Macquarie Bank Term Deposit Review

Macquarie Bank offers a number of short to medium term investment options if you have a minimum of $10,000 to invest. As well as offering competitive interest rates and a fee free term deposit account, Macquarie also offers easy deposit options, and experienced financial advice to help you decide what to do at the end of your term. So read on to find out whether a Macquarie term deposit would suit you and your finances.

Features of a Macquarie Term Deposit

Term deposit accounts have a number of variable options and you don’t have to feel like you are being forced into a long term investment with no control, because you can choose a provider who makes you feel comfortable with your investment and offers you the choices which best suit you. with a Macquarie bank term deposit account, your choices include:

A term between one month and 24 months. When investing in a Macquarie term deposit account you can deposit your funds in a fixed term of one month, three months, six months, nine months, 12 months or 24 months.

The ability to take advantage of rising interest rates. Macquarie Bank does not offer the same long term investments as other term deposit providers because five years is a long time to predict the movements of interest rates. Instead, Macquarie offers their best rates, and rates comparable to other providers’ five year rates, on their two year terms so you can earn a high rate of interest now, and be able to reinvest in a new term in two years at the current interest rate, which is likely to be even higher.
Investments of between $10,000 and $1 million. The standard Macquarie term deposit rates are offered on balances of a minimum f $10,00 and a maximum of $1 million, but if you are investing more than $1 million you can negotiate a special interest rate with Macquarie Bank.
For terms longer than a year you can have interest paid quarterly. If you are investing for 12 or 24 months, you can use your term deposit interest as an income and have it paid out quarterly, rather than at maturity. Interest rates for term deposits where returns are paid during the term differ, and are slightly lower than if you choose to wait and have your interest paid at maturity.
You can deposit your investment electronically or by cheque. A Macquarie term deposit account can be activated by your electronic payment of your investment using Macquarie’s account details and BSB number, or you can post a cheque for your investment amount with your application form and identification details and there are no additional fees for cheque payment.
You can view your account online. When your term deposit account is activated you will be sent a Macquarie Access Code and a password which you can use to log into internet banking. In internet banking you can view your account balance at any time of the day or night; you can also check on your account using telephone banking.

Compare the Macquarie term deposit rates:

Comparisons are made on a $10,000 deposit with interest paid at maturity.
A one month term deposit will earn 4.50% interest.
A 12 month term deposit will earn 4.75% interest.
A 24 month maximum term deposit will also earn 5.00% interest.

Benefits of Medium Term Investments

If you have been comparing the Macquarie term deposit options with the other Australian term deposit accounts here, you may now be used to seeing long, five year investment term options. However, there are actually a number of benefits to medium term investments and these benefits might just suit you:

You have access to your money sooner. As much as you can budget and plan, investing for five years in a term deposit account could see anything happen in your life, and you may then need access to your funds. In investing in a two year term deposit you have access to your funds again sooner in case your circumstances have changed, but you’re not penalised for accessing your funds early.
You can easily roll over your investment at maturity. A Macquarie term deposit allows you to automatically roll over your investment at the end of your term, into an account with the same term, but which offers the current interest rate. In this way you can easily manage your investment for the long term, while upgrading your interest rate as official and SVRs rise with inflation and the economy.