St. George Incentive Saver Change

LAve Maria on 16/09/2023 - 20:35
Last edited 16/09/2023 - 21:05

I just found out that St. George has changed their Incentive Saver Interest Rate terms and conditions.
The incentive Saver will now pay 5% for amounts up to $250K and 4.85% for any amount over.
It is now effectively a tiered savings account where previously it was uncapped.

The issue is that the change is effective from Friday 15th September 2023, but customers have received no advice via email or anything immediably noticeable in the smart app or online St. George webpage.

I contacted St George on facebook and was adviced that St. George published the change in print in The Australian on the 15th September 2023.

I will let everyone else decide if that is acceptable bank behaviour or adequate notice.

Financial

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Comments

  • alvian on 16/09/2023 - 20:51
    +4

    That's a nice problem to have, a 0.15% interest reduction on balance over $250,000.

  • deme on 16/09/2023 - 20:52
    +5

    The issue is that the change is effectve from Friday 15th September 2023
    The Australian on the 15th September 2023

    lol

  • AndyC1 on 16/09/2023 - 21:11

    Been like that for a very long time, you may have only seen the 0.1% that was the normal for all $$$ amounts for a few years.

  • Richardc on 16/09/2023 - 21:14
    +1

    I think you can have multiple incentive acount.

  • burningrage on 16/09/2023 - 21:54

    Thanks for the notice but it can easily be circumvented by what Richardc is saying. Do I think this is stupid? Yes but that's Australian banks for you.

  • Ave Maria on 16/09/2023 - 22:28
    +4

    With adequate notiice and planning ahead, yes you can move money to a Maxi Saver for 3 months, or create multiple incentives & split the funds (provided each account is treated separately & with own limits). I already have 2 incentives & move funds on the 1st of each month so I can draw funds as needed. Most St George savers will be caught off guard & may be stuck with no option until the end of the month (due to requirement to increase the balance each month). I fully appreciate that banks have every right to make changes. My main issue is that they did it completely under the radar & just published the change in the printed edition of The Australian that hardly anyone will see or read. Hence why I posted here hoping to increase awarenes for anyone affected.

  • bigguy7 on 17/09/2023 - 03:24

    Appreciate the notice. Would never have known and just set up a few incentive saver accounts to park funds in between selling and buying house.

  • BluebirdV on 17/09/2023 - 06:26

    Is Bank of Melbourne the same?

  • p3t0r on 17/09/2023 - 12:51

    Just logged into my account. can confirm that my interest is 4.85% (1.85% interest + 3% bonus interest) :/

  • Ave Maria on 17/09/2023 - 13:35
    +2

    Reading the info on the St George web site states the rate is now tiered (not split). This means that the reduced interest rate applies to the entire balance. This does not look good for St George in terms off communicating changes to savers and having clear term and conditions. The change was made out of an RBA rate change cycle and it would affect many large savers using St George, because of the uncapped nature of the Incentive account (it still says it is uncaped on web site account details). So overral a very badly implemented & executed rate change. I suggest that all affected customers use the "feedback" mechanism and submit a complaint.

  • Ave Maria on 17/09/2023 - 14:17
    +1

    Extract from the St George Terms & Conditions (Split & Tiered interest definition accorting to St.G). The Incentive account is defined as tiered & the Maxi as split. It is all very confusing anyway as the terms & Conditions do not exactly match the information provided for each account on the web site.

    What is tiered interest?
    If the daily closing balance of your account exceeds a particular threshold determined by us, a higher interest rate will apply to your total account balance on the day the threshold is exceeded. The interest is calculated daily using this higher interest rate until your account balance falls below the threshold.

    What is split interest?
    If the daily closing balance of your account exceeds a particular threshold determined by us, a higher interest rate will apply to the portion of your account balance above that threshold.

  • ricktiger on 17/09/2023 - 17:29

    Are we sure we can have multiple incentive accounts.

    I've set up some new accounts but can only see in my account interest is 4.85% (1.85% interest + 3% bonus interest), does the balance need to be 249,999.99 to see the 5% bonus rate. I can't even transfer internally anymore due to reaching "daily transfer limit" - bizarre!

    The total balance across is all accounts is >250.

  • Ave Maria on 17/09/2023 - 18:26

    You can have multiple Incentive accounts. Whether doing so & keeping each under $250K works remains to be seen (I have not tried it). I opened a new Maxi Saver & moved my savings there. It gives me 5.1% until 15th of December. That is enough time to figure out the real impact of what St. George has done and to plan moving money elsewhere. Ubank/AMP are 5% for up to $250K each. BOQ 5.1% also up to 250K. I would love to stick with St. George but they just killed the basic incentive to keep banking with them (uncapped savings rate). Hiver (5.5% uncaped) is an option too but the "no withdrawals" clause is enough for me to stay away (for now).

    • md333 on 18/09/2023 - 14:45

      Hiver let you have up to 3 target saver accounts. So it looks like you can dodge the 'no withdrawals' by swapping between 2 accounts on the 1s of the month (either every month or just when you need to make a withdrawal if you are confident of timing them for 1st of month).

  • mehow on 18/09/2023 - 12:42
    +1

    Wow, so if we pull anything out over $250K forfeits all the interest earned for the month!!! Bastards!

  • Ave Maria on 18/09/2023 - 15:46

    Interest is calculated on a daily basis. So all you loose is the extra .15% from the 14th September. You can move your money safely elsewhere on the 1st October without forfetiting the bonus. However if you planned ahead & kept moving your money between 2 Incentive Accounts on the 1st of each month, then all you have to do is keep just $50 in the current incentive account and move the rest to say a new Maxi saver at 5.1% for 3 months. Whatever you plan to do, think it through 1st.

    Has anyone split their savings after the change into multiple Incentives keeping each under $250K (must be under not =) and checked what rate is displayed ?
    If that works it makes this change by St. George even more ridiculous (as it can easily be bypassed but just causing financial pain & inconvinience).

  • Ave Maria on 11/11/2023 - 21:46

    Looks like St George may have posted another interest rate change in "The Australian", as no such info can be found on either their web-site or facebook page.
    Someone on WP (that I am banned from posting so I could not ask where that info came from) posted that there will be a .15% rate increase (stingy) on the Incentive account from next week, but I cannot find any evidence of that.

    Update: St George replied to an enquiry I made on facebook messenger (looks like they are working late -:) and I was provided the new rates link

    https://www.stgeorge.com.au/personal/bank-accounts/savings-a…

  • Ave Maria on 17/11/2023 - 19:30

    Very sneaky. They did not apply any savings account increase to the basic variable rate. They only applied increases to bonus rates. So those on the 3 month bonus for the Maxi Saver actually see no benefit, they are still on 5.10% (lower than the new Incentive rate at 5.15%) and will not get any benefit from the new 5.35%. Sneaky bastards. A lot of saves would not even know about the changes as it was only published in "The Australian" and their web page only updated today. The link I provided in the earlier post was only available on request. I got wind of what has occured just today & moved money back into multiple incentive accounst, but more likely I will move out of St. George at the end of the month as they have proven they do not give a toss about customer loyalty & cannot be trusted. AMP now offers 5.20% from December 1st up to $250K and Rabobank offers a number of notice accounts at 5.15%-5.25% (variable rate) for short term parking with 30 to 90 days notice that beats most term deposits.

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