Term Deposit Reviews - RaboPlus NZ

Reviewer: D Chard

Your rates are great for say 1 month, but poor compared to others like S/C at 9% for 6mths, other wise everything else is great, service etc.

Reviewer: Deb

Not only are the rates not as competitive as what other banks are offering, when new funds are deposited into Rabo they take 3 days to clear. When the funds are cleared that is when the term deposit can be created. Yes I know the funds are earning the on call interest rate, however other banks will back date term deposits the funds to the original date the funds were received. You would have seen I have chosen not to reinvest my recently matured funds with Rabo and will continue to move my funds from Rabo until they become competitive in the market once again. What happened to the we offer greater rates because we have no branches promise ??

Mike Heath: Deb, thanks for the feedback (we’ll look at the back-dating matter you refer to).  With regards to rates, it’s no so much about the rates we are offering, it’s more an issue of fundamentally how the market has changed.  You may have heard the media reference to the credit crisis.  What you are seeing is how it’s manifesting itself in the local deposit market.  Take a look at my recent blog article on what we see happening.

Reviewer: Paul

I think the current term depopsit rates are not attractive compared to those that other banks can offer. Why has Raboplus reacted to this "credit crunch" whilst other banks (who one would imagine will face the same difficulties) have not? Even if other banks are making a loss short term it still means that Raboplus is unconpetitive for those with more than $10,000 to invest in a term deposit at a bank. However the $1000 minimum investment is excellent and until recently I have been more than happy to invest in term deposits with Raboplus. Not having a lot of spare cash the short term deposits suit my needs better, but at the current rates I am happy to keep them in the standard savinigs account.

Reviewer: Anne

How come your term deposit rates are no longer attractive? Will Raboplus come up with other attarctive solutions for consumers?

Mike Heath: Anne, at RaboPlus we have always offered the best possible rates for our products since launch in 2006.  However there is a “new phenomenon” at play – namely the global credit crisis, and we believe what you are seeing with Term Deposit rates is impacted by the credit crisis.  Take a look at my recent blog post on the subject.

Reviewer: Kayne

Im with the reviews below,I have to say- Looking around at other banks I have noticed that Rabo is no longer a 'term deposit leader', as I used to call them. I have to admit though, RaboPlus has always been a great bank to be apart of! Always fast to respond to any queries and I feel very safe with you guys. I will NOT be moving banks, purely because they have been great while I have been with them. I am still happy to refer freinds onto RaboPlus as I still beleive they are the best bank. Good on you RaboPlus! Keep it up, all I need now is to win that $30,000 and ill be happy.

Reviewer: Lucia

What's happened with "we offer greater rates because we have no branches"? All the major banks have beaten RaboPlus by now in Term Deposits (and they have branches!)... It's not worth it right now to open any, considering that they ofer just a mere 0.05% more than the on-call account. What's wrong? I am seriously considering taking my money out and putting it on other bank's TD. Many are offering 8.7%-9% on 6 months and 1 year TD. React RaboPlus! I am starting to feel let down!

Mike Heath: Thanks for your rating Lucia. Please see my response to Chris Lindsay below who asked a very similar question.

Reviewer: Anonymous

The interest rates are excellent, i think only absurdly wealthy people are complaining because if you only have $1000 then this is the only place you can save and get a good rate. You only need $1 for the online call account. But my criticism is about reading the numbers on the silly little device. Maybe add some letters in there or something. It is so difficult reading a string of numbers with no spaces. Hello... even people who can't do maths in their brain like to accumulate some savings. 521 102 55 88 is easier to read than 5211025588 it is easy to accidentally write 3 of one number instead of two, so if you screw up your numbers a couple of times you probably have to ring up rabo and tell them all your address and stuff and that is a huge hassle and turn off. Maybe reserve the log in calculator for those who have zillions of dollars and are paranoid about hackers...

Reviewer: Kyle

Considering the 1,3 & 6 mth options are only 0.1% above the current on call rate, and that all the other mth options are below the current on call rate, I think Rabobank could be losing out on a bit of investments here. Personally, with a rate of 8.5% (or more) over 1 yr, I would definitely be looking into transferring into the term deposits during these unstable times. But at the moment, they just seem a bit lite to be worth the hassle!

Reviewer: Craig

I think the profit from the Cash Advantage Fund for Rabo/AMP Captial is excessive for what is involved in providing it, and it leaves a bad taste - the tax break for the 39% taxpayer is meant to be for the benefit of the investor not the banks. To get the full benefit you have to treat the Fund as a term deposit, but you offer far less interest than term deposits, and you appear to be falling behind on the term deposit rates. The discounted on-call rate for the Fund means you are taking an unfair slice of our returns. This is tarnishing an otherwise fantastic market leading brand. MiGod, you are more greedy than we are.

Mike Heath: Craig, thanks for the feedback.  Your comment about the full benefit is valid, however we have designed the Cash Advantage Fund to be like an On-Call deposit (no fees, ability to access your money easily etc) and therefore it is priced accordingly.  Even if you don’t hold the fund for a full year you still get the benefit of daily compounded interest (traditional On Call and Term Deposits only pay simple interest) and the deferred tax payment (you only pay at the end of the tax year or at the time you redeem units).