Squirrel savings account

[Untamed]

Does anyone have a Squirrel savings and investing account, currently paying 5.25%:

https://www.squirrel.co.nz/invest/high-interest-on-call-account-lp?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=Ad-20-Promo-Interest&utm_id=120207383295460714&utm_content=120207383295470714&utm_term=120207383295480714&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMAABHY61OWOyN0f2-5rJH-H26W9s1C5vKuIihvtkogMAI9b_UCh42dYZOFNspw_aem_rIoUX_FoEZSicQKAPyTTfQ

Thinking of opening one, to use purely as a savings account, but wondering if anyone knows which NZ (AA-) banks, deposits are held with.

[Breezy]

Does anyone have a Squirrel savings and investing account, currently paying 5.25%:

https://www.squirrel.co.nz/invest/high-interest-on-call-account-lp?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=Ad-20-Promo-Interest&utm_id=120207383295460714&utm_content=120207383295470714&utm_term=120207383295480714&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMAABHY61OWOyN0f2-5rJH-H26W9s1C5vKuIihvtkogMAI9b_UCh42dYZOFNspw_aem_rIoUX_FoEZSicQKAPyTTfQ

Thinking of opening one, to use purely as a savings account, but wondering if anyone knows which NZ (AA-) banks, deposits are held with.

Yep all my spare rainy day coin is squirreled away with them, not sure which one of the big 4 it is held with but doesn't really matter in terms of security. Best secure on call rate around.

[Untamed]

Yep all my spare rainy day coin is squirreled away with them, not sure which one of the big 4 it is held with but doesn't really matter in terms of security. Best secure on call rate around.

Thanks. I've opened an account. They currently have a promotion running which is a bonus. Join up and make a deposit (no minimum) and get $20 credited to your account. Gotta love free money.

Oh! That's why they're called Squirrel!

[Dolcile]

Hmmm I prefer the kernel cash fund because it is a PIE. 

[Breezy]

Hmmm I prefer the kernel cash fund because it is a PIE. 

A PIE has no advantage for some of us.

[Dolcile]

A PIE has no advantage for some of us.

That's true!

[Hectorplains]

Notice from Squirrel, "where an unauthorised party was able to access some of your identification-related information", specifically my drivers license details I provided as id.  They're offering to reimburse for the cost of replacing my license and 12 months free sub to something called Centrix Security (who notify you if a credit provider accesses your credit details.)  Which is all very well and good as a response but it doesn't address the issue of how it happened, which doesn't fill me with confidence in continuing to use their service 

[TGB]

Squirrel your money is with BNZ

[Untamed]

Notice from Squirrel, "where an unauthorised party was able to access some of your identification-related information", specifically my drivers license details I provided as id.  They're offering to reimburse for the cost of replacing my license and 12 months free sub to something called Centrix Security (who notify you if a credit provider accesses your credit details.)  Which is all very well and good as a response but it doesn't address the issue of how it happened, which doesn't fill me with confidence in continuing to use their service 

I also got the same notification about the breach, and today's email and offer. But you know what? I am actually very impressed with the way they have handled this. I emailed Dave, who is the Chief Operating Officer, with a question re the driver licence replacement, as I couldn't find the cost of this. He deposited the money into my Call Account, in advance, before I had even been into organise the replacement. All he asked me to do, was send the receipt once I had paid it, which I did.

I asked him straight up for info re the breach and he answered all my questions transparently, and without hesitation. Every communication was very prompt - and I genuinely felt that I was getting excellent customer service from him.

Some further info from his response:

The 3rd party company is Au10tix. We use their services to capture the images of your licence and selfie – note the images were not downloaded, just the data scraped from your licence.

The unauthorised access was not a staff member. Unfortunately a password was lost to a hacker, which was able to log-in to the Au10tix system to gather the data.

I can assure that the issue was permanently fixed within hours of our alerting systems being triggered.

I think the original notification email was detailed, and showed transparency, as did today's follow up email. I am more than satisfied with the actions taken, and the way they have communicated with customers. The bonus "gift" was a nice touch, and I plan to take advantage of it.

[Untamed]

One more thing. When I went to get my licence replacement sorted, the AA woman suggested I renew it instead, as it expires next year. The difference in cost was $6.10 so it made perfect sense to do that.

Today I received a Squirrel notification, informing me that my deposit was now in my account. I had no clue what this was, as I had not made a deposit. It was a payment from Squirrel, for the extra $6.10! Now they had absolutely no responsibility or need to cover that cost, but they did. That is what you call great customer service/PR.

I have not been a customer for long, and I will only ever use them for the On Call account, but so far, every communication experience I have had with Squirrel has been faultless. It is unfortunate there was a security breach. Nobody wants that, least of all Squirrel. But as I said in my previous post, they have done everything right in managing the breach, and have followed up with customers in a way I have seldom seen other businesses do (or government departments!) for similar incidents.

Impressive in my humble opinion.

[Untamed]

Interesting that Squirrel processes payments, and pays out deposit interest way faster than any of my three banks do. If I transfer funds to my Squirrel savings account, it is usually there within minutes rather than hours, whereas my bank transfers can take several hours (or often overnight for Heartland). Squirrel deposit interest was already in my account first thing this morning, while my banks won't be in until later tonight, or possibly tomorrow.

I only use Squirrel for the savings account - not the peer to peer lending - but honestly, I cannot fault them so far. I am pretty impressed.