Monday 15 December 2014

The Best Savings Account in Australia 2015

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.




INTRODUCTION

Generally, we would think that term deposits (also known as fixed deposits) would pay a higher interest rate compared to savings accounts. However, this is not necessarily the case in Australia!!!

Most banks in Australia, if not all, offer online savings account that pays interest ranging from 2.25% to 2.75% (Standard Variable Rate as of January 2015). And in order to attract you to deposit your money with them, the banks will offer additional Bonus Interest Rates of more than 1% for the first 3 to 4 months only. After the promotion period (3 or 4 months), you will end up earning the lower standard variable rate for life!!! 

For example:

ANZ Bank Online Saver

ANZ Online Saver offers 2.5% Standard Variable Rate plus 1.2% Bonus Interest Rate for the first 3 months. Therefore, the ANZ Online Saver account will earn you 3.7% interest rate for 3 months and then the interest rate for the Online Saver will revert to the Standard Variable Rate of 2.5% - which means you will be stuck at a lower interest rate for life!

Also please note - in order to sign up for the ANZ Bank Online Saver Account, you need an ANZ Everyday Banking Account. The ANZ Everyday Banking Account is NOT TRULY FREE, i.e. it imposes a monthly fee of AUD5 if you do not deposit at least AUD2000 monthly into it! So you may end up paying $60 a year for nothing if you do not deposit $2000 every month.

Commonwealth Bank Netbank Saver

Just like ANZ, Commonwealth Bank also offers a similar online savings account called NetBank which pays 2.5% Variable Interest Rate plus 1.2% Bonus Interest Rate for the first 3 months. So, just like ANZ, your funds will only earn you a miserable 2.5% interest rate starting from the fourth month and for the rest of your life.

And in order to sign up for the Commonwealth Bank NetBank Saver, you also need to sign up for a Commonwealth Bank Everyday Account which is NOT TRULY FREE; because just like in ANZ’s case, you need to deposit AUD2K monthly or else you will be penalized and charged a monthly fee. 

Many people sign up for the account(s) above because ANZ Bank and Commonwealth Bank have branches and ATMs everywhere making it very convenient.

However, from both examples above, it can be concluded for long term savings, you should avoid this type of savings accounts and instead look for savings accounts that give you high interest rate starting from the very first day you sign up for the account and for the rest of your life. By doing so, it will not only earn you more money but save you time and the hassle of moving your funds from bank to bank to earn higher interest rates.

HOW TO AVOID BEING IMPOSED MONTHLY FEE ON YOUR EVERYDAY TRANSACTION ACCOUNT IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DEPOSIT $2000 A MONTH

Now, for those of you who are unable to deposit $2000 a month into your Smart Access or Complete Access Commonwealth Bank Everyday Transaction account to avoid being penalized and imposed a fee, here is a tip for you.

Say you have the following amount in your Commonwealth Bank Accounts:

Smart or Complete Access - $33.18
NetBank - $618.00

STEP 1
Transfer $500 from Netbank to your Smart/Complete Access Account

STEP 2
You banking accounts will now show:
Smart or Complete Access - $533.18
NetBank - $118.00

Transfer $500 from your Smart/Complete Access Account back into Netbank Account.

Once the $500 is credited into your Netbank account, immediately repeat Steps 1 and 2 above another 3 times and you would have “deposited” $2000 into your Smart/Complete Access account; thus fulfilling the $2000 monthly deposit requirement into the Everyday Transaction Account to avoid being penalized and imposed the monthly fee.

Repeat the above tip/method every month and you’ll get to enjoy FREE EVERYDAY TRANSACTION account with Commonwealth Bank throughout the year :)  

NAB – TRUE FREE BANKING

Before I proceed any further, I would like to touch on National Bank Australia (NAB) banking accounts.

NAB Classic Banking Account is an Everyday Transaction Account which is FREE FOR LIFE, i.e. no minimum deposit and no monthly account fee whatsoever, unlike ANZ Bank Everyday Account and Commonwealth Smart/Complete Access Account where you need to deposit $2000 a month to avoid being penalized.

Once you sign up for NAB Classic Banking Account and have registered for NAB Online Banking, you can then sign up for NAB iSaver Online Savings Account.

NAB iSaver pays 2.5% standard variable rate PLUS 1% Bonus Interest for 4 months. Therefore, the funds in your NAB iSaver will earn you 3.5%. Now, this amount is less than the 3.7% interest rate offered by ANZ Bank and Commonwealth Bank shown in my earlier example. So why the heck am I telling you about NAB iSaver? Read on and you may just learn another thing or two.

Thursday 20 February 2014

Australia Best Everyday Transaction Account And Tips To Earn You More Money

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.


INTRODUCTION


Previously in my article titled FREE Visa and MasterCard Debit Cards From Australia Banks, I mentioned that I have Everyday Transaction Accounts with NAB, Commonwealth Bank, Citibank and HSBC Australia. All these said accounts come with FREE Visa or MasterCard Debit cards. However, all these accounts do not earn me a cent in interest for balances sitting in the account. Worst still, my Commonwealth Complete Access Account, an Everyday Transaction Account, charges me a monthly fee if I do not deposit AUD 2000 monthly into it. NAB, Citibank and HSBC Everyday Transaction Accounts are truly FREE FOR LIFE as there are no monthly fees forever (unless they change their policy) and you do not need to deposit a cent into it after you open the account.

Therefore, in order to earn interest from my money deposited with Citibank Australia, Commonwealth Bank, HSBC Australia and NAB, I have their Online Savings Accounts and transfer my funds into my Everyday Transactions Accounts when required. However, if you do not wish to open an Online Savings Account but want you money sitting in your Everyday Transaction Account to earn you some pocket money, I got good news for you.


EARN MORE FROM AUSTRALIA SAVINGS ACCOUNTS AND BANKWEST HERO EVERYDAY TRANSACTION ACCOUNT

Now, today I will share with you three tips on Australia Banks Savings Accounts:

1. COMMONWEALTH BANK COMPLETE ACCESS ACCOUNT - Monthly Fee waived with AUD2000 Deposit.

Like I mentioned earlier, I will be charged a monthly fee should I fail to deposit Aussie 2K into my Commonwealth Complete Access for a particular month. And I also said I have their Online Account called NetBank. So, the easiest way to avoid paying the Complete Access monthly fee without depositing any new funds into Commonwealth Bank is to transfer money between your Complete Access and NetBank accounts. For example, you have AUD100 in your Complete Access and AUD 800 in your NetBank Account. So in order to meet the AUD2K deposit requirement: