Is your savings account still paying the rate you signed up for?
Bonus rates are conditional, and the conditions are where the money goes. Most people never find out the month they stopped meeting them.
Conditional
the ACCC found headline savings rates commonly depend on conditions many customers do not meet in a given month
What this is
Headline savings rates are usually two numbers added together: a low base rate that always applies, and a bonus rate that applies only in months where you meet conditions. The conditions are typically a minimum deposit, a balance that grows, and no withdrawals. Miss one and the advertised rate quietly becomes the base rate for that month, and nothing tells you except the interest line on your statement.
Does it apply to you?
- Anyone with a savings account advertising a bonus or intro rate
- Anyone who dips into savings occasionally, which often breaks the condition
- Anyone whose introductory period has quietly ended
How to do it
- Find the interest actually paid on your last statement, not the rate on the website.
- Read the bonus conditions: usually a minimum deposit each month, a growing balance, or no withdrawals.
- Set the deposit as an automatic transfer on payday so the condition is met without you thinking about it.
- Introductory rates end. Diarise the date yours does.
Where people lose the money
Judging the account by the advertised rate.
Judge it by the interest actually credited last month. That is the rate you are really getting.
Making the monthly deposit manually.
Set it as an automatic transfer on payday. The condition is then met without you remembering.
Forgetting an introductory rate expires.
Diarise the date. Intro rates are designed around people not noticing.
Questions
Do you rank savings accounts?
No. We do not list or rank accounts, funds or investments. This is about checking the account you already have.
Why did I not get the bonus rate?
Usually a condition was missed: the deposit was short, the balance did not grow, or there was a withdrawal. The provider's conditions page sets out exactly which applies.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is general information about how bonus-rate conditions work, based on what the ACCC found in its retail deposits inquiry.
Where these numbers come from
- ACCC, “Bank customers missing out on earning more interest from savings”, Retail deposits inquiry final report, December 2023 · read 2026-09-22
Last gone over 2026-09-22. Figures change; the link above is always the current one.
Published by Income Lab, Melbourne. Responsible for this page: Jarred Krowitz.