Raiz is doubling its fees, here’s what you’ll now pay
Micro-investing app Raiz is hiking its monthly fees for anyone with less than $10,000 in their accounts.
Raiz has announced it will be in increasing its monthly fees from $1.25 to $2.50 for customers that have less than $10,000 in their accounts starting from 1 August.
That means if you have $1,000 in your account, you'll be paying around 3% in fees each year.
For accounts with balances equal to or greater than $10,000, the account fee remains the same at 0.275% a year.
Until now, users of the app with less than $5,000 in their accounts were charged a flat fee of $1.25 per month, while those with balances over $5,000 paid an account fee of 0.275% p.a. for that month.
Here's how much more you'll pay for your Raiz account*
| Account balance | What you paid before (approx.) | What you pay from August 1 (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $15 p.a. | $30 p.a. |
| $5,000 | $13.75 p.a. | $30 p.a. |
| $8,000 | $22 p.a. | $30 p.a. |
| $10,000 | $27.50 p.a. | $27.50 p.a. |
| $50,000 | $137.50 p.a. | $137.50 p.a. |
*Note: The above fees don't include underlying issuer fees, which range from 0.22% p.a. to 0.43% p.a. depending on the the portfolio you're on.
Raiz Invest, which was previously known as Acorns, is an investing app that collects spare change and invests it into the share market. Because it can typically take more than one year to accumulate more than $1,000 in spare change, the a fee hike is likely to impact many of its users.
Since its launch in Australia in 2016, more than 1.1 million users have downloaded the app, which holds more than $331 million in funds under management.
Raiz Invest Managing Director George Lucas said the higher fees would help the company to continue investing in technology and maintain high standards for its customers, including in cyber-security and corporate governance measures.
"Our strategy is to provide customers with the exceptional experience, products and benefits they've come to expect from Raiz. This is demonstrated by the introduction of several award-winning new features, products and services," said Lucas.
"Our fees have been unchanged for the past three years, but the new fee structure will ensure the Raiz app continues to be at the cutting edge. It's crucial that we keep innovating to ensure we maintain this quality of service and product."
Raiz is also doubling its referral reward to $5.00 per referral and referee from 1 July.
This is the first fee change since Raiz Invest launched in Australia in February 2016. It will not affect Raiz Invest Super accounts.
