GoalSaver and Youthsaver accounts allow you to earn bonus interest when you grow your savings balance each calendar month (excluding interest and transactions initiated by the Bank).
Credit Interest vs. Bonus Interest
Credit interest is paid to your account based on the standard variable rate applied to savings accounts, calculated daily on your positive account balance and paid monthly.
Bonus interest is an additional interest rate on top of the standard variable rate, paid to your account when certain conditions are met, like growing your savings balance each month. Both types of interest can help grow your savings, but bonus interest offers the potential for higher return, allowing you to meet your savings goals quicker.
The current interest rates for GoalSaver and Youthsaver accounts can be found on their respective product pages.
Additional considerations to earn bonus interest
In addition to credit interest on GoalSaver and Youthsaver accounts, bonus interest is paid on:
- Youthsaver accounts on balances up to and including $50,000 if you make at least one deposit of any amount into your account in the calendar month, and have a higher account balance at the end of the calendar month than at the start of the calendar month. If you withdraw from your account, deposit more money than you withdrew in the calendar month. Standard interest rate applies to any portion of the balance above $50,000.
- GoalSaver accounts if you make at least one deposit of any amount into your account in the calendar month, and have a higher account balance at the end of the calendar month than at the start of the calendar month. If you withdraw from your account, deposit more money than you withdrew in the calendar month.
- For bonus interest eligibility purposes, transactions initiated by the bank are excluded, such as:
- Interest paid into the account do not count as deposits,
- Bank or government fees and charges on this account do not count as withdrawals.
- Payments or transfers that are unsuccessful and subsequently returned to your account will be excluded from your monthly deposit total.
- If you hold more than one Youthsaver or GoalSaver account, bonus interest eligibility and payments are calculated and paid separately for each account held, not based on the combined activity of all accounts.
What happens if you don’t meet Bonus Interest eligibility for the month?
Bonus interest is calculated on your daily positive closing account balance and is paid into your account each month along with your credit interest earnings. If you don't meet the monthly criteria for bonus interest, you'll miss out on the extra earnings for that month, but you'll still earn credit interest.
Unfortunately, bonus interest that has been missed for one month can't be backdated, but you have the opportunity to earn it again the next month if you meet the eligibility requirements.
