Just got this email from ING stating:
from 1 March 2021 we'll be introducing one new additional requirement that you'll need to be aware of, and it's that your savings need to grow each month.
For me this is the last straw and i’ll be ditching these tools who have progressively made their account worse and worse over the years.
Any recommendations on who is now best these days?
@SwarleyAUS: Yeah, they look good so I've opened an account with them. Had enough of jumping through hoops.
you also have to grow your maximiser savings each month
Not exactly "grow".
Balance on last day has to be higher than first day. One (1) dollar means higher.
So move to Everyday account all funds minus $1 above "first day balance" and later transfer back to Maximizer a day after "last day". Rinse repeat.
Tedious but feasible.
@LFO: Yeah, I understand the mechanics of it, but I'm changing to where I don't have to do all that, don't have to make the required 5 card transacrions and have pretty much the same benefits.
With 100k balance, a month of interest is about $100 lost because ING wants to kick you when you're down
I'm assuming it would mean the closing balance weeks just has to be higher then the closing balance the previous month but who knows.
Obviously they're not happy that people are putting in 1K every month and removing it immediately. They want to keep the money and I think that's fair enough too.
increase is a bit weird requirement. make deposit is better, what if we have big spending and the balance drop that month? oh seriously…..
From what they've said, it's not clear how this works. They say "not including interest". This could be interpreted like this:
It will be interesting to see how it actually works.
Interest is credited on the last day of the month and will be included in the closing balance.
If you withdraw it on the 1st you will no longer qualify for bonus interest for the following month unless you re-deposit it.
So you're balance needs to be $80,091 in your example
From what i gather we can just deposit $1000 in savings then move out 999.99 + interest earned to different bank.
The other way of putting it is to deposit more than you withdraw on any given month to earn 1.35%. If you don't, you'll earn 0.05%. Interest does not count as a deposit.
Don’t you also have to deposit another $1000 to qualify for bonus interest?
Buy ING shares instead 8.26% dividend yield.
Code is AMS: INGA
asx, can buy from commsec?
Kicker:
-20% Capital Growth
You're buying it now after -20% capital growth. It is bottom of the cycle right now with COVID19 recession. You might get 20% capital growth in 3 years.
What pissed me off the most is them saying it's because customers are asking for it…
"Many of you have been asking for motivation to keep your saving habits up. So, we decided to set up some deck chairs and cheer from the sidelines.
To give you a little nudge we'll be asking you to grow your savings each month to get ING's best rate."
Sure, I could increase my balance by 1c each month to meet the criteria, but then what's the next requirement going to be?
I'll be sending them some feedback first, I suggest we all do. But come March 1 if that's the way it is, yep last straw for me too, I'll go elsewhere.
Let's see if they're true to their word by bombarding them with requests to opt out of the new requirement for those of us who didn't ask for motivation.
What sort of person writes or phones a bank asking them to help saving habits? Is this real ?
its sales talk for "weve made shitty changes but we are going to blame the customer for it"
i used to use a service at my local shopping centre,
recently they decided to raise their fees and decrease their limits
and their excuse was "based on customer feedback we've made these changes"
the biggest load of BS , and I told them that
Price rises are a part of life but don't lie and blame customers for them
It's marketing sophistry at its finest. "Many have told us to make a shittier product with more hoops to jump through!"
Okay, who are these people? Out of hundreds of thousands of customers, who called the bank and said "I need to be whipped into saving!"
In other news:
Cadbury announces chocolate bar sizes will shrink again, while retaining the same price:
"Customers have told us they need a little help with dieting, so we're right sizing the bars to give you a healthy boost!"
Shell raises the price of petrol to $2:
"Customers have told us they're concerned about climate change, so we're helping by increasing the price of fuel to aid the environment and help you drive less!"
VB lowers the alcohol content in beer:
"Customers have told us they're concerned about high alcohol content and prefer a less flavoursome beer. You asked for it, you got it!"
Offer them $10,000 for every real testimonial of people requesting that prices are raised, or portions shrunken,
and im sure you wont have to pay out a cent
I demand prices should be raised, and portions shrunk. Okay, wheres my 10k?
lol actually, some years ago, some brand of beer actually went down that route, saying it was customer who demanded they reduce the size of the beer from 375ml to 300ml, can't remember the name of that brand anymore, but IIRC, they backed down on it pretty quickly.
That was Cascade, which from memory went from 375ml to 330ml, because "customers told us" they wanted a more 'European' sized beer. The backlash was glorious as the marketing morons were driven back to where they belong.
Not sure why companies think that the majority of their customer base is stupid enough to believe such statements.
reminds me of my last workplace, we used to get the Entertainment Book for free as one of the staff benefits. One day, we got an email from HR saying "due to popular demand, we will terminate the current staff benefits scheme and are will come up with an all new one soon, stay tuned blah blah blah"
of course, that "new" scheme never happened.
Banks no longer really care about depositors.
Cash is cheap so they don't need to attract depositors.
That is why they are reducing interest rates on deposits and increasing hoops to jump to get a slightly better interest rate.
It is happening on almost all bank accounts.
Haha balance already 0.00. 4 month's macquarie first now 4 months Rabobank and then move again
yes but you soon run out of honeymoon rates…
find new wife and we can all have another honeymoon
ups////// wrong thread
already have so many wifes accounts that i cannot remember them all!!!
@EveryLastCent: strange you have many wifes but still own a saving….. usually they will take them away way way like no tomorrow
is UP a subsidiary of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank?
what is their condition to earn 1.1% interest and up to what amount? It is not clear on their website.
Getting annoying to be honest - that's now 3 requirements… What next? Open up your statements each month? Do a handstand?
Using it as primary savings account and wanting to take out a batch of chunk to invest or pay off a spend heavy period is going to be annoying.
Good thing ING has a requirements tracker so you can see if you met the other criteria but given this is an end of month thing, some people may the up forgetting.
thats why we need to stand together as customer, make a petition or something like that - show them
otherwise yes they will just adding layer of layer
this is an annoying change,
however,
if youre just in it for the free internatioanl fees etc
leave $1 in the account, deposit $1000, withdraw $999, balance $2
and you qualify
I guess if you are in it for the high interest rate, these changes would suck unless you are growing your balance every month
You dont need to jump the hoops for the international fees. The increasing savings is only to get the higher interest rate.
Just the 5 transactions and $1000 deposit for free international stuff?
If so good!
If someone already has 100k in their savings how to maximise with this new condition?
At 100k, deposit 1c a month into the Maximiser so that you'll earn 1.35% pa on the 100k and 0.05% on the 1c. Open an account at another bank for the rest of your savings.
Good idea, though with interest received every month, it just means you'll get 0.05% on the interest every month carried forward so not ideal. Though let's face it, interest rates are so low, it's probably no big loss.
Sounds like they want people to stop moving their savings elsewhere when approaching $100k. I'm usually a bit of an ING fan, but this is just dumb. You can't disincentivise saving above $100k, but also expect that peoples savings will perpetually grow month on month. Also, I recently made a large purchase using money from my savings. So under the new rules, I'd be punished for daring to use my savings that month? Not cool.
Also, I hate it when companies try and put spin on this like we're idiots. The ING email announcing this says this is a way for them to 'cheer us on from the sidelines and help us reach our savings goal'. Worst marketing spin I've read in a while (and it's been a hell of a year for bad marketing spin)
Yeah, as if any customer seriously called and asked for their account to be restrictive…I hate ING for BS marketing spin
An inference from these changes at ING (and most other banks) is that they simply do not want your money.
They'd rather get nearly free money from the government instead.
The account exists to collect merchant fees (hence the minimum tx/month) until it accrues to $100k, at which point you will hopefully do the responsible thing and use it as a deposit for a negatively geared investment property (where the real profit is).
Creating credit is where its at…..
The account exists to collect merchant fees (hence the minimum tx/month) until it accrues to $100k, at which point you will hopefully do the responsible thing and use it as a deposit for a negatively geared investment property (where the real profit is).
The real truth. Upvoted.
ING allows more than one Savings Maximiser account - why not just move money from one to another on the 1st of the month to ensure you don't lose interest for growing your account balance (e.g. in the month you want to make a net withdrawal)?
Email small font says: Each customer can nominate a maximum of one Savings Maximiser account (either single or joint) to receive the additional variable rate (where eligible). You can check and change your nominated Savings Maximiser account via online banking or by calling us on 133 464. If no nomination is made, the additional variable rate (where eligible) will be applied to an account nominated by ING at its sole discretion.
This suggests you can easily switch the account getting the additional variable rate.
Yes, I asked ING whether I could open a second Maximiser to continue receiving the bonus rate. It was explained that when the balance exceeds $100,000, the bonus rate continues to apply to the first $100,000 and the standard rate applies to the difference. e.g. if the balance is $120,000, the first $100,000 earns 1.35% or $112.50 per month and the $20,000 earns 0.05% per month ($0.83).
Moving funds from the first Maximiser to the second will mean that $112.50 per month is no longer earned.
Your issue of not making maximiser interest above $100000 exists before the change though (which is another headache). People with savings over $100,000 can still make 0.75% in a linked ING Accelerator account, but I imagine most people that want every last cent would PayID the measly $100 in interest to another bank on the first of the month with slightly better returns. What's stupid is that kelea's hack (or my hack above, with up to a 0.02% loss) would be necessary to make anything near $100,000 viable to keep in a maximiser account (especially if they require interest to be left in the account), which is a new headache of its own.
I happily abandoned my ING accounts after I left working for that company. It's one of the worst places to work and have zero diversity in staff… I was hired as the token person to create diversity, and as soon as I discovered how incompetent thw operations are xoz of low budget staff, I left swiftly…. Best thing ever to cut all ties with ING!
Tell them you thought it was growing with interest! If not…. why not?
Put the onus back upon them.
I would say most people using the maximiser are still going to qualify. I still think they have a good product so I am not looking elsewhere.
Its not about qualifying or not, the one month you pull money out for a large purchase, you lose 96.3% of your interest rate. Having money come in and go out because its a pool for your transactional accounts also means the same thing, keeping track of balance at months end is going to be insanely difficult unless they come with a banner on the banking app which says END OF PREV MONTH BALANCE WAS _______.
its only the maximiser account that has to grow tho. just dump a large chuck of cash into another account the day before and put it back in after the 1st and keep doing that every month. if you have any expenses that require it you can draw down on that cash. its just another game to play like 5 transactions was.
I dont know about you but I use this account as a liquid asset storage, which means it can quickly go up and down at any moment. This means I cant guarantee that it would go up at the end of each month.
@bgbrendan, wait. you mean at 30th move out $2000 from ing to say Macq then on the 2nd move $2000 back into ING ?
but then the next month balance have to be more than $2000 ?
This is a deal breaker for me as my contract teaching work ends soon and won't start again until March. While I save overall during the year, for the first three months I use the savings account for bills, so it goes down until my 2021 pay restarts. I saw that MyState Bank has the same interest + bonus interest set up (1.35% in total) as ING. Does anyone have experience with them? Their only requirements are a linked VISA debit with 5 transactions and $20 deposit into the bonus savings account.
Earlier this year, I opened one Pay and one Save account with 86400. App-based only (no website to login on a computer), I'm getting 1.2% interest on my Save account, provided I deposit $1000 per month. Similar to mentioned above, I swap money between accounts to achieve the "deposit of $1000 per month", the account doesn't "grow". I will consider whether it works for me if 86400 introduce a "must-grow" rule.
Bonus interest rate is only paid on a maximum of $50,000 though.
You can have up to 3 saving accounts with 86400 so can technically have 150k in total with 1.2% interest
Can't see a benefit of going with 86400 over UBank
UBank base interest rate = 0.25%
86400 base interest rate = 0.10%
UBank bonus interest rate = 1.25%
86400 bonus interest rate = 1.20%
UBank bonus rate requirement = Deposit $200 pm
86400 bonus rate requirement = Deposit $1000 pm
UBank maximum balance = $250K in a single account
86400 maximum balance = $150K split over 3 accounts
UBank foreign exchange fees = $0
86400 foreign exchange fees = $?
@wombat1955: 86400 have full NPP support (SCT, Osko, PayID). UBank currently can only receive SCT, nothing else, although that should be changing soon.
86400 don't have FX fees either.
@auscompgeek: I'm fed up with moving money around to meet requirements so have opened a Macquarie Bank account. Looks to have the best overall features at the moment
1.35% interest rate for 4 months dropping to 1.20% on amounts up to $250K
No deposit requirements
ATM rebates from any ATM
$0 foreign exchange fees
PayID
Highly rated mobile app
Discounts on eGift cards
"Many of you have been asking for motivation to keep your saving habits up. So, we decided to set up some deck chairs and cheer from the sidelines."
that is just plain lie
i know they like to make funny advertisement but this is no funny at all, the last thing i want from my bank who keep my money is lying, thinking the customers are stupid
Yeah it's most certainly a lie and probably lying to customers is their biggest mistake
Their aim by adding a difficult complicated hoop is to effectively pay out less interest to many of their customers and save themselves some money
PS. I recall re-arranging deck chairs didn't help the Titanic much
I was surveyed a month or two back and my feedback was that they should stop playing games with all these additional requirements and just pay a decent rate to the adults using their service.
So that's one data point to the contrary?
Yep, missing one month's end balance will drop interest rate by 96.3%, taking over a year to get it back. vs competitors. Probably going to have to abandon ING if they dont rescind this rule.
The only reason I may stick with ING is their rebated international ATM withdrawal fees. Some overseas atms charge ridiculous fees, got charged (and rebated) $6.50 on a single ATM withdrawal of around A$100 in local currency.
Agree with everyone, that's annoying move. I'm moving back to Macquarie once ing implement this requirement. Sick of all these requirements. Last straw for me.
Yes it is appalling. On top of that interests are not that high after all.
However, with quite a bit of admin the matter can be overcome:
Did I understand it correctly??
Yes since interest is charged daily, but that is so much effort
That still doesn't help if you want to make a purchase that exceeds the net of your pay packet and so you need to draw from your savings.
Punished for being poor. You just need to start month 1 with $0 then.
That still doesn't help. No matter what you started off at ($0 or $50,000), if you got paid $5000 total for the month and you had $2500 of expenses for the month and you wanted to buy a $4000 TV then you need to take $1500 away from your savings and you cannot top your savings back up in time to get the interest.
@Guybrush57: Thats why you can have whatever balance you want, but on the last day take out all your money and put it in the transactional account. Put $1 in the savings account. Then the next month, take it all out on the last day, put $2 in.
Only issue is you lose a day's worth of interest doing this.
@ATangk: Ahh I see. I guess that would work but if you are busy on the first/last day of each month or happen to forget then you are screwed. This new requirement sucks but it was what customers wanted (/sarcasm).
Not related to this issue but yes to banks, accounts and benefits:
Remember the HSBC Everyday Global Account gives 2% cashback on purchases (limited)!!
That brings a few dollars a month that any real Ozbargainer will appreciate.
Ah yes, just pay for meals and have others pay you back. Pocket the 2%.
Sounded good until the deposit $2,000 or more each month requirement
Deposit $2000, withdraw it the next day. Simple.
This will work of course, until HSBC demands the balance must increase every month.
*before imaginary customers demand HSBC for a growth requirement
"Many of you have been asking for motivation to keep your saving habits up. So, we decided to set up some deck chairs and cheer from the sidelines."
"Many of you have been asking for motivation to keep your diet habits up. So, we decided that each time you slip up in your diet, we'll cut one of your fingers off"
"Many of you have been asking for motivation to help you find food to stay alive in the long-term. So in those months you don't find any food, we won't give you anything either. Ok, make that um…0.05% of the food you already have, but don't eat it all at once! We'll be setting up some deckchairs and cheering from the sidelines. And we'll be laughin' at ya. Watchin' you beg for food to feed you and your precious loved ones. Divin' into bins with the ibises. Muahahahahah. How's that for motivation?!"
Since ING only has online support we might as well write a copy pasta and have everyone send the message. Maybe with some luck they'll reverse the changes. ING afaik are the only ones to give 100% reimbursement on international ATM fees charged by the bank.
Ubank is pretty good. None of those 5 tap requirements. Interest rate is higher as well than most neo banks. I think it's 1.25 % with 1000 deposit each month.
Deposit requirement is only $200 per month.
Ausunity no withdrawals.
Mystate with withdrawals allowed.
No intro period.
1.35% last I checked.
The mystate requirement made me chuckle. $20 deposit.
1.20 now
Yeah it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Legacy banks have no incentive to increase interest rates on saving in our lifetime. They can 🖨️ as much 💵 as they want.
0.01 cent increase OK?
@wombat1955: Cool. Still looking at the Macquarie account though, seems to offer better bonuses and no min monthly deposit.