A great introductory rate of 6.01% p.a. for the first 6 months of your account opening. At the end of 6 months you'll receive our standard variable interest rate, currently 4.75% p.a.
—No account fees and no minimum balance
—No fixed terms or hidden catches
—Access your money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through phone and internet banking
—Savings up to $1 million will be covered by the Australian Government Guarantee3
Yea! Im already using citibank for banking and credit services…
Hmmmmmmmmmm UBANK! COME ON!
Its an introductory rate. Sooner or later you are going to have tried all the banks and I think you will have to go back to UBank anyway since you will no longer be a new citibank customer.
Or perhaps you can close your account and reopen it again? Either way, a lot of effort.
While not as good as UBank's 5.95, it is a lot of effort for anyone to move their entire savings for 0.06%
Especially when UBank are likely to make a move to match it in the next few weeks.
p.s. I am dissapointed they have not continued the rate assurance, it was nice to not have to be on the lookout for new bank accounts.
Yea agreed. I'll see what Ubank will offer. RBA rate rise and Ubank havent risen their rates. >.<
Yet when the RBA drops rates they all come and drop all savings account rates also. Damm banks! Sooo greedy.
one alternative is to invest the saved cash into bank shares to indirectly benefit from the rate differential.
I hate the "new customer" part.
Basically baiting you to them and hoping you are lazy.
Interesting offer, but I'm about to move away from Citi as they're raising their credit card annual fees and their customer service has gone downhill over the last few years. They're also less amenable to annual fee waivers than they used to be.
I get the feeling that Ubank is getting complacent and relying on customers being too lazy to shift their money around. I notice they've been very quiet here on Ozbargain lately, and that their TD rates are looking less than competitive at the moment. Pity - I'm ready to start a $250k+ TD in the next few days.
TCU has been offering 7.01% on TDs for a while, and I'm happy to move my money to where it works the hardest even if it means opening and closing multiple accounts per year.
I am a happy UBank customer, and even have a couple of TDs there (6.81% for 1 year, opened in December). But UBank now offer 6.01% for 6 months compared with RaboPlus's 6.31%. I just opened a TD in the latter and keep any spare money in UBank.
Until the federal government's bank guarantee expires in October 2011, customers should chase the highest yields. After 10/2011 I'll go back to what I was doing before: spreading my money between multiple banks.
Or, you could, you know, do something with it?
Invest it? Spend it?
A key problem in Australia is that we don't save enough. Local banks import one third of the capital they need to operate and issue loans for housing and investment. That also makes us susceptible to international interest rate movements, and is a key reason why interest rates are higher here than many other parts of the world. We need to attract foreign capital, thus the need for attractive rates.
Australians have a love affair with property. It's a non productive asset (try exporting a house, or selling one room if you need some cash). I remember reading articles in 2005 that claimed Americans didn't need to save, as they saved by plowing their money into ever inflating houses. We know how that turned out. I hope we don't follow.
Anyway, I am saving for a house deposit (to live in).
CitiBank's customer service is fantastic.
Each time I call them they have been great.
Also I ordered something from the US last night and at 7AM this morning they called me to verify my details and to make sure that trasaction completed last night was not fraud. They are so much better than other banks, eg. I had $5500 of unauthorised charges on my Westpac CC and westpac didnt even blink an eye. I had to notify them of this, which in turn made me having to cancel my card and get a new one with new number.
With increasing fraud many institutions now do this. Wizard have called me a number of times, likewise ANZ. Guess Westpac would now have to do the same.
But point above is that the Banks are now playing games. They geta large number of deposits with Teaser rates then they drop the rate after 3-6 months and you get average rates. Ok for 6 months but after that you don't qualify.
So you have to move, then after a few years there's no banks to move to.
They play the same game with TD's. Once you come off the TD, they automatically put you on a new TD often with lesser interest rate. (Thats why you should always select the "dont renew - pay back the TD option)
AMP are slightly different, they offer higher rates if you increase your deposit over what you had before. Trick here is to be able to work out what date they will use for the next offer, and make sure the balance is low at that point. Still a hassle, but better than others offer.
ozpete Yea I know the would do that too. But that $5500 fraud was only last month. Oh well Ive gotten the money back after 2 days.
I am also looking at investing a large sum of money $150K.
Isn't TCU restricted to Teachers, students only?
I can't find any mention of 7.01% TD also.
dude
2 minutes of research!
who can join: http://teacherscreditunion.com.au/GI_Join%20now/Who%20can%20…
TD rates: http://teacherscreditunion.com.au/Accounts/IR%20-%20Term%20d…
Dude……
Yes I am fully aware of all that.
As you suggest anyone can use google and research.
However, what I meant to say in a round about way was…"is there some way of joining without actually being a Student or Teacher etc.."
Not being either I am prevented from opening up a Term Deposit with TCU.
Also Yes I know the 3 year rate is 7.05% but he was talking about 1 Year at 7.01%
The highest rate TCU term deposits have is 7.05% for 3 years, and you have to pay up $20k minimum. A better offer is RaboPlus's 7.25% for 3 years with a minimum of just $1000. http://www.raboplus.com.au/savings/term_deposits/default.asp…
FYI, UBank just released updated rate assurance (note it won't match intro rates however).
At least it's permanent.
https://www.ubank.com.au/ub/web/usaver/online-savings-rate-a…
well spotted Shadowfury
however it is most definitely not permanent: "This rate assurance is valid until further notice."
and to be honest not worth the paper it is (not) printed on given the present marketing trend towards special/introductory/bonus rates.
Bit of a non event all up. I am not sure how it enhances Ubanks credibility in any way. Probably just a clarifying statement that they will no longer be the 'guy out front'. Maybe it is a price signal to their competitors not to worry about about intense competition anymore.
Oh well i will probably have to start moving my money around again.
Thumbs up to Citibank for passing (some) of the RBA rate increase on. Shame UBank, shame!