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While booking time off is exciting, it’s even more important to ensure your plans are legitimate so you don’t end up the victim of a travel scam. "Scammers often lure travellers with discounted travel packages that promise luxurious accommodation, exclusive deals, or free prizes, only for the victim to realise none of it was true," explained COBA’s Acting Chief of Financial Crimes and Cyber Resilience, Martin Latimer. To help ensure your holiday plans go ahead, COBA’s financial crimes team share expert tips on how to identify and avoid travel scams. What is a travel scam? A travel scam entices travellers with cheap flights and accommodation offers, free vacations, or exclusive holiday rentals that promise the holiday of a lifetime. Scammers create fake listings for popular travel destinations that mimic legitimate online travel agencies, often requiring payment upfront or request unusual and unsecured methods of payment that scam victims out of money. Travel scams can take many forms, including: Fake travel websites, booking platforms or rental listings advertised online. Unsolicited calls or emails offering free or heavily discounted luxury vacations. Fraudulent online marketplaces where scammers demand upfront payments for non-existent bookings. “These fake travel deals target victims booking big overseas holidays or short domestic trips, so it’s important to ensure you’re using reputable sites and avoid any requests for suspicious methods of payment,” Martin says. “Once the victim hands their money over to the scammer, they may discover the deal doesn’t exist, the accommodation listing was fake, or – upon arrival at the destination – realise it’s nothing like what was advertised,” he adds. Tips to protect yourself Do your research: Verify the legitimacy of travel websites, agencies, or accommodation listings by reading reviews from other travellers or ask for proof of the agency’s accreditation or certification. Beware of listings with limited photos, vague descriptions, or deals significantly cheaper than market rates. Be sceptical of unsolicited travel offers: Avoid holiday deals that seem too good to be true, especially if they’re unexpected. You may receive emails notifying that you’ve won a free vacation and ask you to click a link to claim the prize – this is likely a scam, especially if you haven’t entered any competition. Use secure payment methods: Avoid transferring money or paying through untraceable methods like gift cards or cryptocurrency. Stay vigilant during travel Remember, travel scams don’t stop once you’re on holiday as scammers can lurk in popular tourist destinations and trick travellers looking to use common services or holiday activities. These can include: Taxi scams. Vehicle hire scams. Wrong or overcharging scams. Credit card skimming. Pickpocketing and theft scams. Visa scams. Fake ticket scams. QR code scams. “Carry my bag” scams. More information on how these scams occur and how you can protect yourself is found at Smartraveller. What to do if you suspect a scam If you encounter a potential scam, report it to ScamWatch.gov.au to help protect others from falling victim. If you’ve been scammed, immediately notify your bank or financial institution. Customer-owned banks are dedicated to safeguarding their customers from scams and fraud. In November 2023, 55 mutual banks and credit unions demonstrated this commitment by joining forces to launch the Scam-Safe Accord with the Australian Banking Association. This industry-wide initiative represents a united front against scammers and reinforces the banking sector’s determination to strengthen consumer protection. Find out more about the Scam-Safe Accord here. 

Budgeting is something that many of us don't like to consider as we think it will tie us down. But if you really stop and think about it, budgeting is simply a means of looking at your income and expenditure and deciding on what is most important to you. Once you identify what you want to achieve, a budget is a tool to help you get there. Tracking your spending Where does all my money go? Very few people can answer this question accurately. Learning how and where you spend your money is the first step in managing your finances. Keep a financial diary Select a defined time period eg a month or 4 weeks; Record all of your spending in a notebook, create as many categories as you need e.g. petrol, lunch, transport etc; Ensure you include small items such as snacks, drinks, parking meters, tolls, donations etc; At the end of the month, use the category totals as part of your annual budget; You may choose to look for any spending that was spontaneous, wasteful or a luxury that you could do without in the future. How to curb impulse buying Next time you are tempted by an unplanned purchase, ask yourself: Do I really need it? Will I really use it? Will I still like it next month/next year? Is the price likely to be reduced at an end-of-season sale? If I don't buy it now, do I want it so much that I will make a special trip later to come back and buy it? Planning a budget A budget can help you plan your expenses and save for things you want. Managing credit or simply covering expenses is not always easy but following these steps will help you control your finances: Add up your earnings each week (or fortnight or month) Subtract regular payments or basic expenses; Rent or mortgage repayments; Food and household needs; Utilities (phone/electricity/water); Transport expenses (travel passes, petrol, car registration, maintenance); Health needs; Insurance (health, house, car, travel etc) You should include yearly expenses such as car registration and insurance in your budget. You can divide these totals by 52 for the amount to budget for each week (or divide by 26 for the amount to budget each fortnight or by 12 if your budget is calculated on a monthly basis). Subtract regular payments for lifestyle bills and expenses: Entertainment; Clothing; Personal grooming; Home appliances If you are not sure as to how much you spend; either make an estimate and review it after 3 months; or consider tracking your spending for a month. Allocate additional funds to cover Loan repayments; Additional superannuation contributions The amount of money that is left can be used to buy things that you want or to save. Online budget calculator To help you plan your budget, you can utilise our budget calculator which takes into consideration all of your general expenses and gives you an idea as to how much you could save. Check our online calculators here. Saving Saving may appear to be difficult and disciplined, but think of the feeling of being able to afford to buy something you have wanted for a long time. Here are some tips to help you on your way. Set yourself a savings target Aim to save 10% of your gross annual income. This breaks down to 5% for short-term goals and 5% for long-term goals. Tip - the 10% rule If you've never been a successful saver before, start off slowly. Leave committing to medium or long-term goals for a while until you're confident a saving strategy is within your reach. Set yourself one short-term goal - perhaps 3 months away - that requires only a small amount of cash; Then set aside 10% of your income each week in a separate savings account; At the end of 3 months, withdraw the cash to pay for your small goal - perhaps a weekend away or a new piece of clothing - and if there is any money left over make that the first instalment in your next savings goal. Develop a safety buffer The key to successful money management is to put funds aside during the good times and to minimise financial stress during bad times. Remember to allow for unexpected debts and emergencies e.g. illness in the family, loss or breakage of possessions, career interruptions etc. Tip - how much is enough? Singles and couples should consider developing an emergency fund equal to 2 months take-home pay in case of retrenchment or emergencies. Those with young families should aim to build up an emergency fund equal to 3 months take-home pay. Quick budget reminders Don't make your budget so tight that it's impossible to keep; A budget is not set in stone. It is there to help, not hinder you. A sign of a successful budget is one that is flexible during tough times and able to reward you when your prospects are brighter; If you blow your budget one month, try to make up for lost finance in areas that are more flexible e.g entertainment or eating out; Revisit your budget every 3 months to see if there are any areas you can tighten up to improve your financial flow. Explore a Range of Savings Accounts for Your Financial Goals - Learn more.

A member number is a unique number that identifies you from all other Unity Bank members. An account number is a 9 digit number linked to each different account. When would I need my Member Number? When you log into Internet Banking (also known as User ID) When speaking with our staff, helping us to quickly locate your member profile when assisting you. When would I need to know my Account Number? For companies, government bodies and anyone who makes credits or debits to your Unity Bank accounts you need to quote our BSB number and the 9-digit account number linked to your account. You may notice you have a number with some letters available, for example 123456L1.1. This is your internal account number and can't be used for external credits or debits. How do I find my Account Number? You can locate the 9-digit account number in your Internet Banking by selecting BSB/Account Information from the Accounts menu: To find it in the mobile banking app select the relevant account from the Accounts page, then tap the blue coin symbol (for Savings accounts) or the blue money bag symbol (for Loan accounts) above your account details and it will be listed under “Account reference”. You can also find your account number on your bank statement or eStatement. If you need further assistance, please contact us on 1300 36 2000.

PayID is free to register and easy to use, it helps to stop scams because unlike a traditional payment, the payer can see a confirmation screen, which includes the intended PayID name, before they confirm the payment. Find out more from the Australian Banking Association   Not sure what PayID is? If you can’t remember your BSB and account number, a PayID is something easy to remember — like your mobile phone number that you register with us and we link to your account. Then when someone needs to pay you, you simply give them your PayID instead of your BSB and account number. PayID. Simple as.   Simpler to remember  Remembering bank details is enough to give anyone a ‘goldfish’ moment – seriously, who can remember their BSB and account numbers? A PayID can be something easy to remember like your mobile number.   Simpler to get right If you’ve ever worried about sending money to the wrong account, PayID can help. Use a PayID with a service like Osko and the name of the person who owns that PayID is shown before you approve the payment. All you have to do is to confirm it’s the right person.   Simpler to share Sharing your PayID couldn’t be simpler, because it’s easy to remember for both you and the person you’re sharing it with.

We will acknowledge receipt of your application at which time we will advise you of our initial assessment and, if necessary, seek other information from you for the purpose of fully assessing your application. We may also need to gather information from a third party, such as a credit reporting agency, to enable us to fully assess your application. Upon receiving all the relevant information, your application will be fully assessed and you will receive a phone call or email to let you know if your loan has been approved, subject to any conditions. At that time we will also discuss the next steps involved in progressing your loan application. Please note the following regarding the information you provide. In submitting your application you agree, in making an application for credit to us, that, in assessing the application we may seek and obtain personal information about you from a credit reporting agency or other financial institution or any other party necessary to assess your application and may give personal information about you to another financial institution. You also agree that we may hold and use personal information about you, which may at any time be provided to us in connection with a facility for which you make application to us, for the purposes (as relevant) of: considering any other application you may make to us; complying with legislative and regulatory requirements; performing administrative functions, including accounting, risk management, record keeping, archiving, systems development, credit scoring and staff training; managing our rights and obligations in relation to external payment systems; conducting market or customer satisfaction research; developing, establishing and administering alliances and other arrangements (including rewards programs) with other organisations in relation to the promotion, administration and use of our respective products and services; developing and identifying products and services that may interest you; and (unless you ask us not to) providing you with information about other products and services. For further information on the way we collect and use your information, please click here to view our full Privacy Policy.

Knowing what documents you need when applying for a personal loan can be tricky. Below is a list of necessary items to help you when applying for a personal loan.   Personal identification One primary photographic ID (eg. driver’s licence or passport) or two non-photo IDs (eg. birth certificate, citizenship certificate, council rate notice, ATO tax assessment notice, bank cards, credit cards)   Proof of income For full time/part-time & casual employment, please supply your most recent payslip. Self Employed, you will need to supply the last 2 years lodged tax returns and your most recent Notice of Assessment (must be issued within the last Financial Year).   Items needed for a secured car loan A tax invoice for the car you are buying, that includes: car registration number vehicle ID number (VIN) or chassis number engine number purchase price Current Registration papers A current full comprehensive Insurance Policy Other supporting documentation may be required upon request. For more information please call 1300 36 2000 and speak with one of our lending specialists. Credit eligibility criteria, terms and conditions, fees and charges apply