Melbourne Victoria Australia: Australia Best Savings Account

An article by GenX published

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

Back in April 2012, I published an article titled Australia Education, Term Deposit, Savings Account and Credit Card Interest Rate where I prepared several tables comparing interest rates offered by Australia Banks for Savings Account.

And then I went to Melbourne sometime in May 2012 and when I came back I published my article titled FREE Visa and Debit Cards from Australia Banks where I posted photos of my Australia Debit Cards from Citibank, Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank. At that time, I also have wanted the NAB Visa Debit Card but the guy who opened my account forgot to request for it and I only found out just before I left Melbourne for Gold Coast with Tiger Airways.

Well, I was in Melbourne last week and I noted that the interest rates offered by Australia Banks for Savings Account have reduced since I last visited Melbourne back in May 2012. So I thought I'll update here the latest interest rates (as of October 2012) for Savings Accounts, comparing it to the rates back in April.

Once again, I have prepared a table for your easy reference. The table below shows the interest rates of Savings Account offered by Bankwest, Bank of Melbourne, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, HSBC Australia and National Australia Bank (NAB) for the month of April 2012 and October 2012.

From the above table, it can be concluded that all the banks mentioned above have reduced their Savings Accounts interest rates. This is not surprising considering that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been consistently cutting the cash rates since mid 2012.

In general, most banks have reduced their Savings Account interest rates close to 1% (including bonuses for new account or no withdrawals). However, Bankwest which was offering 10% interest rates for their Kid's Bonus Saver account has reduced the bonus rate from 10% to 8%.

For adults, it can be noted from the table above that Citibank Australia Online Saver account offers the highest interest rates of 5.35% for new customers/sign up, up to 4 months and after that it drops to 3.75% (as of October 2012). Bankwest, on the other hand, offers 5.25% up to 6 months for new accounts and after that it drops to 4% which is higher than Citibank.

CONCLUSION

So which is The Best Savings Account in Australia?

For kids, I would say Bankwest since it is offering 8% interest. The only set back is that - one is only permitted to deposit maximum AUD250 monthly into the account.

For adults, well, one should open the Citibank Online Saver and earn 5.35% for 4 months and after that, go open a new Bankwest TeleNet Saver account and enjoy another 6 months of high interest :)