Yahoo Finance Aussie savers in for cruel summer after CBA move
Australia’s largest bank has today cut the rate on two of its popular savings accounts by up to 0.05 per cent.
To date in 2021, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has cut its Netbank Saver a total of six times, its GoalSaver account five times, and its Youthsaver account six times.
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“While today’s cuts from CBA are minor, they round out a year of micro-cuts from the banks, despite no move to the cash rate,” RateCity.com.au research director, Sally Tindall, said.
“The problem for the banks is they’re packed to the rafters with cash. A lot of banks aren’t willing to post competitive savings rates because they don’t want to attract more money that they’ll then have to pay interest on.”
The most recent APRA statistics for October show Australian households have a total of $1.21 trillion in the bank – an increase of $108 billion from the year prior and the highest amount on record.
“It’s been a bumper year for deposits. The pandemic has encouraged people to save for a rainy day and, for many people, low-cost lockdown living has helped facilitate this,” Tindall said.
“While we might collectively have more money stashed in the bank than ever before, the savings are bittersweet because, for many people, they’re earning next to nothing in interest.”
Tindall said next year was also looking bleak for savers, predicting the big banks weren’t likely to move their rates north until the RBA hiked the cash rate.
At this stage, that is not expected until 2023.
“It’s still worth shopping around. Some banks are offering ongoing savings rates of over 1 per cent, but they’re getting harder and harder to find,” Tindall said.
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