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A conversation with a regular reader of my blog:
Hi AK,
How's it going for you AK?
This is in regards to the OCBC 360 account and in particular to the criteria of generating an additional 0.5% interest amid the payment of 3 unique bills in a calendar month.
I am wondering do you know that the topping up of our CPF-SA is considered a bill payment because I was so amazed when i discovered it.
My excitement behind this is that most bill payments are expenses and the topping up of our CPF-SA is not an expense at least in my opinion, considering that it is our own money at the end of the day.
In addition, for the younger ones who do not own a house and have minimum bills to pay yet (no utilities or mortgage), clocking three unique bills in a month may be a challenge.
The discovery of this means that a single person like myself can essentially use a combination of monthly CPF-SA top up, credit card bill payment and mobile phone plan to qualify for the 0.5% additional interest!
What's even sweeter is that, other forms of mandatory payments can be soaked into my credit card component where an individual is required to incur a $500 monthy expenditure through an OCBC credit card in order to qualify for the separate 0.5% additional interest.
1% additional interest could never have been easier!
Warmest Regards,
P
AK asked for some clarification as his ageing brain couldn't keep up with the excitement:
Hi P,
I would like to share your discoveries in my blog very much. LOL.
I didn't know that topping up of the CPF-SA is considered a bill payment.
What "other forms of mandatory payments can be soaked into my credit card component"? Could you provide some examples?
Best wishes,
AK
P readily obliged:Hi P,
I would like to share your discoveries in my blog very much. LOL.
I didn't know that topping up of the CPF-SA is considered a bill payment.
What "other forms of mandatory payments can be soaked into my credit card component"? Could you provide some examples?
Best wishes,
AK
Hi AK,
Yea for sure!
There is a very big list of organisations here, http://ocbc.com/personal-banking/help-and-support/payments-billing-organizations.html?#billing-organisations
Maybe using the word like "mandatory" may not be the most appropriate word, I think a better one would be "common".
1) I paid a household utility bill which amounted to $50 in May with my Ocbc credit card (that's 1 out of 3 bills clocked to qualify for that 0.5% additional interest rate )
2) the same 50 dollars will also be counted as an expenditure on my Ocbc credit card since I used the card to pay for it. ( that's 50 out of 500 dollars of expenditure "soaked" into my credit card to qualify for the other 0.5% interest rate)
So my example previously was that for a single person who may not or has yet to own a property, may encounter difficulties when finding for 3 unique bills to pay. In this case, he or she may top up his cpf account and choose the option to pay via billing an Ocbc credit card to qualify for the additional interests. I like this option a lot because topping up our cpf is our money at the very end of the day isn't it?
I'm not sure would you find this useful since ur sa is probably maxed out, but for someone like me since I'm single, I think this is one of the very useful discoveries I have made for myself to qualify for higher interest rates on a savings account.
2) the same 50 dollars will also be counted as an expenditure on my Ocbc credit card since I used the card to pay for it. ( that's 50 out of 500 dollars of expenditure "soaked" into my credit card to qualify for the other 0.5% interest rate)
So my example previously was that for a single person who may not or has yet to own a property, may encounter difficulties when finding for 3 unique bills to pay. In this case, he or she may top up his cpf account and choose the option to pay via billing an Ocbc credit card to qualify for the additional interests. I like this option a lot because topping up our cpf is our money at the very end of the day isn't it?
I'm not sure would you find this useful since ur sa is probably maxed out, but for someone like me since I'm single, I think this is one of the very useful discoveries I have made for myself to qualify for higher interest rates on a savings account.
B,
P
If you have an OCBC 360 account, I think P has shared some pretty amazing stuff. :)
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7 comments:
I think for Payment Bonus, you have to make the payment with your 360 account. If you make payment with credit card then it would not be counted into Payment Bonus. I made this mistake before.
Extracted from OCBC website, FAQ section "You just need to pay any 3 UNIQUE bills with your OCBC 360 Account through OCBC Online Banking or GIRO every calendar month"
Chula, you can pay the OCBC credit card bill with 360 account for payment bonus. That is how one "mandatory" bill can contribute to the 2 conditions.
I was wondering if P could share with us how to bill CPF MS top-op to Credit Card?
Also, I read online that some people have tried using FRANK Credit Card to get a 6% rebate. Minus the $15 admin fee, this would still be a net gain. Perhaps my information is outdated? Would anyone be able to verify?
Thank you!
Oh i was talking about Utility bill mentioned by P in the article. If you make payment with credit card then it won't be counted into Payment Bonus.
I use my ocbc 360 account to pay for other bank's credit cards. They count towards bill payment too.
Put all the cheap GIRO payments as the bills and then move everything like telco and SP bills to your credit card for the easiest actions.
Cheap GIRO payments include IRAS 12 month interest free income tax instalment plan, CPF Min Sum Top Up on Monthly basis (i don't believe there is a minimum GIRO amount), CPF Education Loan repayment (min of $100 per month; this comes with a "cost" of interest to your relative's CPF), Town Council S&CC bills, etc.
2 GIRO + 1 OCBC CC bill will easily meet the 3 bill payments whether or not you spend $500 on the CC. So the extra 0.5% is when you have an indulgent month on your CC. :)
Telco bills paid through their websites can be charged to credit cards. SP bills can be charged to credit cards only at their payment counters. This may incur cost in terms of time and travelling.
I think you no longer can use credit cards to top up your CPF accounts even through CPF eNETS cashier. According to the payment portal, they stopped accepting credit cards from Oct 2014. Debit cards are still accepted, which then, i don't think Frank Debit cards have the 6% cash rebate.
Hope the above ideas are valuable.
from CPF
"The eNETS credit payment service in e-Cashier has been discontinued on 3 October 2014 due to the low usage by CPF members. Based on our records, about 10% of the payments from e-Cashier were made using credit payments. Hence, we would like to channel our resources to other platforms where demand is higher. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. However, you can continue to use to the eNETS debit payment service. Alternatively, you can also make payment with your NETS ATM card at any AXS machine or SAM kiosk or Diners Club Credit Card at any AXS machine."
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