Virgin Money expands digital bank with savings feature

The new Lock Saver Feature has been designed off extensive customer research. A new study by Virgin Money has revealed 70% of Australian households saved towards a medium to long-term goal in the past 6 months but less than 1/3 stayed within their budget or spending allowance. The Lock Saver Feature has been designed to provide a simple digital solution to help Australians reach their savings goals sooner, especially for the two thirds of savers who are struggling to stick to their savings goals.

By turning on the feature in the Virgin Money app, customers can lock away the funds in their savings account(s) that they don’t need instant access to – resisting the temptation to spend money put aside for something like a home or car, and attracting an additional variable notice interest rate of 0.35%p.a., resulting in a highly competitive interest rate of 1.35%p.a. when they also meet the monthly criteria. To access their money again, customers just need to give 32 days’ notice which begins as soon as they select to unlock their account in the app.

Virgin Money customers can lock the savings in one or more (up to 9) Grow Saver and Boost Saver accounts within minutes, with no minimum balance and the freedom to regularly add extra funds while it’s locked. The Lock Saver Feature adds to the ways Virgin Money is supporting over 62,500 customers reach their financial goals. A year on from the launch of Virgin Money’s digital bank, customers have earned over 84 million Virgin Money Points through a loyalty programme, saved an extra USD 68,000 collectively using the round up feature and helped over 50% of savings customers create and track their goals.

According to Virgin Money’s goal tracking tools, the top 3 goals customers are savings towards are a home, holiday, and rainy-day funds. By locking away AUD 150,000 – half the cost of a 20% deposit on the median house in Sydney – in a Virgin Money Boost Saver account for 3 years, customers could save AUD 6,196 towards your goal, and more if they add funds into the account regularly.