Deposit takers jockey for position

Lenders have taken a consistent approach to changes in the official cash rate, with almost all increasing variable mortgage rates by 50 basis points over the past two months, but there has been a lot of variation in the reaction of deposit takers.

At one end of the market there have been some big moves, while there is a significant number of institutions that have not changed their online savings account rates over the past two months.

One trend is for institutions to hold back on passing rate increases through to customers with at-call accounts and promote higher rates on bonus saver accounts and other products that are more effective at locking deposits in.

Queensland police and emergency service workers have been the recipients of the best of the rate changes. The Queensland Police Credit Union raised its Netlink Direct Account S20 by 2.9 per cent last month to 3.9 per cent for all balances of $1 and up.

Commonwealth Bank's Award Saver account was increased by 2.5 per cent on November 9 to 4.76 per cent. CBA also jacked up rates on the Business Online Saver by 1.3 per cent to 4.55 per cent.

The third highest rate increase was from ANZ, which raised its Premium Cash account rate by 1.8 per cent to 2 per cent. ANZ's Online Saver has not moved (the rate is 3.5 per cent) but the bank said it would be announcing a change on Monday.

Other big movers included Newcastle Permanent's Money Minder which went up by 1.5 per cent to two per cent and three accounts offered by Coastline Credit Union which all went up by one per cent.

A large number of institutions are yet to change the rates on their online savings accounts. According to Infochoice, of the 53 banks, credit unions and building societies on its database offering high-yield online savings accounts 15 have passed on the two 25 basis points rate increases, 24 have passed on one increase and 14 have not changed their rates.

Accounts whose rates have not moved over the past couple of months include Australian Central Credit Union's eSavings account, which is offering three per cent, Bank of Queensland's WebSavings account (3.25 per cent), HSBC's Serious Saver (3.25 per cent), Laiki Bank's Smart Net account  (three per cent), and Rural Bank's RBonline Savings (3.75 per cent).

The market leaders are UBank's USaver, offering 5.46 per cent, Arab Bank's Online Savings (4.8 per cent), Railways Credit Union's Express Saver (4.5 per cent), RaboPlus Savings (4.25 per cent) and ME Bank's ME Online Savings (4.25 per cent).

Bank of Cyprus, BankSA, Citibank, ING Direct and NSW Teachers Credit Union are all offering four per cent on their online savings accounts.

Among the institutions promoting bonus saver accounts, HSBC is offering five per cent on its Serious Saver account. The rate is an introductory offer until March next year and interest is payable for every month the account holder des not make a withdrawal.

Other institutions offering high rates on bonus saver accounts include RaboPlus, which is offering 4.25 per cent on its High Interest Savings account and five per cent on its Premium Savings account (account holders need to deposit $200 a month to qualify for the high rate)

The best retail one year term deposit deals for a $10,000 balance are Macquarie Bank with 5.85 per cent and BankWest at 5.8 per cent.