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$15 for New (Referred) Sign-up to Up Banking in February

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Up has boosted their referral bonus from $10 to $15, for the entire month of February.

$15 for both the referrer and referee ($10 when signing up, and another $5 when the referee makes 5 or more transactions within 30 days of signing up).

With ING adding a new requirement to their bonus rate on March 1, now is the time to look at other options.

I've been with Up since the early days and can honestly say the banking experience they provide is second to none - their app is a joy to use. Plus they're backed by Bendigo Bank and the government Financial Claims Scheme (protects your savings up to $250,000), so your money is in safe hands.

To look at what features Up offers (and what they have planned) I highly recommend checking out the ever-growing feature tree: https://up.com.au/tree/
Plenty of positive testimonials from the Ozbargain community, too.


Conditions for inviters

To enable the sending of invites you must be an active Up customer with a verified email address and have made one or more purchases with Up. You will receive a notification once you qualify.

To enable your shareable Hook Up a Mate page, you’ll need to also have set up your Upname and have opted to share your profile picture, Upname and the length of time you’ve been an Upsider.

A $10 bonus payment will be paid to the inviter when the person they invite joins Up and becomes a customer between 12pm AEDT, 1 February, 2021 and 11:59pm AEDT, 28 February, 2021. Outside this period, initial bonus payments will be $5.

An additional $5 bonus payment may also be paid if the person invited makes 5 purchases using their Up card or digital wallet in their first 30 days as an Up customer.

Conditions for invitees

A $10 bonus payment will be paid to the invitee when they join Up and become a customer (by passing KYC) between 12pm AEDT, 1 February, 2021 and 11:59 PM AEDT, 28 February, 2021. Outside this period, initial bonus payments will be $5.

An additional $5 bonus payment may be paid if the invitee makes 5 purchases in their first 30 days as an Up customer.

Conditions for invite codes

If you have signed up using an invite code or sharing link (which may resolve to an invite code), you will be told what that code or link entitles you to before completion of sign up Please note that due to caching on some social media sites, artwork shown may show a higher value than the amount eligible.

Bonus payments associated with invite codes or links will only be paid on successful sign-up and creation of your account and satisfaction of any qualifying criteria.

Invite codes may be cancelled at any time after they are issued.

Referral Links

Referral: random (1415)

$10-$15 for both the referrer and referee. Conditions

Bonus starts at $10 and $1 for each year referrer has been a customer, up to a cap of $10. Referee will see the exact bonus when you visit Up Bank.

$20 Signup Bonus (Expires 31 Jan 2025): random (581)

Targeted offer: Referee and Referrer receives $20. Offer ends on 31 January 2025. Conditions
Please only fill in your referral link after you have confirmed your $20 referral bonus in the latest app version

Related Stores

Up Bank
Up Bank

closed Comments

  • +60

    Great bank, would reccomend even without the $15 offer

    • Agreed

    • +9

      Same, the ability to dispute a transaction right there in the charge info is a breath of fresh air, I have had I think 2 charge backs and they only required a chat in the message section, able to add screenshots like a normal messenger etc.

      When they introduce digital cards for subscriptions/websites etc, I'll probably close down my other banks for good, all my money is in Up anyway for 1.1% interest in saver.

  • +3

    If only their savings rate are competitive. Doesn't really matter anyway now, splitting hairs over tiny % differences.

    Since ING is crapping itself from March, I found Macquarie is the second highest. If anyone knows better, let me know.

    Great bank, features, and vibe.

    • +2

      Westpac for balances up to 30k if you're between 18 and 29.

      • I'm too old T.T

      • Considering switching to this from Up, do you know of any downsides to Westpac?

        • +2

          Yeah the app sucks ass and the Westpac Life acc doesn't support OSKO, so you have to send it to the Westpac choice acc first.
          Honestly 86400 or NAB are way better, but for an extra $500 p.a I'm willing to switch to westpac.

    • +10

      Here is a regularly updated spreadsheet of savings account comparisons

      https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/145iM6uuFS9m-Rul65--e…

      • Amazing resource!!

        And yeah Macquarie is #2, along with a few other options. Validated! Haha thanks for sharing. I gotta bookmark that!

      • Unfortunately, nowadays no bank will provide interest higher than the inflation rate. Other than the emergency fund, I wouldn't save my money in saving/transaction accounts

        • Where would you put it instead?

      • All this does is compare the interest rates?

    • What's happening to ING?

      • +2

        https://www.ing.com.au/rates-and-fees/savings-interest-rates…

        Additionally from 1st March 2021, grow their nominated Savings Maximiser balance.

        ie balance must always go up.

        • Will this mean the top up switch out method won't work anymore??

            • @lawyerz: There goes ing then!
              What's the best alternative (sorry) if you have maxed out the 100k limit?

              • +1

                @jstar168: Im going over to macquarie but as Cumeron's post above, you have options.

                I don't have 100k (that's a nice problem to have, eh?), but I wouldn't put 100k in savings earning measly 1.2% either.

            • @lawyerz: Sorry, why won't the "recycling" method work after March 1, with a little modification?

              Just cycle out, say, $1 less than the previous month, so that your Savings Maximiser balance goes up (by $1) each month.

              It's been so long since I travelled overseas, I cant remember if this has any implications for their ATM rebates, by far the best feature of the card/account!

              • @Charlie Dont Surf: As far as I'm aware, there's no impact to free atm rebates. Just the savings interest rate.

                If your balance always increases, then you're not impacted by the changes. But if there's one month it doesn't, then I think you don't get the high savings rate for the next month.

                I can imagine many reasons that the balance wouldn't increase at the end of the month.. E g large purchases. Money in offset account…holiday.. credit card bill?

                • +1

                  @lawyerz: Just move your whole balance out for that month to a lower earning one, then back again. Tedious, but if you generally increase it no big deal I guess.

                  I just had my stash in Rabobank's 2% promotional rate, but the four months is up so it's back in ING for now while I figure out where else to put it.

        • Any word if this applies to the other bonuses such as fee free international transactions?

          • +1

            @Wool: nope, as far as im aware, doesnt impact anything else. atm still free, intl transactions still free. just savings rate.

    • Isn't their rate 1.10%? Macquarie is 1.20%?

      • yeah maccquarie 1.2% if not on the 4 month honeymoon rate of 1.35%. Up is 1.1%.

        Honestly, splitting hairs over 0.1% difference, but still an indication of long-term savings rate differences.

        I still really like up for its banking experience.

    • ME bank also offers 1.2% if you make 4 tap&go transactions per calendar month.

      Personally I prefer using a desktop computer for all my banking which pretty much rules out UP. So i'm jumping from ING to Macquarie.

  • +15

    Switched last year from CommBank for Up's high interest rate, ended up staying for its next gen banking experience.

  • +1

    Excellent bank - this will be attractive to a lot of users (myself included) who are turned off by 86400's takeover by NAB.

    Also it looks like you'll have a good chance at the hoodie OP ;)

    As if the deal couldn’t get any hotter - the top 5 referrers in Feb will also get an ultra rare limited edition Up hoodie, delivered in time for some cooler autumn days.

    • +2

      Could you please explain why the takeover is bad for us? I received the email today saying 86400 is taken over by NAB.

      • +1

        Interested to know too, and I just joined 86400 last week lol

      • +2

        I'm worried that the takeover by a big 4 will slow the progress that makes the neobanks interesting. The 86400 takeover will almost certainly improve the mobile experience of the average NAB user, but I'm not sure the same will occur for the average 86400 user.

        We have primarily used 86400 since they opened joint accounts, but we have also held an account with Up.
        Up has always been more user friendly and innovative. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I suspect Up will remain innovative, but 86400 may regress to the mean under its new owners.

      • From what I understand, NAB is acquiring 86 400 so it can use what they've developed and incorporate some of it into UBank.

        • +3

          Ubank is good. Has competitive rates. Would love some features from 86400 on their platform. Best of both worlds. I actually left 86400 for ubank a while back when they dropped their saving rates.

          • +2

            @earth worm jim:

            Ubank is good.

            except their app is pretty average, their web site even worse, and they still dont support payid etc
            Their sweep feature is the only reason I stay

          • @earth worm jim: really? i found ubank atrocious

            do they even have payid yet? sat around waiting for it for a year almost and gave up

            • @pHyR3: The sweep feature is very convenient and saving rates are better than all neo banks. Not having payid is annoying but I think it will change with the acquisition.

              • @earth worm jim: 1.1% interest rate at ubank? which neobank is that better than

                86 400 at 1.2% for example

                • @pHyR3: Ah True. Historically it was higher than 86400, seems like that has changed.

      • +1

        86400 will cease to exist essentially.
        The features and team will be integrated into Ubank.

        https://news.nab.com.au/news_room_posts/nab-announces-agreem…

        • Hopefully ubank start offering an offset account on home loans like 86400.

          • @kulprit: Very likely.
            What will almost certainly happen is NAB takes this product as-is (including the annual fee) and rebrands it as Ubank:
            https://www.86400.com.au/home-loans/own-variable/

            The Ubank transaction account product (Uspend) will act as offset

            • @ginmi: Will move my loan across when it's all settled. Would probably be with ubank already if they had an offset.

              Maybe I should move across now to at least get the $2000 cashback. Doubt they'll offer that once ownership changes.

              Only thing better would be if Up released a home loan.

              And a credit card from both companies.

      • +2

        why the takeover is bad

        If you signed up to avoid funding fossil fuels

        per https://www.86400.com.au/faqs/

        You’ll be pleased to hear that we don’t invest in or lend money to companies in the fossil fuels industry, for example.

        This will no longer be true once they're taken over by NAB.

        Up / Bendigo / Adelaide don't invest in these industries.
        ref. https://www.marketforces.org.au/info/compare-bank-table/

    • I want the hoodie…..

      • +2

        Or you could get a pair of 86400 socks for free.

        • +2

          No! Hoodie! Hoodie hoodie hoodie!

  • Saw the app screenshots on App store. Looks promising. Might as well give it a go.

    • Wait 3 days!

      • +1

        Yes was thinking to sign up now and then saw starts 1 Feb 2021.

  • Thanks OP, been waiting for an excuse to sign up to Up for a while (stupid ING). I couldn't decide between Up, Macquarie and HSBC. Might as well give them a go for this and their decent looking debit cards.
    I wish more banks had Paywave cashback these days :(

    • +1

      Hahahah why not all?

      Hsbc has 2% cashback on paywave transactions so that's my default card. Macquarie for higher savings rate. Up for referral bonus and genuinely next gen banking. Macquarie's app and website is pretty good too.

      • +1

        2% cashback of HSBC is pretty good

  • +1

    If anyone from Up reading here, please please please joint accounts

    • +3

      The email they sent out today says they’re testing them atm

    • https://up.com.au/tree/

      Joint accounts are currently being worked on (dotted outline).

  • +1

    Would recommend Up. Been using them since pretty much the beginning and the app is just seemless and many more features to come. You can also see what they're working on in future releases as well on the Up tree. Would open more accounts if they had joint (coming soon).

  • Any foreigner had trouble to make an account despite giving Medicare and foreign passport? I’ve tried making one for my wife but for some reason she can’t be authenticated like when joining prepaid plans.
    P.s. she’s on partner visa second stage.

  • I recently joined Up, and I have nothing bad to say (though it's still early days) - this is a really good referral bonus not gonna lie

  • Is actually a branch of Bendigo bank so not going to be higher risk like some neobanks.

    They have a pretty fantastic app, no fee's, and one of the higher interest rates. Would recommend staying around not just for the $15.

    • +3

      What does higher risk mean? All banks in Australia are guaranteed by the government. Should be no differenxe in risk

      • +1

        Risk of shutting shop, would be my guess. Like Xinja for example.

  • Does anyone know if it is easy to open accounts for kids? Are there any parental controls available?

    • +3

      According the the Up bank support website, you'll need to be 16 years old to open an account with them.

    • Currently you need a mobile device to open account and the account is only accessible from that device, I would say it's probably not suitable for kids, but that's just me, and apparently now toddlers have mobile devices.

  • Used to be a bank hopper that always chased the highest rates, but have stuck with Up for over a year. Their app is just too good.

    Their orange debit card is also really cool, lol

    • Make that flouro orange. :)

  • Making $15 is so easy it’s like sucking bubble tea you just need to drop all your banking relationships like an apron in the floor much more easier done than said

  • Possibly the best neobank I have used thus far.
    Did I just hear 86400 got acquired by NAB this morning?

  • All the way to the moon!!

    • I hope you sold most of your Doge on top there

      • Sadly not

        • Then do it now, not too late …

          Entry 0.618, target 4.618, if you 2.618 then go 8.618. If not close all the long. it it get below 0.618 then gg https://www.tradingview.com/x/fK006s1q/. It is decision time for BTC let's see where they will close 4h. Most likely, it is a set up for going lower.

  • I have been thinking to open an account with UP for a while. I am wondering if it is safe to keep all your life savings with them?

    • +1

      Owner by Bendigo and Adelaide banks. Savings backed by the government. Put some of your savings in the bank and the rest in a better investment vehicle. Unless you are saving for a home of course.

    • +1

      As safe as any other authorised deposit-taking institutions.

  • Free $15 hope its a good bank:)

  • I know Bendigo Bank, but who/what is Ferocia Pty ?

    • +2

      Fintech firm partnered with Bendigo for app development.

  • What's Up?

    • +6

      Not much, you?

    • +1

      The sky

  • i dont require savings account, but for ATMs what exactly is the difference between UP and ING now? ING has free worldwide ATMs while UP has free worldwide major bank ATMs?

    • Up is free atms everywhere, just they don't rebate the third-party atm fees, which iirc ING does

      • Is it all free or just 'major' banks? ING gets me because I can use those servo atms and any international (not right now obv)

        • +1

          Up doesn't charge any fees for ATM use, but the ATM provider itself can choose to charge fees

          • @theg00s3: And that's the killer ING feature if you travel (which few are right now) - those fees can be huge.

            • @ely: doesn't ing require that you balance goes up by a certain amount though?

              • @theg00s3: Only for the bonus interest on the saver; the free atm fees and international rebates only require the $1k deposit (which can be transferred out) and 5 transactions (which can be done from the comfort of your couch via beem it and transferred back, or in a single supermarket self service transaction via splitting).

  • +1

    Please note everyone - this only starts at 12pm today

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