Building Society Term Deposit Rates

A building society term deposit is an investment option you may not have previously considered, probably because you didn’t know it existed. Building societies don’t focus on their profits or promoting themselves to shareholders, they instead focus on their customers, but when you are a customer of a building society, you are actually a member of the organisation, and can control the structure and management team directing your investments.

Features of a Building Society Term Deposit

Building societies offer the same savings, investment, business, personal, loan and credit products which are offered by the major Australian banks. This means you can choose a building society term deposit account with high rates on your chosen investment amounts and terms, and enjoy all of these features:

• Guaranteed deposits. Australian building societies are covered under the Australian Government’s deposit guarantee because they are Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions. This means that until October 2011 all deposits up to $1 million are guaranteed by the government if your chosen financial institution can’t honour them.
• Independently monitored. Just like Australian banks, building societies are regulated by ASIC, under the Corporations Act, and APRA, under the Banking Act 1959. This means the operations, services and products of building societies are monitored to make sure they are transparen’t, fair and beneficial to the customers.
• Building societies are not publicly listed. Where building societies are not publicly listed organisations, they do not have shareholders. This means that your building society doesn’t need t focus on maximising profits to pay their external shareholders, and instead use their profits to offer better services and competitive pricing so you can always be sure your building society term deposit rates remain high.

Benefits of Building Society Term Deposits

Since building societies are run only to support and encourage the growth of their members’ savings and investments, all Australian building societies work hard to make sure they offer the best term deposit rates on a range of investment options. When you invest in a building society term deposit you are benefiting from:

• The same choice of terms, interest income and investment amounts. Most Australian building societies will have comparable term deposit account options which allow you to invest tin a term between one month and five years which suits you. you can also choose to have your interest paid out during your term as a monthly, quarterly six monthly or annual income and building societies will even make accommodations for your specific needs, for example, in some cases you can choose a fortnightly income to coincide with your pension payments.
• Consistently better customer service. Building societies are aware that as a member you are what keeps the business running and that they are there to profit you personally, not faceless shareholders or investors. That is why building societies are consistently rated as having some of the highest customer service levels in Australian financial services.
• Profits put back into the building society means higher term deposit interest rates. Businesses with a customer or community focus are often not as competitive as the big corporate businesses, however, it is exactly that community and member focus which sees building societies putting their profits back into the business to ensure competitive pricing, keeping their term deposit accounts fee free, providing better customer service online, over the phone or in branch, and offering better term deposit rates on their investment products.

Now you know that a building society term deposit is going to be competitive and that the service and products you receive will be just as good, if not better than the big banks, compare the term deposit account features and rates using the Savings Account Finder™ comparison tables here. When you have found a building society term deposit rate which suits you, you can follow our secure links and apply now to start enjoying the benefits of being a member of your financial institution, rather than just another customer.