I’ve got $2,000 to deposit in savings but which bank offers a higher interest rate?

If you have a good portion of cash, say $2,000, it might be time to look for a high interest savings account. 

At the moment, the top saver in the Mozo database for bonus rates is ME Bank’s HomeME savings account at 5.55% pa. To secure this high rate, savers are required to make a regular monthly contribution of $2000 (and have a higher balance ending the month). 

If you’re not sure about the conditions required for the HomeMe account though, or only plan on keeping your savings in for a short while, there are a couple more savings accounts around the same interest rate that could be worth a look. (Keep in mind that each of these savers is a little different, so they’re not exactly like for like). 

ING Savings Maximiser

ING’s Savings Maximiser has a bonus rate of only 5 basis points less at 5.50% p.a. This rate could be a bit easier to achieve than ME’s, given that ING’s requires a contribution of only $1,000 a month, making sure that you grow the balance each month. You'll also have to make sure that you make 5 transactions on eligible ING card purchases and keep the account balance within $100,000 in order to receive the interest rate. 

Here’s how this rate works out over time:

Rabobank High Interest Savings Account

While Rabobank’s high interest savings account comes with a 4 month intro rate of 5.75% pa, it lowers to a base rate of 4.40% pa. Unlike ING and ME’s bonus rate accounts, you won’t have to make regular deposits - but we’ll calculate it assuming you’re depositing the same amount as the previous account. Just keep in mind though that the intro rate is only applicable on account balances up to $250,000.

Over time these rates would lead to the following returns: 

Australian Unity Freedom Saver

This one is more of a regular style account. Australian Unity’s Freedom Saver is a base rate account that offers a 5.20% pa rate. As such, you won’t have to worry about intro rates or fulfilling conditions to get the highest interest possible. However, there are some prerequistes like an account balance between $50,000 and $250,000. So let’s look at numbers: assuming we continue with $1,000 in monthly deposits this account could net you these returns: 

The bottom line… 

These calculations are for illustrative purposes only, since it’s unlikely you’d ever see rates remain this stable over time. It can also be difficult to compare savings accounts with different conditions. But this is why we emphasise the task of comparing—it’s very useful to keep an eye on which banks have the top rates and with the conditions and features that work for your financial situation.

Be sure to check out some providers in the tables below or compare some providers on our savings account page.