Last chance to secure best interest rates
Australian banks cut savings rates ahead of RBA announcement
The days to secure the best savings rates seen in over a decade are numbered in Australia as banks start to lower their rates in anticipation of an expected cut by the Federal Reserve bank next month.
In the past couple of weeks the 12 month term deposit rate for the BankWest tddirect account has been cut by a total of 0.65% – far more than the expected 0.25% fall in rates from the RBA. The td direct product did have a rate of 8.75% for 12 months, this then fell to 8.50% and this week has gone down again to 8.10%. Despite these falls this Bankwest savings product remains one of the more competitive offers on the market.
Raboplus savings accounts rates for their online savings account product have this month fallen from 8.0% down to 7.3%.
There are still some great offers available with the BankWest Telenet Saver offering a rate of 8.50% until Jan 09 and St.George offering a rate of up to 8.10%. Judging by what has happened so far though it is likely that banks will be quick to reduce rates in line with any fall so now is a good time to secure one of the savings account offers still offering a top rate.