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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Got cash? Bankwest TeleNet, Smart eSaver or Regular Saver Accounts?

Most people will come to realise that Bankwest offers the best interest rate for savings accounts generally and most recently they have launched the Smart eSaver Account. Let's compare this offering with the existing options in Bankwest. Personally, I have a regular saver account and a telenet saver account and it looks like its time for some money shuffling.

Interest rate (as at 2/4/09)
Regular Saver account 6%
Smart eSaver account 5%
TeleNet Saver account 3.15% (3.95% first 12 months)

Restrictions with Regular Saver Account
You can only put in $500 each month. At the end of the year, the $6000+interest gets swept into you normal account and you start your saving all over again. Bit of a hassle. Good if that's all you have to invest at the moment and if you are not putting too much else in each month from now on. Let's call this the spare change saver account.

Restrictions with Smart eSaver Account
You can put whatever amount in.
Very good rate but it drops to 3.25% for the month if you make a withdrawal during that month for anything (but will go back up the following month). This is where I will be moving my regular saver money and telent saver money in. We'll call this the no mortgage saver account. If you have a big sum of cash waiting maybe to put a deposit on the home in 2 years time, this is where you go. More details here.

Restrictions with TeleNet Saver Account
You can put whatever amount in. Its a low rate but it will continue to pay the same rate no matter what transactions you make to this account. This is good for people who have an unpredictable cashflow month by month and want to make some money on the side. I call it the contractor saver account. More details on the account here.

By the way, none of this is financial advice. These are merely opinions.

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