High Interest Savings Account: FAQs

Simply complete the online application process and send the following information to us: 

• Signed account summary form
• Signed Direct Debit Authority
• Nominated Account bank statement (current copy) or a print off of your onscreen Transaction Summary
• Evidence of your current postal address (for example, a utility bill or a bank statement showing your name and postal address)
• (If applicable:) RWT exemption certificate
• For accounts on behalf of a minor, a certified copy of identification for the minor and the authorised signatory
• For business accounts, a certified copy of identification for the authorised signatory
• For trust accounts, a certified copy of identification for the authorised signatory if they are not a trustee of the trust

Following receipt and acceptance of your application, we will post you your account number together with a Digipass (a device that allows you to access the secure site). A few days later, your initial PIN code for the Digipass will arrive. You can use these to login and manage your accounts.

Interest is calculated daily and paid to your account after the close of business on the last business day of each month.  As such, interest payments will be available to you on the first day of the new month.

Yes. When you open a RaboDirect Savings Account you will automatically have the option to open up to five special purpose savings accounts. These can be used for any individual purpose you choose (a holiday, a new car, Christmas etc). To open one of these accounts log in to your account, select "Savings Accounts" and then "Open new account".

You can give the purpose savings accounts descriptive names for your own information, however note that for legal and tax purposes these accounts will be in the same name as your Master Savings account. To open an account in a different legal name you will need to complete the online application process for a new RaboDirect account.

When you login to your RaboDirect Account you can use the website to make either one-off or regular transfers from your Nominated Account into any of your RaboDirect Savings Accounts.

To transfer funds from your nominated account to your RaboDirect Account:

• Login to your account. 

• Click on "Transfer in". 

• Then, click "New".

This will allow you to make a one-off transfer from your nominated account or set up a recurring transfer from your nominated account.

You can also transfer funds from any other bank account to your RaboDirect Savings Account by quoting your RaboDirect Savings Account name and number to the other bank or person who wishes to make the payments.

Please note that it takes 2-3 working days for the funds to clear so if you do have funds paid into RaboDirect you will not have access to them straight away.

When you login to your RaboDirect Account you can transfer money out of your RaboDirect Master Savings Account, or any RaboDirect Purpose Savings Accounts you may have, into your Nominated Account.

To transfer funds from one of your RaboDirect accounts to your nominated account you need to login to your RaboDirect account, click on "Transfer Out", and then "New". This will allow you to make either a one-off transfer, or create a regular transfer, out of your RaboDirect account.

The nominated account is required to be in the same legal name as your RaboDirect account. However, if you wish to open an individual account with us you can use a joint account, provided you are one of the people named on the account, as your nominated account.

No. We're an online bank and do not accept cheque deposits.

Transfer in

To transfer funds into your RaboDirect account from your nominated account simply log-in and click Transfer in, then New. You will then be able to specify the details of the transfer and whether or not it is a one-off payment or a regular savings plan.

If you action the transfer online before 9pm on a business night the funds will be in your RaboDirect account the following morning. You are now able to create a pending term deposit until your funds have cleared. This means you pre-book a term deposit and gain the current rate, even if rates go down or gain the higher rate if rates go up by the time your funds have cleared. Please allow 2-3 business days for the funds to clear depending on whether you direct credited the funds to your account or used our direct debit facility. You can also send funds electronically from any other bank account to your RaboDirect Savings Accounts by quoting your RaboDirect savings account name and bank account number to the other bank or person who wishes to make the payments.

Transfer out

To transfer funds out of your RaboDirect account simply log-in and click Transfer out, then New.

If you action the transfer online before 9pm on a business night the funds will be in your Nominated account the following day.

1. Complete the Request to Change nominated account form [PDF 149KB]
2. Complete the Direct Debit Authority [PDF 28KB]
3. Forward the following to Freepost RaboDirect, PO Box 38567, Wellington: 
   - Signed Request to Change nominated account form
   - Signed Direct Debit Authority
   - Official evidence of your new nominated account showing the account name and number. This can be a statement, an internet printout, or an encoded deposit slip.
   - Official evidence of your old nominated account name and number.

Please remember:

1. Your new nominated account must be in the same name as your RaboDirect account. 

2. Only once your change of nominated account notification has been processed by us will you be able to create new funds transfers to or from your new nominated account.

• Log in to your account, and select Transfer In from the left hand side menu and then Summary Pending from the sub menu. Note, if you have multiple sub accounts, you will need to select which account would you like to view the regular transfers for.
• Once you arrive at the list of currently-set regular incoming transfers, you will see two buttons at the bottom: Cancel and Change. Selecting the appropriate automatic payment from the list and click one of these buttons to perform the desired action.
• Please note that you will need to confirm the changes using your DigiPass.
• Changes should be made before 2pm on any business day. For this reason we recommend completing the changes to your regular incoming transfers prior to the next payment date.

Yes. Your funds will start to earn interest immediately, but they will only be available for transfer out of your account once they are cleared. Generally funds should be available three business days following the actual transfer. For example, if you transfer funds from your Nominated Account on Monday they will generally be available as 'cleared funds' on Thursday morning. You can view the available balance of your account by clicking "Savings Accounts", then "Balances" while you are logged-in to your account.

From the moment we receive your funds.

Yes. Through the secure internet banking site you can view all of your Savings Account transactions using our online statement. Your statement will contain even the latest transactions and can be downloaded and printed (should you wish).

To print a statement, login to your account and click "Savings Accounts", then "Statements", in the left-hand menu.

Yes. RaboDirect allows you to download an extract file containing all your Savings Account transactions. This file will be downloaded as a CSV file that can be exported to other file and spreadsheet formats.

Unless you hold an exemption certificate Resident Withholding Tax will be deducted when interest is paid to you. This is a legal requirement and not a bank charge.

For information about the deduction of PIE tax for managed funds, view the Managed Fund FAQs and select the question "How will tax on my PIE Managed Funds be paid?"

Resident Withholding Tax (RWT) is a tax deducted from the gross amount of interest paid to you. It is deducted at the time when the interest is paid (from RaboDirect to you).

When you open a RaboDirect account online, you will be asked to select your RWT rate. In the case of joint accounts, you'll be required to select one rate, which will be applied to all your accounts.

Whichever RWT rate you choose will be applied to each RaboDirect account you hold. 

• 0% (in this case a current RWT exemption certificate must be provided)
• 10.5%
• 17.5% 
• 30% 
• 33%

If you do not provide an IRD number, we are required to deduct RWT at 38%.

In the case that you supply an IRD number but fail to select an RWT rate, then we are legally required to deduct RWT at 38%.

You can change your RWT rate at any time by logging in to your account and clicking "Tax", then "Change tax details".

You can change your RWT rate at any time by logging in to your account and clicking "Tax", then "Change tax details".

At the end of each financial year (31st March), we will generate a RWT certificate online for customers. This certificate is only available by logging into our secure site.

To print the certificate, simply click "Tax" in the left-hand menu, and then "RWT Interest". If you then scroll down to the bottom of the screen there is a link to print out the IR15.

The introduction of interest rate tiers is in response to New Zealand's financial regulators making changes following the global financial crisis, regarding the way banks raise funds for use within the New Zealand market.

The guidelines introduced by the Reserve Bank refer particularly to the type of deposits banks should be securing. Under these guidelines, individual larger sums fall into a different category of deposits, and as a consequence we are offering a higher premium for deposits of a smaller size as a means of attracting more money of that nature.

If you are interested in further information regarding the Reserve Bank guidelines, you can view these on their website via the link below.

http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/finstab/banking/regulation/3675928.pdf

There are two interest rate tiers:

• Tier 1: $0 up to $5m

• Tier 2: More than $5m

For On-Call accounts, the interest rate will be based on the proportion of the balance within each tier. For example, for an account with an On-Call balance of $2 million, the whole balance earns the rate applied to Tier 1. If the balance of this account is raised to $5.5 million, then the Tier 1 rates are applied to the first $5 million, and the Tier 2 rates are applied to the remaining $500,000.