Frustrated home buyers face lower, longer task while saving for home: finder.com.au

Prospective buyers saving for a home must save longer, as savings account interest rates are already starting to take a dive following the Reserve Bank cash rate drop at the February meeting.

Finder.com.au listed nine providers, including three of the four major banks, who have dropped interest rates on some of their savings accounts since the cash rate cut, with some by more than the Reserve Bank's 0.25 percentage points according to Finder.com.au.

"This is compared to 33 lenders announcing variable home loan rate drops," Michelle Hutchison, money expert at finder.com.au said.

"While it's expected that savings accounts will fall in line with the cash rate movements, it's interesting to see many of them falling before these lenders have passed on rate cuts to their lending products like home loans and personal loans.

"It's also interesting to see that these lenders have missed off any announcements about the bad news for savers of dropping their savings account rates but happy to announce the good news for lenders with dropping variable rate home loans.

"Financial institutions shouldn't feel like they can't disclose these rate changes like they do with their variable home loan announcements.

"It's a shame that they are potentially hiding these rate cuts by not announcing them. What this means is that savers need to keep track of their accounts and they can't assume that if they haven't seen a rate announcement that their rates won't be dropping. 

"It also shows that more savings accounts could fall before the majority of variable rate home loan changes come into effect from 20 February."

Here are the savings accounts found that have fallen since the RBA rate cut:

• UBank dropped its savings accounts by 0.25 percentage points on 18 February
• NAB dropped its savings accounts by 0.25 percentage points on 18 February
• Commonwealth Bank's Goal Saver Account bonus interest dropped 12 February, by 0.25 percentage points: base rate of 0.01%, bonus is now 3.19%
• Citibank dropped its Ultimate Business Saver by 0.35 percentage points on 15 February
• ME Bank First Home Saver Account: dropped 12 February by 0.25 percentage points from 2.75% to 2.5%
• ANZ Online Saver and Progress Saver: both dropped by 0.25 percentage points on 7 February
• ING Direct Savings Accelerator: dropped its base rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.25% on 7 February
• ME Bank Online Savings Account: dropped its base rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5% on 7 February
• RaboDirect High Interest Savings Account DIY Super: dropped its base rate by 0.05 percentage points to 3.15% on 5 February
• People's Choice Young Saver Account: dropped its bonus rate by 0.10 percentage points to 1.40% on 5 February
• Commonwealth Bank Business Online Saver: also dropped its base rate by 0.15 percentage points to 2.10% on 4 February