Bonus Interest Account

Hello,
I'm in a pickle and looking for a smart solution.
I have a large deposit with one of the banks offering 5%. Say 1.5% normal interest and 3.5% bonus interest, if the account balance increases by more than $200 per month.
My deposit is now over the maximum threshold where i get the 5% interest, and now only get 2.75%. over the threshold.
Obviously I want to transfer the excess over the limit to some other bank with a better rate, however, i will lose the bonus interest if my balance does not increase.
How can I reallocate the money which is in excess of the upper threshold without suffering loss because my balance decreased and therefore losing my bonus interest

Comments

  • +1

    hmm i think its too late now as you cant leave it, and if you transfer the balance will be less….
    best option is to transfer ALL to another bank and start again with 2 banks this time

    • Exactly. Transfer all to a high interest savings account at another bank.
      Then transfer some back to the original bank on the 1st of next month.

  • First check if your savings account allows you to transfer money without losing the bonus interest rate. For example ING's Saving Maximiser actually allows customers to transfer the money during the month and get the bonus interest, provided the money is transferred back to the savings account and balance is increased by at least $0.01 by the end of the month (also meeting the $1000 deposit and 5 card transactions requirement as usual). In my case I normally transferred the excess amount above the threshold to Macquarie Bank Savings account (5% pa interest as of now, with no hoops) on second day of each month, then transfer back to ING on the second last day of each month.

  • Some banks allow you to have two accounts. So transfer all minus what you need to withdraw to the second account and flip flop between them as required.

  • I've had this issue as well. I opened another instant access account with another financial institution paying a similar rate (although slightly lower), then on the first day of the month, transferred the whole balance to the original account to the new account.

    This meant I still go a good rate of interest on the whole balance for the month. At the start of the next month, I transferred 90% of the original accounts limit to the original account.

    Job done!

  • Ubank is 5.5% activated for the whole month if you transfer at least $500. It does not have to increase each month either. So maybe transfer it into Ubank.

    I have ubank and ING.

    With ING, it needs to increase from the previous month, so I have it set up to automatically withdraw enough to leave it above the minimum on the last day of the month and automatically transfer it back in on the first day of the month to the Maximiser.

  • Take everything out of that account on the first day of the month, put it in another bank that offers the next best interest rate for the month, and move a portion of that back into that account on the first day of the following month.

  • It's only 2nd day of the month. Just give up yesterday's bonus interest and move everything to an HISA in another bank for the month. Clean your slate and restart your balance from $0 from 1st Feb.

  • You can have many savings account with U bank and one spending account which you pay $500.00 per month.

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