What is a savings account?

A savings account is an account where you can easily deposit money and earn interest, helping you save towards a money goal.

You earn interest on your balance, helping you grow your savings.

You can get your pay deposited into the account and receive funds transfers from other people and banks. You can also open a joint savings account, which is great for couples or two individuals working towards a shared money goal. You can’t link a savings account to a debit card, so you won’t receive one when you open a savings account. Because a card isn’t directly linked, you’re less likely to spend the money you’re saving.

Depending on your particular savings account, you might not be able to make direct payments without a linked transaction account.

Our savings accounts do not have fees so you can enjoy fee-free banking.

A transaction account is used for day-to-day spending. With a transaction account, you can link a debit card to make purchases online and in-store, withdraw cash from an ATM, and set up direct debits for your regular expenses.

Learn more about how transaction accounts work. You can also compare our range of savings and transaction accounts to find the one that’s right for you.

A term deposit is a savings account where you deposit money for a fixed amount of time - called a term. You can’t access the money you’ve deposited before the term end-date unless you give us 31 days’ notice. Because of this, you can typically get a higher interest rate with a term deposit.

A savings account usually attracts a lower interest rate, but you can access your money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to pay bills or transfer for spending depending on your account set up.

Learn more about different types of bank accounts so you can decide which is right for your money goals.