RaboDirect's new GM Melanie Templeton calls on other banks to be more transparent with their savings accounts. Your experience?
Melanie Templeton, the new General Manager of RaboDirect in New Zealand, has called on other banks to be more transparent with their savings accounts.
Templeton welcomed competition between the banks, but said customers should be aware that some savings accounts offered by other banks may be more like a cheque account than a savings account.
"It's very important they understand what some of the terms and conditions are in some of the products advertised nowadays," Templeton said in a DoubleShot interview.
Templeton returned to New Zealand this year after a stint overseas with RaboDirect as its marketing manager in Australia, having been with Rabobank in New Zealand when it launched Raboplus and its 'Your significant other' campaign.
"At Rabodirect we feel we're very transparent about what we do with our products and sometimes we feel there's a lack of transparency in the naming of products," Templeton said.
"You might have a product that's called a savings product of some kind with one of the other banks. But really it's just a hybrid transaction account. But it's called a savings account and it might not meet even the minimum criteria like paying basic OCR (Official Cash Rate) level," she said.
"It's an absolute minefield for consumers and I want to help streamline some of that and try and get some more like-for-like comparisons for them so it's not such a minefield."
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10 Comments
Those in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones.
Rabo is the king of trying to pull the wool over their customers eyes - just look at their recent very unsuccesful savings campaigns (I say unsuccesful because their deposit balances were reported on ths site as going backwards). We've seen a huge amount of negative comment on this site about the Rabo savings campaigns and how the 'offer' generally only applies to new money.
In my opinion Rabo is the least transparent and has the campaigns with the most hooks.
I have always been suspicious of Rabo. No retail presence in NZ & offering higher than normal call account interest for depositors.
Reminds me of the Icelandic Banks, e.g Landbanki & Glitnir, back in 2007.
So if things go pear shaped, where is the office you go to complain? Amsterdam? Cloudland? Nerdville?
Cue a call center drone behind a computer, who couldn't care or less about your hard earned funds.
I went into the Hamilton office in London street, looking to open an account, and they had a sign up on the reception desk saying they did not do cash transactions.
That's what I meant by 'retail '.
This was a couple of years ago.
So if that has changed, then I stand corrected.
We should have APR as is case overseas. BS regulation here on it. Banking Ombudsman has been asleep at the wheel on disclosure around despot rates. Best way to get info is pay bank annually to get a audit confirmation. Total crap regs. Incredible really considering how much cash is floating around on bank balance sheets earning didly squat.
Rabo are a joke of a bank.
They don't reward or value their long term customers, in fact they do their best to piss them off in favour of new customers.
Their advertising on this site is usually misleading. They advertise a rate special and when you click on it you find it is only for new customers.
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