help with chosing a savings account

im just looking into savings accounts with Westpac. first ill explain what i want it for, then if anyone has any idea what type of account i should go for!!

Basically, i want an account where i can transfer money across each week towards our rent and bills, then once a month, make all the necessary payments. is it worth getting an account that pays interest on that money?? how does that work (i dont understand interest at all!!) does it mean if there is so much in the account each month, you get so much interest paid? does it make any difference if i will be withdrawing money each month? (well, monthly, 2 monthly and 3 monthly.. depending on the bill) roughly $450-$500 a week will be transferred over.

the account im looking at is eSaver-
Interest- Tiered (paid monthly)
0 < $5,000 4.10% pa (we would never have more than $2500 in there at any one time)

it also says NIL transaction fees for Internet banking- does that mean bpay?

thanks ladies :) any advice would be great!

Should be no fees if you do the bpay online, rather than on the telephone.

Interest depnds on the accoutn. Its not just the amount/percentage thats important, its also when it is calculated, and when it is paid.

Say it says interest calculated monthly, paid quarterly.

You might have $5000 in your account, for the whole time, but the day before the interest is due you withdraw $4500. You will only earn interest on whats in there on the day, the $5oo.

They do the same thing for the next 2 months and then pay you the interest. Then it starts again.

If you want to grow savings by interest you are better off with a savings account or term deposit where you can put a smaller amount that you dont need to withdraw. Thst way your savings will increase.

The fee free transactions are worth it on that account though, just dont count on getting paid any decent amount of interest when you are using it as a transaction account.

I've got an ING Savings Maximizer for my bills and one for DD! Interest is calculated daily (based on your account balance each day) and paid to you monthly. There is no minimum and I just opened it up over the net.

I transfer my cash in on pay day and then when I need it, it's so easy to transfer back out again! Best part for me is I dont' have an atm card! So the money stays in there and not at the clothes or shoe shops!

Hope this helps a little!

I just have a NAB iSaver connected to my Gold Account.
It's 7% and it's calculated daily so I can leave all my money in there and then just transfer when it's needed to earn more interested. It has no fees and I can use phone access for it as well.

You sorta have the same idea as me.
What i currently have is a Suncorp Everyday options account (edo) with 3 sub accounts. (You can have up to 9 of these accounts i think)
These sub accounts at current pay 3.75% on every dollar daily and paid monthly which is better than most Term Deposit rates at the moment and you still have access to your funds. What we use these accounts for is one for savings, bills and one for my son. You can get your pay electronically paid into the sub accounts, then when you want money you can phone bank or internet bank it into your main, or the other way around, have your pay into the main account then phone or internet bank it into your sub accounts. At my bank you can set up transfers so every week a certain amount goes into these accounts automatically. You cant access the sub accounts in the branch so if you want money out of one you transfer it into your edo then take it out in the atm or over the counter. The only fee to have these accounts is $5 per month for the edo then the sub accounts are free. You also have unlimited transactions with your card linked to the edo account. and you only ever get charged a fee if you go to another banks atm which is like $2. you can have a visa debit card attached to The edo account aswell at no extra charge (good if you dont have a credit card and would like to use a credit facility for over the ph or on the internet)..
Hope this helps.