the mozo blog

As 2012 is fast approaching and we are getting ready to sing in the New Year, we thought it was a great time to give you our picks of the best (and worst) banking products of 2011. The Mozo team has scoured the market with a fine-tooth comb, patiently reading product disclosure statements and comparing interest rates to bring you the results.

Some top stand-out products have been released throughout the year, with many bank accounts, home loans and credit cards receiving a big thumbs up. However, with every great product, a not so great product slips its way into the market. And for those that don’t make the grade, the Mozo team has our wooden spoon ready!

Best Bank Account
We love anything fee-free! Launched this year, the Citibank Plus Transaction Account ticks all the boxes for a great everyday banking account. The account has no monthly account fees, and fee free ATM withdrawals within the Citibank network in Australia which includes Citibank, Westpac and St George ATMs. But the real game changer is that this bank account has no overseas ATM or purchase fees (these can be as high as $5 per transaction with some accounts) which makes this a great bank account for jetsetters and homebodies alike!

Some banking providers missed the fee-free memo this year! The Wooden Spoon Award goes to HSBC for its Savings Cheque Account. Not only are customers charged a $7.50 account fee (waived if the balance is always over $1000), the account only has six free ATM and Eftpos transactions a month, after which you are charged $2 for every other transaction. Ouch!

Best High Interest Savings Account
And the best savings account goes to… RaboDirect! Unlike other banks who only offer high interest rates for the first few months to new customers, RaboDirect’s High Interest Savings Account rewards savers with a competitive ongoing interest rate of 5.75% (with balances of up to $200,000). The savings account has other great features such as no minimum balances and no account fees.

The normally fantastic Bankwest has landed itself a Wooden Spoon Award for its Regular Saver Account. The savings account has a high interest rate of 6.50%, but the fine print reveals that you can only get this rate by depositing between $50 and $500 each month. What’s more, after a year the entire balance is swept to a nominated account so you have to start building your balance again!

Best Rewards Credit Card
This year our vote goes to the Qantas Amex Discovery Card for the best rewards credit card. It is one of the few cards that will earn you 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point for every $1 you spend on the card and it has no limit on the number of points you can earn in a year.  But best of all the Qantas Amex Discovery Card has no annual fee. When you consider most rewards cards have annual fees of around $150 this is a great saving which you can put towards your holiday spending.

Best Credit Card
Aussies love to travel and with the increased popularity of online shopping, finding the best credit card for you can make a huge difference to your finances. The 28 Degrees MasterCard has some great features for savvy travelers and shoppers which puts it at the top of our list:

- 100% free to use in Australia and overseas
- No overseas transaction or foreign currency conversion fees
-You can put credit in it before you start your trip.

Not to its usual great standard, Macquarie Bank increased its RateSaver and Gold credit cards by 0.25% after the RBA cut in November earning it our Wooden Spoon Award.

Best Mortgages
Loans.com.au and State Custodians are small players offering big savings in the home loan market! By not using brokers they’re able to offer competitive rates direct to borrowers – up to 0.75% below the average standard variable rate . You’ll have to spend time filling out the paperwork but the savings you’ll make will be worth it.  For example, if your current home loan is with Westpac on the Rocket Repay Home Loan at 7.61% ($300,000 over 25 years), you can save over 70K by switching to these low rate providers.

The ‘fixed rate revert rort’ is a sneaky tactic by banks. They provide low fixed rates for the first few years and then revert to high variable rates once the fixed period is over. Citibank gets our wooden spoon for its fixed rate loans. For instance its 3 year fixed rate of 5.94% reverts to 7.77% for the rest of the loan.

Finding the right product in 2012
With so many products in the market, the search for the right credit card, bank account or home loan may seem daunting but Mozo has all the tools you need to tease out the “gotcha’s” and find the best deal! Head to Mozo now >>>

I was at the ATM getting some cash out to pay for my traditional Sunday night pizza when it dawned on me that in a lot of ways, the different types of bank accounts are very much akin to different types of pizza, with the account as a base and the features as toppings. With Sunday’s pizza now just another delicious faded memory, I’ve decided to fully explore this notion and in doing so, identify the best slices of bank account goodness out there.

Slice 1: The Margarita

Sometimes the best pizza is the simplest, and there’s no simpler pizza than an old fashioned margarita. In banking terms, this is the standard transaction account which gives you full access via EFTPOS, debit card and branch but no interest paid on the account. Not all margarita pizzas are created equal mind you and my slice of choice is NAB’s Classic banking account. It’s got no monthly fee, unlimited withdrawals from NAB and rediATMs as well as unlimited free access to your money via EFTPOS, internet banking, phone banking, branch and cheque book. There are similar accounts such as the Suncorp Everyday Basics account and the Citibank Plus Transaction account, but NAB has the widest distribution of ATMs and branches.

Slice 2: The Supreme

If you’re the type who wants it all, from pineapple to parmesan, nothing beats a Supreme pizza. In banking terms, you’ll be looking for a bank account that not only acts as a transaction account, but also pays high interest. My choice of supreme is the AMP eASYSaver (you’ll have to forgive their appalling capitalisation policy in naming the thing though!). You get 5.15% interest on every dollar, unlimited free access through internet, NAB and rediATMs, EFTPOS and an optional free chequebook.

There are other high-interest transaction accounts such as the BankWest Hero account, but AMP has the highest rate as well as no conditions with regards to balances or deposits. One thing to note however, is that this account has a $5 monthly fee, so you’ll need to hold a balance of at least $1,200 at all times to make the interest cover the fee.

Slice 3: The Gourmet

If you see yourself as a bit of a gourmand, there are niche accounts providing extra ATM benefits on top of being great everyday accounts as well.

The Moroccan Lamb and Tandoori Chicken banking equivalents come hot from the ovens of ING Direct and BankWest. ING DIRECT’s offering is the Orange Everyday account. There’s no monthly fee and unlimited free ATM withdrawals at any Australian ATM if you withdraw more than $200. On top of that there’s unlimited free EFTPOS transactions and ING Direct even pays you $0.50 if you withdraw more than $200 through EFTPOS. A few of those and you’ve got yourself some free garlic bread!

The second slice of choice is the BankWest Zero Transaction Account. Again, there’s no monthly fee, unlimited free ATM withdrawals at any ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac or BankWest ATM as well as unlimited free EFTPOS transactions. The only catch is that you need to deposit $2000 a month into the account to maintain it, otherwise you’ll be switched over to another BankWest account.

The Crust: Final Thoughts

So next time you’re siting idly at home waiting for the delivery boy to arrive, instead of wallowing in your own hunger, use the time to see if there’s a bank account that’s more suited to your taste. It’s a slice of advice that could make things a lot easier for you.

Still hungry for information on bank accounts? Finish off that pizza and head over to Mozo Answers!

It’s officially been over a month since we launched Answers and with well over 300 questions and answers submitted it looks like you’ve all taken quite a shine to it. One of the questions that crops up regularly is “what are the best accounts for students?”. So to find out who’s top of the class, here are a few things to look for when choosing bank accounts, credit cards and personal loans for students.

Bank Accounts

Students are a frugal bunch at the best of times, and if you’re looking to save enough change for some $7 Pad Thai for lunch, the humble bank account is one place where you can save a few pennies by avoiding unnecessary charges on everyday transactions.

First of all, you want a student bank account with as few fees as possible. That means no monthly service fee, no own-bank ATM fees, and no eftpos fees. You also want to make sure that there aren’t any minimum requirements or conditions for the account fees to be waived, as chances are you won’t be able to meet them with just a casual wage and centrelink. The other key component is the availability of a debit card so you can shop online using your own money. All of the Big 4 (ANZ, Commbank, NAB and Westpac) have accounts that match this criteria, and seeing as they have the largest ATM networks you’re best off sticking with them as it’ll mean you’ll pay less foreign ATM fees.

Credit Cards

Some of the big banks offer specific student credit cards, whilst there are other ‘normal’ credit cards that are an ideal fit for students. What is an ideal fit? By and large students are looking for a no frills, low cost solution that can act as a type of overdraft. So the things to look out for are interest free days, annual fee and interest rate. My recommendation? Take a look at the self-titled ‘HSBC credit card’ or BankWest’s Zero Mastercard. Both have low fees, 55 days interest free days, a reasonable purchase rate and relatively low income thresholds for applications.

As far as income goes, the combination of youth allowance and some part-time work will get you over the line for most no-frills cards. When you apply, make sure you take documentation for all your income in the form of payslips and centrelink documents if need be.

Personal Loans

For those looking to avoid the potential pitfalls of credit card ownership, some banks offer specific student loans to help cover the costs of textbooks, living costs, fees etc. These loans tend to feature reduced fees and/or interest for students and some even allow you to defer interest payments till after you’ve completed your studies! Victoria Teachers Credit Union’s Student Loan currently leads the market, offering an unsecured loan with no monthly fee, a low application fee of $20 and an extremely low variable rate of 11.55%.

Still hungry for information on student accounts? Stop playing ultimate frisbee and head over to Mozo Answers or check out the Mozo Student Room!

As you may have noticed, we here at Mozo have just launched Mozo Answers, a brand spanking-new forum platform where anyone can start up or get involved in a range of money conversations. As an offshoot, I’ve decided to launch a ‘question of the week’ style column, where I’ll take the best or most commonly asked question of the week and attempt to provide an in depth answer myself.

This week’s about the young ones. It seems like there are a lot of forward-thinking parents looking to setup childrens’ savings accounts for a myriad of purposes. Whether you’re saving for university, angling for tax breaks or simply looking to teach your kids the value of saving, here’s my take on the best accounts in the market.

First off, let’s look at kids savings accounts. The big fish at the moment is BankWest’s Kids’ Bonus Saver, which offers a jaw-dropping 10%. Like most other kids accounts however, there are number of conditions that affect how much you can earn. The key flaws with the account are that you lose interest if you make any withdrawals, there is a maximum deposit of $250 a month and that after one year all your money is swept into a different BankWest account that earns a paltry 1%. These sorts of deposit and withdrawal conditions are commonplace amongst kids accounts, and as I’m about to show you, they can make a considerable difference.

In terms of simplicity, flexibility and interest my personal vote would have to go to Suncorp’s Kids Saving account, which allows 1 withdrawal per month and earns 5.75% interest. As a testament to the power of small print, despite it having a markedly lower headline rate than BankWest’s offering, you’d stand to make $209 more interest with Suncorp (assuming a regular monthly deposit of $250 with no withdrawals).

If your child is over 12 then there’s an ever better option. RaboDirect’s High Interest Savings has a great, market-leading standard interest rate of 6.0%, no deposit conditions and no monthly fees. It’s available to anyone over 12 years of age and as it’s not a kids account per see, your child can keep using the account well into adulthood.

All up, the key message to take away is to look for a flexible account with a good headline rate, keeping well abreast of the small print in the process. Follow these rules and your child may no longer need to hit you up up for pocket money (not likely mind you!).

Got any more questions on kids accounts? Or anything else for that matter? Ask away on Mozo Answers.

Last time I looked at my budget, I checked my bank statements to see how much I spent on bank fees. What jumped out was the $60 I spent in ATM fees in the past year – those “too lazy to walk to my own bank’s ATM” fees. Neither my accountant nor my personal trainer would be happy with that, so today when I went to grab lunch and found myself cashless I thought I’d make the effort.

I walked past Suncorp, Bank of Queensland and Westpac ATMs – and ignored 11 other closer machines in the opposite direction – in search of my nearest rediATM. The rediATM iPhone app tells me it is only 350 meters away, which seems a doddle, but it doesn’t know that pedestrians in Sydney need to make an application to cross the road and must then wait impatiently for a billion cars to pass before they are afforded the luxury. This can take a while.

Of course, when I got there the ATM was broken. (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?) But this was not your usual “This machine is not currently in service” kind of broken. No, I’m talking about the totally-dismantled-and-lying-in-pieces-all-over-the-footpath kind of broken. Innards out one side, screen missing, keypad on the ground, wires all over. According to the ATM technician at work on it, “Somebody head-butted it.”

If you know William Street in Sydney, you’ll know that this is not at all unlikely.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how I might avoid all this shopping around for cash. There are two particularly interesting options. ING’s Orange Everyday account actually rebates the $2 ATM fee from any ATM in the country, as long as you withdraw $200 each time. Or Bankwest’s Zero Transaction Account gives free use of any Big 4 ATM, as long as you deposit $2,000 a month into it. But both of these mean giving up the really good interest rate I get on my current product, and changing the way I manage my money. Another option for me would be to switch to Suncorp, whose ATM is practically next door, but that only works when I’m at Mozo HQ and is of no use at my local shops.

Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and it seems that perhaps there’s no such thing as free lunch money any more, either. Perhaps this is why that guy head-butted the ATM.

Rather than shopping around for cash every week (or hitting your head against a bank wall), ask yourself whether you might be better off spending some time shopping around for the right account. And the right account is different for everyone – which is where Mozo’s bank account comparison tables come in.

A couple of months ago we trumpeted St George’s SENSE account as the poster child for the trend towards more different and innovative products in the transaction account category. As a follow up, over the coming weeks I thought it would be good to take a look at a couple of the other new kids on the block who are doing things a bit differently in banking world. The first of these hotshots is ANZ’s Extras Package…

The ANZ Extras Package is a standard ANZ access account which, as the name suggests, comes with a range of extras for an increased monthly fee of $18. What does this $18 get you? Well, apart from a standard day-to-day bank account, the package gives you a range of bonuses and benefits you’d normally associate with a credit card or a home loan package.

The first of these is a slew of instant shopping and dining discounts as well as ticket and travel offers, similar to the kind of thing we’ve seen in credit cards over the past few years. Another key feature is 24 hour roadside assistance. Considering the usual annual cost of this service is approx $99, its addition could help justify forking out the account’s monthly fee.

The Extras Package also comes with mobile phone, domestic travel and accidental death insurance. The mobile phone cover is particularly unique and as it usually costs about $6 a month when taken with your mobile provider, it proves a pretty handy saving. Whilst all this cover is useful, I must say it’s odd that there isn’t some level of purchase protection or extended warranty as they would seem to be a better fit for a day-to-day transaction account.

On the financial side, you get free access to a monthly overdraft facility of up to $1000. You also get 0.2% bonus interest on an ANZ Online Saver account as well as waiver on an ANZ First credit card’s $30 annual fee. Like ANZ’s standard account, the extras package also comes with a Visa debit card.

The question is whether all the ‘extras’ are worth the $18 monthly fee. Financially, the overdraft facility is handy, but there are far better savings and credit card products out there even when you add the discounts into the equation. Also, if you already have a home loan package or credit card, you’ll already have access to most of the benefits available. However, for those without either, ANZ’s extras package has a host of benefits that depending on circumstance, could save you a bit of money and make things a little more convenient. It may not be for everyone, but nonetheless, it’s heartening to see a bank try something new.

Go to mozo to compare all bank accounts

With high competition for customers on both the lending and savings/deposit fronts, it is often the everyday transaction account that gets forgotten by many providers and consumers. Viewed by many as a simple vanilla account, many Australians are oblivious to the fact that there are some great, innovative products out there, all geared to help them save money.

For example, both BankWest and ING Direct offer transaction accounts that reimburse ATM fees. A more innovative product is Suncorp Bank’s everyday options account, which is an everyday account that can link to multiple savings accounts as well as lock away part of your funds to a term deposit “flexiRate”.

St. George’s latest offering, St George SENSE Savings, is similar in many ways to Suncorp’s with a few different bells and whistles. The ‘SENSE’ account is effectively an amalgam of St. George’s leading savings and transactions accounts with a few clever gimmicks to help things along.

The first innovative add on is that you receive a combined statement for both accounts. SENSE also comes with a range of pretty snazzy and informative graphs that help you track your spending. One of them is a pie chart that breaks down your everyday spending by categories, such as leisure, home expenses, and transport. There’s also a bar graph version that shows these amounts month to month. Plus you get a graph outlining your savings progress in relation to your set target.

There’s also the Sense Rounding Contribution graph -and this is what really sets this product apart. What exactly is a rounding contribution? Well, every time you make a purchase on your debit card, the SENSE account automatically rounds up the transaction to the nearest dollar and takes that balance from your everyday account and puts it into your savings bucket. For example, say I bought a coffee and a croissant on my way in to work that costs me $5.30. If I pay using my SENSE account, $6 gets taken out of my account. $5.30 goes to the barista and the remaining $0.70 goes into my SENSE savings account. The same process also applies to all BPay transactions too. It’s a really nifty way to start saving without putting any effort in.

All the standard perks come too – if you deposit over $2000 a month into the account you don’t pay an annual fee, there’s no minimum balance required, a VISA debit card, and all the convenience of having linked accounts, such as ease of transfers and regular payments. The savings account comes with a reasonable 4.85% rate as well.

So hats off to St. George. They’ve managed to craft a simple, yet intuitive and innovative product that redefines the relationship between the transaction and the savings account. For all those that struggle with saving, or simply having to manage two accounts, this is one option that could make a lot of SENSE.

Find the best savings account rates at mozo.com.au.

A slew of Australia’s banks, including the Big 4, are facing, what is being labeled as the largest class action case in corporate history. Litigation funder IMF Australia is funding several class action suits against the banks, seeking at least $400 million of the $5 billion charged in ‘exception fees’ by the banks.

Exception fees are fees charged by banks for ‘exceptional’ circumstances. These circumstances include late payment fees on both credit cards and loans, over-limit fees on credit cards, honour fees when overdrawing a bank account, and dishonour fees charged for cheques that bounce. Reserve Bank data shows that banks charged consumers $961 million in exception fees in 2008.

The impact of these fees on your credit card cost can be significant. Say you’re on a ‘low rate’ credit card with an interest rate of 11.99% and running a $3000 balance. A $30 charge for being a couple of days late on a payment effectively makes your interest rate 12.99% in terms of your cost. If you’re late or overdraw a few more times over the course of the year, the additional costs effectively transforms your low rate card into a middle of the range card without any of the perks.

The principal legal argument for the class action is that when a customer breaks a contract with a bank (by making a late payment for example), the bank may only be able to recover a reasonable estimate of the cost. IMF Australia’s contention is that the banks charge fees much higher than what can be termed a ‘reasonable estimation’, given that it actually costs banks “only a few dollars at most” when you make a late payment or overdraw on your account.

There is a foreign precedent, with close to a million Britons unsuccessfully seeking compensation for overdraft charges in 2009, though a new case set to be heard in Glasgow in June could lead to more litigation. The issue also reared its head in America, with the US Federal Reserve recently ruling that creditors must obtain a consumer’s consent before charging fees for transactions that exceed the credit limit.

Here in Australia, the worst offenders for credit card over limit and late payment fees are Citibank and Suncorp, both charging a whopping $40 for each occurrence. Even NAB, who made a great deal of noise when slashing bank account fees this year, still charge $25 for going over your card limit and $30 for a late payment. Westpac and St. George lead the way, charging only $9. However, the case goes back six years, which could still spell trouble for those who have only recently cut fees.

Even though there will most likely not be a resolution for years, if ever, it will be intriguing to see how the banks behave in the light of all this publicity, particularly in a time of record profits. Even if this case is successful, it almost goes without saying that the banks will find other means to maintain their margins, whether through higher regular account fees or interest rates. As a consumer, the best way to deal with this is to shop around. Only when customers start voting with their feet (and their wallets) will banks really address these issues.

Banking comparsions at mozo.com.au

Last night’s federal budget contained the very welcome news that interest on your savings will soon receive special tax treatment. From 1 July 2011, you’ll only pay half the tax on the first $1,000 of your interest income.

This is a big win for the banking industry. The measure only applies to income earned on bank accounts, savings accounts, term deposits, bonds and annuities. It will have the effect of pulling money into the banks from other investment vehicles — and from out of cookie jars and under mattresses. And it is Mr Swan’s hope – and mine, and I’m sure yours – that this extra leg up for banks will help them gather sufficient deposits to reduce the overall cost of funding their home loan products. Wouldn’t that be nice: better savings returns and cheaper home financing. Only time will tell.

But what’s it mean for you exactly? Well, at an interest rate of 5.85% (the best standard at-call interest rate in the market right now, at UBank), you’ll be able to save up to $17,000 and receive the full rate reduction. If your taxable income is between $35,000 and $80,000 then you’ll only pay an effective tax rate of 15% on interest: that means a saving of up to $150 a year. And of course the savings are even higher if you’re on a higher rate of tax.

But here’s a savings measure you can access right now. If you already have money that’s not getting the best rate in the market, you can make $150 or more by moving it. If your 17 grand is only earning 4.50%, say in an old BankWest TeleNet Saver account, then moving it to a rate of 5.85% makes you $150 — even after paying current tax rates. And you can do better yet with a Term Deposit, where plenty of providers offer well over 6% on your money for terms as short as 6 months.

If you’re not making the most of your savings, don’t wait for 2011. Mozo’s Rate Chasers have been out in the field chasing down the best rates – compare savings account and term deposit rates now.