ABCDiamond

Maybe the UK HSBC needs to get money in fast, and is prepared to pay well over the odds for it, although it does seem very weird.

• HSBC will pay you 10.0% if you lend money to them.
• HSBC charge you 2.29% if you borrow money from them.

= HSBC losing money

Best rate here is 7% at the moment.

MartinLuther

It's just a gimmick account. It's to get bums on seats. Some people will leave after the year but some will stay even with the poor rate they'll get after the 12 months is over.

You do get similar things here. Here's an example which is limited to children but ultimately serves the same purpose.

http://www.bankwest.com.au/kids/

Daydreamer123

What account is this? I thought that 6.51 with UBank was the best at the moment, but always happy to swap if theres something better.

ABCDiamond

Think i'll open an account in my childs name. 10% pa for an Australian savings account is not bad.

So that's a UK HSBC account at 10% and an Australian BankWest account at 10%

bcworld

Virgin Money has a promo rate at 6.75%. But after 4 months it drops to 5.35%.

Although it has conditions I don't consider Ubank's 6.51% to be promotional as there isn't a time component to earning the bonus interest.

Daydreamer123

Yeah, I'll stick with Ubank till something better comes along, they have been pretty good. I switched to them about a year ago after the bankwest promo rate ended. They dont have a fixed period or total savings - or if they do, I'm not likely to reach it.

bcworld

After $200k it resorts to the basic savings rate (6.01%) - no worries here about that though!

ABCDiamond

Bankwest.
But like the HSBC UK one, there are terms and conditions; you must make regular deposits, and there are monthly limits, which work out at A$6,000 per year, the same as the HSBC one, according to CasualObserver1.

The ubank account does not have these same limitations, and would be compared to a normal HSBC savings account which pays... umm actually does it pay anything these days..
My daughter used to get just over £2.00 per month in interest on her small HSBC UK account, but it is now only 12p. (with virtually the same balance, only slightly higher, now only rising by 12p per month)

Daydreamer123

Oh thats a shame, already used up my BankWest one - I think you need to be a new customer.

I do like the no limitation on Ubank, or at least no limits that I am likely to reach in the future, especially as I will be incomeless from next month.

MartinLuther

I thought about it a couple of years ago but in the end I couldn't be bothered. It's a while since I looked at it but I seem to remember that the money was swept into a 2nd account at the end of the year which didn't offer a great rate.

MartinLuther

Bankwest does offer some good rates on their term deposits if your happy to tie some money up.

carolinephillips

I hate the fees they charge- $5 pcm at ANZ. As I hardly use the account, I'm going to close it.
My Lloyds bank account never charged fees, even when I don't use it more than once a year.

MartinLuther

I'm not sure why people pay fees.

spottydog

So many Ts & C's around it I cant see many people rushing to get it:

- Need to have one of their premier accounts which cost upwards of GBP13 a month or require you to earn over 100k and have a mortgage over 300k with HSBC
- If you close the account within a year interest is less than 1%.
- No withdrawals
- Max investment is 250 a month which isn't a significant amoutn if you are one of their premier customers who is entitled to the 10% rate

With all this to get GBP163 in interest before tax if you invest the maximum allowed it seems like a marketing ploy to get you to take up other HSBC products more than a good deal.

fish.01

+ they only pay the interest at the completion of the term....so no compounding.

10% paid annually is only the equivalent of 7.9% paid monthly with compounding.