Term deposits are different to savings accounts. The way they work is you lock away a certain amount of money for a fixed length of time. Whilst your money is locked away, you in turn get a guaranteed interest rate and therefore, predictable returns. When you open the term deposit, you will know exactly what the return on your money will be at the end of it. However, for this fixed period of time, you are not able to withdraw on the amount of money that you invested.