Everyday Savings Account

An everyday savings account will help you manage and use your money stress free, because there are enough things to worry about when it comes to money without having to add the stress of counting your monthly transactions or not being able to use your access cards. An everyday savings account is also known as a transaction account as it gives you access to your funds for all of your everyday transactions from paying your phone bill, to buying a new phone online, to buying more phone credit at the mall.

Features of an Everyday Savings Account

The features of an everyday savings account include things like whether you have a linked credit card with the account and how many BPAY payments you can make in a month without attracting transaction fees. When you have a transaction account which lets you use your money in ways that suit you, you’ll be in control of your finances, instead of having them control you.

How to decide on the features your savings account needs:

• Think about how you use your account and the transactions you use the most. Comparing everyday savings account based on your favourite transactions will allow you to open an account with all of those transactions included, to save you the costs of fees for those transactions, and make sure you can use your favourite transactions whenever you want. To find out which are your most popular everyday transactions, run through an average week and write down how you use your money, or have a look at your past statements for your current everyday account and see which transactions you use the most, and which are currently incurring high transaction fees.
• Think about the transactions and features you wish your savings account had, because they’re probably available. An everyday savings account is supposed to make your life easy and if there is a way you wish you could use your money which isn’t offered on your current account, find an account which does offer that feature. For example, have you thought about how much simpler your funds would be to manage if all of your periodical payments came out on the same day, and don’t you wish your account would tell you if there wasn’t enough money for those payments? Well it can if you choose an account with SMS notifications of insufficient funds, or a ‚Äòsweep’ feature which will accumulate the funds from all of your accounts to make up the payment amount.
• If this is your first transaction account, find one with your name on it. If you are a student and you’ve never used a transaction account before, you may not know which features you need, well luckily the banks know just how students use their money and will offer transaction accounts especially tailored to your needs; students can often also receive a discount or a waiver of their monthly account keeping fee. Similarly, if you are a retiree and have never used a savings account, only a passbook, now is the time to open a retirement savings account which helps you manage your tax commitments and gives you easier access to your funds.

Savings Account	Account Details	Intro Rate p.a.	Variable Rate p.a.	Intro Period p.a.	Fees	Min Balance and Min Deposit
ANZ Access Advantage	$5 per month for Unlimited transactions	0.00%	0.00%	-	FREE	$5 per month

Uses of Transaction Accounts

Your transaction account will give you everyday access to your funds and this is of course important to help you manage your family, your finances and your budget. However, when you open the best everyday savings account for your needs, it can help you do much more than that.

Why you need the best transaction account:

• The right transaction account for you will let you pay your bills in the way which suits you. Not that anyone actually wants to pay their bills, but the easier the process is, the less frustrated you’ll feel about parting with your money each month. Therefore, you need an everyday savings account which lets you set up regular transfers to pay your bills if you don’t want to think about them, or doesn’t charge you extra to pay your bills at the post office because you can keep better track of the paperwork.
• Buying online can offer you great discounts so make sure your everyday savings account lets you bag some online bargains. Compare the access cards offered with your savings account because an ordinary EFTPOS card often can’t be used to buy online, but instead of resorting to a credit card, you can link a debit card to your savings account and spend your own money online.
• Don’t carry around cash when you have easy access to your savings account. Make sure that you can use EFTPOS from your transaction account and make numerous ATM withdrawals in a month so you don’t have to withdraw all of your funds at once to avoid fees. EFTPOS transactions may sometimes attract transaction fees, but if this is your preferred payment method, consider a savings account which will pay you for using EFTPOS, such as the ING Direct Everyday Orange account.
• Benefit from receiving your wages into your savings account. It is possible to avoid monthly account keeping fees on some transaction accounts if you make a certain balance of deposits in a month. Therefore, make sure that you have your wages transferred into your savings account, and if you don’t meet the balance limit for a fee waiver, open a joint transaction account and combine monthly deposits with your partner.
• Choose an everyday savings account which can be linked to your high interest savings account. It is easy to save with a high interest savings account when you can make direct transfers from your everyday account without attracting transaction fees, also choose a transaction account which lets you make these transfers automated to keep your savings on track.

How to Open an Everyday Savings Account

You want to choose an everyday savings account which is as easy to open as it is to use, therefore, you need to compare the application processes too, and be organised before you open your new account.

Opening a savings account:

• Find out if you can apply online. An online everyday savings account application can save you time as you can fill in the forms whenever you have the chance, rather than having to take time out and go into a branch.
• Whether you apply online or in person get organised to save time. If you have all the paperwork you need before you start the application it will run smoothly and simply so make sure you gather all of your identification details, as well as your tax file number and those details for a joint account holder too.
• Make sure you’re getting the features you want, and make sure they’re activated upon opening the account. Just because you read about features in a brochure, when you go to apply for your everyday savings account make sure that these features are still offered on the account you are opening. Also make sure that functions such as internet banking and transfers are activated as often you will have to set a daily limit and have this feature turned on.

Now that you are clear about your savings account needs, compare the everyday transaction accounts which will suit you in the Savings Account Finder comparison tables to make your decision on a better savings account today.