How Well are You REALLY Saving for Your First Home?

Interest rates are at an incredibly low point at the moment and if you are one of those saving for their first home, this can be greatly frustrating. However, with such low interest rates, it is even more critical that you get your act together when it comes to choosing the right savings account for your money.

With the price of homes today, it would not be unlikely that first homebuyers have $200,000 sitting in a savings account. There is a savings account with ING which gives you up to 3.50% with their variable Savings Maximiser. The only condition -  transfer $1000 or more into their account every month (even if you transfer it back out and repeat).

If you are with the ANZ Online Saver account, after three months, you would be getting only 2% for your savings. Assuming you have $200,000, if the differential between ING and ANZ kept going for a year, you could lose $3,500 in one year of saving! If you kept that going for three years, that's $11,500! You can also look at Commbank's woeful offerings here or Westpac over here.

Even for a savvy saver who chooses a more competitive account like Ubank's Usaver account, for a $200,000 saving is $2,380 per year at the current differential rates.

Bankwest offers 3.25% with their Hero Saver account IF you don't touch your money each month. If you do, you get 0.01% and for that month if you had $200,000 in it, you would have lost $540 of interest for that month! Westpac does a similar account here offering 2.50% (and 0.01% if you withdraw any amount during the month). However, ING does not penalise you for moving money in and out of their 3.50% 2.75% (their rate has dropped 0.75% in the last year so in August 2016 this is the new rate) account which you can see can make a serious difference.

How to Apply?

If you would like to sign up to the ING Savings Maximiser, you will need to open an Orange Everyday account (a debit card which gives you 2% cashback for every purchase you make on paypass - a very good offer!). (ING Direct is no longer offering 2% cashback). If you want to get serious with your first home saving, our suggestion is to sign up with ING Direct and get $75 cashback by applying here.