Getting the most from Grow & Flow

On July 30th, 2025, we announced a big change to the way Saver interest works in Up.

Grow & Flow is our new interest rate system, designed to help you grow your savings faster, while still earning interest on the money you set aside for everyday spending.

We know it might take some getting used to, so we wanted to share a bit more on why we made the change, how it works, and what it means for you.

Why we made the switch

We’ve always stood for making money feel easier, more human and more in tune with real life. That hasn’t changed. At the same time, we want to help Upsiders improve their financial wellbeing—not just today, but for the long haul. And the old system wasn’t cutting it anymore.

For a long time, we’ve been hearing from Upsiders that they wanted a higher interest rate, but we couldn’t do that without tweaking the model. Grow & Flow is how we get there. It’s a system designed to support those longer-term savings goals with our best possible rates.

We tested and explored different options with real Upsiders, and this was the approach that struck the right balance based on feedback: helping people grow their savings, while still earning interest when spending.

The old model applied a single interest rate to all Savers. It was easy, sure, but not sustainable in the way that we wanted it to be.

What the old system meant:

1. No incentive to split money between short-term and long-term goals. All Savers earned the same rate, so why bother organising your money?
2. We couldn’t offer stronger rates to Upsiders trying to grow their savings over time. Everyone got the same rate, whether they were all-in with Savers, or just parking money for spending.
3. It wasn’t sustainable long-term. To keep offering strong rates and growing Up for years to come, we need a model that supports sustainability and encourages good money habits. After all, we can’t keep helping people if we’re not built to last.

How Grow & Flow works

Grow & Flow is designed to reward the kinds of habits we already see from our more engaged Upsiders—those using Savers and features intentionally to manage their short-term spending and grow their long-term savings.

With Grow & Flow, we’ve landed on a system that we feel strikes a healthy balance:

• You’ll earn a higher rate (4.85% p.a.) on Savers you don’t withdraw from during the month, up to a balance of $250K, helping to grow your bigger savings goals faster. This is the Grow Rate.
• You’ll still earn interest (1.50% p.a.) on Savers you do use. This is the Flow Rate.
• Savers can still be used to manage “cash flow” while still earning interest, but there is now a clear incentive to keep a little less in “Splurge” and a little more in “Home Deposit”.

Note: the above rates are accurate as of the time of writing and may have changed by the time you read this. For current rates, visit our Pricing page.

How your setup shapes your interest

We know this sounds a little more involved. That’s why we’ve put together three examples based on real Upsider data, just so you can see how a little structure makes a big difference. Not financial advice, just food for thought.

All three examples use the same total Saver balance, but how that money’s split across Savers can lead to very different outcomes. They’re not based on real Upsiders, but the setups are realistic and drawn from common patterns in our data. We’ve highlighted the details in each example.

For simplicity, we’ve used a basic interest model here. In reality, interest is calculated daily on your balance and paid monthly, so actual earnings may vary slightly.

Upsider A — The “old-school bank” setup

Many banks allow only one “savings” account, which forces you to put all your savings in one bucket. While we don’t limit you to a single Saver, around 44% of Upsiders with Savers are currently living the one-bucket life.

With just one Saver, a single withdrawal in the month means 100% of the money in that Saver will earn the Flow Rate, resulting in earning less than half of what you would have before Grow & Flow.

Upsider B — A “typical” setup

Most Upsiders who use Savers already have more than one, but many setups still keep a large amount in a single Saver with frequent withdrawals.

Based on population-level observations from early 2025, Savers users on average have 3 Savers. While this is definitely a step up from the single Saver setup (Upsider A), it could be tweaked to work better with the Grow & Flow system.

This setup earns almost twice as much interest as the one-Saver setup (Upsider A), but it still earns less than before Grow & Flow.

• Balance of “Save Up 1000 Challenge” is representative of someone approx. two months into the year long challenge.
• Remaining balance is divided into a Grow, and a Flow saver such that the amount earning each rate approximates population-level observations from early 2025.

Upsider C — A “multi Saver” setup

A strategy we regularly see among Upsiders, which could work well in the Grow & Flow world, is creating several Savers with specific purposes in mind. The longer-term stuff can be locked away to earn the higher Grow Rate (using Saver ‘Upgrades’, or special Savers like Maybuy or Save Up 1000), while money stashed away for near-future spending can be kept separate (while still earning some interest).

The amount earning Grow can be maximised by using several savers—keep only what you need in Flow Savers, while locking away the rest.

• Balance of “Save Up 1000 Challenge” is representative of someone approx. two months into the year long challenge.
• Balances of travel Savers are representative of partial progress towards a larger savings goal.
• Balance of “Bills Saver” based on the median observed monthly recurring expenses for Upsiders who use Up as their “main bank” and who track bills using the Regulars feature.

It’s a change. We hear you.

We know this shift might feel like it’s making things less easy, and for some Upsiders, it might even feel like we’ve moved the goalposts.

That’s fair. From day one, we’ve encouraged Upsiders to split their money into multiple Savers and use them as part of everyday money management. So we completely understand why this change might feel like it goes against that.

Savers can still be used to manage your day-to-day cash flow and earn interest, but now there’s more of an incentive to keep less in short-term spending and more towards longer-term goals.

Grow & Flow is about supporting long-term savings goals without cutting off interest completely for those who still need to spend. Yes, it asks a little more, but with the right setup (and a few handy in-app safeguards), you could earn more interest than you did before.

We also want to be upfront: these are variable rates, so they might change again. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets on August 12, and depending on what happens, our Grow & Flow rates could be adjusted to follow.

We know it’s different, but we're listening, we're evolving and we’re here to help anyone who feels caught out.