Evie Coulter started using her bank’s budgeting tools and has managed to amass $4,000 in just a few months. (Source: Supplied)
Australians are being encouraged to have a scrounge around on their bank’s app for tools that can help them save money. You might question how much you could truly squirrel away, but it’s helped university student Evie Coulter amass an eye-watering sum in just a few months.
The 21-year-old Sydney resident is with Commonwealth Bank (CBA), and found its goal saving tool to be helpful ahead of her seven-week holiday to Italy this year. She told Yahoo Finance she wouldn’t have been able to save nearly that amount of money without it.
“I’m just not a money-saving person, and when you’re working and studying, it’s just another thing that you just don’t get on top of,” she said.
She used to try to save as much as possible, but always ended up spending her hard-earned money on general expenses because she wasn’t thinking about her cash flow.
However, once a friend put her onto the tool, she set herself a goal to transfer between $450 to $500 every fortnight to her European savings account.
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The money would be moved to that account without her lifting a finger, and she’d get a little reminder just before the transfer date.
If there wasn’t enough money on the day, she would get an alert every single day until the money was sent.
The 21-year-old likened it to having a personal savings assistant on her shoulder at all times who kept her accountable.
Coulter said she was able to pocket $4,000 for her holiday in just four months thanks to the tool.
“It’s just something I did not have the willpower for,” she said.
“You put off that kind of budgeting, so to have it done for you just made it so seamless and easy, and I didn’t have to have to think about it.”
CBA isn’t the only bank that has tools contained inside its app to help people save money.
Westpac, ANZ, and NAB can split your spending into categories like groceries, restaurants, streaming services and the like, which can go a long way in helping Aussies understand if they’re forking out too much cash in certain areas.
Additionally, these apps have features that show your upcoming bills so you can manage your finances.
Another great tool that has been deployed by certain banks is a roundup function. If you use this, it means every debit card transaction will be rounded up to the nearest dollar and those additional cents will be sent to your savings account.
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The Big Four banks all have savings and budgeting tools that can help you squirrel away more money. (Source: AAP)
There are also third-party apps that can connect to your bank, superannuation, credit card, and other accounts to have all your money in one place so you can track every dollar spent.
Alison Banney, money expert at Finder, told Yahoo Finance these tools have become game-changers amid the cost-of-living crisis.
“They even guess your future bills and find extra money you can save, making it super easy to put cash aside,” she said.
“Some banks allow you to open multiple savings account ‘buckets’, which you can use to save for different goals.
“If your bank doesn’t offer any special savings tools, you can set up regular automatic transfers into your savings yourself via internet banking.”
Westpac has recently seen a 36 per cent increase in customers using its budgeting tools to extend their cash.
“Customers are getting savvier with their spending — tapping into new features to get cash back on their shopping or using credit card points to pay for purchases,” Westpac Chief Executive, Consumer, Jason Yetton said.
CBA has discovered Gen Z are using these budgeting tools 65 per cent more than any other generation.
They’re two-thirds more likely to boost how often they save than those who don’t use them.
Cash Flow is the most popular tool for Gen Z customers, which gives handy snapshots at where your money is going.
CBA’s Goal Tracker tool allows you to set an amount of money that will be automatically transferred to your account. (Source: Supplied)
“We have more digitally active customers than any other Australian bank, with our customers checking into the CommBank app more than once a day on average, so for many the budgeting tools have become part of a daily flow,” Monica Wegner, CBA’s Everyday Banking lead, said.
“Now the data is showing younger customers who tap into these tools are seeing savings more often, so hopefully that is a sign the app is genuinely a help.”
The bank revealed three million customers engage with the money management tools every single month.
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