In the beginning there was ING Direct, offering high interest rate online saving account that beats even term deposit rates from major banks. Then came along Bank West, with its A Bette Deal promotion and 1 year honeymoon interest rate, they took the crown of online saving account in Australia.

We all know competition ultimately benefits the consumers, don’t we? Recently RaboBank entered into retail market with its RaboPlus branded online saving, term deposit and managed fund platform account, offering the best interest rate. It quickly sent the competitors into panic mode. BankWest came up with Regular Saver account with 8% interest rate plus a long rope attached to it. ING Direct on the other hand pumped the promotional rate to 7% until the end of year. Unfortunately for existing customers, it wasn’t the entire amount of saving, but just extra amount on top of existing balance. That suck big time. I’ve been an ING Direct customers for years, and guess where I moved my money to?

Then this morning I received another deal sweetener.

Thanks to somecheat for posting this promotion on OzBargain, RaboPlus is now offering 7.1% interest rate on not just the new users, but also existing users — for the entire account balance!

Special promotional rate of 7.10%

• High interest promotional rate until 2 Jan 2008
• Includes amounts up to $1 million
• No fees or penalties, no minimum balance
• Digipass online security with 24/7 access

Oh yes. Competition is good.

On a side note, Tiger Airway offered $10 air ticket departing from Melbourne, but the sale only went for one day. Did I say competition is good?