01-Oct-2019 • Personal Finance
ME today announced three enhancements to its popular Online Savings Account (OSA)/ Everyday Transaction Account (ETA) bundle – making bonus rate qualification easier and helping customers reach savings goals sooner.
The first enhancement makes it easier to earn bonus interest on the OSA; customers simply have to tap & go™ their linked ETA debit Mastercard ® at least four times a month to qualify, instead of once a week.
The second improvement provides more opportunities to save; when customers meet the criteria1, bonus interest is paid on all OSAs they hold on all balances up to $250,000, rather than just their first OSA.
Finally, customers can order different coloured debit cards for each ETA, in recognition of the rise of ‘bucket budgeting’, as well as stickers to help them assign different cards to different spending categories.
All enhancements are effective today, Tuesday 1 October 2019.
“The changes make the bundle a better fit for an increasingly sophisticated savings community,” said ME’s General Manager Personal Banking, Claudio Mazzarella.
“A growing number of customers are now using our OSA/ETA bundle as one product – keeping all their money in their OSA to maximise interest, and transferring money into their ETA only once they’re ready to transact.
“Similarly we’re seeing more customers engage in ‘bucket budgeting’ by putting their funds in multiple ETAs, and even OSAs, as a visual management tool for their savings goals.
“We’re adapting to our customers, and servicing their changing behaviours and needs with these product changes, said Mazzarella.
Record low interest rates – which according to the RBA2 are an average of 0.45%p.a. for a savings account – are making saving a buck harder than ever.
ME’s Online Savings Account remains a simple and valuable product, with one of the highest ongoing interest rates in the market:
- 0.80% p.a. variable base rate
- 1.55% p.a. variable bonus rate1
- 2.35% p.a. total variable rate
-ends-
Legal notes:
(1) To receive bonus interest on your OSA for any calendar month you must have a ME Everyday Transaction Account (ETA) and during that month at least four purchases you make with your ETA debit Mastercard® using tap & go™ are settled by us with the relevant merchant. Your OSA(s) and ETA(s) must be in the same name (sole name accounts) or names (joint name accounts) for you to be eligible for bonus interest. Bonus interest is only payable on balances up to $250,000 on each OSA you open. You’re automatically eligible for bonus interest on each of your OSAs unless they were opened before 10/08/15, in which case you’re only eligible for bonus interest upon request from the date of the request. Purchases made in a calendar month which are settled by us in the next calendar month (for reasons beyond our control) do not count towards the four card purchases needed this current calendar month, but will contribute to the next calendar month’s count. If, on the day you close your OSA account, there have been purchase transactions at the time of closure which have not yet been settled by us, these will not be eligible purchases for bonus interest. If you don’t meet all of these bonus interest conditions you’ll receive variable base rate interest only, however in any month we may without notice waive the requirement for you to meet all of these conditions. We may change or withdraw the bonus interest offer at any time. Please consider if these products are right for you. Fees and charges apply. Terms and conditions available on request.
(2) https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/ Retail Deposit and Investment Rates August 2019 F4