Westpac is implementing a push notification service that alerts customers when they are not meeting the conditions to earn bonus interest on their Westpac savings account.

Westpac said the feature, which sends notifications via both its mobile app and email, has been rolled out progressively to customers with a Westpac Life Savings account, designed for younger customers and government concession card holders. Like most savings accounts in Australia, the Life account requires customers to meet several criteria to qualify for bonus interest payments.

Westpac Life Savings account holders earn a standard 2.0 per cent interest rate per annum as a base. However, should they meet specific qualifying conditions, account holders can earn an additional 3.0 per cent variable bonus interest rate (for a current total of 5.0 per cent).

Among the qualifying criteria, customers must deposit at least $2,000 each calendar month, while the total balance of the account (recorded on the last business day of the month) must be higher than the last business day of the prior month, excluding interest paid. Customers under 30 years of age must also use their debit card five times or more in a single calendar month.

So far, since the introduction of the prompt, around 107,000 customers have acted on the notification, earning an average of $201 each in interest on top of what they would have – collectively, adding up to more than $21 million in additional interest earned.

Westpac managing director of cash and transactional banking Mandy Rutherford said the prompts were “designed to help customers better understand opportunities to earn bonus interest and allow them to act quickly”.

“This is part of our continued investment in digital tools that help our customers make more informed decisions about their money,” she added.

In addition to the bonus interest prompts, Westpac noted that it has also introduced alerts in online and mobile banking that notify eSaver account customers before their introductory bonus rate expires.

Westpac also sends push notifications via mobile regarding the maturity date of term deposits, on top of the standard email or letter communications to customers.