A New Bank Account (Again!)

September 2, 2009 | Filed under Money

My cousin who works at the National Australia Bank, sent me an email linking me to a new banking system of theirs: Ubank. It’s aimed primarily at those who are happy to do all their banking electronically, as there’s no over the counter services – e.g. those who are young and hip and comfortable with technology. I’m interested in setting up a third account at Ubank (a USaver account) for a couple of reasons:

  1. High interest rates – calculated daily, paid monthly
  2. No fees
  3. No minimum amount and a maximum balance of $1 million dollars per customer

The main reason is the interest rate – their current rate is 5.11% p.a., whereas even my high interest savings account is currently only 3.25% p.a (it used to be 5%+ but that fell with the GFC). I currently have about $33K in my high interest savings account, which netted me just about $90 in interest last month. If that amount had been calculated at 5.11%, I would have earned more like $140 – an extra $50 would come in handy every month!

As I’m reluctant to put all my eggs in the one basket though (Ubank is only new after all, even if it is fully backed by the largest bank in the country), the current plan is to split the $33K into two accounts – $23K into a new Ubank account which I have to apply for, and to leave $10K in my current high interest savings account. That’ll then leave me with three accounts:

  1. HSBC online savings account (everyday transactions account) – hovers around $1000-$2000, depending on whether I’ve just been paid, whether I’ve paid bills, and whether I’ve just transferred money into my savings accounts.
  2. HSBC Serious Saver account (current high interest savings account) – will always between $10K and $12K in the account – anytime there’s more, I’ll transfer a few thousand into the next account.
  3. Ubank account (proposed new savings account) – All other monies will go in this account. Anything over $2K in my everyday account and $12K in my savings account will go in this account to accumulate interest.

So essentially there’ll be three saving “tiers”. The first is based on willpower alone – controlling my expenditure so I don’t draw everything out of my everyday account and swipe my EFTPOS card too often. The second is based on internet access – I can only access it online, and transfer money into my savings account electronically. The third is based on difficulty of access – essentially the same as the second tier, but with the added difficulty of having to log into a different account again.

Hopefully this will accelerate the rate of my savings – I’m not doing too badly, though I have spent a lot in the past few months. Renewed car insurance and registration, an external hard drive, a $200 jacket, about $150 worth of wardrobe basics to replace worn out items, a new pair of black shoes for work to replace two pairs with holes, and not to mention the impending radiator fix and car insurance payout. It’s not been a good handful of months, and combined with job loss, it makes my saving situation that bit more precarious.

7 Responses to A New Bank Account (Again!)

  1. wow, I was checking the term deposit rates yesterday and 5.11% is even better than putting it in TD for 6 months! Since it’s backed by the government guarantee, I’m happy to use it since it gives me easy access to my money :D

    kat on September 2, 2009 #

  2. Gosh I wish there was a bank like that here. I have an HSBC savings account but its down to about 2% from 4% so it’s time to find a new bank.

    Noemi on September 3, 2009 #

  3. Hello,

    Thanks for your ‘blog post on UBank, and our new USaver high interest savings account.

    We thought you readers might also like to know:

    UBank is on Twitter and Facebook:
    - http://twitter.com/ubank
    - http://facebook.com/ubank

    We also have a bunch of demo videos on USaver features over at http://bit.ly/eIShZ

    Speak soon,

    Monty H
    UBank – A good place for money

    Monty H (UBank) on September 3, 2009 #

  4. Mmmm I saw UBank about a month ago, pretty good rates, however I’m not sure I should have yet another bank account!

    I’m *hoping* that it’ll shock some of the other banks into increasing their interest, and we’ll see some competition again. ING is currently 3.5% + 1% bonus, so 4.5%, not too shabby.

    Hah! and you want to talk about spending money? My savings are dwindling fast over here… Must get job soon!

    Bobbi on September 3, 2009 #

  5. I really need to get a savings account and get some interest on my earnings. I guess I always figured the 1-2% rates here just isn’t worth it, but we’ve got some online banks with decent interest (sort of). Or maybe I should just invest. Hmm.

    Becky on September 3, 2009 #

  6. I think I may have to investigate Ubank. My ING Direct interest rate is 3.5%.

    nadine on September 4, 2009 #

  7. At the present time, >5% interest is very cool. I save basically the same way as you (CBA account with lowish amount of money for whenever it is needed, and ING account for most of my money, which I do not touch).

    Like the above commenter mentioned, ING has dropped to 3.5%, so I may also have to have a look into UBank. Thanks for the heads up :-)

    Adam on September 6, 2009 #

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