’t consider it a breach

  • mskeggs on 03/10/2025 - 18:49
    +5

    I get your concern, but the increased limit would apply to your transactions of the shared account too - I don’t think they can just up one limit. In that circumstance, I think the other party to the shared account should be aware you just increased your limit (and maybe you had been hacked, or scammed etc.).

    Your limit in no way reveals your balance. I saw my account was set to $100,000,000 daily limit after I requested the limit be removed for a particular transaction. It doesn’t mean I have $100,000,000.

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/10/2025 - 19:14
      +3

      Sounds like something someone with $100,000,000 would say…

    • lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 20:41

      if I increase it to $55,560.90 and the shared account only has $5,000 then what would you think?

      • The Salt King on 03/10/2025 - 21:15
        +1

        Sounds like you messed up

      • JimmyF on 03/10/2025 - 21:28

        Why lift it to the limit down to the cent? Go to $60k and be done with it.

        If you are so worried, just move it out over a few days under the lower limit.

        • lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 21:30

          I asked the staff to increase it to whatever limit required for me to transfer what I had in my single account. And because I didn't think that they would notify my partner so I had no concern about what limit it is I just wanted to do it in one go and be done with it.

  • plmko on 03/10/2025 - 18:49
    +6

    Lol

  • askbargain on 03/10/2025 - 19:23
    +2

    $2 for your tears

  • foxmulder on 03/10/2025 - 21:16
    +1

    I wonder if the transfer amount was over $100k? If it's less, better to just to daily transfer. And why on October not last month doing this.

    • lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 21:28
      -2

      because I was leaving Ubank for good so doing it on the last day of september or first day of october makes no difference to me

      • foxmulder on 03/10/2025 - 21:41
        +1

        Note you still need to wait till Nov 1 for leftover interests for those October balance to appear than withdraw all interest before closing it for good.

  • JimmyF on 03/10/2025 - 21:29
    -1

    I was surprised because

    Your increased transfer limit applies to both your solo account and the shared account. So the other party has been advised.

    It wouldn't have caused any concern if the text didn't specify the amount. I would think in many situations this would have resulted in domestic disputes or arguments when the other party knows how much their partner has as some people don't share everything with their partner.

    You would think wrong….Why are you hiding money from your 'partner'? Not really a normal thing to do.

    • lovafo on 03/10/2025 - 21:33

      I'm not hiding it from them, we have our own separate funds and we don't want to know what the other has except for what we contribute to the shared account. We are not married and not been together for that long so isn't it "normal" to not share everything?

      • JimmyF on 03/10/2025 - 21:40
        -1

        I'm not hiding it from them, we have our own separate funds and we don't want to know what the other has

        Sounds like you are hiding it from them, as you don't want to 'know'. Freaking out they now know.

        and not been together for that long so isn't it "normal" to not share everything?

        and for everyone else that has been together longer than you, its 'normal'.

        At what point will you tell them?

        • lovafo on 04/10/2025 - 18:28

          at the point when both of us consider the relationship to be a long term one and are ready to share/combine our financials? Haven't you seen people separating after 1-2 years and had a messy separation because they combined their financials too early? a friend went through this twice and had to sell a house they had bought with a partner within 1 year of relationship.

          • JimmyF on 04/10/2025 - 18:52
            +1

            @lovafo:

            Haven't you seen people separating after 1-2 years and had a messy separation because they combined their financials too early?

            So you are hiding it…. You don't have to combine the money, but the fact you are hiding how much you have from them is a interesting side you are displaying.

            a friend went through this twice and had to sell a house they had bought with a partner within 1 year of relationship.

            So they are a slow learner…. If you buy a house together, then yes that is the outcome. Again, nothing to do with knowing how much money the other person has or doesn't have.

  • foxmulder on 03/10/2025 - 21:42
    +1

    I google Ubank share account privacy it comes up with
    Privacy: Your partner can only see the accounts that you share with them; other accounts held in your name only will not be visible in their app.

    Try to find the clause in Ubank T&C before contacting them ok

  • miwahni on 04/10/2025 - 01:19
    +8

    If the solo account is a Save account, and the joint account is also a Save account, that's where the issue is. You need to grow the balance across ALL of your Save accounts to earn bonus interest in a month, so taking a large sum out of one account - even if it's just held in your name - will affect all of the accounts with your name on it, joint or otherwise, unless the funds are replaced by the end of the month. So fair enough the spouse got a warning. I don't like the fact that the warning was so specific, as that does seem like a breach of privacy. But imagine if it wasn't specific; spouse could complain to Ubank that they had no idea that money had gone from partner's solo account therefore spouse didn't know they needed to top up by a certain amount in order to still qualify for bonus interest. Ubank, in trying to avoid one s**t fight, has likely created another.

    • reactor-au on 04/10/2025 - 08:17

      Post makes the most sense

    • lovafo on 04/10/2025 - 18:33

      yes I thought it has something to do with the interest on the savings account. We both have single save and spend accounts each and the shared save account is just for holiday expenses if we ever go together.

      the text is not the problem to me, they could have kept it generic and the partner would have known and asked me about it if they were worried about the interest on their single accounts. Even if they knew the amount I was transferring out of Ubank they would have no idea about other transfers that I could have done from my single save account before or after I increased the limit, so this is not a good enough reason for Ubank to disclose this information in the first place.

      the fight they were trying to avoid was so insignificant compared to the one they have created, think about other people who have more serious reasons to not share this information with their joint account holders eg DV

  • Porker on 04/10/2025 - 06:53

    Sounds like a privacy breach at face value, but also likely something listed in their T&C to avoid being sued.

    Perhaps read the T&C, which you would've agreed to at sign up, before contacting them.

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