Recently I discovered that my Macquarie Bank CMT had not paid any interest since September 2020. On enquiring, I found out they had made a decision early in 2021 only to pay interest to CMT account holders managed through a financial advisor. It seems that account holders were not advised. Is discriminatory banking for the same product allowable? And have you also been ‘interest free’ for some tiime. It is worth checking.
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I have a few ‘cash management’ accounts which are for moving money around. Pay goes in, and comes out via cash or card withdrawals. Transfer money to buy shares, transfer money when shares sell, etc.
Generally no interest is paid, or something like 0.05%, but they are also fee free.
If what is desired is interest, then your money should be in a high interest savings account. Of course the term high interest is laughable these days.
As for discriminatory to only pay interest if an advisor is involved. I am sure it was announced, and it is clear on the company site. Whether you noticed it is another matter.
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I have three accounts with Macquarie (seems insane when on a pension) which are for “cash management”. Pension goes into one, the bulk of it goes into another for bills etc and some goes into a third to build an “emergency” fund. Interest is so low… but then again, its a recent innovation because until a few months ago, no interest was carried on these accounts. I recall being paid $0.02 on one account.
We wont be seeing high interest rates for years…
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Macquarie has an online saver account paying a whole 1% now, not bad at the moment even if not tops. It seems to offer everything a transaction account provides but needs a companion transaction account for some reason, possibly regulatory.
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Yeah, that was the most recent account I opened. Tiny balance at this stage.
I guess so because for decades it has been discriminatory but the other way round - those accounts that do have a financial advisor are worse off. (The point is that the advisor has to get paid somehow e.g. via a trailing commission.)
I think a lot of people would have been receiving zero interest as we move through a period of record low interest rates. At least deposit rates didn’t go negative in Australia (as they did in some other countries).
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