It is rare these days to have a bank that gives you anything other than an interest paid statement in the mail.
Yesterday I received a letter from the NAB to say that they needed to raise the interest on our investment property loan by 0.29% because the ‘market conditions have changed’. Yet the Reserve Bank have kept interest rates on hold. As such I can only look on such a move with skepticism.
ING Direct, on the other hand, have done nothing but surprise me with their level of service and financial credits. First, my dad referred me to them and we both received a $50 credit when I joined. Nice! Next I had 6 months as an introductory gift where I received 5% back for any PayWave purchases under $100. Now that the 6 months have come and gone we still receive a little kick back in the form of a 2% rebate on PayWave purchases under $100.
2% doesn’t sound like much but it is nice to see all these cumulative credits appearing in your account rather than constant debits. It also amounted to $283.67 in the last financial year alone.
While that might not seem like anything to write home about, let alone blog about, it does bring to question how much the average person actually gets back from their credit card rewards.
I looked into a few credit cards last week, crunched some numbers and found that most did not offer a cash reward but rather a store credit system and charged for the privilege of having their rewards card.
I also rang a few lenders to query the cash rewards that they offered and found that most could only really offer 0.6% back on each dollar spent using their card. This would mean I would need to have spent $47,278.33 to recoup the same gains made though ING.
There are a few catches with the ING Direct card however:
• You need to have $1000 deposited monthly into the account.
• The account carries no interest that I know of.
• The card is only a debit card and offers no credit function (Read: This will keep you out of trouble!)
The ‘no interest’ component means that you need to actively make your money work for you. What I mean by this is that you need to scoot your deposits elsewhere to lower the interest payments on some of your debts or to be deposited into savings to earn interest. It would be a bad move to leave $10,000 sitting there earning no interest and would probably erode any potential gains.
Let me know if you know of any other banks offering such services in the comments box below.
Note- I am not affiliated in any way with ING Direct but I do like the cut of their jib! At the time of writing I also discovered that while they no longer offer the 5% rebate on PayWave, the 2% rebate still applies however, and they are offering $75 to new sign ups. Hope that helps.

Hi SavingAdvice community,

For years I have used a home job Excel spreadsheet that I custom made myself. It has done a great job of tracking my expenses and I refer to it with great frequency. It has been one of the primary reasons for my savings over the years.

Excel, has one issue however- it is challenging to update your payments on the hop. I have mitigated this issue by having a Google Keep record of transactions which both my wife and I can add to.

I am, however, interested in Dollar Tree Pro's ability to detect via geolocation the shops you have visited and being able to sync your transactions automatically. $99 USD per year, however is expensive for a highly budget conscious person such as myself.

YNAB is only $60 and I like the look of the interface. The only downer for me is that I want to be involved in a forum that I like. I have a few sour grapes in that I opened a journal on their site and posted thoughts and learnings only to get 13 Spam points within 3 days because I used links to verify my findings and people, as a pack, assumed it was dodgy. As I said, sour grapes but I'm happy to move on if it is really worth it.

Mint is free which is a huge plus!

I am familiar with Excel and I like the ability to incorporate all the expenditure of my investments. I also like being able to calculate with near precision the amount of tax I need to pay or the return I am expected to receive.

Dollar Tree and YNAB offer trials but I don't particularly want to upload a month of data onto a subscription that I won't use.

I have also looked at YouTube reviews but they are often given by people with affiliate codes. Not an issue but I sometimes question the objectivity of the information.

Any advice would be appreciated SA community.

Hope you've all had a spectacular weekend.

I’ve always been a huge fan of pirate stories. The idea of vast fortunes left buried, somewhere, for people to find. Did you know that there is an estimated $4.5 billion dollars worth of treasure still to be found?
Unfortunately, this post is not about helping you to uncover it. It is, however, about helping you discover treasure of another kind. Remember the excitement you felt as a child about going on an adventure to somewhere mysterious and new? This post will hopefully rekindle that sense of fun and exploration.
About 2 years ago I found out about this new treasure hunting craze called Geocaching. For about a month I was a Geonut convert telling everyone and anyone about it. It was quite contagious too. Friends told friends and soon enough we were all racing around everywhere geocaching.
I did say this was about what to do with bored kids though. It can be very hard to discover new things to do with your children that is both fun and free. Take them to the movies and you’ve soon burnt through a $50 note no problems. But geocaching is free, free, free!
The concept of geocaching is simple- someone has hidden a note, a toy or a token. They give you clues and coordinates. You use an app and go find it.
There are a numerous apps out there to help you find one of over 2 million treasures, or caches. They vary in difficulty but they often take you to new and exciting places you’ve probably never seen before. Once you’ve found the cache, sign the log book and return it carefully. Make sure a ‘Muggle’ or non-geocacher doesn’t spot you either!
Most neighbourhoods have around 4-10 hidden in locations you’d never think to look. And why would you? You’re a Muggle after all. Or should I say… ex-Muggle.
Let me know how you go.
More information can be found at www.geocaching.com