We're pleased to announce we were the only regional provider to be awarded a Canstar Innovation Excellence Award for our SmartBudget tool this year, and have retained our five star rating for our Pension Plus deposit account that offers outstanding value for seniors.

Canstar’s Group Manager, Research and Ratings, Mitch Watson said our SmartBudget savings account stood out to the judges as “special”, and they felt it would have a positive impact on customers and their lifestyles.

“SmartBudget, by Queensland Country Bank, is a unique product that helps customers manage their bills and expenses and avoid bill shock by making regular deposits based on the estimated cost of their bills and smooth out the costs over the year,” said Mr Watson.

“Bill smoothing isn’t universally available so that’s what makes this product stand out, and at a monthly cost of $5, SmartBudget doesn’t come with the financial sting of using a credit card to manage bills.”

“The judges were also particularly impressed by the fact that customers are allowed to overdraw on the account interest-free when paying their bills.”

Mr Watson also praised us for retaining our five star rating for the Pension Plus Senior Saver and Senior Transactor accounts.

“Pension Plus has been recognised by Canstar as providing outstanding value for seniors whether they are seeking an account for their savings or their daily transactions,” he said.

“The combination of a healthy interest rate of up to 1.25% along with no account keeping or transaction fees, gives customers the ability to manage their savings and transactions through the one account.” 

Our Chief Executive Officer, Aaron Newman, said that as a Member-owned bank we pride ourselves on providing flexible financial solutions with features that matter, and were delighted to be recognised by an impartial source for the value that we are offering to Members.

“Canstar is a trusted source that people look to for advice, so their independent review gives us important feedback on how favourably our products compare in the market place,” Mr Newman said.

“Member feedback indicates that SmartBudget is a helpful tool for them to manage their budget and savings, with many Members crediting it with helping them through challenging times such as unexpected job losses during this current pandemic.

“Receiving the Canstar Innovation Excellence Award reaffirms this feedback and our own self-assessment of how well our products are providing value to Members.”

Find out more about these two Canstar awards.

*If the balance in your account is going to be negative in the first eight weeks (i.e. the dollar value of the bills that are due in the first 8 weeks plus the monthly service fee is more than your regular deposits) we will ask you to top-up the difference into your account. Your SmartBudget Account cannot have a debit balance of $5,000 or more at any time.

Find out about our SmartBudget tool (including terms and conditions).