ANZ SmartyPig

Great way to save for that something special – I used smarty pig to save up for a trip to Nepal. I read all the fine print and was happy with the fact I could not just go to the bank or online and pull the money out. Knowing it would take time to release my money and the interest rate was excellent. I was happy to set up a fortnightly deposit plan needless to day a month before the trip I closed the account and had the money in my bank to spend. The account gives you a saving plan if unsure how much to deposit. Time take to close account.

Excellent – I applied for an account with SmartyPig a few days after it launched in Australia. I came across the ad from the ANZ website, and I thought it is worth a try considering the good interest rate (5% when it first started but 4.5% currently) and there are many things I wanted to save for. Applying for the account was hassle-free, and I got my account going within 2 days. This is an exceptional way to save money; you can set savings goals, modify your goals, set the deadline to meet your goal, check your progress, add friends, help each other to meet goals and so much more. So, based on the goal that you have set for yourself, SmartyPig will debit the savings account that you have linked your SmartyPig account with, and the money goes into the SmartyPig savings account. Once you reach your goal, you can choose to withdraw the money or leave it there to continue reaping the rewards of the interest. Overall, a wonderful website to instil the discipline of saving instead of spending and highly recommended to everyone. Competitive interest rate for a savings account, ability to set savings goals and modify it, become more disciplined in saving for a specific goal Nothing in particular, but funds sometimes can take a while to clear

Terrible – SmartyPig is without doubt the worst banking product I have ever used, which is saying something. Transfers take forever to arrive and the monthly payments are far too infrequent to be useful . Having realised these gross deficiencies, I want to close my account and withdraw my money but it seems I have to wait a week for last week's transfers to clear, then another eight to ten days for the money to transfer. Lucky me. These long delays are inexplicable and inexcusable. It's one thing to have a pretty website, but this is a service that is simply not ready. Pretty website. Decent interest rate. Slow transfers, hard to withdraw, automatic payment frequency only monthly.