Volt Bank is shutting down: 3 things customers need to do right now
Digital neobank Volt is closing down, and customers have been told to withdraw their money right away.
Volt Bank has announced it will be shutting its doors and handing back its banking licence. The digital bank has around $100 million worth of deposits that will be returned to customers.
If you're a customer and you have a Volt Save account or a Volt term deposit, there are a few things you need to do right away.
1. Withdraw your money
The first thing customers need to do is withdraw their money from the bank. Volt has told customers they should withdrawal all their money before 5 July 2022 across any accounts they have open with the bank.
If you've got money in a Volt Save account, the interest rate has been set to 0% and the interest you've earned from the past month will be applied to your account by 1 July. After this, you can simply withdraw your money into another bank account or savings account.
If you've got a Volt term deposit, the bank said you can withdraw your money right away and you won't incur any early break fees or charges.
You don't need to close your account once the money has been withdrawn, Volt will begin closing accounts itself on 5 July.
2. Cancel any direct debits/credits
Cancel any direct debits or credits you have for your Volt accounts (for example, if you were getting your pay debited into your Volt account, or your regular bills credited from the account).
Contact your service providers and update your banking details to another bank account right away.
If you forget any direct debits or credits, after the Volt accounts are closed down from 5 July 2022 these debits and credits will bounce back to the sender or fail (so you won't lose money if you happen to forget one).
3. Open a new savings account (if you need one)
If you had money in a Volt save account, it's a good time to open a new high interest savings account to replace it. Since the RBA has raised the cash rate, many savings accounts have also raised their interest rates and some are offering more interest than what Volt was offering.
A few savings accounts that currently offer higher rates than Volt Save include:
- ING Savings Maximiser with up to 2.10% p.a.
- Bank of Queensland Future Saver Account (for 14–35s) with up to 3.00% p.a.
- Virgin Money Boost Saver with up to 2.00% p.a.
Thanks to a rising cash rate, savings account rates are also going up so it's a good time to compare accounts and switch to a higher rate.
