God, Ubank are snakes (missed email about the increase from $200 to $500)

cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:20

I missed the email earlier last year where Ubank changed the rules on earning bonus interest from $200 to $500 - you have to deposit in excess of that balance to qualify for interest. You effectively get zero interest if you don't see these rule changes in time. This was effective from 1 July 2024, apparently. So seven months. Zero interest on a $170k odd balance. I had continued to deposit $250 a month thinking everything was okay.

Lost about $6K in interest. What absolute shysters.

Yes, I should have been looking at it more closely. I was busy with kids, work, etc. Didnt see the email.

Must be at least hundreds of people in the same boat. Ubank must be absolutely minting it off tactics like this.

Lost about 2K when they changed their BSB and payments sent to the old BSB didnt qualify.

Pretty depressing really. No one can afford a house anymore and you have to deal with coin clipping antics like this from supposedly reputable financial institutions.

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Comments

  • askbargain on 10/01/2025 - 16:22
    +34

    sob story for someone who has 170k in their secondary bank lol

    go use a term deposit if you're too busy

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:27
      +15

      Dont have a house. Im 46. Its all I have in the whole fricking world.

      • Bruceflix on 10/01/2025 - 16:41
        +15

        Well, perhaps you should look after it better.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:42
          -3

          Thanks for that Bruce mate. All the best.

      • pharkurnell on 10/01/2025 - 19:36
        -1

        Your 170,000 better off than lots of people…

        and why are they snakes?

      • brendanm on 10/01/2025 - 20:02

        Use it to buy a house.

      • cashless on 10/01/2025 - 23:37

        If it’s all you have in the whole world then you’d better keep a monthly eye on it. Wondering why there’s no interest being paid. Month after month.
        You have kids? Yes, many of us do, but we also keep an eye on our finances. Regularly.
        You screwed up by not paying attention

      • stewy on 11/01/2025 - 00:14

        Unless you are planning on buying a house, personally I'd do something more useful (eg. consider adding to super and/or purchase ETFs) with your money than leaving it in the bank earning barely above inflation.

    • Bruceflix on 10/01/2025 - 16:47

      Sounds like it was an inheritance

      • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:52
        -1

        Yeah sure why not.

    • JIMB0 on 10/01/2025 - 22:56
      +1

      $170k isn't that much money, hardly a brag.

  • NeoX on 10/01/2025 - 16:25
    +25

    So why is it ubank's a snake if it's your fault?

    Why are people always trying to blame others and not accept fault of their own?

      • Mechz on 10/01/2025 - 20:34
        +4

        How much flag waiving and attention grabbing do you need to keep tabs on your finances?

      • devize on 10/01/2025 - 21:52
        +2

        They literally have a big banner on the app that says whether you've activated your bonus interest for the month or not. If you looked at the app once in the last 6 months you would have seen it.

    • Drakesy on 10/01/2025 - 17:56
      +1

      Admittedly this exact condition is designed to catch out people on monthly direct debits.

      It's a bit sh1t, same as when they brought down the interest rate to only apply to the first $100k. Everything over that was a reduction.

      Very scummy.

      Admittedly my money is sitting between rabobank and ubank so i don't go over the limits.

  • Hybroid on 10/01/2025 - 16:25
    +1

    Since ANZ Plus introduced the +$100/month deposit to get interest, the app shows whether or not you are track. Does Ubank not have the same?

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:30
      -1

      No. I've logged into the app and there's no conspicuous indication of whether you're earning interest or not.

      • jetblack on 10/01/2025 - 16:35
        +2

        Click on your saving account. Right there, just below your balance:

        Activate bonus interest for this month by depositing $500.00

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:44

          On my app, immediately below the balance, there are two green tabs "transfer" and "set savings target". Thats it.

      • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 17:59
        +3

        There's literally a message on screen when viewing your savings account(s) (highlighted in an orangey coloured box) that says [Bonus interest activated for 'month'] if you've deposited $500 or more that month. And that message is replaced at the start of each new month with another on screen message saying that you need to deposit $500 to activate the bonus interest.

        If you're not checking your emails or logging into your bank accounts more often than once every 7 months, that's a u problem, not a ubank problem.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:56
          -2

          Yep. If I logged into the app, clicked on accounts, clicked on the savings account, and then read the notification below the balance then I would have seen that notification. I admit that I did not do that. I wonder how many people would do that religiously every month?

          And should we really have to exercise that much vigilance to prevent a bank from fleecing us?

          • Cheapskate Paul on 10/01/2025 - 19:53
            +2

            @cannedhams:

            I wonder how many people would do that religiously every month?

            The vast majority I would think. Especially those with significant balances.

          • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 21:09
            +1

            @cannedhams: You're trying to make it sound like the whole exercise is labour intensive and time consuming… that it's just so incredibly taxing on your time that you can't believe you have to do this once a month. Woe is me!

            You spent more time writing that paragraph than it would have taken you to press your phone screen a few times to get your balance once a month.

            I wonder how many people would do that religiously every month?

            If you're not religiously monitoring your finances, that's on you. The bank's aren't gonna do it for you. They've given you the tools and the information you need. Asking them to save you 5 seconds and two taps of your finger is beyond 'first world problems' 🙄

    • billy3000 on 10/01/2025 - 19:28
      +1

      Yes. It's very obvious when you have qualified. I do it every month to double check. It's worth 2 mins of my time.

  • jetblack on 10/01/2025 - 16:33
    +7

    What do you realistically want them to do that they haven't already? They sent an email (you missed/ignored/didn't pay attention to), and the app itself tells you on the page for the account in question if you have no hit your minimum deposit.

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:40
      -5

      They could have sent a text? They could indicate on the home page of the app that you're not qualifying for interest?

      Again, the whole concept of "bonus interest" is basically stiffing people. They don't particularly care about that marginal increase to your monthly deposit. I mean that extra $200 means sweet FA to them. The whole idea of changing the rules is to catch people out. And yeah, they got me. Well done NAB.

      • jetblack on 10/01/2025 - 16:45

        I get it, it sucks to miss out on $2k you were expecting, but it's not going to make or break your ability to buy a place, and you need to put your energy toward something productive.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:50

          Mate, I'm not going to go and neck myself over 6K if thats what you're saying. As you said, it sucks. Maybe this prompts some other people to check their balances and avert a similar mistake. I'll get up tomorrow and put my pants on like I would normally.

      • iguana on 10/01/2025 - 17:05
        +3

        Yeah, they should have emailed you, sent you a text, given you a phone call, sent out some snail mail, posted a banner on their home page, added a note on your account details page too. How about take some responsibility? Why don't you read emails from your bank?

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:25
          -3

          Yep, they could have done one or more of those exact things. Probably would have taken fifteen minutes out of someone's day. Isn't it interesting that they did none of those things? I mean, its almost like they did the absolute bare minimum in terms of notifying people of this significant change. A change, which if people missed it, would be very lucrative for Ubank.

          Why do you think that was?

          • photonbuddy on 10/01/2025 - 21:25

            @cannedhams:

            Yep, they could have done one or more of those exact things … Isn't it interesting that they did none of those things?

            They did one of those things. They e-mailed you! You chose not to action it.

        • niggardly on 10/01/2025 - 20:47
          +1

          Doesnt the bank have info of where you work? They should of called his manager

          • MS Paint on 10/01/2025 - 23:20

            @niggardly: His manager probably would have emailed OP and then it would just be another missed opportunity.

  • sckill2712 on 10/01/2025 - 16:38
    +13

    Just accept your mistake instead of blaming others please.

      • Molebag on 10/01/2025 - 22:08

        You missed out. Should have posted yesterday when everyone was siding with the poor sod who blames everyone else for their problems.

  • foxmulder on 10/01/2025 - 16:39
    +3

    Ubank increased their interest from 5 to 5.5 thus why the extra song/dance.

    I suggest you check your interests at beginning of the month.

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:41
      -7

      Yep, and thats the business model. Catch some people out, make fat margins, allowing you to advertise a higher headline rate.

      • Mechz on 10/01/2025 - 20:37

        So you pay attention to the advertising but not the direct communications they send you. Smart.

  • Bruceflix on 10/01/2025 - 16:46
    +6

    Think of the positives, you'll pay less tax this year

  • askbargain on 10/01/2025 - 16:52
    +3

    UBank makes 80% of their profit from 20% of their laziest customers

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 16:57
      -2

      Which again, means that their primary incentive is to try and take advantage of people.

      "Look at all the money we made from burying that change in a 36-page email! We should make it 50 pages next year!"

      • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 18:03
        +2

        The primary incentive for EVERY bank is to take advantage of people. Build a bridge.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:19

          Which is why we have responsible lending practices, to stop banks from fleecing their borrowers. Maybe we need similar laws to stop banks from fleecing their depositors.

          • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 22:06
            +2

            @cannedhams: You weren't fleeced - you simply didn't adhere to the T&C's.

            • You were notified about the change
            • You didn't increase the deposit amount as needed
            • You didn't look at your savings account for 7 months
            • And now, you have to accept responsibility that you stuffed up
  • stickingly on 10/01/2025 - 16:53
    +1

    Same here, I missed it as well and was also peed off at the time.

    I was not made clear - it was one of a list of items in a long email titled "changes to our terms and conditions" that looked like the usual junk you always get from a range of providers and don't read every word.

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 17:00
      -1

      Yeah, they would anticipate a lot of people would miss it. Both the wife and I are quite time poor. We both work close to full time jobs. Three kids, one of whom is severely autistic. I missed the email. My bad I guess. But seriously anyone who can't see this business model for what it is…

  • dtxau on 10/01/2025 - 16:54
    +1

    @cannedhams they have listened to your feedback and will shortly implement a "Notify Mum" feature so that you will never miss another change.

  • plmko on 10/01/2025 - 16:58
    +1

    How is it that you were too busy to check but had the time to write this rant on Ozb.

    There was literally a massive PSA thread that floated to the top telling everyone on Ozb about the increase. Obviously you did not read it.

    The changes have been in effect since July, but you decided to cry now?

    Yes mate everything is against you. /s

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 17:04
      -1

      I didn't see that. Link?

      • scotty on 10/01/2025 - 17:38
        +5

        Pages of discussions in May last year.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 17:58

          Respectfully, that was not a post from Ubank, but from a community member who thought to put the word out, probably anticipating that otherwise a lot of people might miss it. As such, it hardly qualifies as a "PSA" as implied by the poster above. It seems as though the bank themselves went out of their way to make the change as inconspicuous as possible.

          I didn't see the post. My bad. Of course, not every bank depositor frequents Ozbargain.

      • Shitforbrains on 10/01/2025 - 17:54
        +3

        If you spent more time on the Ozbargain forums and saw that discussion you could have saved $6000.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:00
          -1

          Sure thing mate. And if I'd listened to the drug dealer that told me to invest in Bitcoin one night in the pub in 2015 I'd be a millionaire.

  • Bruceflix on 10/01/2025 - 16:58
    +1

    OP gonna be annoyed when they attempt to withdraw from their savings account too.

  • iguana on 10/01/2025 - 17:00
    +7

    Why didn't you check your bank account? I check each of my HI accounts each month to ensure expected interest is being paid.

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 17:05
      -5

      As set out above, I'm fairly time poor with kids, work etc.

      • iguana on 10/01/2025 - 17:06
        +4

        You don't check your bank balance for 6 months?

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 17:10
          -2

          How many kids do you have?

      • askbargain on 10/01/2025 - 17:06
        +1

        Time spent on ozbargain says no

      • MS Paint on 10/01/2025 - 17:55

        You don't have a spare 30 seconds?

      • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 18:12
        +7

        No one is so time poor that they can't find two mins in a 30 day period to quickly log in and scan their savings account. No one.

        If you're that time poor, setting up a simple calendar reminder is all you needed to do.

      • apsilon on 10/01/2025 - 18:53
        +3

        You should be checking all of your accounts at least monthly, bank and credit. What if someone had gained access to your account and drained it? Do you check for fraudulent charges on your CCs? It literally takes a few minutes per month. Do it while you on the loo if you have to.

  • Windows7forever on 10/01/2025 - 17:07
    +2

    This is why I don't use uBank anymore. I found them to be dodgy and always changing their rules on a whim, and their CS operators were incompetent.

    • Molebag on 10/01/2025 - 22:13

      Agree if you dont have the time (or mental capacity) to stay on top of their ever changing rules then stick it in a HISA without the prerequisites, or a term deposit. AMP term deposits have offered >5% for ages and still do.

  • Shitforbrains on 10/01/2025 - 17:13
    +2

    It's hard to miss an email nowadays because you can get them on your hand phone. My grandson helped me to set it up so when I receive an email my phone "dings". If you miss the "ding" you can see the message in your notifications bar.

    Also when I look at my account in the app it prominently displays "Activate bonus interest for this month by depositing $500.00".

    Take this as a lesson to pay more attention to details. I know it can be hard sometimes. There, there.

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:06
      +1

      Yes, I have a phone. Mine dings as well. It dings quite a lot actually, usually with emails that are mundane and routine in nature. I didn't see this email. Yes it cost me $6,000.00. Congratulations to the NAB for getting one up on me. 1-nil to them I guess.

      Someone up the thread mentioned notifications as well. I didn't receive that notification, possibly because I have other notifications such as "Activate your card and start using it in seconds" - I have ignored this because I don't particularly care to use their card.

      • drfuzzy on 10/01/2025 - 21:07
        +1

        You could lodge a formal complaint.
        They may offer partial compensation.
        If they won't you could threaten to complain to AFCA.
        You may lose but they might pay you something to get rid of you.

        On a seperate topic if you are 46, in your income producing prime, and all you have in the world is $170k cash - you should consider investing at least a portion of that into growth assets to give yourself a sporting chance of not having all your purchasing power errored by inflation.

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 22:26
          -1

          Thanks for the message and the suggestions. I appreciate it.

  • jv on 10/01/2025 - 17:25
    +5

    Next time, read your emails.

    🤣🤣🤣

    • MS Paint on 10/01/2025 - 17:54
      +4

      Bonus interest lovers enjoy this one simple trick. Follow me for more great financial tips.

      • scotty on 10/01/2025 - 18:30
        +4

        Snaky banks hate this one trick…

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 23:48

          I'm thinking I need to do a video mash up of the Simpsons' snake whacking day episode, but with the snakes having the Ubank logo on them

          This could be my viral moment. I will go down in history as the "ubank snakes guy"

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 10/01/2025 - 20:26

        Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

        • MS Paint on 10/01/2025 - 20:29
          +2

          Click subscribe and don't forget to smash that like button.

  • MS Paint on 10/01/2025 - 17:54
    +1

    🎻

  • Look Up on 10/01/2025 - 17:56
    +5

    Ubank are snakes
    What absolute shysters.
    Ubank must be absolutely minting it off tactics like this.
    …and you have to deal with coin clipping antics like this…

    ?

    Yes, I should have been looking at it more closely. I was busy with kids, work, etc. Didnt see the email.

    60+ comments racked up on OzBargain since July 2024

    You know what you've done, accept it and move on

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:17
      -3

      Thanks champ. Hope you have a good Friday night.

      • Look Up on 10/01/2025 - 18:20

        No worries cobber, keep those eyes peeled and ears close to the ground

        • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:27
          -1

          Just joking mate, you don't think I'm going to take this to AFCA at the very least? They can spit up a rope.

          • Look Up on 10/01/2025 - 20:18
            +3

            @cannedhams: If you were as aggressive in monitoring your bank accounts as you are with dishing out responses in this thread, you would have no issue

            • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 20:50

              @Look Up: I've honestly done my best to be pleasant and good spirited in my interactions in this thread, notwithstanding that some of the responses to me have been direct, to say the least. If I've upset you, then I apologise; that certainly was not my intention.

              • Look Up on 10/01/2025 - 21:07
                +3

                @cannedhams: You've forgotten haven't you?

                cannedhams on 04/03/2014 - 10:32 - First Home Saver Account Abolished?
                I got one just to make risk free returns that I could then throw into super.
                Thanks to all the taxpayers out there for the $4000. I'm grateful for small favours.

                As foxmulder calculated below for you

                Ubank's interest for savings up to $100k is 5.5%, anything above this amount is 5% ~ half a year interest for $170k is $4,500.

                The $4K in taxpayer funded "risk free returns" you made 10 years ago, you've just returned that back to NAB as $4.5K in today's dollars so actually, you're still ahead

                Karma works in mysterious ways so live a life of integrity if you want to avoid more tales of woe in the future

                I wish you well

                • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 22:00
                  -1

                  @Look Up: I'll be honest with you mate, I had absolutely and totally forgotten that because it was ten years ago. I didn't realise it had left such an impact on you. Frankly, I'm amazed. Truly. You had honestly been holding it against me all this time?

                  I can only hope that, notwithstanding the bitter sting of sorrow that a random internet user's jocular comment that wasn't personally directed at you from ten years ago, that you have been able to live a fulfilling life in the meantime. I would despair for the fate of humanity if it were otherwise.

                  And yeah, I trousered $4K from the first home saver account. Perfectly legal and no different from the tradies claiming concessions on their 150K Ford Rangers. I've certainly paid plenty of tax in the meantime.

  • mrdevil on 10/01/2025 - 18:11
    +1

    To be fair, I have a few different bank accounts with high interest rates and bonus criteria for each month, and most apps will actually show if you've earned the bonus interest that month, or if you haven't what you need to do (e.g. deposit $XX more into your account / make 2 or 3 more transactions). Ubank's app and website doesn't show any of this - just what the bonus rate criteria are… nowhere does it say whether you've met these or not.

    I emailed their app team late last year to highlight this flaw - and provided examples of a few other bank apps - and they replied to basically say "thanks for the email… we've something like this coming in the next app update early next year". So the good news I guess is it should be easier to track this type of thing when that is released… although it'll still require users to actively monitor / use the app.

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:16

      Thanks for posting this - most helpful.

      Someone up the thread mentioned losing interest due to them disabling Bpay payments. I also lost some money several years ago (fortunately much less than this) when I didnt see another email advising that they were disabling their automatic savings plan (from memory, you auto debited your primary account from within the ubank app/website). Seems it may be a systemic practice.

    • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 18:30
      +1

      Ubank's app and website doesn't show any of this - just what the bonus rate criteria are… nowhere does it say whether you've met these or not.

      So very wrong. If you've met the criteria, there's a message on screen for the entire month that says "Bonus interest activated" and it has been like that for ages now.

      • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 18:58
        +1

        I think his point is that other banks put that notification on the home page, you don't have to click through to the savings balance in order to see it.

        • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 20:59

          other banks put that notification on the home page

          Sweeping generalisations about "other banks" aren't making your argument any more valid.

          you don't have to click through to the savings balance in order to see

          So you're expecting the main screen to be clogged up for all customers all because you can't take a whole 5 seconds to press your phone screen twice? 🤦🏻‍♂️

          • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 21:46

            @KangaDrew: My gosh mate, I didnt realise how terrible it would be to have the home screen on the ubank app clogged up with some trifling message about me losing $1000 a month. Only now do I realise that it would detract from the pristine, aesthetic majesty of the swirling magenta backdrop contrasted against the soothing tones of the burnt ochre comic sans font.

            Thank God the NAB are such ardent defenders of artistic integrity, I'm now positive that pocketing vast sums of their depositors' money had nothing to do with it.

            • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 22:00
              +1

              @cannedhams: You do realise that it's not a banks responsibility to tell their customers to deposit money into their account, when they've already given those customers full autonomy to manage their own finances from the very get-go, right?

              And they never "pocketed" your money 😂 You got paid the standard interest rate as per the T&C's. But because you didn't put in the required amount to activate the bonus interest, you didn't receive it. It's a simple concept.

              You can die on this hill if you like, but you'll be pretty isolated there on your own lol

              • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 22:34
                -1

                @KangaDrew: All good mate, I'm having fun doing the dozens in the comments, showed this thread to my wife and she burst out laughing.

                Getting some nice DMs too which is appreciated.

                I hope Ubank realises what a loyal stan they have in you, and that your local NAB manager cries salt tears on your shoulder the next time you visit a branch.

                • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 23:00

                  @cannedhams: Sounds like you and your wife are made for each other then. Confirmation bias is a wonderful thing, kudos.

                  • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 23:30

                    @KangaDrew: I'm not sure. She took my phone scrolled, laughed and said "everyone on that web site is a massive sperg".

                    I mean, accurate, but still.

                    • KangaDrew on 10/01/2025 - 23:39

                      @cannedhams:

                      "everyone on that web site is a massive sperg".
                      I mean, accurate, but still.

                      But you're part of the "everyone on that web site" - saying something like that to your face is a bit harsh! It really is a shame that she thinks of you that way. You may wish to consider moving that 170k out of her reach as it sounds like things are going south; good luck!

                      • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 23:43

                        @KangaDrew: Nah mate, she's got a heart of gold. The sperg levels are pretty high here, lets be honest. I mean look at all the Raspberry Pi posts.

                        All the best to you and yours.

  • Empharand on 10/01/2025 - 18:44

    Read your emails then? Problem solved!
    I fail to understand how this isn't a user-error as they informed you, you clearly don't pay attention to your emails so I fail to see how that's Ubanks problem. Pay attention!

    I just slut transfer $2000 between the different banks I use for their high interest rates (and other benefits) at the start of each month, which achieves the deposit target for that month and therefore I don't have to worry any deposit requirement changes. Takes like 2 minutes and the money just ends up in the preferred account.

    I also get in the habit of checking my accounts on the 1st of the month because I like seeing the interest hit my account! (Feels good)

    • cannedhams on 10/01/2025 - 19:09

      There are literally a half-dozen reiterations of this exact point, in this exact thread, in addition to the fact that I said in the original post that I had not read the email and that was my bad.

      I fully realise that this will not dissuade people from chiming in to say the exact same thing another fifty times (literally another one appeared below you in the time it took me to post this). Sometimes I wonder though, why do people bother endlessly make the same exact derivative point in any given online discussion? Its like people get some sense of self-satisfaction from being the 373rd sheep to jump over the fence.

      Not a ding against you personally, just a random musing on human nature.

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