Since ubank started as 86400 I used their high interest savings account as my transaction account, most recently earning 5.5%. That was something of a loophole in that it was the only bank I’m aware of that allowed transfers to external accounts and BPay from savings accounts. In July they imposed the requirement to transfer funds to the ‘spend’ account in order to use them to pay bills, etc. That means it’s necessary to constantly transfer funds from the ‘save’ to the ‘spend’ account to maximise interest. Most customers simply keep at least $1000 in their spend account at 0% interest. Ubank explained that their savings accounts are for saving and their spend accounts for spending. They were right, but they’ve made it that much more difficult to earn interest.
I know that Suncorp allows it. BPays and transfers can be done from any account which can be accessed when logged in online.
Suncorp has bonus saving accounts (called Growth Saver), but requires a minimum increase in account net balance of $200 each month (excluding interest). They also have term deposits and flexirates (where a customer can nominate the term deposit investment timeframe). Interest rates aren’t the highest available, but competitive with many of its peers.
Suncorp’s condition to require customers to grow their account every month means it’s not a transaction account in the way ubank’s was. It is good for savers but not spenders. With ubank, I liked to have my cake and eat it too.
As you are concerned about losing interest on the amount in the spending account, have you calculated whether that loss is worth worrying about? For example, if you have an average of $1,000 sitting the that account account for a year, you would forego $55 in interest per year, less if tax is applicable.
If this is a concern, one option to to open a high interest account, which allows spending, at another bank and just use that account with a small balance for paying bills. For example Macquarie has a no strings attached account with a standard interest rate of 4.75% (bonus rate of 5.35% for 4 months).
Canstar and possibly other comparison sites allow you to readily identify which high interest accounts don’t have strings attached.
I don’t think we have to worry about the Banks – " ‘Big four’ banks made huge profits as Australians took out bigger mortgages for pricier housing"
Glen thanks for the suggestion. My main concern is to highlight the fact that it’s getting progressively more difficult for savers to access the improved interest rates the market is offering for now. I’ve taken your advice, looked at Canstar and signed up for Macquarie. But no account is perfect, and this no strings attached Macquarie one does not support EFTPOS, which allows Aldi shoppers like me to avoid the card surcharge.
I posted this comment in May 2023 “MyState Saver account currently pays 4.5%, will undoubtedly go to 4.75% after today’s RBA decision. Requirements are to deposit a minimum $20 per month and use the associated VISA debit card five times a month.”
The only change at August 2024 is that the interest rate is now, and has been for quite some time 5%
I have just moved my UBank money to Rabo bank. $500 is just too much to ask and too much mucking around to then take it out again. I lost faith in them when the changed the way they got the $200 paid in each month. We then had to set up a new fixed deposit, couldn’t do it at the start as didn’t have the BSB and account no. Then they didn’t send a personal reminder to change was at the bottom of a lot of other info and I forgot. After having been with them for many years I missed two months of interest which cost me $1400 so I was not happy. No loyalty from anyone except the customers, no goodwill either. Don’t feel at all guilty for leaving. Just been overseas and opened a Macquarie debit account before we went. Card worked everywhere and no overseas transaction fees. have already shut one ANZ account and now minimal in the others. Just hanging in there for the credit card with travel insurance ands no transaction fees.
I have banked with UBank for over 15 years. I wouldn’t have done that if their system didn’t work well for me. You only have to deposit $500/month as an external transfer into one of your accounts. That’s about a quarter of a full age pension.
More recently, transfers out of your Save account(s) have been removed meaning a bit more work for me but it’s worth it.
I have been with Rabo bank for many years with their high interest savings account. However, this thread has come at a good time since I am being forced to look elsewhere. Rabo are forcing customers to use their app which means you will not be able to operate your account via the website. Since I do not want to use my phone for banking purposes (and in any case the screen is too small to see everything I need/want to see) this means I will effectively be locked out of my account. Although they will condescend to assist if I call them. And this is being done of course for my ‘convenience’. Well it is not convenient and they will lose a customer over it.
oh that is not good news as I am a woman after your own heart. Do not want to do my banking on an app which is why I have used the ANZ Saver one. My relatives are farmers and all their borrowings are with RABO so I at least feel that my money is helping a good cause. my money will also come out if forced to use an app. Not using as an everyday transaction account so not having to use the digipass much but has worked okay so far.
After having discovered what you posted I gave them a ring. The new ‘bookmark’ via their home page is
https://www.rabobank.com.au/notification-onlinesavings
that allows logging in by the new password/app code, OR the old digipass. Once the new app has been enabled the digipass option gets disabled. But, web access remains.
For those of us with the old (now non-functional) bookmark, it only shows the (now disabled) digipass option and an ‘account locked’ message.
It is a communications fail on Rabo’s part that the web links change was not made clear for those of us who used bookmarks and did not access our online account through their main page every time.
I had messaged them, as I did see some changes were going to come in at the time, they had no information, when I got sent the information and seen that the changes will be that you have to put in $100 a month minimum to get the bonus interest, it made our local Tasmanian owned and operated bank MyState a better banking option. Just be aware that MyState wil charge a $4.30 withdrawal fee at a post office on most of the savings accounts, but their pension basic account account the $4.30 withdrawal fee is exempt, I had changed to basic account as I have a Post office top up card, and do not want to pay a $4.30 fee when I do not need to. With MyState high interest account you have to make 5 sucessful payments using your debit account on your normal transaction accounts plus add $20 a month to get the bonus interest of 4.5% which is 5%, plus you get it on money up to $250,000.
Another term that made the ANZ Plus account that mace it even worse, was that now you will only get 5% interest on the first $5000 and 2% on the remaining, So now my plus account will be getting turned into just a billing account. I only jot the ANZ Plus account because I liked the saving part of it, found a better product elsewhere, and I can even draw money out from a bank teller.
jaysblueaus – I think your last comment is about the ANZ Plus Flex Saver (starting 1 Oct)… not the ANZ Plus Saver. Tiered savings rate is another game that is no beyond a joke. And even Canstar (as far as I can tell) has trouble keeping up. All the terms & conditions… and the constant changes. I think a list, like in Canstar cannot adequately reflect the complexity… Banks have teams who have have computer programs to calculate the complexity – it is now getting beyond for we mere mortals (aka customers) – and we are the losers. Like gnicholson, an informed customer… who lost $1,400 – and that could be any of us…
I have a NAB Reward Saver which pays 5% pa calculated daily and paid monthly. Variable base of 0.35% pa plus 4.65% pa variable bonus. You must deposit monthly with no withdrawals. $1 gets direct credited every month to satisfy the deposit requirement. And if I need the money, I just withdraw and lose the interest for the month. No breaking of a term deposit, or contacting the bank.
Agreed, it is annoying but simple to get around with Ubank. Although now they won’t let you transfer money externally from their interest bearing accounts, so I have set up an automated 3 step transfer.
- Transfer $500 from Ubank Interest bearing account to the one that allows external transfers (but doesn’t pay interest)
- Transfer that $500 out of the Ubank
- Transfer that $500 back into the Ubank interest bearing account.
That is all that is required, fire and forget (until they change the amount again).
All done as automated monthly transfers so it now just happens each month over about a week.
Hi all,
For my needs:
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Staying with UBank for the time being.
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Getting ready to close my ANZ Plus Saver account – as potentially paying hundreds of dollars to make ONE withdrawal is not my idea of good business.
Based on looking thru various options – I think I am going to move my ANZ Plus funds to Macquarie Bank as they have high interest, no deposit requirements & can withdraw without penalty… As ANZ Plus withdrawal penalties start October 1 – I better move funds so not penalised soon!!
This thread has been helpful to me – seeing ins and outs of various banks/products and how people adapt to changing bank policies.
Update – started Macquarie accounts, transferred funds from ANZ Plus…
The gaming should not come as a surprise to those who watch the banks on a daily basis. Unfortunately many are too time poor or otherwise distracted.
The ACCC has said of 2023.
While offers of bonus and introductory interest rates are commonly used by banks to attract customers, the ACCC has found that in the first six months of 2023, on average 71 per cent of bonus interest accounts did not receive bonus interest in any given month.
Consumers depend on retail deposit products such as savings accounts and term deposits, to safely store over $1.4 trillion of their savings, conduct their everyday banking, and importantly to earn a decent return on these funds.
Not a bad outcome for the banks to forego having to pay out 71% of the time.
The short version:
The deep dive, although the ACCC is still 12 months behind the latest games.
What a ripoff – thank you for the reading, I hadn’t seen it…
What is the definition of ‘bonus’ – it used to be something ‘extra’ ‘on top’ – the banks have reversed this definition to suit their own purposes. They should not be allowed to use this terminology as it is VERY misleading. Will read the report.
Interesting that the opening line of the ACCC article puts the weight on the shoulders of the customers:
“Consumers are missing out on earning higher interest on their savings due to ongoing barriers to searching for, and switching between, retail deposit products, the ACCC’s Retail deposits inquiry final report has found.”
It could have started with – ‘Banks are deliberating misleading and confusing customers to avoid paying interest on savings accounts.’ – or similar…
Thanks again for links to the report – recent changes to the rules of the ‘game’ on multiple accounts really brought this to my attention. I do pay attention to the ‘rules of the game’ but the banks are making it harder & harder to play fair…
This report came out in December 2023 – and ‘gaming the customer’ has only gotten worse – with many banks changing rules of the game in recent months.
As I didn’t follow this issue in the build up to the enquiry, I’m wondering if Choice had input into Retail Deposits Enquiry – on behalf of us.
Yes, they did.
Their page that has links to the current submissions they have made to inquirys is found at
Full listing by years at
