HISA interest rate changes are settling after the RBA 25bps cut 18/02/2025.
No minimum deposit or balance growth hurdle. No limits to withdrawals. No spending requirements.
Need to have linked AU transaction account.
5.10% is untiered and applied daily (don't wait until next calendar month).
Rate drops to 4.25% above $250,000.
UBank is a good alternative for those with less than $100,000 (5.25%, and then 4.75%) with a deposit requirement only.
Referrer gets $100 Visa Gift Card.
Yes moving money out was a pain. $1250 daily limit or sth like that
Macquarie have a $100k limit, ANZ Plus $250k. Both have decent interest rate.
I think its higher if you use sms security
Agree, their banking is smaller and customer service less resourced than others.
I have my mortgage with them, unchanged in 7 years. For at least that long I've used transaction and savings account with them, the latter the Active Saver which I've deposited and withdrawn a few times depending on how well it's interest is competitively priced.
I find their online banking okay, has what I need, never felt lacking. Similarly have had no issue with customer service (but I'll remember needing to attend their city HQ to sign mortgage papers).
Is that true about daily withdrawal limit? if it is you'd need months to withdraw if you had $200 k in there.
I just went through my historical transactions and I've had a number of large withdrawals, the biggest $240,000.
I don't recall what was required at the time to execute the withdrawal, as it was a few years ago.
It will require at least SMS authorisation, if not that then probably a daily withdrawal limit increase done over the phone. I think I remember doing a paper (email copy) request for some large transfers in the past, just can't remember if it was AU or another 🤷♂️
Anyway, I haven't heard of a $1,250 limit, and if that's the default it certainly isn't fixed. I can see a series of $20,000 withdrawals I did over 3-4 days a few years ago which must have been me CBF'ing with changing a daily withdrawal limit and just dripping a relatively smaller deposit out of the account at the time.
ING still has 5.4% (only down 0.1% since rate announcement) but obviously comes with conditions.
This has just gone down to 5.4? I'd have expected a larger decrease. Goes to standard variable rate of 0.05% on balance above 100k, not bad for a lot of people with smaller savings.
defencebank.com.au is giving 5.4 % with no conditions.
Only for one more day (today). From tomorrow is 5.15%, but yep no conditions so could still be worth a look
Introductory rate? (5.15%)
Ongoing rate 1.25%?
6 month fixed bonus of 4.00%pa on top of a base variable 1.15%. More info at link here, plus then click isaver. So account is only good for 6 months, then you'd want out, or if staying move to their more restrictive Max eSaver which is 5.00% from tomorrow. https://www.defencebank.com.au/about-us/news/2025/february-i…
@arcticmonkey: Not 100% sure but I think when I looked into it, I saw a “fixed bonus” part, but there was always an underlying variable base rate (which was 1.4%, no 1.15%). Their media releases since only refer to the variable rate decrease, and not something wider like a change to the structure of the account. But I could be wrong.
The only true “fixed” short term high interest account I’ve seen in recent months was in the second half of 2024 when Macquarie’s temporary welcome rates weren’t just higher variable, but were fixed for a few months (I got it at 5.35% fixed for 4 months at the time). So effectively was a 4 month term deposit, with access
The condition is - you must die for your country if we go to war.
Great link
Just spoke to customer service. The 5.10% rate is dropping to 4.85% on the 6th March.
Thanks!
Poor communication / advertising, I'm sure they know what they're doing with their interest adjustments 2 weeks after the RBA moved.
IMHO Still quite generous for no hoops account. At least, doesn't drop below 4.5%
Not for long, I moved in for no hoops but I'm moving out because they got bought.
Australian Unity expects to transition its banking operations to Bank Australia in late 2025. This will include the transfer of all banking customers and their existing loans, credit cards and deposit accounts. The transfer remains subject to relevant regulatory approvals.
Very much a "small bank" with clunky procedures, clunky online banking, poor contact procedures, etc. I regretted moving over to them during an offer last year.