What is a term deposit?

You give a bank a lump sum for an agreed period, the term, and the bank pays you an agreed interest rate for the whole of it. Moneysmart describes it as investing "for a set amount of time and get a fixed interest rate", with terms "usually between one month and five years". The terms this site compares are the ones on the leaderboard.

The rate is fixed at the start. If the Reserve Bank moves the cash rate next month, your rate does not move with it, so a fixed rate can end up above or below what new deposits are offered later in the term.

This site estimates interest as simple interest: the amount, times the annual rate as a decimal, times the fraction of a year. On $10,000 at 5.60%, the highest comparable twelve-month rate in the snapshot read on 10 Oct 2026, that is $560.00 over twelve months before tax. The median of the 75 ranked brands publishing that term was 5.25%. The bank’s own calculation can differ a little, for example by counting actual days; the calculator gives the same estimate for any amount and term, and product minimums and eligibility still apply.

Banks pay the interest either at maturity or along the way, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly. A product that pays along the way can carry a different rate from the same term paid at maturity; the bank page shows which payment options each product publishes.

Only authorised deposit-taking institutions can take deposits in Australia: banks, building societies and credit unions licensed by APRA. Under the Consumer Data Right, banks publish their products and rates as open product-data feeds, which is where every rate on this site comes from. The snapshot read on 10 Oct 2026 ranks 77 brands with a comparable retail term deposit; the methodology says what is included and what is left out. See what an ADI is.

Eligible Australian-dollar deposits at an Australian-incorporated ADI are protected by the government’s Financial Claims Scheme up to $250,000 per account holder per institution. See the guarantee.

Access. Moneysmart says you "may also need to give up to 31 days’ notice" to get the money out early, and that you "may only receive a proportion of the interest earnt, or none at all". The exact notice, the interest reduction and any hardship provision are in each product’s terms. See breaking a term deposit early.

Flexibility. Adding to a term deposit during the term is generally not possible, some products allow a partial early withdrawal and many do not, and a rate rise elsewhere is not passed on mid-term. In exchange the rate and the payment schedule are fixed in advance.