Term Deposit Reviews - RaboPlus NZ

Reviewer: Gerry

2nd to lowest rates for 12 month TD. Pathetic

Reviewer: Mark

I looked at joining Rabo some time ago but the faceless bank teller didn't do anything for me and the whol internet banking scenario is a big turnoff. I get over 8% with my existing bank and I get to grab someone by the throat if they screw it up. Rabo's rates for a so called AAA rated bank are rubbish and I suspect you will be losing customers hand over fist. Don't spout that you are the safest bank around and then offer these sort of rates. I know who you lend to - farmers, and what you charge. Someone's getting screwed here and it aint me.

Reviewer: Roger D

Nice one Chris, I agree. I hope the people who feel hard-done-by on their perceived 0.1% loss on interest rates hurry up and move on. Wonder if Rabo could then block deposits into their accounts when finally the rates swing back as the Aussie owned banks start choking on their uneconomic positions, and these people start the moaning process all over again with the big threats of pulling their cash. The irony is that if they weren’t with Rabo in the first place, the Aussie banks would have no incentive to offer increased interest rates to get them back again. I moved to RaboPlus because it offered some real competition into the market and its strong credit rating. None of these factors have changed, so I won’t be moving. I wonder if Rabo’s fair-weather-customers will realise one day the truism: that it’s not what it costs, but what it’s worth that counts. Good on you Mike - stick to your guns.

Reviewer: Moot

I agree with Chris, Colin and Jessica. I'd rather not risk my money for a mere 0.10% or 0.20%, especially looking at the trends happening lately on financial institutions. RaboPlus is still the safest bet, both from financial security as well as access (net) security. "Now isn't the time to be doing anything rash with our investments."

Reviewer: Mark

Some interesting comments coming through. Chris, people invest in different instruments for their own reasons. For some it's Greed, for others it's Fear. For some, it's a more esoteric reason - Stewardship. There’s a time to be an aggressive investor, & a time to be a defensive investor. The Risk-Return relationship must always be considered, with an understanding of how to make your money work for you and also, the time value of money. Understanding the power of compounding is essential - a 0.10% difference may seem insignificant, but seeking it does not necessarily constitute greed - it may be the difference between stewardship and irresponsibility, depending on the individual's situation and the instrument he's using to achieve that additional gain. And, all things in the risk-return relationship being equal, why forego the extra 0.10% if you don’t have to? There’s also a time to be charitable – but why let the bank keep the 0.10% when you can have it? After all, it’s your money that earned it. The banks are in business to mean business and to make a commercial return for their shareholders, not to be charitable. How many have come to the rescue of all those stricken finance company investors lately? Let’s not be naive, it was Greed not charity that motivated the financiers to lend untold billions to sub-prime borrowers. Now we are all paying the price of that greed, and the result is global fear. If Rabo wants to retain the initiative, like any organisation wanting to retain client loyalty (whether PIE investors or bank depositors) it needs to keep tweaking its products and services to help its clients solve their financial problems. There are plenty of other banks pushing from behind.

Reviewer: Chris

This is typical talk about Greed - Every one was more than happy to put there money in Rabo when they were getting higher returns, but now they are concentrating more on the PIE funds every one wants to take there money and put it where they are getting the biggest return, the majority of people moaning here, obviously have so little money that it isnt worth putting into a PIE fund and your moaning about a .10 of a %, get real ... good on you Mike keep up the great work ill be leaving my money in raboplus, regardless, Thanks for the great service:)

Reviewer: Don Peebles

Mark, comment 28/8 hits the mark in my view.Looking at the negative comments it appears that Rabo has missed the market so to speak.I find this a real disappointment as the majors have had it too good for too long.Mike do we have any proposals to counter the apparent lack of customer satisfaction?

Reviewer: Mary

Mike, Sorry to come back so soon, but ref your comments to Richard. Are you seriously trying to make me believe that my deposits with ASB (currently 8.3% for 6 months) are at risk? I accept, and understand, your comments as far as they relate to the small fry (I lost money in Bridgecorp), but the major banks??? Come on Mike, you can do better than that.

Mike Heath: Mary what I am saying is, because banks are not as comfortable as what they once were when it comes to lending money to each other i.e. they are seen as being much more risky, they are charging each other more to borrow. This impacts how much banks are then willing to pay for raising money through customers deposits i.e. an alternative means of funding - they will pay more for deposits because it’s less than what they have to pay to borrow from each other.

Reviewer: Richard

I totally Agree with Mary. AS my TD's mature it's Bye-Bye Rabo. The Honeymoon (or the affair) is over, back to the boreing old banks. Hmmm... haven't seen thoses ads about much lately, does make you wonder does it not.

Mike Heath: Perhaps another way to explain what’s going on (refer myblog post of May) is the classic risk vs return quote. Currently banks are having to pay more for their funds due to the "credit crunch" i.e. banks are more weary when it comes to lending each other money. Because of this, those banks with lower credit ratings are having to pay more for the money they borrow because they are deemed to be "more risky". People who are investing/depositing their money with these banks want more return for the risk they are taking.