Bonus rates a downer
On Friday, ANZ and NAB cut the interest rates on their bonus savings accounts, both cutting their bonus rates by 25 basis points. Small deposit takers also cut rates late last week.ANZ cut the bonus rate on its Progress Saver account from 1.85 to 1.60 per cent. The base rate is 0.01 per cent.NAB cut the bonus rate on its Reward Saver account from 1.86 to 1.61 per cent. The base rate is 0.11 per cent.Commonwealth Bank has earlier cut the bonus rate on its Goal Saver account from 1.15 to 0.9 per cent. The base rate is 0.01 per cent.Westpac has yet to adjust its savings rates.RateCity research director Sally Tindall said regular savers were being hit with a full 25 bps cut or more.Also on Friday, neobank 86 400 emailed customers telling them the maximum rate on its Save account was being cut from 2.5 per cent to 2.25 per cent. The base rate remains at 40 bps.Up Bank also cut the maximum rate of its savings account from 2.5 to 2.25 per cent.The big banks have also made cuts to their introductory rate savings accounts.ANZ Online Saver's three-month introductory rate has been cut 25 bps to 1.6 per cent, reverting to a base rate of 0.1 per cent.NAB iSaver's four-month introductory rate has been cut 25 bps to 1.86 per cent, reverting to a base rate of 0.11 per cent.CBA Netbank's five-month introductory rate has been cut 35 bps to 1.65 per cent, reverting to a base rate of 0.1 per cent.According to RateCity, MyState is offering the best at-call savings rate of 2.5 per cent on its Bonus Saver account.Australian Unity, Rams 86 400 and Up Bank are offering 2.25 per cent. 86 400 came out of the blocks with a 2.50 per cent savings rate but has not been able to sustain its market leading position.