00:02Higher interest rates are bad news for mortgage holders, but welcome for savers like Corey.
00:08It's just reassuring to know that there's that interest coming in to your savings account,
00:14just to top it up, just to act as that buffer, so you're not going backwards as much.
00:20The Reserve Bank has hiked interest rates four times this year to tame inflation,
00:24meaning there's been lucrative rates on high interest savings accounts.
00:28The big four have raised their returns, but not all passed on the full 25 basis points.
00:35When the RBA hikes the cash rate, banks tend to pass on that hike in full to their variable borrowers,
00:42but they start to get quite picky when it comes to savings accounts.
00:46The ABC has found hundreds of billions of dollars are also sitting in transactions accounts,
00:52not earning anything.
00:53While consumer advocates warn others aren't reaping the benefits of the high interest accounts,
00:58because of strict conditions.
01:00Some customers who don't meet minimum monthly deposits revert to lower rates.
01:05Savings accounts seem simple, but they are littered in fine print,
01:09that can make them over-complicated in many cases.
01:13The competition watchdog has found more than 70% don't meet their monthly conditions.
01:18The banks say all major outlets have accounts with higher cash rates.
01:23We saw over the last financial year $120 billion paid in interest on savings,
01:29and in the last quarter alone that jumped by some $4 billion.
01:34The message for consumers is to make sure your savings accounts work for you.
01:38And with markets betting on another interest rate hike on Tuesday,
01:42whether savers will benefit is another question.
