Hello everyone!
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I wanted to share my experience with Tinkoff's savings account.
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I opened it back in late 2021, right after I got my card.
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Why I decided to open a savings account?
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I usually keep all my money on my card, and it's easy to get tempted to spend it all at once. I wanted to set a specific amount for my card and stick to it.
The second reason is the interest on my card balance. I figured, why let my money just sit there when it could be working for me?
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I'd heard of savings accounts from my parents, but it was a new concept to me. I started with Sberbank, but quickly dropped it – their interest rate was way too low for my small sums.
That's when I decided to give Tinkoff a try.
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Why a savings account, not a deposit?
With a savings account, I can withdraw my money whenever I need it. And, okay, it won't make sense in this month's budget, but I'll tell you more about that later. With a deposit, that's not an option.
Plus, you can usually open a savings account with any amount, whereas deposits have much higher minimums. As a student, I'd have to save even more for a deposit.
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Now, let's talk about the account and my experience.
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How do I open it?
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Opening a savings account is a breeze – you can do it from home. Just find the account section, click 'open', and you're done. It's as easy as that.
I've had wildly different balances on my account - anywhere from 300 rubles to 85,000. The balance can fluctuate a lot, especially when I'm buying furniture or electronics.
Depending on the balance, the interest earned each month changes too. But I think that's pretty self-explanatory.
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So, how does the account work?
I deposit some money, but it's best to do it on a specific day of the month - for me, it's usually the 9th. I'm guessing that's the day my account was opened, and that's when the interest is usually credited.
Then I wait exactly a month and see my interest on the 9th.
But there's a crucial catch. You can't withdraw the money before the 9th, or you'll lose the interest for that amount, and the cashback will only be applied to the minimum balance left. That's why it doesn't make sense to deposit money in the middle of the month.
Although, I've found a way to avoid this issue - not in this bank, though.
But that was my thinking before writing this review. Maybe the conditions were different before, but now it says that the interest is calculated daily. And, actually, there's a cool new feature that shows how much you've earned for a specific month.
A quote from the website sums it up:
You won't lose the interest you've earned if you withdraw all or part of the money from your account.
Now, I've come up with a little scheme. If I get money before the 9th, I deposit the excess on the Daily account and then transfer it to this account.
As of now, my interest rate is 7%. And I think that's a pretty great deal.
I compared this account to two other popular options - Sber and Alfa. In Sber, even for a small amount, the interest rate was incredibly low, like 0.03% if I recall correctly. However, that was a while ago, so things might have changed. In Alfa, the first month offered a respectable 9%, followed by 4.5%. I double-checked the terms, so I'm pretty sure I got it right. Anyway, 7% interest on a permanent basis is a much better deal, so I've decided to stick with it for now.
Here's a link to check your tariff.
Last month, I got lucky and landed in the cashback categories - Pro or Premium. The key was that the interest rate was increased to the end of the month. I'm glad I took a closer look at the categories. I'm not sure how much I'll earn this month, but I'm expecting a decent amount.
So, in total, I've earned 2,895 rubles so far.
On one hand, the amount is tiny, but considering I often had sums of up to 1,000 or even 100 rubles lying around, this is a great result. At least it's something, right? It's definitely better than nothing.
Around this time, I also achieved the lowest amount - a whopping 0.01 roubles. That's probably a record for the smallest amount. I was about to give up, but I decided to try out a different savings account, so I transferred all the money there. I left this one open, though.
On the other hand, I achieved the highest amount - 447 rubles. In all honesty, that's a massive sum considering my entire earnings from this account over the years.
I've only managed to earn 412 rubles so far.
Update:
But then I got a decent payout in May - 596 rubles.
My verdict:
This account is a pretty good option, especially if you don't have a lot saved up. Of course, if you had more money, you'd earn more too.
Even with 1000 rubles, you'd still get some kind of result, and your money wouldn't just sit there doing nothing.
I didn't earn a fortune, but 3000 rubles can get you something and take you grocery shopping at least once, especially considering I just opened the account, deposited the money, and didn't put in any extra effort. And at least a few kopecks are earned.
Thanks for reading!
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