A while back I posted about some of the things I do to make a little extra cash, or make our money go a bit further. Money, Money, Money
This morning I just posted on Simple Savers FB group about my bank account system and I’m putting it here now incase it doesn’t get approved because I don’t want to lose it! (I think sometimes the bots reject things if they mention brand names).
Sharing incase it helps someone… please realise that this is what works for me and my family, and I am sharing to be helpful. Obviously you may prefer to do things differently. 🙂
Savings accounts:
I keep my savings split between an ING Savings Maximiser account and several UBank Save accounts. I opened my first ING account a couple of years before 2000, and since then they have consistently had the highest interest rate I could find (I’m not including any short term introductory rates). Then when UBank started they also had a very good interest rate, just under ING, so I opened an account with them as well because I wanted to split my savings accounts and ING would only let me have one.
I was just checking the interest rates today and ING/UBank are both 5.5% (including bonus interest rate) but with UBank there are less conditions to get the bonus rate, and you can have multiple savings accounts earning that rate. Conditions for ING are that you need to have a linked Everyday account, make a $1000 minimum deposit that month, make 5+ card transactions, and grow the balance of the savings account. Conditions for UBank are have a linked Spend account and deposit $500 that month. It was $200 so that’s gone up recently, but there’s no other conditions.
I’ll be keeping an eye out to see if ING “fights back” to regain the top spot, as well as looking out for higher rates anywhere. I don’t have enough savings to make it worth switching for introductory/short term rates, but if anyone does know of other high interest banks feel free to share! Oh and I have kids accounts with First Options Credit Union, as they have a Kids Bonus Saver that is 5.5% including bonus interest rate, and the only condition is a $5 monthly deposit and no withdrawals. My parents put money in monthly, and any gift money goes in there as well.
Once my two eldest turned 18 they had to switch to other accounts – one has a youth saver with Westpac, and the other has stuck to Suncorp to keep all their money together.
Transaction/everday accounts:
ING – I have the required ING Everday account to get the bonus interest – my pay, and my partners contribution to household spending and bills, goes into that and then I transfer it to my other accounts. Joint accounts do not work for me, and thankfully my partner also prefers it that way. Oh and when I pay for Electricity and Utilities with ING I get a 1% rebate.
Suncorp – I have a Suncorp account (this was my original bricks and mortar bank account) that I now only use for my mortgage payments – I get paid, the mortgage payment gets transfered to my Suncorp account to sit there until it’s direct debited to my mortgage. I do also make an extra payment on payday directly into the mortgage (redraw).
UBank – I have the required UBank Spend account to get the bonus interest and I transfer money to this account for direct debits – mainly streaming services, PHI, and my tolls account.
HSBC – I have a HSBC account that I use for all grocery/petrol/misc spending. It helps me to keep that money seperate and also I get 2% back on any tap and pay (up to the purchase amount of $100). So if the store charges a surcharge I get that back, or if they don’t, I get a little bonus. Every little bit helps!
I have started to use cash again for smaller businesses, I do find it much harder to keep track of my spending with cash though! I’ll need to start keeping receipts.
Mortgage: We have a basic no fee mortgage with a redraw facility (UBank). I have had a mortgage with the offset account where you put all income in and then have a credit card for monthly spending, but I found that too hard for me to manage. I know it works brilliantly for some though.
I also don’t do the thing where you put short term savings into the redraw, because even though it will save some interest I like to have a good idea of where the mortgage is at, and I’d find it too hard if I was say putting bills money in there to withdraw.
Having said that we are (finally) at the stage where we can start saving a proper Emergency Fund so I think I might put that into the redraw.
Bayside Homestead 