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Virgin Money Boost Saver 3.30% p.a. Interest (3.60% p.a. with Lock Saver), Monthly Criteria Apply @ Virgin Money

913

Up to 3.30% p.a. when you meet the monthly criteria.

3.60% if you switch on the Lock Saver feature, pipping out BOQ's 3.50% p.a.

(Lock Saver feature requires customers to give 32 days advance notice to unlock account or withdraw money from that account).

Criteria from previous post:

The Virgin Money Boost Saver Bonus Interest Rate applies up to the aggregate balance of $250,000 across all Boost Savers that are held in the same name. It is applicable for any month, where the Monthly Criteria were achieved on your Go Account in the immediately preceding month. The Monthly Criteria below must be made into a Virgin Money Go Account that is in the same name as your Boost Saver:

If you are 25 years and older, deposit $2,000 or more into your Go Account from another financial institution (such as your salary), and make at least 5 debit card purchases, direct debit or BPAY payments in the previous month which settle in that month (not pending)

If you are between 18 and 24 years, deposit $1,000 or more into your Go Account from another financial institution (such as your salary), and make at least 5 debit card purchases, direct debit or BPAY payments in the previous month which settle in that month (not pending)

If you are between 14 - 17 years, no Monthly Criteria apply in order to earn the Bonus Interest Rate.

Read more: https://www.savings.com.au/news/virgin-money-savings-account…

Referral Links

Referral: random (301)

Referees will receive 5,000 Virgin Money Points when they open their first Virgin Money Go Account before 31 July 2024 and meet the Welcome Offer Bonus Points Criteria (1 debit card purchase/direct debits/BPAY transaction in the first 30 days).

Referrer will receive 5,000 Virgin Money Points for each referee who meets the Welcome Offer Bonus Points Criteria, for up to 5 referees in a month.

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closed Comments

  • +19

    "If you meet the monthly criteria"

    Too many hoops

    • +7

      Yep, won't reward banks that make our lives harder. Only then they might learn.

      • +8

        I'm surely not alone in that these requirements have been constantly met, without giving them a second though, every month for the last 5 years

        • +7

          I've been with Virgin Money since they started the transaction & savings accounts and I have never thought once about the requirements and met them every month.
          Like all banks, they want you to use them for primary banking, which I do, I wouldn't call that "hoops".
          If you aren't using these banks for your primary banking and want the highest savings rate, they really don't want your business either, it makes sense from a business perspective.
          Anyone that is working full time and has their pay going into these banks, will meet the criteria, the 5 transactions when none of us really use cash anymore, will happen without even thinking about it.
          I'd easily do 5 transactions within 2 to 3 days.

          • +2

            @SimAus007: Nah, I might avoid cash, but all my card transactions are on a credit card for the sweet sweet points, or these days on HSBC or Hiver debit card for the cashback (on the right transactions) that trumps any points card.

            Back when I was with a bank as main bank that had conditions like this to get bonus interest, I still had to hoop jump. The minimum deposit was a no brainer with pay, but other than that there would tend to be a couple of direct debits every month from credit cards and that's that.

            • @jasonb: can anyone point me in the right direction for a primer on the CC points? I'll admit I haven't looked into these points schemes since the 90s. I was quite happy earning them until I realised, most of the stuff the points were going getting used for were for stuff I wouldn't have bought anyway. Or, stuff that if I converted the points into their dollar costs (to earn) would make the item massively overpriced.. Or, the points would get me discounts on stuff but I still needed to pay extra for and that if I had to buy them at that price, I wouldn't have either.

              Is it still like that or do sweet sweet points make it more worth it now?

              • @tebbybabes: Depends what you use them for. For me I'm all about the frequent flyer points and using them for travel. If you'd pay for flights you can figure out a valuation for the points you'd otherwise pay for and work out what's worthwhile.

                If you're using them for toasters or kettles, maybe not.

          • @SimAus007: You make fair points but for those contemplating making this product your primary bank account, keep in mind they do charge 3% currency conversion fee which may be a deal breaker (it is for me at least)

            • +1

              @ginmi: Not everyone wants to flick banks just to get paid each month/fortnight.
              Not everyone uses a bank account to make small transactions, in fact most true bargain seekers would use a credit card for those transactions in order to gain points.
              It’s not a question of Virgin not wanting my business, I don’t want their business because the “monthly criteria” is unrealistic for an opportunist looking for high interest rates. There are plenty of other choices out there with these “hoops”.

              • +1

                @cashless: It only wants to attract young people.

          • @SimAus007: When you use your debit card, do you select savings or cheque? I tried using savings and it says there's no account linked 🤔

            • @jm7: I just tap and go or tap and enter the PIN when it's over $100
              I can't remember the last time (years ago) that I had to select Cheque or Savings.

        • Stop making sense.

          • @prhino: I want to use savings or cheque to avoid the credit card fee at aldi

    • -1

      no loops for under 18s

    • +2

      As of now, ANZplus gives an interest rate of 2.7% with no hoops …

      • +1

        Max $5000 withdraw per day…

        • +4

          Money bags over here.

        • +2

          Contact live chat to do a manual transfer. No limit.

      • The "hoops" are, or perhaps I should say the disadvantage is, that the interest rate is much lower with ANZ.
        All banks work the same, higher interest rates on your savings mean they want to ensure you are using them as your primary bank, lower interest rates mean you don't need to use them as your primary bank.

    • +3

      $2k deposit & 5 transactions is too much? It's surely not that hard

  • +9

    "Lock save feature" - must give 32 days notice if you want to withdraw

    • +3

      Pretty much a rolling 1 month TD.

    • +4

      This applies an additional 0.3%. So at 3.3% this seems better than ING savings account where it only provides a 3.1% rate for <$100k accounts. Virgin Money allows up to $250k and the balance is not required to have more than the previous month. Both Virgin Money and ING require 5 transactions monthly to sustain the high interest rate.

      correct me if I'm wrong. I may take this offer up.

      I think I saw someone mention a 'hack' you can do at Coles self service to split the transaction into five, is this true?

      • +4

        Another one:

        If you make a contactless payment it'll show as pending for a few days.

        So to make the transaction approve instantly, we have to insert the card and use the PIN number .. That way the transaction doesn't stay pending for a few days.

        • I inserted my card five times while splitting my 5 dollar purchase into 5 payments. It didn't ask me for my pin any of those times and all the five transactions are pending. But it will clear by the end of August.

      • +6

        ING also requires you to grow your balance (ex interest) at the EOM. ING is evil. They should match this rate as they have the highest hurdle of all savings accounts.

      • +2

        when making a payment, select mixed payment and then you can do whatever amount, however many times each time you select mixed payment. I do that at the beginning of the month and do 5 x $0.01 payments, as I use a discounted coles/myer gift card to pay for the bulk of it, or my flybuys $$. I also do this for BOQ as well, or just do 5 x $0.01 bpay payments to cc

      • +1

        yea, you can split the transaction at Coles or Woolies for a single shop. It is like paying for one purchase with multiple smaller purchases. Also you online purchases count against the 5 transactions. A couple of purchases using Afterpay should take care of 5 transactions easily

    • -3

      As soon as I lock my 32 days in on the app, I go in and select that I want to cancel and 32 days later, it's automatically done, this way I never need to wait long, just in case.

      • Do you still get the extra 0.3% until the 32 days are over?

        • +4

          no, not sure why they would bother doing that? lol. as soon as you "unlock" it goes back to the 3.3%, and you can't touch the money for 32 days either….so, seems a pointless exercise, and ties your money up for 32 days

      • +2

        Don't unlock your account or you will instantly lose the additional bonus for being locked. Instead initiate a withdrawal, and the funds will continue to earn the full bonus while pending for 32 days.

        • what's the difference between unlock and withdraw? thanks in advance.

          • +1

            @asc: By withdrawal I mean a transfer of funds out of the locked Boost account. Normally the destination of the transfer would be the associated Go account, but it could be another Boost account if you have more than one in your name. Each transfer from the locked Boost account sits in a pending state for 32 days before it is actioned. You can have multiple pending transfers.

            • @Chris T: @Chris T, just confirming we can still access the funds in the locked Boost account by transferring it to the Go account?

              I don't get the Initiate withdrawal part.

              • +1

                @Rollie: If you perform a transfer today from your locked Boost account to your Go account then this transaction will be pending for 32 days. The transferred funds will remain in the Boost account (and continue to earn the locked bonus rate) until 27 September, when they will arrive in your Go account.

                • @Chris T: Understood so it will still take 32 days to access funds once initiated.

                  Your comment above is more referring to keeping the bonus ongoing at the same time.

                  Thanks Chris

                • @Chris T: That is interesting. So the "unlock" and the "transfer" achieve exactly the same outcome (I guess you can transfer out the whole amount in the Boost account).
                  But with the unlock you lose the bonus interest for the following 32 days. With the transfer your money is available exactly at the same time as if you unlocked it, but you get paid the bonus interest?
                  Are you absolutely sure?

                  • +1

                    @Mad Max: Yes. In the Deposit Account General Terms and Conditions it says

                    The additional variable Notice Interest rate does not apply during the 32 day notice period which commences once you activate the Unlock Saver Feature.

                    It doesn't say any such thing about pending transfers from a locked account. I have performed such transfers and the interest paid at the end of the month was exactly as expected.

                    • @Chris T: If you give notice of withdrawal can you cancel and then put on another notice? Or will the funds leave the account? Thank you.

                      • @Yola: No, you cannot cancel the transfer. It sits in a pending state for 32 days and meanwhile the funds remain in the locked account. You can have multiple transfers initiated at different times, sitting in a pending state at the same time.

                        • @Chris T: Thank you. I suppose you could redeposit the money. I will not need to withdraw but worried that after a while their rate will no longer be the best and then I would be stuck.

                          • +1

                            @Yola: For me the funds have always (so far) arrived in the destination account early in the morning, regardless of what time of day the transfer was initiated 32 days prior. So I have the rest of the day to transfer back into the locked account and not lose any interest.

  • Can someone enlighten me with this question? I know it might be lame.

    "deposit $2,000 or more into your Go Account from another financial institution" - To satisfy that, can I move $2000 from the Virgin account to another let's say Westpac, and then transfer the money back from Westpac to the Virgin account to satisfy the criteria?

    Thanks

    • +4

      You can definitely do that.

    • +1

      Yes, that is fine, even you can set up this to happen monthly in both banks. + 5 debit card purchases

    • Do I need to let it sit for 1 or 2 days? or moving within minutes should suffice?

      • Seconds should be…

      • if it's anything like UBank, it's instantly recognised and reflected in the app itself.

      • Perfect … Thanks ..

      • -4

        I do it immediately, every month with V Money.
        I lock it in then unlock it - unlocking itself 32 days later)

        • +2

          why do you do that though? as far as I can tell in the T&C as soon as you unlock it, the rate drops back to the 3.3% again, but you have also locked up your money for 32 days

    • Another poster stated that it cannot be from BOQ as Virgin considers that is not a different FI as it is owned by BOQ.

  • So just setup an account… The app says that the bonus rate has been activated for this month and next month, is that right?

    Does the monthly criteria not apply for new account setups? Presumably I just need to meet criteria next month in order to be eligible for October?

    • I was a bit confused with this as well. I signed up last week and have met the criteria already. In the app it says that the bonus rate is activated this month but I am unsure if this is the actual case. Tried calling to confirm but was on hold for too long.

      • +1

        I presume they do this because it would take some time to ship out the debit card to satisfy the 5 transactions requirement? Whilst I could transfer $2000 quite easily, not so much the 5 transactions.

        • +2

          I loaded the digital card to apple pay so didn't need to wait for the physical card

      • yes, on a lot of these accounts, when you set it up, it is already getting the bonus rate…like a present to you. I asked them about it when I set mine up and also BOQ I think

    • +2

      Sounds right. ING do the same for new accounts. The Bonus is activated for the remainder of the current month, and the next month.

  • +2

    Seems good to me. Better rate even without the 1 month lock, than ING without the 'must increase balance' criteria, which is super annoying.

    EDIT : Anyone know if they give you the bonus 3.30% in the first month? I guess if you apply now, it's Sept soon

    • yes, they do

  • Hi guys

    Can someone suggest the best option for balances greater than $250,000 without locking it in a TD.

    I don’t particularly want to
    Open $250,000 accounts with 3-4 different banks and still need the money to be “on call”.

    TIA

    • Macquarie gives you 1.85% on balances up to $1m, better than most short TDs.

    • +3

      I don’t particularly want to open $250,000 accounts with 3-4 different banks and still need the money to be “on call”.

      While you may not want to done-deal - you definitely should consider it. For starters, the government guarantee only protects sums up to $250k.

      If the pandemic has taught us anything it's that everything is unprecedented until it's not. And when the unprecedented happens, the best you can hope for from government is a lot of bureaucratic bungles and a lot of use of the word "unprecedented" from the media. ScoMo may also pick up a few extra ministries to help out. 😉

      • Thanks. Fair point

    • The recent BOQ deal is 3.5% up to 50k, but you can open up to 9 accounts.
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/719112

    • I use ING savings accelerator account. Over 150k you get 2.1% with like a 5 million limit l think. Nothing to do, no hoops and since l was already with ING account was setup in a couple of minutes.

  • +3

    Feels like Ubank is still the go for savings accounts, 2.85% guaranteed every month given you deposit at least $200, no other hoops to jump through. Means you can set an automatic deposit to that account each week from your pay and not have to micro manage it.

    • +1

      Actually this is not a bad deal and I would argue better than UBank if you can put up with the 5 transactions per month. If you're working a FT job, the $2000 per month shouldn't be too hard to handle. Your account does not need to be more than the previous month like ING as well, that is the most annoying requirement ever to be placed on a savings account.

    • For 50k it's 225 dollars difference.

      Yeah five transactions aren't that hard.

      Beam it. Amazon gift cards. Anoying yes.

      • +2

        If you're a genuine saver and go for the 3.6% lock in then the diff on $50k is $375 - that has to be worth the 5 transactions

      • I just make 5 x $0.01 payments to my credit card

      • I make 5 x .01c payments from my Paypal account to another Paypal account. Takes seconds.

          • @Neoika: Thanks. Interesting. I am not collecting points. Have been doing it since May 2021 but only when their rates were good. Now that their rate is the best do not want to get banned. At least they give notice and if I receive one I may make larger purchases.

      • +1

        They don't have eftpos so no beemit

  • If you lock it in, do you get the new rate, or the rate you lock it in at?

    • +1

      The rate changes to the current one when locked.

    • it's a moveable feast…as the rates go up or down, so does the rate on your locked account, but you still keep the bonus 0.3% on top of whatever their rates are

  • Can I schedule 5 payments using Beemit to my other account to meet the monthly criteria?

    • +2

      My understanding is that the Virgin Money Visa debit card does not support EFTPOS and hence doesn't work properly with Beem It.

    • No but can with Paypal.

    • +1

      You can use bpay if you have a credit card or some type of account that supports bpay transactions. You could even just do 5x$1 payments into super.

  • You can unlock an account whenever you want, but can you lock an account whenever you want?

    Eg. Lock my account, then RBA lifts rates after 10 days, so unlock. 15 days later VM decided to lift rates, so now I want to lock again?

    • -1

      the rates change as their rates change…so, even "locked" it will get whatever everyone else is getting, it goes up if they put their rates up

  • +9

    To be fair, I remember when I was a virgin I saved so much money.

  • +1

    I'm not a fan of this making a purchase condition
    If you failed, it drops to 0.05%. It's hard to maintain; too many cards or going overseas

    • +6

      you can do Bpays as well…I just make 5 x $0.01 payments to my credit card…better than ING where you have to use the actual card in store….but even then, I just make 5 x $0.01 as mixed payment when buying my groceries at Coles at the beginning of the month, to get it out of the way.

  • Just wanted some feedback, I am between selling and purchasing a home, with mid september to mid october as the gap between homes (renting elsewhere for a month).
    For the month that we don't have a home, I will have a bulk amount $$ that needs to sit in a high interest savings account.
    The bonus interest rate criteria states "you need to meet the Monthly Criteria in the previous month", so the way I read that is, that I will have needed to deposit and spend 5 transactions, during August, for the bonus rate to apply for September.

    In turn, I think I'm too late to chase the bonus interest rate offers (with only a few days left in August!)

    Can someone verify for me? Cheers

    • BOQ Future Saver Account 3.5% (up to 50k) seem to provide the bonus interest right away
      "Note: To help you get started on reaching your savings goals, you'll start earning Bonus Interest straight away after opening your Future Saver Account. To continue to earn Bonus Interest each month, you'll need to meet the above Bonus Criteria."

      • *If you are under 36

    • +1

      I remember you get the bonus automatically for the first month. Better check with their customer service though

    • +3

      pretty sure as soon as you open the account it already applies the bonus for that month and the following month and then Sept you have to do the qualifying things to get the bonus for Oct…i.e. deposit $2000 to go account and 5 transactions

      • I did that today (lump sum over $2000 plus 5 bpays)and my account is not activated for next month

        • +2

          give it until tomorrow when it resets and registers this has happened

          • @souths123: He has to be patient or to be banned.

          • +1

            @souths123: Lol. I'm doing the same I haven't received my card yet, so 5 Bpays are the only thing I can do. Keen to ensure I get the bonus, because I've already locked my account.

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