# Rabobank



## Julia (27 May 2010)

Does anyone use Rabobank?  Know much about them?  Who owns Rabobank?
(They are currently offering 6.4% online at call.)


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## prawn_86 (27 May 2010)

My old man uses Rabobank for that online saver.

They are worldwide agricultural bank as far as i'm aware


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## Timmy (27 May 2010)

Very big Dutch bank Julia.
Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabobank


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## akkopower (27 May 2010)

http://www.rabobank.com.au/Contact/Pages/LookingforRaboDirect.aspx

Seems like a good deal. The rabo direct is linked to your everyday account (e.g. CBA, ANZ,...). You transfer funds between the accounts. I am unsure of the fees involved in transfering....


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## gooner (27 May 2010)

Julia

I have most of my cash with them.  You just link to your normal account. They have been good since I have been with them (a few years). You get a token for increased internet security.

They are a triple A rated bank which is better than all the Australian majors which are rated AA.  It is the highest credit rating available


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## bryan_palmer (27 May 2010)

u still trust credit ratings after GFC?


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## gooner (27 May 2010)

bryan_palmer said:


> u still trust credit ratings after GFC?




LOL, directionally they are OK


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## TheRage (27 May 2010)

Rabobank is a dutch Co-operative with agricultural focus in Australia. They are the only AAA rated bank in Aus but that does not mean much when Govt Guarantee exists. I have worked for Rabo in the past and it is a very good company to work for and the credit controls etc are very stringent on lending. Raboplus is their platform to attract funds from the massess but you will not be able to get a loan from them unless you own a rural block or are an associated rural business. Good company that is well run.


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## gooner (27 May 2010)

TheRage said:


> Rabobank is a dutch Co-operative with agricultural focus in Australia. They are the only AAA rated bank in Aus but that does not mean much when Govt Guarantee exists. I have worked for Rabo in the past and it is a very good company to work for and the credit controls etc are very stringent on lending. Raboplus is their platform to attract funds from the massess but you will not be able to get a loan from them unless you own a rural block or are an associated rural business. Good company that is well run.




Good point, but government guarantee is ending for deposits over $1m, so you need to ensure that you spread your money around different banks and keep less than $1m in each bank.

Not that that is a problem I have to worry about


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## Julia (27 May 2010)

Many thanks for responses.  A curious thing is that there is no mention of the 6.4% offer on their website, and rates offered are substantially lower.

It came up via Infochoice.  Had the same thing happen a while ago with ANZ when Infochoice listed their online at call rate at a higher rate than was listed on the ANZ website.  When I asked my local ANZ branch (where I bank) about this, they had no knowledge of the higher rate.


Although it's understood that the banks keep some separation between their online services and physical branch services, it seems a bit silly to take it this far.

Anyone have any idea why they do this?


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## gooner (27 May 2010)

Julia said:


> Many thanks for responses.  A curious thing is that there is no mention of the 6.4% offer on their website, and rates offered are substantially lower.
> 
> It came up via Infochoice.  Had the same thing happen a while ago with ANZ when Infochoice listed their online at call rate at a higher rate than was listed on the ANZ website.  When I asked my local ANZ branch (where I bank) about this, they had no knowledge of the higher rate.
> 
> ...




On the Rabodirect site http://www.rabodirect.com.au/

Guess they do not want to point possible high value customers to the low margin website. Interestingly, I was not aware of the offer, despite having my money with them. Looks like it is incremental money only


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## doctorj (27 May 2010)

Julia said:


> Anyone have any idea why they do this?



Probably for a number of reasons - low costs associated with online product vs their full service offering, a rate to lure new business, price war in online deposits etc


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## Teska (27 May 2010)

# Earn our special variable rate, currently 6.40% p.a. on balances up to $1 million until 31 December 2010
# The special rate is a fixed 1.40% p.a. above our standard variable rate, currently 5.00% p.a.


http://www.rabodirect.com.au/savings/high_interest_savings/default.aspx?CODPRO=RBkLgBanner


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## Bill M (30 May 2010)

Hi Julia, I have been with Rabo Bank for 3 years now and I have nothing but praise for them. By the way the 6.4% is now displayed on their website.

http://www.rabodirect.com.au/default.aspx

This new 6.4% has only just come in since we all received the email about 9 days ago. They have changed their name from Rabo Plus to Rabo Direct and as a part of the name change and the need for new customers they introduced this product.

The best part about this promo rate is that existing customers can participate. The lucky thing for me was that I withdrew the lot that I had in there before the 20th of May to pay for a new share purchase and now I can put what's left back at 6.4%. For current customers the 20th. of May is the date they use as the old funds rate balance, anything you add after that gets the new 6.4%.

For me it is the best online high interest rate paying Bank I have ever dealt with.

The CEO runs a blog on the website and you can ask and read other questions that you may want answered. Blog URL here: http://www.rabodirect.com.au/blog/default.aspx Good Luck.


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## awg (30 May 2010)

thanks for this Julia

It seems they will even accept Corporate Trustee super accounts, and pay the same rate! 

Only St George does this so far as I know.

All the other banks and financial institutions want to treat me as a business because Pty Ltd is in the title of my super trustee, and pay a much lower rate.(ANZ, AMP,CBA, various others)


it sh!ts me to tears, cause, obviously I am not a business, but a super fund, but no amount of reasoning will alter their position.

I really hate the way they (all of them) offer intro rates, them cut them, it feels like stealing

At least now it seems I have another alternative, although they do the rate cut thingy too


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## Julia (30 May 2010)

Bill M said:


> Hi Julia, I have been with Rabo Bank for 3 years now and I have nothing but praise for them. By the way the 6.4% is now displayed on their website.
> 
> http://www.rabodirect.com.au/default.aspx
> 
> ...



Many thanks, Bill.  That's a great endorsement.  The phone contact I've had so far has been way superior to that offered by the other banks.



awg said:


> thanks for this Julia
> 
> It seems they will even accept Corporate Trustee super accounts, and pay the same rate!
> 
> ...



Yep, I have found the same thing, awg.   You ask about some quite good sounding rate, and get told, 'oh sorry, a SMSF is a business', and they quote you a rate of about 4.5% and try to steer you to a term deposit.

I note Rabodirect is also offering likely the best term deposit rate also, at 7.3%.


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## tradingdays (13 June 2010)

In my job i deal with RABO regularly on behalf of clients. I can only say good things about them. Strong bank, great customer service and great rates.


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## Julia (13 June 2010)

Good to hear, trading days.  Thank you.


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## JTLP (16 January 2011)

Thanks to this thread - I have applied for and am awaiting opening of a Rabobank online saving account @ 6%

I was only getting 4.75% with Commbank (who are pretty reluctant to bump rates) and thought Rabobank would be a nice change. Simple & easy for anyone interested in doing the same.

UBank also had 6.5% but as they're a subsidiary of NAB I just couldn't fathom it (no good experiences with NAB).

How have others felt about RABO?


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## So_Cynical (16 January 2011)

JTLP said:


> How have others felt about RABO?




I've had a Rabo online account for about 2 years and have had absolutely no issues with them...they pass on the rate increases reasonably quickly and the little security thing (Digipass) is great once your used to it...most of my dividends and distributions get paid into my Rabo account.


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## RandR (16 January 2011)

JTLP said:


> Thanks to this thread - I have applied for and am awaiting opening of a Rabobank online saving account @ 6%
> 
> I was only getting 4.75% with Commbank (who are pretty reluctant to bump rates) and thought Rabobank would be a nice change. Simple & easy for anyone interested in doing the same.
> 
> ...




I havn't dealt with Rabo, but going off what im reading here will look into it in the future. But in regards to Ubank, ive also had one or two underwhelming experiences with NAB, but can only say good things about Ubank. If they didnt tell me they were a part of NAB i wouldnt believe it, very much a completely different experience.


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## Julia (16 January 2011)

JTLP said:


> Thanks to this thread - I have applied for and am awaiting opening of a Rabobank online saving account @ 6%
> 
> I was only getting 4.75% with Commbank (who are pretty reluctant to bump rates) and thought Rabobank would be a nice change. Simple & easy for anyone interested in doing the same.
> 
> ...



I was happy to use them while they were offering 6.4% but when they dropped the rate to just 6% and when that only applied on funds up to $200K, then FALLING to I think 5.4%, I took my funds out.  Better offers elsewhere.

I can't believe they are offering a REDUCED rate on higher amounts!

Apart from that, they are terrific to deal with, quick, efficient and responsive to any queries.  Love the little device that gives you secure access to your savings.
If they up their rate I'll be back.  Still have small amount keeping the a/c open.


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## RandR (17 January 2011)

Julia said:


> I can't believe they are offering a REDUCED rate on higher amounts!




I thought that (lower rates for higher amounts) was the standard across most bank interest bearing accounts ? or am i wrong ... ?

I know deposits dont change much as the dollars go higher but i thought the standard saver accounts have in general scaled back.


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## Bill M (22 January 2011)

Julia said:


> I was happy to use them while they were offering 6.4% but when they dropped the rate to just 6% and when that only applied on funds up to $200K, then FALLING to I think 5.4%, I took my funds out.  Better offers elsewhere.
> 
> I can't believe they are offering a REDUCED rate on higher amounts!
> 
> ...




Hi Julia, as you know I was a big fan of Rabo Bank but as you say 6% just doesn't do it for me either. I jumped ship, have now opened up that online account with UBank, set up a $200 p/m auto saving plan and I will get 6.51% at call. As you say the service was good but over half a percent in interest rates is just too much to just let slip by. UBank are currently the best on call. Oh buy the way St George uped their 5 year term deposits to 7.2% a few weeks ago and now they dropped it to 7%. Rates are going up aren't they? What are they doing.


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## awg (22 January 2011)

I am ruthless. I ring them and give them 48hrs to match another offer.

If they do not I close the entire account.

Moved to ING at 6.4%

I am also very wary of offers that drop you back if you make any withdrawls, ie to do a trade..Rabo falls into this category unfortunately.

I partially keep cash so I can trade.

As Bill M would know, much better rates on various Corporate debt

MXUPA and SVWPA both paying over 11%, few clicks of a button to buy or sell


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## Julia (22 January 2011)

Bill M said:


> Oh buy the way St George uped their 5 year term deposits to 7.2% a few weeks ago and now they dropped it to 7%. Rates are going up aren't they? What are they doing.



Hi Bill, I think they sometimes put out a short term offer at a higher rate when they need to shore up their deposit base.  This was how I got SUN at 8%.  They were advertising only 7% but I asked, quoting that WBC was offering 8% at the time, and they didn't hesitate to say yes.  The person I dealt with said at the time "we need more deposits right now".


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## tinhat (23 January 2011)

I found that UBank (subsidiary of NAB) has better rate of interest on their savings account. I have two accounts with them:

1. Personal saving account. Need to make a deposit every month to earn the bonus interest rate of 6.5%

2. SMSF account which earns 6.4% bonus rate. To get the bonus rate for the month you can't make any withdrawals otherwise I think the interest rate is 4.4%


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