How Many People on OzBargain Still Have Accounts with The Big 4 Banks?

I have seen some comments where people say that they have their home loan or whatever with one of the Big 4 Banks. I am just wondering how frequent this is. I am just looking at the headline rates of products advertised on websites (plus I have inside knowledge that staff only really have maximum 0.2 - 0.3% in potential variation from stated rate (on both loans and deposits)).

It's interesting how the banks have been called out as ripping people off for charging fees for no service. or for selling insurance people couldn't claim on. However, in my opinion, the biggest rip offs of banks have been in plain sight the whole time, and have never been called out. You look at most at call savings accounts for big 4 banks, the rate is 0.5%, with possible an extra 2% add on for the first 3 or 4 months. However, you can go to other various banks and get 2.8 - 3% ongoing, with really quite easy conditions to satisfy (the same conditions required to avoid the monthly fee at a Big 4 Bank).

Big 4 Banks offer 0.5% savings rates, well below inflation. It doesn't matter how good your apps are, and how good your spending alerts are, that's a rip off. Even worse than a rip off, it's a silent rip off (because most people don't understand economics and the concept of real returns).

Yes, Big 4 Banks do have Term Deposit rates that are closer to competitors, but even then, its still quite a difference.

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Comments

  • +3

    No wonder they have such high returns on equity. They only have to pay 0.5% for most of their savings, compared to the 2.8 - 3% that some other banks offer. So that's an extra 2.3% margin (on just the deposit side, there is still extra margin on the loan side to account for as well).

    And then there is the rip off of balances in transactions accounts getting zero or 0.01% interest (I remember this very well, from days as a teenager, getting bank statements that said I had earned 1c or 2c in 6 months. I switched to ING then, and have never looked back).

    If only people weren't so lazy, regular people could have inflicted a lot of pain on the banks for their misbehaviour. Yes, it looks like there is some shift of people moving banking accounts and superannuation away from major banks given the royal commission, but this could have happened well before the royal commission if people weren't so lazy.

    • +1

      What FI's are offering 2.8 or 3% beyond a short introductory rate?

      • +1

        ING offers 2.8% on their savings account.

        • +9

          Anyone else? ING account is quite conditional. 100k max, have to deposit $1,000 a month, make 5 transactions on a card per month.

          Really, what they are trying to do is give you 1.8% for you to switch your banking to them. Otherwise it is 1.0% you get.

          • +12

            @serpserpserp: ING Conditions are pretty easy to satisfy.

            • if you have more than 100k in savings, then you should probably be looking at alternative investments to get higher return (unless you have it as a home deposit that you want to access relatively quickly). Also, you can look at Rams Saver. It allows up to 500k and has a rate of 2.8%. THe only downside is that you cannot access money. If you make a withdrawl, you lose the bonus rate for a month.

            • Have to deposit 1k. This is not a hard condition to meet. Surely you get wages? Even if you don't, you can transfer 1k out to another account, and then transfer it back to ING, all in the same day (to avoid losing a days interest). If you don't have 1k to transfer all at once, you can transfer smaller amounts multiple times (e.g. transfer $100 out and in over 10 single days of the month).

            • Make 5 card transactions. You can go to woolworths and use 'Split Payment' and do 5 x 1c transactions (and then pay the rest of your shopping on a rewards card or 5% discounted woolworths egiftcard from Cashrewards).

            • +1

              @random12: Damn I’d hate to annoy a checkout person with 5 x 1c transactions.

              • +13

                @Filbert: You can go to a self serve checkout. That's what I do. 5 x 1c + rest on egiftcard (so payment is split 6 ways). You only need to do this once a month, I usually do it the first or second week to make sure its done (and most importantly, you cannot do it in the last 4 business days or so, because it may not be settled before month end).

                There is usually a special on something at woolworths every week or every other week (e.g. chips, lollies, icecream). You can just buy one thing, and split payment 6 ways.

                • @random12: 👍
                  I see how that works.
                  How long have you been doing this for? Meaning that it is a long term loophole definitely worth exploring/exploiting.

                • @random12: I tried doing this same thing omg for ING, but found it too tedious.

                  Currently I prepay $0.01 on our council rates, with 5 separate transactions (also early in the month).

                  We do it for the no ATM fees, but will decide to continue or not if a better fee free option arrives.

                  Hard to find a bank account that does it all.

                  • +1

                    @movieman: Its not too hard. It only takes like 20 seconds to do 5 x 1c payment.

                    You select 'Card (split payment)' from 'Other payment type'. You enter '0.01'. Press OK. Tap your card on the reader. Then repeat.

                    • +5

                      @random12: I reckon easiest solution is to Beem It to a friend 5x transactions with your ING card. I do that never had a problem.

                      And they beem you back the whole amount.

                      • @KBZ: Smartest way! Even happy to do these for a stranger!

                • +3

                  @random12: I just Paypal my other email (which is not a PayPal account) 5x1c every month. Takes less than a minute, and you can do it from wherever.
                  Costs extra 5c in total as Paypal fees.

                  The best part is, if you don't claim the funds in a month, you get refunded the full 10c

                  • @FirstWizard: Thanks for the tip, so much easier than swiping the card

                    • @Cleartripe: No worries. Also, when sending money through Paypal, make sure you pay for "goods or services" and NOT "send money to friends". The latter does not get categorised as a purchase with ING.

                • @random12: Wow, I'm impressed

            • @random12: Just made the switch to ING for both my everyday spending and savings accounts after reading the barefoot investor book. Pretty easy to make 5 transactions a month and deposit your salary each month to satisfy the conditions. Bye bye BIG 4.

              • @hawkers8905: We have just switched to UBank thought their offer was better and am also reading barefoot investor….in my mid 50's so a wee bit late.

                • +1

                  @Filbert: Just turned 30 here so thought I'd better start :-)

          • -3

            @serpserpserp: AMP is even easier. 2.10% for doing nothing.

        • +1

          Only if you meet the following conditions.

          For customers who also have an Orange Everyday bank account and deposit their pay of $1,000 or more per month and make 5+ card purchases that are settled (not pending) each month. Available on one account for balances up to $100,000

          UBank is 2.87% but they also have conditions that need to be met.

      • +7

        Ubank Usaver Ultra gives 2.87%, very little condition. Feature summary.

        • +1

          UBank 2.87%

        • +1

          Correction: The Usaver linked to the Ultra Transaction account.
          Since Ultra is technically the transaction account.

          Without the transaction account linkage, you will only get 1.81% for Usaver

        • -4

          UBank max balance $200K seriously limits it for me

          • +8

            @BigBirdy: @BigBirdy

            UBank max balance $200K seriously limits it for me

            As @random12 said above

            If you have more than 100k in savings, then you should probably be looking at alternative investments

            Don't know why all these people with >100/200k in savings are whinging about cash rates…

            • +6

              @Chandler: Because Baby Boomers want top dollar returns for all their retirement millions and want to do nothing for it.

              • +1

                @serpserpserp: I have investments and do bugger all managing them.

                And I'm by no means a rich baby boomer (both in $ and in age).

                • +2

                  @Chandler: 200k in investments is pretty rich for a younger person

                  • @abuch47: That's my point - I don't have 200k in investments. I have <50k invested, and a good slab of that is not even my money.

          • @BigBirdy: I actually just looked. They have boosted it up from $250,000 (I'm pretty sure this is what it was last time I checked, which was a while ago) to $5,000,000.

            I've been with UBank for about 6 years, absolutely love them.

            • @Ghost47: “To get the bonus rate, you must deposit at least $200 a month into your USaver Ultra transaction or USaver savings account from a non-UBank account (for example, your salary). Also, the total balance of all your accounts must not exceed $200,000.”

              • @BigBirdy: Right so the maximum to be eligible for the bonus interest is $200,000, but you can actually have up to $5,000,000 in the USaver.

        • Just so you know, UBank is owned by NAB.

      • Recently changed from Nab (2.55%, no withdrawals, minimum 1 deposit/month) to ING (conditions below). I believe ME Bank offer 2.85%.

        I'm not aware of any banks that offer interest rates of 0.5% on a savings account

        • NAB weren’t even 2.55%, prob was when you signed up.

          • @Filbert: Were when I signed up, looks like the reward saver is now 2.4% (0.5%+1.90% Bonus w/conditions)

      • +2

        ubank does 2.87%

    • +1

      It's not about the savings rate, that doesn't mean much. It's about the home loan package, convenience of atms, great app etc.

      I'm with NAB becasue no one can beat it, only online banks like UBank can beat the rate, not really enough to justify losing all that atm/app/convenience benefits.

      • FWIW the UBank app is pretty solid. It's basic, but it's solid and does the job.

    • Crap comparison.

      That 0.5% are not savings account… they're transaction account. Apples and Oranges

      Having said that their savings accounts % is still low compared to others, usually 1.5%-2.5%

      But then again, they already have the bulk of customers and don't need to attract more, like the smaller banks and non banks do.

  • +3

    I’ve got one out of two accounts with a Big4, there would be plenty that do have big4 accounts.
    In my experience a lot of people stick with CBA due to their Dollarmites account (I did until I was 27)

    • -1

      Well, what I really mean is whether you have an active account with big 4 bank (as opposed to just transfer $2000 in and out each month to avoid the monthly fee).

      That is, whether you do transactions through a big 4 bank (they only make money on transaction accounts if you use their card to make purchases) or have a loan.

      • +1

        I don’t mean people keep the exact same account they used when they were 5yo and it starts just sitting there, a lot of my mates still bank or have home loans with CBA as it’s the only bank they’ve ever had an account with

    • +2

      That describes me. I would hate to give up the account whose account number I had memorised since I was ten years old and whose BSB is from where I grew up.

    • +10

      In my experience a lot of people stick with CBA due to their Dollarmites account (I did until I was 27)

      The clever marketing people got us sucked in when we were kids!

      • Definitely is… I think it'd be interesting to see the data on retention rates from Dollarmite signups.

        • Is there anything wrong with the account? There's no fees afaik

          • @smpantsonfire: Just really crappy interest rates.
            I remember my parents telling me about their ANZ TD and lumping my minuscule savings into theirs for higher rates.

  • +6

    We are with CBA due to the ability of having unlimited accounts attached to our offset account. Just need to be on top of it in order to negotiate a competitive interest rate.

    • Woww I didnt know this. Can you confirm that CBA allow unlimited accounts (I'm guessing it is their transaction account E.g Smart Access / Complete Access) as offset? I was talking to Westpac rep the other year and Westpac only allows one transaction account as offset attached to their home loan account.

      • +2

        CBA are miles ahead in terms of Internet banking,

        If the customers of the other banks knew what they've been missing for the last 10-20 years they would have all switched already.

        Having done credit card churning and experienced the others banks, I've seen it for myself how bad they are.

        • +1

          I don’t have CBA but I’ve seen the app and I agree they are years ahead of the other banks, although ANZ is getting there.

          I’ve also done the credit card churn and yep most of the banks are years behind. They are used to the good old days when there wasn’t much competition but times have changed but they haven’t caught up.

  • +1

    I’m going to say at least 2.

  • +9

    I have my transaction account and credit card with a Big 4, but my savings elsewhere

  • +1

    (plus I have inside knowledge that staff only really have maximum 0.2 - 0.3% in potential variation from stated rate (on both loans and deposits))

    Ah, I think your inside knowledge isn't worth that much. If you negotiate they'll do what it takes to keep your business, they'll at least match what you can get anywhere else. With loans at least.

    I have accounts with Suncorp, ING, CUA and CBA. TBH the CBA account is the best transaction account / experience by an enormous margin, I haven't paid any form of fees for more than 15 years and they seem to keep me on the 'best' rewards card for the same fees as the cheapest (which makes it really hard to switch because despite it getting worse and worse over the last 2 years, it's still better ROI than anything but intro first year free + bonus point offers). I keep short term savings in the ING account and the rest in the stock-market / home loan. Will close the CUA and Suncorp accounts once those bonus dollars come through.

    PayID makes it a lot easier these days to keep accounts at multiple banks. Getting the most out of everything pretty much requires it these days.

  • -2

    With combank you switch regular savings to netbank savings and get 2.5% without the risk of smaller lenders

    • +1

      (1) You only get that for the first 3 months

      (2) Are you really worried about losing your savings if you are in a 'smaller' bank?

      (3) Many of the banks that offer 2.8%+ are not exactly 'small' (e.g, ING is a major international bank, unlikely to go bankrupt anytime soon).

      • +1

        You get it first three months, then cam renew it yourself online after that through netbank

        • ?

          You can close the account, and then open it again, and it will have the introductory bonus for another 3 months?

          • @random12: No need to do that, there is an option within netbank for you to bring the rate back up to the bonus rate. You just need to do it every 3 months.

            I used to ask someone from CBA to do it for me regularly, but the lady informed me I can do it myself.

            • @netsurfer: the rate that the staff would do will be better than online, I have seen, till at least last year when i had that account

              • @Maxdax: i spoke with chat and the person just mentioned i'm on a "special" loyalty rate of 0.75% which i can renew every 3 months. waste of time for me so i just closed the account.

            • +1

              @netsurfer: Mind going into a bit of detail on how to do that? I've been stumbling around netbank for 10 minutes and haven't found anything.

              • +5

                @wty707: You can change your Commbank interest by:

                1. Searching "compare" in the search bar on NetBank.
                2. Selecting NetBank Saver.
                3. You will then have the option to change your interest for the next 3 months.

                However, all I can do is increase my interest to %.75 so not sure how to get %2.55

        • +1

          Was already on an offer for 1.9% but tried this and got it up to 2%. Looks like this https://imgur.com/a/re5xqTw

      • Lehman Brothers weren’t exactly a small albeit investment bank either.

      • after 3 months you can re-negotiate the rate but unlikely to be as high as 2.5%

      • +1

        Up to a cap of 250K.

        • +3

          per ADI

      • The Australian Government has guaranteed deposits up to $250,000 in Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) such as your bank, building society or credit union. This means that this money is guaranteed if anything happens to the ADI.

        The cap applies per person and per ADI. So if you have $250,000 with one ADI and $250,000 with another, then both of your deposits are guaranteed. If you have more than $250,000 with one ADI then only up to $250,000 is guaranteed.

        Some ADIs operate multiple brands or may offer deposit accounts under more than one brand name. However, they are still part of the same ADI. The guarantee covers deposits per ADI, not per brand name. For example, if you have multiple deposit accounts with brands that are owned by the same ADI, the guarantee will only apply to $250,000 of these funds in total. If this concerns you, make sure you know who the ADI is that you bank with.

        In the case of joint accounts, each account holder is entitled to an individual guarantee up to $250,000.

        MoneySmart

  • +2

    I have a daily account and credit card with ANZ, had it with them for years. But I would always keep the bulk of my savings in a term deposit with another bank i.e. ubank, now all of my savings go into my offset account and I just use the ANZ account to deposit wages, pay bills and go grocery shopping etc.

    • +1

      why not all wages and bills through offset account?

      • +1

        No particular reason, I guess I find it easier to have a separate offset (savings) account that I don't access by card, makes it harder to spend that money. A bit like locking your money away in a term deposit, I can access it if I really need to but it's a hassle and will end up costing more in the long run.

  • -5

    When you hear about all the employees that "work from home" (I have some in my family), that work in the big banks and corporations, you realise you are definitely paying more for marketing and inefficiency. That's all built into the fees, rates etc. And you are just a number to them. I have been with a small co-op (that's now getting a bit bigger) my whole life and always get great service and good rates. Even at an equal rate I'd rather give my fees to a smaller bank than the big ones that are so corrupt and hell bent on making money at the cost of ethics.

    • +1

      "making money at the cost of ethics"

      "Employees that work from home"

      Maybe they are just paying for great working conditions for the 10's of 1000's of Australian employees?

      Other businesses provide working from home too!

      • -6

        That's right, turn "ethics" into labour relations issue instead of pointing to the many various examples of banks operating like organised criminal operations.

        For example, according to the AFP, the Commonwealth Bank laundered $700 million in more than 50,000 transactions for drug dealers and terrorists. No one went to jail and the bank was fined less money than they made by the Government.

        The Government holds pretend Royal Commissions into the banking system while it guarantees the four largest banks will never go out of business.

        It pretends that this is a free market - instead of the largest corporate welfare scheme in Australia's history where Australia's largest businesses will never go out of business even if they carry out large scale criminal activities.

        • +8

          The CBA didn't 'launder $700 million in more than 50,000 transactions for drug dealers and terrorists.'

          The CBA didn't obey the AML laws to monitor those transactions. There is not one piece of evidence that has been made public that any of these transactions was money laundering for criminals and terrorists. However I will concede a very small percentage may have been.

          I don't work for the CBA but I do work in the industry. And realistically the government is imposing huge amounts of work and costs in monitoring money movements onto the banks that will eventually be passed onto us the consumers.

          I've corrected you on this point before yet here you are spouting what you know to be lies about the banks. There is enough to complain about with the banks without making up lies. Give it a rest mate.

      • Well from the few that I know…the work from home day is basically a day off. The allocated time set to complete certain tasts is 50-75% more than what is actually needed.

        I'm not debating the benefit of working from home for many…but I'm suggesting that realistically…a lot of people that aren't in small business or sole traders, aren't anywhere near as efficient when they work from home.

        • Have you considered the nature of managerial work at product/service organisations?

          There isn't a steady stream of work for those in head office functions - most things are heavily dependent on project timings and funding. Just because they only have 3 hours of work to do a day on some days doesn't mean they didn't pull an all-nighter 2 weeks ago when they had to be in at 4am for a software release.

          You can't hire highly skilled professionals for 2 hours 1 week, then 50 hours the next… it's just how the cookie crumbles.

          Only in jobs where effort = revenue (consulting, law, accounting…) can employees be expected to be busy for 100% (or frankly even 70%) of the time.

          • @chillin222: Valid points chillin.

            I guess I just hate all inefficiencies and that all inefficiencies are paid for . by the customer. Totally accept more specific jobs balance out…a lot I'd say wouldn't? I remember my cousin talking about how the banks set a certain time to complete basic jobs and most people can get them done in 20-25% of the time…but work slowly to meet that expected time, or just under.

            But as mentioned further down, wages are such a small component for big business that it doesn't matter.

            • @Lv80:

              and most people can get them done in 20-25%

              My guess is that you have ignored complicated transactions (Paretos law 20% of transactions take up 80% of the time).

              And probably if you take more than the allocated time they can can give you a warning.

              So its done to make sure bank staff don't waste time (why have you exceed the time?), but won't be threatened with a warning when their time exceeds the time allocated (its ok because most of the time you have completed the majority of transactions under allocated time), which seems reasonable.

        • Why are you trying to paint it as a bad thing that banks are being good to their employees?

          • +2

            @X35rgfF45: I'm not painting them as bad by being great to their employees. But at the cost of the customer with fees and rates that ultimately we pay for.

            So when that working from home person is working at 50% or even not even really working…we all pay for that. Not to say that working in the office offers much better efficiency…but literally most I speak with that work from home and are in banking…dont

            • @Lv80: Its not really relevant, you put it in the same sentence as marketing, as if working from home employees are like a huge expense for our banks. Its so insignificant that it barely warrants a mention, also the idea that smaller lenders don't have similar "inefficiencies" is just wishful thinking.

              Any inefficiency as a result of letting employees work from home can partially be offset by the fact that the work/life balance provided by this sort of stuff helps with staff turnover so reduces costs in recruitment/training etc.

              When you bank with a major bank, your paying for things like near 24/7 customer service, marketing (as you mentioned), dividends for shareholders, salaries for executives, and their zillion's of branches/atms. Lets demonize the banks for the things that matter, not one of the few things they do right.

              • +1

                @X35rgfF45: Fair point. Perhaps just arguing a gripe I have with inefficiencies in bigcorps.

                Totally valid on greater expenses.

                Still a cost but accept there are greater ones.

          • @X35rgfF45: And of course I'll accept this is my lived experience and not fact.

          • @X35rgfF45: And of course I'll accept this is my lived experience and not fact.

    • This is a great misconception. People that 'work from home' tend to be more productive because you have to prove your value to your company so people believe you're working. If you show up at a desk you can surf Ozbargain all day and somehow pretend you're working. Not really sure why that's in there with the rest of your comments.

      • +1

        In my office heaps of people eke out the work. The old fashioned notion that offices equal busy workers under the watchful eye of a manager is malarkey.

        If a manager can't get work out of a teleworker then that manager is literally incompetent at their job! It is literally the manager's fault.

  • +1

    PayID has made it much easier to transfer money around supported banks - annoying that they've all implemented it slightly differently though (different limits etc) and still many banks don't have it.

  • +19

    CBA is like my legacy account. Pay goes in and gets transferred out to other places.

    • +8

      CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ

      You must be living under a rock if you live in Australia and don't know what 'Big 4 Banks' means (especially given the last year of Royal Commission).

      • why 4 not 3

        acct also big 4 eny, pwc, kpmg, deloitte

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