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ME Bank - Online Savings Account (with Ongoing Bonus) - 3.6% Interest

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MEBank have just raised their interest rates again, to 3.6% with the bonus rate. This is the highest interest rate available at the moment, according to http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/savings-account/list.as…

Please read the comments in the previous deal to get an understanding of the requirements, which are a bit confusing! It would be best to call MEBank and make sure you get it from them to be sure. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/217725?page=1#comment

In general, to get the bonus interest, you need to use your card for paywave once a week, possibly no more than 7 days from the last time you used it.

EDIT - THE MEBank Rep posted the following: "ME defines a week as 7 days. Eligible accounts receive bonus interest if, within the calendar month, 7 days does not pass without using tap & go"


From MEBank website:

Looking to grow your savings, but still want access to your cash? This account gives you the goods: ongoing interest, without the commitment of a term deposit.

The drawback? There are no fees at all. (NB: Only a drawback if you love fees.)

get the interest you crave

With interest calculated daily and paid monthly, this account gives your savings room to spread its wings.

no fees

Get an ongoing interest rate and 24/7 access to your money with no account keeping fees!

flexible

Afraid to commit? This account keeps it casual. You don’t need to make a minimum deposit, and you can access your money 24/7 using our online banking services.

rates

Variable base rate 1.80% p.a.*

Variable bonus rate^ 1.80% p.a.*

Referral Links

Referral: random (30)

$150 Coles Group & Myer Gift Card for both referree and referrer when loans are settled.

Related Stores

ME Bank
ME Bank

closed Comments

  • +1

    You’re automatically eligible for bonus interest on your first OSA unless it was opened before 10/08/15, in which case you’re only eligible upon request.

    any existing customers getting the bonus rate?

    • +4

      Yes there are. You just need to call MEBank and ask for the bonus rate.

  • +2

    New account holders would also be eligible for the movie ticket offer, I assume…

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/232151

  • +1

    This is shit cos u need to keep spending money each week else you don't get the bonus interest.
    Which then negates the purpose of the saving account.

    • +4

      Some people meet the requirement by spending about $1 a week on things they would buy anyway, like milk or fruit. There would be very few people who dont spend $1 a week at places that accept paywave.

      • +7

        Spend $1?
        Spend $0.01!
        Pay the other $0.99 with ING so that you only pay $0.97

        • Is that where "getting your 2 cents worth" comes from?

      • +6

        But it's annoying needing to remember to use payWave each week.

        Also u might buy fruit from the market or places without payWave
        And u buy fruit for 2 to 3 weeks from one market trip

        also u might buy stuff and use cash and when would u spend one dollar payWave?

        Some ppl don't drink milk.

        The whole scheme is too hard and easy to miss a bonus interests

        When I have saving account I just want to see interest earnt,
        Not that a it got negated with payWave purchases


        I saw this way before u posted deal but passed on it after seeing payWave requirements

        • "Some ppl don't drink milk." Then replace 'milk' with something you regularly use/consume :l

          The scheme isn't hard at all. Hell, I make at least 4 paypass purchases a week without even making an effort.

        • +2

          @Benno123:

          Like I said the payWave requirement is PITA.

          No thanks.

        • do you eat food, use it on groceries once a week at a major supermarket, requirement met, enjoy high interest rate, seems pretty simple to me, and that interest rate is insanely good

        • +8

          @Elnato:

          Not really.

          ING is like 3.5 without the hassle.

          Just forget 1 one payWave and the bonus is gone

          No thanks.

        • -1

          @tyler.durden: Ing bonus 1.25% finishes February 2016.

        • @boccos:

          where does it say that?

          do u have a source?

          ===

          Anyway I am sure they will come up with something to be competitive..

        • @boccos:

          Or just go ubank or Rams then

        • @cheesecactus: You may be right, it may not end. I tried to find where I had read this but cannot find it.

        • @boccos:

          you reply to the wrong person.

          I check on the ING website and called them.

          And there is no info about it ending February.

          In future, you should provide a source before making such statements.

        • @boccos:

          Ing bonus 1.25% finishes February 2016.

          what's your source for that? the rate on my savings accounts currently says 3.5% (it was updated on 1st feb)

        • @mtg: Obviously I was wrong. Sorry.

    • you've got to spend money on something.

      • +1

        What if you hide it all in your mattress and only eat free food?

    • +4

      Agree with you tyler.
      But what is in it for MEBank to make their customers jump through tortuous hoops for nothing benefitting anyone?
      My guess is it is the personal smartass flexing of power of an idiot MEBank staffer.
      Sorry but I just don't get MEBank on this.
      As I really think this is a bad deal, I'm going to drop the sky and neg the deal. No offense OP.

      • +8

        That is why they have dropped the standard interest rate from 2% to 1.8%. The marketing guys know that people are going to slip up and forget to tap each week. ME bank wins that month as they only pay half the interest and at a rate that is not competitive.

      • -6

        Wow… you must lead an incredibly simple existence if you truly believe that having to remember to use PayWave every week is making you "jump through tortuous hoops".

        • -1

          Bit exagerative I admit. But I make about one paywave/paypass transaction a year. So this would be an effort. I disable paywave on all credit cards (snip) as soon as I get them cause I don't need it.

        • +4

          If you've read the previous discussion of ME Bank's conditions, it's more complicated than that.

          Depending which dates correspond to which days of the week in any given month, using PayWave every week isn't necessarily enough. In at least some cases, if you use Paywave on Thursday of one week and Friday of the next, you've just lost an entire month's bonus interest, which instantly makes you worse off at ME Bank than you would have been at ING (for which you just need to make a monthly deposit).

          Even if we accept for the sake of argument that "tortuous hoop" may be an exaggeration, is it so inconceivable that, in a year of 366 days, somebody might forget once in a while, or get their dates wrong, or go overseas for a week?

        • @Bargitrage: Fair enough then

        • +3

          @PeterA07: Understood, but that hasn't been my experience and with over $200k deposited with ME Bank I have more to lose (bonus interest-wise) than most.

          By the way, ING has a $100k limit on paying bonus interest, UBank's is $200k (and includes the balance of your transaction account… sneaky) and ME Bank is $250k so there's always more to factor into the equation.

        • @cryptowiz: True, though to add another institution into the equation, RAMS (3.40%) has a $250,000 limit as well. It is effectively much higher than that because you can instantly open more accounts online, all of which have the full $250,000 limit.

          3.40% may be lower than 3.60%, but the risk of losing interest because of an accident of timing is essentially zero once you correctly set up your automatic monthly deposit. One misstep at ME Bank puts you nearly level pegging with RAMS. Two missteps at ME Bank and you're worse off than you would have been at RAMS.

          If you have a foolproof way of making sure you will meet ME Bank's conditions (and a foolproof way of knowing what those conditions are!), go for it, but IMHO it's not a no-brainer by any stretch.

      • Probably more to do with getting them ranked 1st on savings comparison site.

        Getting more customer signup.

        And then not paying as much in interest when customers forget to do the payware once for a week for that month.

        ==

        Also imagine if u forget to make a paywave for a week and it is the last day,
        you now need to drive to the supermarket at whatever late time it is, to just buy some crap just to meet the requirement.

        Also it stops you having choice of buying groceries from local stores since most would not have paywave.

  • +10

    Interesting, but it would be a real headache having to remember to use ME paywave within every 7 days. And you would lose by comparison to Ubank if you sometimes travel and miss one. And so I will stick with UBank for simplicity.

    • +3

      yep. you only need to miss one week in a year and the interest you receive will be worse than ing's.

      make sure you don't go on any overseas holidays, camping trips, etc. where you can't use paywave.

      • That is interesting. I think PayWave is available overseas but not sure if using your card overseas would register for the purposes of this deal.

        • It may be available in various places, but coverage may vary significantly depending where you go. In Germany – hardly an obscure backwater – acceptance of credit cards (let alone contactless payment) is patchy compared to Australia and the US.

      • I wonder if we could get an exception for a 2 week overseas holiday?
        If so, I wonder if we could get an exception for a 1 month overseas holiday…
        If so, I wonder if we could get an exception for a 1 year "overseas holiday"……

        Have money, will travel.

  • +3

    I agree the requirement to spend an amount each week makes this useless as an actual savings account

    • There are creative ways around this. How hard it is to pay a $1 milk with paywave?

      • +3

        where is milk $1?

        Yes it is a PITA, as most people paywave with credit cards & get points. I doubt many people just buy one small purchase every week & paywave it. I know I'd have to split transactions to paywave the 5c/10c/$1/etc

        It's designed to trap people so they don't have to pay the bonus interest, as there's no other reason to have this stipulation.

        If you have $10k, this is $10/yr more then ING. ($360 vs $350).
        But if you miss just one paywave, then you lose $15 of interest that month ($30->$15).

      • +1

        most shops around here have $10 minimum eftpos.

      • You keep saying this $1 milk crap.

        Not everyone drinks milk and also I don't think milk cost $1.

        Also the hassle of needing to drive out to the supermarket to just get this $1 milk, which waste time and petrol.
        It also limits your choice of where u can buy stuff, since most local stores don't have paywave.

        All this hassle just to get an extra 0.1%.

  • +5

    ing is 3.5 deposit 1000 a month,

    set up auto movement of money in and out or put your pay in, find this alot easier

    • +1

      bonus applies up to 100,000 only

      • can just open multiple accounts, i did this with rams, so may work with ing

        • With ING the bonus rate is only "Available on one account".

        • @lucjack: looks like me bank limited to 250k as well. wish interest rates were decent like 8%:)

  • +5

    Can't be bothered reminding myself to use the card each week. I prefer to just arrange automatic payments to my savings account and not have to worry about it.

  • Wow, it is ever higher than my mortgage rate.

  • +2

    If you think that remembering to tap and each week is annoying, then you will soon realise that ME Bank has a different version of what weekly means depending on which customer service rep answers their phones.

    They have made it very difficult to met their conditions which are not specifically detailed on their website.

    • -1

      Yeah

      I regularly check savings comparison site and saw mebank higher than others but then saw the payWave hoops need to jump through each week so I passed on it.

      This many months ago.

    • Yes, I posted their email reply on this issue in the previous post, with stated details, and I believe they were wrong, but who knows?

      • Hi Bargitrage if you have any questions about your account or would like someone to look into it for you, email your details to [email protected] and we'll be in contact. Thanks, Scott

        • +3

          Hi Scott,

          Good to have an ME Bank rep in this forum, responding to concerns and perhaps help clarify issues. It will be greatly appreciated if you can clarify the confusion around the definition of weekly tap-and-go.

          Bargitrage has posted that he missed out on bonus, due to not meeting the 7 day between tap-and-go here. What's more, his account indicated it is so strict it is based on 604800 seconds interval between tap-and-go.

          I was told this definition too, but only yesterday, was commenting that perhaps it did not matter, as it was not corroborated by what others were told. But Bargitage's account suggested it matters.

          Can you please confirm, whether bonus is based on satisfying just (1) below, or (2) the more stricter definition:

          1) one tap-and-go during these weeks:

          1st - 7th
          8th - 14th
          15th - 21st
          22nd - 28th
          Ignore any days after 28th of each month.

          2) "a period of more than 7 days cannot pass without a tap and go being made".

          Many thanks in advance

        • Hi @bluesky: no worries. Happy to help. Regarding the Tap and Go, ME defines a week is defined as 7 days.

          Eligible accounts receive bonus interest if, within the calendar month, 7 days does not pass without using tap & go. Let me know if you have any other questions.

          Thanks, Scott

    • +2

      Rep I spoke to said one transaction within the dates of 1-7, 8-14, 15-21, 22-28 each month, with the remainder days not counting.

      • +2

        I was told something similar, except the dates where:

        1st - 7th
        8th - 14th
        15th - 21st
        22nd - 28th

        Ignore any days after 28th of each month.

        Just out of interest, how long ago did you call?

        • More and more people are reporting being given the week definition you spelled out above. Perhaps it is now safe to ditch the other definition: "a period of more than 7 days cannot pass without a tap and go being made". So far, it has not been corroborated by others, after my call (described here).

          I have been adhering to both. But adhering to just one would be much easier.

        • +3

          @bluesky:
          I agree. I am not worried about meeting the requirements. I just wish it was defined in writing somewhere so that we had some certainly and can "play the game" that ME Bank has set up (within the confines of their rules).

        • @squeeb: Hi squeeb, ME defines a week as 7 days. Eligible accounts receive bonus interest if, within the calendar month, 7 days does not pass without using tap & go. Thanks, Scott

        • @MEBankScott:
          Thank you for your reply Scott.

          Can I confirm that what I and others were told is now incorrect, namely, to use tap and go on the following dates:
          1st - 7th
          8th - 14th
          15th - 21st
          22nd - 28th
          and ignore any days after 28th of each month?

          So the requirement to receive the bonus interest has been updated and is now officially 7 days does not pass without using tap & go?

        • +1

          @MEBankScott:
          Sorry, another question for you Scott.

          Is the "7 days does not pass without using tap & go" requirement a monthly or rolling/ongoing requirement?

          As interest is paid on a monthly basis, I would assume that the condition is reset and each month is viewed separately when determining when the bonus may or may not be awarded but I think that is is prudent to confirm.

          For example:

          Say one uses tap-and-go on 5th, 11th, 17th and 23rd February - that would fulfill the monthly requirement.

          And then the following month, you tap-and-go on 1st March, you would still be potentially within the conditions of the monthly requirement (if you do the taps for the rest of the month) but not the rolling/ongoing requirement.

        • +1

          @MEBankScott:
          And one more Scott.

          "7 days does not pass without using tap & go" is a negative definition. So essentially you have to use tap-and-go every 1 to 6 days, is that correct?

          Or can you tap one week on Wednesday and the next week on Wednesday even though they are a week apart?

  • Looked at these guys, just last week. ING were better for rate, but $100k limit. These guys, $300k limit.

    Happy days.

  • People who complain about how hard it is to keep track of weekly paywave — deserve to pay the so called Lazy Tax.

    • +2

      I don't think that it is a matter of being lazy but more about using ones time more productively to make money and deal with a busy lifestyle. I prefer not to have to remember useless things like using a debit card so I set up a reminder in my phone but as others have rightly pointed out it is time consuming and non-sensical.

    • +4

      I would call that prudent and risk-averse, not lazy.

      Let me present this scenario: on Thursday, 31 March, you make a Paywave transaction. Next week on Friday, 8 April, you make another Paywave transaction. Congratulations: you've just lost your bonus interest for that month. That immediately makes you worse off at ME Bank than at ING (3.50%). Make the same kind of "mistake" twice, and you're worse off at ME Bank than at RAMS (3.40%). I'd much rather just go with ING or RAMS, set an automatic deposit, and spend my time keep track of things other than whether I've jumped through ME Bank's hoops.

      The other reason I would be hesitant about going (back) to ME Bank is that, in general, I'm not 100% sure they know what they are doing. There has already been extensive discussion on this site about the confusing advice regarding the "weekly" Paywave condition.

      I can also add something from my own experience. A year or so ago, I opened an ME Bank account during a promotion. Transfers and my internet login were arbitrarily disabled on my account twice (on each occasion, the bank's representative had no idea why). I also repeatedly received different information about what could be done and how.

      The nadir was when they sent BPAY reference information to me, but when I called to confirm that this was now active (I had previously been told that it wasn't), the customer service representative first told me that he had no idea you could now transfer money by BPAY to ME Bank, before concluding: "You can use those details to transfer money to us, but I have no idea if the money will end up in your account."

      • Congratulations: you've just lost your bonus interest for that month.

        Yeah - even if you've only got small amount say $10,000 and miss it one month = $15 lost interest
        If you've got a bigger amount - you gotta be sure you're meeting their conditions every week.

    • +2

      And people who travel to remote places for extended periods. "Ain't so tranquil now!" - ME Bank

    • +1

      I said "Lazy Tax". I didn't say they're lazy. At least know what "Lazy Tax" means. Unless you're too lazy too google it.

  • Can anyone suggest why Mebank may have included this weekly paywave requirement for bonus interest?
    I mean how does this benefit Mebank. Do they get commission on paywave transactions, or perhaps building up their usage statistics for lowering borrowing rate. No idea, just wondering.

    • +5

      It benefits them if you forget one week then they only pay 1.8% interest.

      So they get more customers signup and less need to pay out.

      They would look good on comparison websites by being on top.


      I rather just setup auto transfer each month and know I am guarantee I get full interest

      Vs this when u just need to forget 1 week and that months bonus interest is gone.

    • +1

      People will easily not do this when they spend a long holiday overseas.

  • can you just setup a transfer of $1 a week to another account like paying off your credit card?

    • +2

      Has to be Paywave. So at the till.

      • ahh crap thats where they get ya

  • +8

    So on $50,000 savings you will get an extra $50 over ING interest, for 52 timed transactions at the supermarket.
    Mayby they could add more requirements for us, like transactions have to be at different retailers each time, and between $25 and $75.
    Making the game even better.

    • +1

      Yes, for $50,000 saving, the difference in interest earned between ING (3.5%) and ME Bank (3.6%) is mere $4 monthly, I will pass

    • +3

      Let's put on our ME Bank marketing caps. What other ridiculous requirements should there be to qualify for a piddling (relative to the effort) interest?

      1. Transactions has to alternate between day-time and night-time purchases (so if week 1 is a morning milk purchase, week 2 has to be a midnight snack purchase).
      2. Each of the weekly transactions has to be at least $5 (no cheating with the $1 milk or 50 cent lollies!).
      3. One of the 4 weekly transactions has to be outside your suburb (no cheating by going to your local milk bar 1 minute away!).
      4. If you live in the city, then one of the 4 weekly transactions must be from a store in the country. Vice versa if you live in a rural area.

      Further conditions:

      1. You will receive the interest as a yearly lump sum at the end of the financial year so for the whole time, you'll be kept in the dark whether you are eligible for the bonus interest or not.
      2. If you're an existing customer, not only must you call and ask for the 3.6% interest, you also have to call and ask for the 3.6% interest to actually be paid. You also have to address the customer representative with the suffix "your excellency" and say "please" at least 3 times during the call. Only when the rep deems your grovelling to be convincing enough, will they give you what you ask for (payment of the bonus interest). Don't forget to say "thank you very much, your honour" before you hang up otherwise you will forfeit all the interest.
      • Don't forget, if the country town shop's bank account is held in your nearby city branch -> no interest.
        This item is what "hypothetically' got me last year, prior to them closing my account for inactivity, which cost me a further $25 fee.

        Any business can work like the above, if they try hard enough.

        Mebank to me just seem unprofessional, kinda childish frankly.

        Ing, Rams, Ubank are much better at banking IMO.

  • argh, just got off the phone with them to ask them to put it up to 3.6% and forgot to ask them how long does this last for? is it indefinite as long as I use the paypass once weekly?

    • hmmm after reading other commenters sentiments I think I will just open a online saving account with ING and move my ME money there. Easier to stick to that system anyway as I use the ING debit card already and have $1000 transferred into it monthly

      • That's exactly what I did, ME is going backwards, still OK for a Home Loan, but not very competetive for Saving.

  • Ubank is 3.37% at the moment, wonder if they'll follow…

    • no.

      ubank has not been competitive for a long time now.

      • +1

        hmm, well the paywave thing is hassle I agree and ING is capped on $100k.

        Looks like I'm sticking with uBank for now…

  • +1

    Agree with others here that the ING setup is much less tedious and worth losing out on the extra 0.1%, depending on how much you intend to put in the savings account.

  • I have one of these accounts with ME, but I've not been getting the bonus rate. I'm wondering if it's due to you having to use MasterCard Paypass, and that's reliant on merchant.
    It may not be, but I can't explain why I'm not getting the bonus when I regularly use the card.

    • Existing account holders need to call and request the bonus rate.

      • Already contacted them, them online and they just quoted the using Paypass thing. I guess I'll have to actually call.

        • +1

          Hi Lem_is_cool, if you prefer, you can email [email protected] and we'll be in touch otherwise give us a call and we can look into it for you. Thanks.

  • are people on this site big on building their savings?

  • I agree the Paywave is a PITA. I use ME for all my transactions and I use Paywave when I can. I didn't qualify for the bonus interest this month and I was sure I did a transaction every week. :(

    • Hi crc32 if you feel like you have qualified for the bonus interest shoot ME an email at [email protected] and we'll look into it for you. Thanks, Scott

  • +1

    Something you ALL should know …

    Some of us signed up 1-2 months ago when the deal was 3.55%.
    The impression I got was this is an ongoing offer, with the weekly tap and go condition.

    This morning, I discovered my rate had dropped to 3.35%, hence posted this comment in the 3.55% offer thread.

    Is it just me reading it wrong - advert seems to convey an ongoing offer, so how can they just drop our rate?

    Moksha said it is time to get ourselves on this new deal 3.6%. And he is right. Does it mean that we need to:
    - repeatedly call to get revised deal every 1-2 months.
    - watch your interest very carefully, as there was no notification when rate is dropped for us existing customers.
    - if last time was any indication, it took two calls and more than 1 week, before my request for offer was actioned (they said 24 hours). Meanwhile, one stayed on the reduced rate.

    It is starting to sound like hassles …

  • +1

    UPDATE AFTER CALLING:

    The variable base interest component dropped by 0.2% overnight, this triggered the drop affecting us existing customers; and it was not intentional, apparently.

    I was told the rate will be rectified tonight and interest will be back-dated.

    I still asked for this NEW DEAL (3.6%), instead of remaining on OLD DEAL (3.55%). But was assured repeatedly that existing customers will go to 3.6%, and will not remain on 3.55% - so no need to specifically request new deal.

    Past experience have shown sometimes their different custreps had different understanding of same situation. If you are given a different account of things, please share. The most common account is probably the most reliable one :-)

    • My Bonus Rate currently shows as 1.55%. So they will up that to 1.8% without me asking?

      • On Feb 1, the rate displayed on my account dropped, first to 3.35% in the morning, then finally to 1.8%.

        ME Bank custservice assured me that moving forward:

        • the rate will show as base rate 1.8%. They decided it would be misleading to show the bonus-inclusive rate, and what if someone did not meet the tap-and-go requirements (in which case, the person won't get the bonus).

        • if the requirements are met, at end of month, the interest and bonus interest will be shown separately.

        If your account is still showing only 1.55%, best to give them a call, to make sure your profile says you are registered for the offer. (I raised the concern that with interest showing only 1.8%, how am I to tell that ME Bank still regards me as registered for the offer. ME Bank custservice confirmed this by looking at my profile).

        • +1

          Base rate shows 1.8%. Bonus was paid for January.

  • +1

    ME bank are worthless. I was meant to be eligible for the bonus interest rate and 2% cash back, got screwed around and all the helpdesk staff continued to state I am no longer eligible even though I met the criteria. Not sure if this is just a one off and I got unlucky, but they were not willing to budge and provide the bonuses I originally signed up for.

    Cancelled both the everyday and savings accounts, went with ING. Bonus interest rate applied and 2% cash back, free atm's etc - no worries.

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