AMP Saver Account Introducing a Balance Increase Requirement from 1st February 2025

Ave Maria on 09/12/2024 - 20:54
Last edited 10/12/2024 - 17:06 by 1 other user

From 1st February 2025 the AMP Saver replaces the $1000 deposit requirement that could be easily met by moving funds between the Saver & Access accounts.

"Instead of the current requirement to deposit $1,000 or more each month, you’ll just need to grow your account balance by $250 or more each month."

Full details at https://www.amp.com.au/amp-saver-changes

The only benefit associated with this change, for those not making withdrawals to pay for living expenses and able to increase the balance (on top of interest earned), is that the upper limit for earning the bonus has increased to $500K.

AMP Saver with an interest rate of 5.20%, was favoured over other saving accounts because of not having to increase the balance each month. Not any more.
At a time when everyone is doing it tough, and "feeling the strain" in the AMP owns words in an unrelated Facebook post, AMP is counting on more savers failing to meet the bonus criteria.

It is all about greed and maximising profits. Nothing about customer care.

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Comments

  • c64 on 09/12/2024 - 21:43

    When will interest be paid on the changes?

    If you grow your balance by $250 or more in month 1, you’ll unlock AMP Saver’s highest variable interest rate in month 2. This bonus interest will be paid out in month 3.

    bonus interest rate is applied to balances in the following month

    • Gdsamp on 09/12/2024 - 22:10
      +1

      If you meet the criteria in January, you earn the interest over each day in February and it is paid to you on March 1st. I counted 3 months

  • niyiaw on 09/12/2024 - 22:00
    +1

    What a PIA

  • Gdsamp on 09/12/2024 - 22:04
    +3

    AMP road to delisting

  • Mad Max on 09/12/2024 - 23:32
    +2

    Classic AMP underhanded behaviour.
    Like when they came out with a good interest rate of 5.4% to entice new customers, only to reduce the rate to 5.2% not long after.

    "In our commitment to helping more Australians save and build stronger financial habits"
    Since you kids are not very good with your money, we will "help you to save and build stronger financial habits" by penalising you if you are bad kids and don't save!

  • MeesusEff on 10/12/2024 - 03:25
    +2

    Ffs, AMP was where I dumped the overflow from Ubank and pay off my credit cards from that account. Just like Macquarie, shittifying what people opened the accounts for

    • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 13:51

      We live in a world of shitification of everything. Then there's the underlying shitflation that applies to everything new as well. Everyone who has ever laughed at or derided their Grandpa when he would go on about how 'they don't make stuff like they used to' or how 'it's not like it was back in the good old days' should now hang their heads in shame, because the evidence is in that their Grandpa was right all along!

      I've had a recent classic example of a noisy ceiling fan I wanted to quieten. The ceiling fan was circa 40 years old, so easy choice to replace right? Sure. Afternoon spent online looking at a million different styles of ceiling fan revealed there's nothing even close to appoximating the look and style and colour of the existing fan which matches all the room decor it is in. Everything that passes for an Omega Casablanca wicker rattan basketweave feature insert four-bladed ceiling fan suitable for wall controller operation in cream colour is described as "These fans are discontinued" from every single modern fan retailer. So, I drop the fan from the ceiling and strip it of everything that can be easily removed and take it to a workshop instead. One new 6202ZZ bearing later, a new elastomer grommet for the hook (another thing that can't be bought anymore either), a jolly good clean and polish of the dust, and a ceiling fan balancing kit later, and the thing is brand new!

      Yes, this work cost a good deal more than a new fan (probably twice as much at $261, but I now have a quiet fan that looks perfectly suited and matched to the room decor without sticking out like a sore thumb and needing to repaint the entire room to match the colour of a new fan. Shitification of everything. There is no reason at all why someone can't still make a traditional colonial-style wooden bladed ceiling fan, other than they don't want to because it costs too much to make anything out of wood and wicker/rattan these days. If it's not plastic and fails just out of the warranty period, then it's not worth making at all in the first place. My ceiling fan is 40 years old and after a thorough refurb, it'll probably now go for another 40 years.

      • MeesusEff on 10/12/2024 - 14:46

        Wow now im just wondering what your fan looks like, sounds fancy!

  • JimmyF on 10/12/2024 - 12:37
    -3

    "Instead of the current requirement to deposit $1,000 or more each month, you’ll just need to grow your account balance by $250 or more each month."

    Gets around the old, put $1k in, take $1k out hack people did.

  • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 13:17
    +1

    I love the way you guys think that banking organisations are some kind of benevolent fund. They are in the business of making profit. The customer is a very poor second to the shareholder. The “building” function is they want people to deposit their wages in there and hope they withdraw only a small amount. Funnily enough they don’t want people to play the shell game where they just move the same money between accounts to qualify. What is the difference between their greed or your greed?

    Have a fund where you can drip feed the $250 on a monthly basis from. If you can’t keep topping up then withdraw enough to do the same trick for about another 6 to 12 months. You just take a one month hit to ensure you can get 6 to 12 months of bonus interest. WCON.

    • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 14:00

      What they've actually done is create a system where instead of people just recycling $1,000, now they're going to recycle the entire balance instead. ie. Remove $249,750 on 31st to a BOQ or Macquarie account (for example) to get 5% instead for 24hrs, then transfer back in whatever amount required to fill to 250K again (after interest has been credited) on the 1st. Total cost is 1 day's worth of 0.2% interest on $249,750 = $1.37.

      $1.37 is alot easier to find than $250 every month.

      • furyou on 10/12/2024 - 15:28

        Could you just move from AMP Saver to the transaction acc and back?

        • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 15:42

          I don't have an AMP transaction account, but sure, I guess if you do have such an account alongside the Saver, then for simpicity and immediacy sake, you could just side slip the funds into the trans account for one day and back again on the next, but assuming the AMP transaction account earns no interest at all, then your losses are far greater.

          Ie. moving funds to Virgin Money Boost (unlocked) for example will earn 5.05% interest for one day - so theoretical nett offsetted loss on 1 day for $249,750 will be (0.0015 x 249750) ÷ 365 = $1.03
          vs
          Moving funds to nil interest transaction account for one day = (0.052 x 249750) ÷ 365 = $35.58

          I can stomach losing $1.03 in lost interest as a work around to having to top the account up each month by $250, but I would not pay $35.58 for the convenience of using a nil interest transaction account to achieve the same thing.

        • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 15:48

          The saver account still needs to grow by $250 compared to the previous month.

      • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 15:45
        -1

        “To grow your balance and qualify for the bonus interest, you will need to ensure that your final balance at the end of the current month has increased by a minimum of $250 or more (excluding interest earned), than your final balance at the end of the previous month”

        The problem is if you remove $249,750 on the 31st then your account will be $250 which isn’t $250 more than the previous month. You will lose the current month’s bonus interest. Unless I’m getting myself confused.

        • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 15:58

          You are confused. The balance of the account is established at midnight on the cusp of 31st/1st each change of month. In Jan 2025 you start with a full Saver account with 250K in it. On 31 Jan you withdraw $250,000 and send it to your Virgin Money Boost unlocked account to earn 5.05% interest for one day. Your AMP Saver account balance is now $zero and will be recorded as being Zero at the record time of cusp of 31/1 at midnight.

          In Feb 2025 you do the same thing on 28th, only this time instead of withdrawing the entire 250K, you withdraw only $249,750, leaving the $250 in there you need to grow the account balance by. In Mar you withdraw $249,500, in Apr you withdraw $249,250, In May $249,000… and so on. The account balance is only recorded on the cusp of 31/1 at midnight each month and compared with the previous cusp 31/1 at midnight a month earlier to determine whether you've met the $250 growth requirement. What happens to the balance between the midnight cusp 31/1 of each month is irrelevent.

          Of course, the system is not perfect. By my calculations you can only continue to do this for 1,000 months in a row before you run out of funds to withdraw and keep an extra $250 in there each time. But as 1,000 months equates to 83 years give or take, I'm gonna be betting that AMP will be changing the rules yet again to something else before 83 years is up.

          • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 16:16
            -1

            @Legoman: Where you might fall foul is in the T&Cs where they talk about not being in the spirit of the intended account. In that case they might close down your account. If you do it with smaller amounts you might be better off. Move a few thousand to an alternate high interest account and drip feed it across. You can still do the transfer stuff with UBank. Personally I wouldn’t be dicking around with such large amounts of money just for a few extra bucks in interest.

            https://www.amp.com.au/content/dam/amp-2024/documents/terms-…

            • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 16:55

              @try2bhelpful: Agreed. The purpose of using the numbers in the example I did was to just illustrate the process and how it works. I would not take it to these exact extremes, but it works in principal. I do the very same thing each and every month for ING and until recently Rabobank PremiumSaver too and have not come across any problems yet, though both are now well beyond withdrawing all but only $250 each month now that I've been doing it for many consecutive months. The addition of interest each month also breaks up the amount left behind into very peculiar amounts that don't look sus. The first month obviously looks sus because you're leaving the exact amount you need to need to leave to jump the hoop, but all subsequent months the amount left is very different and odd because of the additional interest, so it doesn't go as in my example 250, 500, 750, 1000… etc. I was just using these simplified numbers to illustrate the example.

              • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 17:03
                -1

                @Legoman: They do seem to have left themselves a gaping hole. They should probably be calculating on minimum balance for the month. My BOQ account only paid the bonus if you did no withdrawals.

                • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 17:11

                  @try2bhelpful: You're probably talking about an old legacy grandfathered BOQ account. The current BOQ Smart Saver accounts have no such restriction to earning interest and they are very easy to increase the daily transfer limit to whatever you want very quickly and easily without staff intervention via their phone app, so ideal for moving around large lumps in single transfers.

                  • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 17:17
                    -1

                    @Legoman: Thanks. Yeah I haven’t touched that account for a while. Sounds like time to close it down.

                    Not necessarily happy with easily increasing the transfer amounts. With all the dodgy scam stuff going around frankly I would prefer to go back to overnight transfers and smaller amounts.

                    • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 17:24

                      @try2bhelpful: When I say "easily" I mean you have to have a PIN, enter a SMS code and answer correctly two previously stored personal questions in order to get the account limit raised and it only applies for that current day before reverting to a default $5,000 again. By easily I mean it can all be done in the phone app, doesn't require you to call anyone and doesn't require human to human interaction and recorded voice calls.

          • BigBirdy on 10/12/2024 - 20:58

            @Legoman: Note, you’ve got to grow the balance by $250 + the interest earned for the month (roughly another $1000pm).

            • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 00:13

              @BigBirdy: Yes, your point being?

            • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 13:13

              @BigBirdy:

              I expect you’ll also have to contact AMP (& Virgin Money in your example) to authorise transactions of that size, every month, and probably on a business day. It’ll be a messy, manual process.

              I expect you've realised too late what utter bollocks this second line you wrote was. For the record, no, you don't need to contact AMP at all or speak to a human for authorisation if you have prior configured your payee under Manage Payees & Billers to be authorised to pay any amount up to a max of $250K. And no, Virgin Money is even easier than AMP. They have no limit at all I've been able to hit. Their daily transfer limit authorisation process is a dial-your-own limit one where you type in the limit you want and it can go into 7 digits. I don't know how far into 7 digits because I flat out don't have that much money to test it, but it's a lot. Neither process requires calling either bank, it's automated on the website for AMP and on the phone app for Virgin Money and it's none of "manual", "messy" or limited to only business days.

  • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 14:06

    @Ave Maria, just out of interest, how did you find this nugget of information? I can't stumble across that page advising the change from the raw AMP website and it's not in my online banking and they haven't sent me any e-mails and it's not in my phone app either! I'll presume some sort of social media post?

    • MeesusEff on 10/12/2024 - 14:47

      I got an email last night

    • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 17:04

      I received an email - it may be coming out in batches. I have accounts with AMP that I use regularly for all my payments (including credit cards) so I am affected by this "enhacement" - I may have to start using Macquarie bank that so far has avoided introducing a balance increase condition.

      Here is the full text (minus my name) - also check that the email did not go to your spam/junk folder - it happens

      Your AMP Saver is changing

      Dear XXXX,

      In our commitment to helping more Australians save and build stronger financial habits, starting on 1 February 2025, we are enhancing the way you qualify for your monthly bonus.

      What's changing?

      Instead of the current requirement of depositing $1,000 or more each month, you'll just need to grow your account balance by $250 or more each month.

      Additionally, we're increasing the cap on balances eligible for bonus interest. Previously, bonus interest was earned on balances up to $250,000. With the new changes, you can earn bonus interest on balances up to $500,000, which lets you benefit on more of your money.

      What does this mean for me?

      The great news is that looking at how you currently save, you're already building strong savings habits most months. This means you'll continue qualifying for the bonus when you grow your balance by $250 or more each month. Plus, there's no change to the current rate.

      We're here to help

      If you have any questions or you'd like to discuss further, please visit our FAQ page at amp.com.au/amp-saver-changes, send us a secure message via My AMP, or call us on 13 30 30. We're available from 8am-8pm on weekdays and 9am-5pm on weekends (Sydney time).

      Regards

      The AMP Bank Team

      • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 17:19

        I would warn you about using Macquarie for this sort of thing. Macquarie have this year introduced AI algorithms in place of actual human staff for their security checking. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in false positive account locking for 'suspicious activity' and any other vague nonsense they can come up with. Their requisite lack of human staff (they've sacked them all, replaced with offshore call centre staff), now means getting the account unlocked again can be extremely traumatic and take an exceptionally long time measured in months not weeks or days.

        A far better alternative would be to use Vurgin Money Go account for payment of regular bills and direct debits for credit cards etc. Virgin is just BOQ these days, but their Go account earns points which you can redeem for gift cards, so there's that. Also the Boost Saver account pays 5.05% interest which is also greater than the best Macquarie do too.

        So for the reason of avoiding a unnecessary account lock, greater interest and free points for gift cards, Virgin Money is superior to Macquarie. The only thing I would keep Macquarie for is their Marketplace where you can get worthwhile discounts on useful giftcards, but beyond that, stay well away from Macquarie.

        • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 17:32

          I have been using the Macuarie acccount regularly for buying discounted Amazon Gift Cards & to keep it active - never had a problem they also have a very efficient chat line if you need to contact them - If I do move savings there it would be done in a legit fashion, to cover my outgoing payments, and should not raise any alerts.

          • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 18:11

            @Ave Maria: There's a very good reason they only rate 0.4 out of 4 stars.
            https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/macquarie-bank-onl…

            If you saw a business rated 1/10 by their customers, would you trust them?

            • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 18:18

              @Legoman: Well, that has not been my experience and I also had a credit card with them for 10 years (but I will cancel it soon). At some point I had all my savings in Macquarie multiple savings accounts (when they had the best rate offer) and had no problem taking it all out in large chunks same day when their rate was no longer competitive - they never stopped or held a payment like other banks do. Perhaps I was lucky or perhaps some people always hit problems no matter where they go -:) - I also feel safe with them due to the use of the Authenticator App - zero chance of being hacked.

              • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 18:39

                @Ave Maria: I had the same experience as you for 3 full years and loved the authenticator app too, but trust me, things have radically changed at Macquarie since they were fined $10mil by ASIC in around February of this year for their extreme lack of security and willingness to help facilitate money laundering and tax evasion. Then they were fined another $5mil by ASIC again in October this year for even more of the same. Then there was the whole shenanigans around their dodgy as all hell backing of the NUIX float 3 years ago and it just gets worse and worse. Their reaction to being fined $15mil by ASIC has been to ramp up the paranoia setting for their security to 11 in a blatant block first and ask questions later approach. If you haven't had your accounts locked, then you've been fortunate, but trust me, they will lock your accounts eventually and when they do, you've got the fight of all time on your hands getting them unlocked again. They have no branches, no Australian staff you can actually meet or see face to face, they have got rid of all their ATMs as well, they don't deal in cash or cheques anymore and they've been fined $15mil by ASIC and have a 1/10 recommendation score by their fellow customers. You really should ask yourself if they're even a bank still at all at this stage, or just a mafia-like criminal money laundering enterprise.

                Don't believe me? Have a read for yourself: https://tinyurl.com/2yz9b7bj

                At this point Macquarie actually make AMP look like relative saints!

              • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 18:50

                @Ave Maria:

                Authenticator App - zero chance of being hacked

                You're looking in the wrong place for risks. You've fallen into the trap fed to you by the commercial media that there are mean Russian hackers trying to break into your computer to steal your houskeeping money. There aren't. The biggest risk by far comes from your own bank stealing your money you've given to them willingly and refusing to give it back to you and then deliberately delaying, disrupting and frustrating the work of the various authorities to help you get it back.

                AFCA is funded by the banks who will steal your money. They call themselves independent, but just how independent do you think you could be against the very institution who pays for you to exist in the first place?

                • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 19:09

                  @Legoman: I have my own bad experience. UBANK account got hacked back in 2021, I have strong evidence that it was an assisted inside job. Hacker created a joined account without my knowledge using a fraudulent identity. UBANK allowed all my money to be gone in one transfer through the join account (bypassing the $20K daily limit). UBANK also ignored lots of other red flags and also allowed an old user id & password to be used for verification (2 weeks after I chaned it all as I got a suspect SMS text and called UBANK to let them know someting suspicsious is going on, can you keep a watch on my account - they said change your user logon & password - that I did !!!!!). They admitted to their errors (lots of errors that are hard to fathom) and eventually paid the money back after 3 months, but no compensation for al the distress they caused despite the long list of failures by the bank.

                  • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 19:21

                    @Ave Maria: UBank have been on my 'NEVER again' list for quite a while now. Now that they've gone full biometric passkey and mobile-only, they deserve to be on that list even more. They could raise their interest rate to 10% and I still wouldn't be tempted. Macquarie aren't quite there just yet, but they're very much teetering on the edge.

                    My 'NEVER again' list currently sits at UBank and Hiver (Teachers Mutual Bank Limited TMBL)

                    Honourable mention runner-up awards for deliberately deceptive anti-consumer behaviour happily go out to both Macquarie Bank and Great Southern Bank - still useable as quasi-term deposit banks only, but be very, very careful with them.

                  • try2bhelpful on 10/12/2024 - 19:30

                    @Ave Maria: That completely sucks. Hopefully they caught the sod who committed the fraud. I would love to know how all the security was bypassed. I wonder what the banking ombudsman would’ve made of all this.

    • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 17:24

      Other than the email it is also well hidden under

      Banking > Saving Accounts > AM Saver > Find Out More

      AMP Saver Account is changing

      Important update: We're making changes to AMP Saver reward rules from 1 February 2025 For more details, please refer to our FAQ's page.

      https://www.amp.com.au/content/amp-au/personal/banking/amp-s…

      • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 17:27

        Geezzz, yep they buried that so deep, no one will accidentally stumble across that by chance!

  • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 19:37

    Anyone who isn't currently editing their payees & billers list in their AMP Online Banking to add all their alternative bank accounts that can hold 250K for 24hrs and maxing out the daily transfer limit for them to 250K in response to this move by AMP Bank to introduce a growth requirement, needs a visit to Palace of Versailles' Hall of Mirrors for a bloody good long hard look at themselves!

    It takes AMP three days to process a 250K daily transfer limit, so this is not something you can do on the day when you need it. This is something you need to pre-emptively set up in advance.

    • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 19:50

      All banks say it can take 3 days so they are covered if anything goes wrong. In in my own experience if transfer is done in the morning (over the $5K NPP limit) it is always done same day - sometimes within hours (using the next payment scheduled time that occurs several times a day) - I always transfer to CBA to be safe as a transit account, then OSKO from there to already used/known accounts. I have transferred up to the max allowed on several occasions and AMP never stopped a single payment.

      • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 20:06

        NOT talking about transfers. Talking about raising the stored daily transfer LIMIT in Manage Payees & Billers in AMP online banking. You can only raise the limit instantly online up to 100K. Go above that to a max of 250K and it requires real human intervention via a phone call they make to confirm you know what you're doing by requesting a limit increase to 250K to be permanently stored. It does indeed take 3 days sometimes for them to get around to calling. Leave doing this until the day when you want to move nearly 250K at the end of the month and you'll be up a creek without a paddle.

        • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 20:10

          I hear you -:) they have done that to me in the beginning - kept calling - but then I could raise the limit to the max (aleady done with that by the way - so your advice is good) and they will approve it in a day or 2 without caling me every time. If you have 2-3 other accounts to transfer to then $100 is enough or do it over a number of days and that resolves the issue.

    • Mad Max on 10/12/2024 - 20:13

      Is the daily transfer immediate for amounts close to $250k? It won't be Osko though? Will you receive it in the account in another bank on the same day?
      And is the transfer back from the other bank to AMP also same day?
      And what about end of month falling on weekends or public holidays?

      • Legoman on 10/12/2024 - 20:24
        +1

        Same day yes, provided you enter it early enough and not miss the end of day processing deadline which for AMP seems to be around 3pm in Sydney. For an amount close to 250K it will not be instant, nor via OSKO either of course. It will go the slow BECS route which is the normal backup route that's been the backbone of EFT payments since time began long before OSKO or SCT or BPay and basically all the other new-age trendy TLAs.

        Your second question depends entirely on the 'other' bank brand you'll be choosing to use. Without nominating what that bank will be no-one can answer you.

        You need to avoid holidays and weekends obviously, which is true regardless of the bank, with the exception of transfers between banks of the same heritage and family ownership. For instance, you can transfer instantly willy nilly as you feel inclined on Good Friday or a Christmas Sunday to your heart's content between BOQ - Virgin Money - ME Bank because they're all owned by BOQ and share the same platform and run on the same servers, but that's not true if AMP is in the mix.

        • Mad Max on 10/12/2024 - 21:14

          Your second question depends entirely on the 'other' bank brand you'll be choosing to use

          What about StGeorge?
          My experience with them is that trasfers from another bank will show with the same day date as you transferred, but will not show in the online banking until the next day. So if you transfer for example to your Complete Freedom account (no interest), you will not be able to move the money to your Incentive Saver account (5.15% at the moment) until the next day, therefore losing 1 day interest.

  • BigBirdy on 10/12/2024 - 21:15

    ANZ Plus did the same thing a few months ago, damn annoying

  • furyou on 10/12/2024 - 22:19

    Looks like :ubank Save Account is now the best for no growth requirement…

    • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 22:56
      +3

      This may now look as turning into a Savings Account Interest rate discussion but if it helps those wanting to move out of AMP, here is some info from banks I have used or currently use.

      In the $100K deposit limit group yes UBANK at 5.5% is now the best rate wise - as banking institution though I rate it as bottom of the list (don't even get me started)

      ME Bank also no longer has a growth requirement but they also dropped the interest rate to 5.25%. Only requirement is to deposit $2K in the spend account. I do that each month by flipping $2K to/from the BOQ account as it is instant with or without OSKO. BOQ at 5% also has no growth requirement (plus $1K deposit to spend).

      ING at 5.5% also works if you are willing to have up to 3 accounts and do a flip/cycle on the 1st of each month (plus 5 card transactions + $1K deposit)

      Great Southern Bank Home Saver also works at 5.25% (plus 5 card transactions + $2K deposit to Edge) with no balance increase requirement

      In the $250K range

      St George - in practice unlimited as you can have multiple incentives accounts and keep them all just under $250K each
      it can get complicate to meet the $50 increase for each one - it used to be no balance limit but St Seorge had to go and mess it up (guess what that is what banks do well -:)
      As per previous post, works at 5.15% (5.25% if you keep opening new accounts each month) with a flip between accounts to meet the $50 increase - that is easy and there is no need to worry about loosing interest. However do not do transfers on a Sunday (especialy at the end of the monnth) and St George has an archaic overnight transfer process. If you transfer money to St George and is not OSKO (e.g. it is NPP or standard) you will not be able to see it or use it until next day. If you send an OSKO transfer to AMP it does not downgrade to NPP and you will again only see it next day processed as a standard transfer. St George is the only bank I have experienced this problem. Other banks are able to switch between OSKO & NPP just fine and do real time transfers if possible. I no longer use St George due to the lower rate, but I will if the rate goes up or others drop.

      AMP is now the only bank in the $500K range paying 5.20% but requiring a $250 balance increase previous month. Still has is use if you only use it for savings and stash money in another account for ongoing payments. I will not panic and move money out of AMP yet. Just plan ahead so that the $250 increase can be met.

      That leaves Macquarie in the $1Million range - no hoops and paying 5.00%

      Worth mentioning that the HIVER account (no longer on offer) still pays 5.25%, almost unlimited funds, but allows no withdrawals - flipping between accounts (need all available) will allow you to get $200K out all at once on the 1st of a month (business day only), This the least favourite savings account but usefull if no other optionis available in the short term.

      Rabobank, requires a $200 balance increase and offers 5.35% up to %250K, so it requires advance planning to keep the balance under the $250K (start lower) and schedule a monthly deposit for the $200 - this info is for the Premium Saver rate and does not cover the promotional rate for the High Interest Account for 4 months at 5.60%

      • furyou on 10/12/2024 - 23:30

        Def under 100k, ubank no good? I have bad memories of it as a transaction bank but if it's only for savings…
        But an app only bank seems a bit dodgy

        I have St George already, so I could open Incentive Saver but growth is an issue, I can't use it as a savings if I can't withdraw for eg holidays.
        I think, it' be mostly deposit, then every now and then withdraw a lump sum for stuff

        • Ave Maria on 10/12/2024 - 23:36
          +1

          You do not need to worry about the growth if you open 2 incentives and flip between the 2 on the 1st of each month. Then withdraw what you need as long as you leave at least $50 behind.

          works like this you have say $20K in Incentive 1 in December, move it all to incentive 2 on 1st January (should be an instant internal transfer), on 1st Feb move it all back to Incentive 1 - Repeat each 1st Month - From January onwards you can withdraw as much as you need at anytime during the month and only need to leave at least $50 behind to get the bonus rate

          • Mad Max on 11/12/2024 - 00:28

            @Ave Maria: And if the 1st of the month is a Sunday?

            • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 00:33

              @Mad Max: Gaming the Westpac triumvirate is very very dodgy to say the least. They have their own 'speshul' definition of what a month is and it changes every month depending on whether it ends or starts on a weekend. You need to have the patience of a saint and the dedication of an assisted living institution employee to be bothered trying to game the Westpac trio for a paltry 5.15%. Westpac are obviously designed to trick account holders into failing the hoops so they can be denied interest. It's so dodgy I won't touch it for that reason. There would need to be no other bank account alternative on offer at the same interest rate level to make looking at the Westpac trio worthwhile.

            • Ave Maria on 11/12/2024 - 01:11
              +1

              @Mad Max: St George does not like Sundays, even for internal transfers - they stuffed me up a few times and learn my lesson the hard way.
              They will do the transfer instantly but credit it on the next day, if you are lucky for both the in & out using the same next day posting date. Every now and then they may take the money out posted on the Sunday and only credit on Monday on the receiving acount. Either way you can loose interest for a whole day. They have done that once to me & chased them until they paid me back the lost interest. But for all other days including Saturday no problem.

              Strange enough if you transfer $100K to CBA via OSKO it will be instant & credited on the Sunday in CBA - it is their internal transfers that are supposed to be instant that they have a problem due to their overnight Sunday batch processing, not just on the 1st of the month but on any Sunday.

              Other than that peculiarity St George is OK, you just need to avoid SUndays for internal transfers if you manage it.

          • furyou on 11/12/2024 - 10:13

            @Ave Maria: Fantastic this will let me get rid of amp in February then. Although it means I no longer have a single account that I can use for direct debits & other bill payments.

            My main challenge is having this one extra account where I have just enough to cover whatever payments and then move the rest to the high interest.

            And then having to manually move this money around the 1st of each month

            • Ave Maria on 11/12/2024 - 22:44

              @furyou: You may be better off with Macquarie if happy to receive 5% interest as trade off to having one savings account that also allows direct debits & payments out. St George was actually my savings account of choise (until it got changed) as it had a much higher interest rate than now, had no savings upper limit & you coud do direct debits. However it always had the $50 balance increase that forced me to flip. All my bills go through a single credit card and at the moment I schedule a Bpay payment just before the due date. Before doing so I paid via diret debit from a transaction account and made sure I transfered money there on the due date - not hard to manage that within St George using the Freedom Account and scheduling the transfer in advance.

        • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 00:35

          Def under 100k, ubank no good?

          UBank is a flat out scam. If you're looking at UBank, you'd honestly be better off 'investing' in either cryptocurrency or Truth Social.

        • BigBirdy on 11/12/2024 - 10:20

          @furyou I’ve been using UBank for 10+ years, and it’s HISA is fine as a savings account. It’s my favourite because you get up to $250K balance, can withdraw without penalty, and the only hoop ($500 deposit) can be easily automated. Those using it as a transaction account or for paying their mortgage got burnt. My advice, given here many times, is never use a HISA account as a transaction account, the bank will crack down and you’ll have to reorganise all your direct debits.

          • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 10:56

            @BigBirdy: Anyone who lived through the unmitigated abortion that was the 86400 merger and willingly decided to stay with UBank literally deserves to lose all their money and get no sympathy at all when it happens. There has been no better example in Australian financial history of the powerlessness of AFCA that NAB somehow retained a banking licence for UBank to continue existing after the unbelievably mismanaged and unplanned 86400 merger. Everyone thought that all the unfair dismissals of the 86400 staff would have been more than enough to shut them down or at least have them in employment tribunals for long enough to be shut down, but that wasn't even the worst of it. I'm starting to get PTSD again just re-thinking about it.

            • BigBirdy on 11/12/2024 - 11:51

              @Legoman: I was never an 86400 customer. As a UBank customer, I had a smooth migration from the old app to the new.

              As for

              … deserves to lose all their money and get no sympathy at all when it happens

              Probably better if you don’t giving banking advice. Were you an employee of 86400?

              • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 11:53

                @BigBirdy: Nope. Never was connected in any way beyond account holder with either NAB/UBank or 86400. I just read what happened and followed the fallout from the disaster.
                I was clever and saw the unfolding disaster early and withdrew all funds from both UBank and 86400 before the manure really hit the fan and simply waited for the dust to settle (which took over a year). I never therefore had any funds at risk and in fact even made money out of it by pocketing the thank you bonus they paid out for allowing the conversion to happen automatically instead of manually forcing it early like I saw a lot of idiots doing, thereby making themselves ineligible for the free $100 (or whatever it was, can't remember).

                I still have a UBank account today because it is impossible to close. I know I still have an account because every 2 months on the dot they send an SMS to my phone warning me that if I don't log into my account and confirm my details they're going to suspend my account and I'll have to contact them again to get it unlocked. Then a month after that I get another SMS from them telling me they've now suspended my account. This happens every 2 months like clockwork. I can predict to the hour when I'll get the next SMS from them

                I have reported UBank to the TIO for breach of communications law. I've also reported them to AFCA, but there's seemingly no way to stop it. I've sent them endless e-mails and I've written long reviews on ProductReview and have engaged with their employees tasked with reviewing and responding to their ProductReview channel. They are so useless, they all claim there is nothing they can do to stop the warning SMS from UBank. There system is so inflexible that the only way to stop the texts are to log into the account and do what it says it wants me to do. Event though they have received hundreds os requests from me to close the accounts, they can't do that until I've confirmed my identity via their banking app which I can't even install on my phone because it's too bleeding edge new. Of course there's no online website backup interface to use either and they have no back-office way around this problem either.

                As far as UBank are concerned, the first step to the only way of closing my UBank account is for me to go out and buy with my own money a new $1,000 phone for the only purpose of running their idiotic app.

                • BigBirdy on 11/12/2024 - 13:09

                  @Legoman: Their app works fine on my $200 android phone. Their website is fine on my pc. I don’t have any SMS issues with them, but you could try blocking them.

      • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 00:24

        Here's the TL:DR… https://www.accountsleaderboard.au/d/savings/

        UBank: No. Just no, not ever under any circumstances. No.
        ING: Yep
        Move: No. Too much trouble and strife for only 25K
        Rabo: Not anymore since they've forced their app for authentication which will only operate with passkey security active
        Virgin: Yep
        ME: Yep
        GSB: Yep, but only up to 30K per account otherwise you'll get stuck when they change the rate on you
        AMP: Yep
        Westpac triumvirate: Yep if you have to
        BOQ: Yep
        Macquarie: Yep (with a great deal of care and acceptance of risk)
        HIver: No. Just no, not ever under any circumstances. No.
        Heritage: No. Just no, not ever under any circumstances. No.

        If you have more than that lot can hold, then Judo term deposit

        • Mad Max on 11/12/2024 - 00:30

          Judo 6 months TD seems to be the best offering at 5.15%.

        • Ave Maria on 11/12/2024 - 00:37
          +1

          @legoman re GSB yes (NOPE) to some extend

          Nope for the Advantage Saver as it has a $250 increase requirement & you could get stuck on a rate decrease as you stated (they only pay 4.85% anyway)
          Strange enough I do use that account for my SMSF - and the new Future Saver - as it offers the best rate for an SMSF setup. I can do a flip between the Advantage Saver and the Future Saver on the 1st of the month. That way I still get the bonus rate and no interest loss when I need to pay Taxes or draw a pension. That works if you already had the Advantage Saver and applied for the Future Saver as well. If you are a new customer then that will not work for you so NO - NOPE - NO

          But the Home Saver is OK as there is no balance increase requirement and it is 5.25% for up to 100K only so you can take it out over 3days, using the default 30K limit, without loss of interest. You can increase the transfer limit to $250K for the day (call early on the day) or up to $100K for up to 2 weeks in advance by calling 13 32 82

          • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 00:48

            @Ave Maria: The advice you get from GSB staff is pretty typical of a former credit union. The story changes depending on who you talk to and the truth is never clear. I was told straight up the ultimate limit that can ever be approved for withdraw in a single day is only 30K and that can never be increased by any means, not even manually by GSB staff. 30K is the absolute hard ceiling for daily withdrawal limit. That's why even though the account can hold 100K and earn top interest, I will never exceed 30K in a Home account because there's no quick escape route when they suddenly change the rules without telling anyone. GSB are also like Macquarie in that they will lock accounts willy nilly at random for no reason and in the case of GSB, won't even tell you they've done so. GSB will lock you out of your entire online banking and you won't know anything about it until you next go to log in and find that your password no longer works.

            I believe it's called 'being Cuscaled'. GSB outsource all their security fraud detection to Cuscal because they're not big enough to handle that task themselves, and Cuscal adopt a strict lock first and ask questions later when the customer complains policy, because it's not their customer who's affected, so they don't give sh!t. They are so trigger happy on locking accounts, I can basically guarantee that as soon as you try to move 30K out to a known, previously used and saved payee, your account will be locked. Almost with 100% certainty I can guarantee it.

            • Ave Maria on 11/12/2024 - 01:20
              -1

              @Legoman: You are correct & for that reason I do try to stick to doing $30K transfers (they never blocked any of those - I recently had to do 6 of those one each day to fund a Judo Bank Term deposit just to avoif the approve and hold and release by CUSCAL. The one time I used $100K over a periof of days it was OK. The 2 times I asked for a $250K limitt and got it approved they held the transfer and had to make a second call to release it - but managed to get the transfers trhough to the other side same day. The worst one is when I transfered a large (to their eyes) amount of $60K between my Advantage Saver & Future accounts (both GSB accounts internal transfer under same account holder) for my SMSF and they blocked the transfer and locked me out of my account. I called them back & gave them an earfull. Yes their security team is trigger happpy - I asked them to whitelist transfers between my own accounts in my address book (set up via secure SMS code and previously used) but that is too hard for them to manage.

              • Mad Max on 11/12/2024 - 09:39

                @Ave Maria: Are you happy with the Judo Bank term deposit?
                It doesn't seem a large bank (or backed by a large bank).

                • Ave Maria on 11/12/2024 - 22:09
                  +1

                  @Mad Max: I use Judobank as they utilise an online application for SMSF term deposit that gets approved within minutes.They offer the best rates consistently and unless there is a nuclear holocaust (in which case it would not matter if you have money in the bank anyway) they are safe. Their share value is healthy (from $1 to $1.91 since the beginning of this year). I am not a share holder, but share price is an indication of the banks health. I would have stayed with Rabobank, but their TD rates have gone down hill - from the best to the worst. If the big banks offfered a decent rate I would have gone with them instead. There is always a risk with any investment but as long as he AUstralian exconomy is stable I would not wory that Judo Bank is a smaller bank.

                  Here is a few links regarding Judo Bank health

                  https://www.marketindex.com.au/asx/jdo
                  https://www.judo.bank/term-deposits-business#:~:text=Your%20…
                  https://www.capitalbrief.com/briefing/credit-stress-emerging….

                  • Mad Max on 11/12/2024 - 22:52

                    @Ave Maria: Thanks mate. You are always a wealth of information and first hand experience.
                    Much appreciated.
                    Sometimes, reading some of the comments you get on your posts, it feels like you are "casting pearls before swine", but such is life

              • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 11:27

                @Ave Maria: Yep, I've tried the whitelisting route too and got the same 'puter says 'no' response as you. I've also tried sending them pre-emptive e-mails and secure messages pre-warning them that I will be withdrawing $x.xx on dd/mm/yy date at hh:mm time and not to block the payment - that failed too. I've even tried threatening them with quick-fire reactionary AFCA responses if they dare to block my legitimate payments. I have had to start AFCA cases against GSB so many times I've actually created a template pre-filled AFCA form specifically for GSB to streamline the process to fire off the cases I know will be required regularly as quickly and painlessly as possible.

                Their problem stems from the fact they've given over all responsibility for their security checking to Cuscal as a third party contractor they have absolutely no control over. Cuscal do whatever they want and are completely inflexible in their processes. They won't do whitelisting, they won't take advanced warnings and they don't care about AFCA consequences because that's GSB's problem, and they're not GSB.

                I've forced GSB to refund trivial lost interest as a direct result of them blocking payments that looked for all the world like they had been successful more times than I care to remember. It's always less than $5 but $5 is their minimum reimbursement amount, so everytime they credit my account with $5. Any normal business would look at the lost employee time caused by having to continually reimburse $5 amounts for false positive account blocking and actually do something about it to stop it happening, but not GSB. They just carry on continuing to do what doesn't work and make no improvements.

                I even point out the fact to them that there is a cost and consequence for engaging a system that so blatantly costs their deposit holders for their own choice in outsourcing their security checking to an unvested third party. They understand it, but they just don't care. They're happy to keep reimbursing $5 to the affected account holder each time and don't care about the inconvenience to the customer this causes. Their business model truly is baffling.

                I am actually amazed that you got 6 x 30K withdraws on consecutive days through GSB without getting your account locked! That is incredible, not for just GSB, but for almost any bank if you did the same thing today. The AI algorithms they employ today look for repeating patterns to identify fraud, and nothing looks more like a repeating pattern than withdrawing 30K from the same account to the same account 6 days in a row!

                Try doing that today from Macquarie and I guarantee you will get locked out of your online banking immediately! I withdrew $10,300 twice - two separate withdraws of the same amount to the same saved and well-used payee from a Macquarie account for purpose of paying a credit card. The separate payments were done because it was a joint account and the credit card was a joint credit card too and for tax purposes I wanted the statement to show quite clearly this was 50/50 shared expenditure. That resulted in Macquarie locking the account for 256 days (8+ months) and a consequential loss of some ~$15,000

                • Ave Maria on 11/12/2024 - 22:26

                  @Legoman: I actualy did 2x$30K (from 2 signatory accounts) from the same account on 6 consecutive business days - to Judo bank - not even a whisper CUSCAL. The 2 times I did $250K, one was using Bpay to Judo bank, the other a normal transfer to Judo bank both got blocked even though the second time they asked what is the BSB you are transferring to as part of the limit increase approval. Bpay transfers from GSB are unlimited by defaul, but I no longer use that method as Judo only credits the amount as received next day = 1 day of interest lost. Normal transfers are always same day.

                  The first time I did a transfer to Judobank, someone from GSB called very concerned asking me who is this Judo Bank & why I am sending them money-:) I kid you not -:)

                  I would not be drawing money using the Macquarie card. I will instead pay bills online or transfer instantly to CBA and use the CBA ATM if I need cash. I actualy do that from AMP as their ATM limit is only $1K

                  • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 22:48

                    @Ave Maria:

                    The first time I did a transfer to Judobank, someone from GSB called very concerned asking me who is this Judo Bank & why I am sending them money-:) I kid you not -:)

                    Oh don't worry, I absolutely believe you! The staggering lack of intelligence and awareness of bank employees these days is truly scary. It's like you're talking to school children more times than not. I was chatting with a bank employee today online trying to get a handle on how long a large electronic transfer would take and in order to remove any ambiguity from what I was talking about, I told her it would be a BECS transfer (as opposed to OSKO or SCT or BPay or SWIFT or RTGS). Her response? "If you tell me what BECS means then I will be able to look this up for you."

                    /facepalm - oh dear god

  • Legoman on 11/12/2024 - 12:47

    You can also get your Macquarie account locked if you go to an ATM and because you specifically want $20 notes and not a pocketful of 50s, you withdraw $80 twice in a row - because since Macquarie got rid of all their branches and ATMs and no longer want to have anything to do with actual cash, you now have to go to other bank owned ATMs to use your Macquarie card and they don't provide the option to choose the mix of notes you get out the slot. The only way (forced indirectly upon you by Macquarie Bank themselves) to get $20 notes out of an ATM is to do two separate withdraws of $80 each = 8 x $20 notes. But two consecutive withdraws within minutes of each other for the same exact amount triggers all the AI algorithm fraudulent transaction alarms at Macquarie and BOOM your account is locked!

    Anyone can test this for themselves right now, today if you want. Go to an ATM and do as described above and your Macquarie account will be immediately locked. Absolutely guaranteed. It doesn't even matter one dot if this is a regular thing for you. It doesn't matter if you regularly ATM withdraw $80 sometimes multiple times because you simply prefer to hold $20 notes instead of 50s and there is nothing else held in modern ATMs to choose from. The Macquarie AI algorithm hasn't been programmed to look at historical usage to use as a predictor of potential valid future usage and fine tune the fraud detection accordingly… oh no no no, that would make far too much sense and might actually makes the process more efficient and better for everyone. Nope, they don't want that. It's far easier to just block the account and then make the account holder scream and yell for the next 3 months to get their own money back again, because that's just the caring way Australian banks work.

  • Legoman on 19/12/2024 - 12:16

    Well the cost of dodging the AMP balance growth requirement has just reduced by 2/3rds.

    We’re delighted to share some great news with you.
    Effective from Thursday 19 December 2024, the interest rate on your savings account is increasing, so you can continue to work towards your goals faster.
    BOQ Smart Saver Account $1 -$250,000 5.15%

    Where it was $1.03 for one day's lost interest before with a swap out/in through Virgin Money Boost @5.05% before, now it's a mere 34c only by doing the same thing through BOQ Smart Saver instead now. Very worst case scenario is having to move the money out for an entire weekend when the end of the month falls then. That could be out of AMP for a whole 3 days of closing balance interest which would mean a loss of the original $1.03 again (based on a full ~$250K balance).

    Hmmm, yeah $1.03 cost to avoid the AMP balance growth requirement? Yeah I can afford that.

    • Ave Maria on 19/12/2024 - 17:12
      +1

      Yes, BOQ must have realised their coffers are empty but at 5.15% they are only offering a slighlty better rate than Macquarie Bank at 5%
      <ING/UBANK at 5.5% < RABO at 5.35% < ME/HIVER/GSB at 5.25%, = STG at 5.15%
      AMP is still a 5.20% with a $500K buffer while the growth requirement can be met (while I am still working that is)

      • Legoman on 19/12/2024 - 17:39
        -1

        BOQ are really sort of cannibalising themselves here a bit. By upping the Smart Saver, they've effectively made their stablemate's Virgin Money Boost Saver redundant in unlocked form now. There is absolutely no reason to be keeping any money at all in a VM Boost Saver unless it is locked to get the 5.35% quasi-32 day term deposit rate. Unlocked it is now 0.1% below what the Smart Saver pays with full at-call access. I fail to see how depositers transferring Boost balances over to Smart Saver gains BOQ anything at all.

        As far as the other alternatives go, Macquarie are dangerous in that they will lock your account for no reason at all on a whim and then drag you through literally months of pain and suffering getting it unlocked again, and pay you no compensation for doing so.

        ING is OK if you can perform like a circus animal jumping through all the hoops. UBank just no, not ever.

        Rabo now force you to enable a screen lock on your phone in order for their app to work which is the only way of getting their security codes to bank with them whether you want to use a phone OR their website. Fine if you already use a screen lock on your phone, but intolerable if you don't need a screen lock for anything else.

        Hiver is dead and seemingly being closed down - all accounts are closed to new applicants.

        GSB is useable only as a quasi-term deposit that you don't touch and limited to only 30K unless you like your accounts being locked all the time by Cuscal ala Macquarie and enjoy taking 4 days to withdraw your funds with the requisite lost interest days that result from that.

        The StG/BoM/BSA Westpac clones are 5.15% but with the most convoluted and ridiculous hoop jumping mechanism requirements that change every single month based on an ever changing definition of what constitutes a 'month' as defined by Westpac based on what day of the week it starts and ends. If you've got the time to navigate all that rigmarole each and every month, then you've also got the time to be checking your own faeces for fibre, and if you're doing that, then you've got WAAAY too much free time and probably need a hobby!

  • Mad Max on 21/12/2024 - 10:13

    Has anyone found a 6 months term deposit better than 5.1%?

    • Legoman on 21/12/2024 - 10:46
      +1

      Judobank was the last one a month ago at 5.15% for 6 months, but it's gone now, down to 5.05%.

      • Mad Max on 21/12/2024 - 23:46

        Judobank was 5.1% a couple of weeks ago.
        At 5.05% it is not worth even only compared to AMP 5.2%. Let alone ING and Ubank 5.5%.

  • Ave Maria on 22/12/2024 - 00:52

    https://www.heartlandbank.com.au/term-deposits

    09 month term 5.15% highest option at present
    12 month term 5.10%

    • Legoman on 22/12/2024 - 01:19

      Wow, never heard of Heartland before but clicking About Us reveals the following:

      An error occurred while processing your request
      Request ID: 0HN91LSOFUJDI:00000304
      Development Mode

      Swapping to the Development environment displays detailed information about the error that occurred.

      The Development environment shouldn't be enabled for deployed applications. It can result in displaying sensitive information from exceptions to end users. For local debugging, enable the Development environment by setting the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT environment variable to Development and restarting the app.

      Now that is seriously instilling confidence! ;-P

      If you can't even get your About Us page to work, you have to ask questions about the rest.

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