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When I shared on Facebook why OCBC 360 has gone from the top to the bottom of my list of "jumping through hoops" savings accounts, a reader suggested Standard Chartered Bank's Bonus Saver as an alternative.
Coincidentally, my sister started a Bonus Saver account recently and I did look at it before junking it.
Please take note that I junked it because it didn't suit me. I will share who it is good for later.
SCB announces plans to slash 15000 jobs.
The headline interest rate is always attractive:
Up to 3.88% per annum!
How to get this?
OK, start jumping through hoops.
Base interest rate (for the first $200,000 in the account) is 0.1%.
Spend $2,000 on a SCB credit card each month to get 1.78%.
Alamak! Now, I am already struggling with spending $500 with the UOB One Card.
How like that?
What if I spend only $500 a month? OK, I will get 0.78% per annum.
A big difference.
Monthly salary crediting gets an extra 1% per annum.
I don't meet this requirement, of course.
Invest or insure with SCB to get an extra 0.75% per annum.
What do you think I will say to this?
Pay 3 bills via Giro or online banking each month to get an extra 0.25% per annum.
This, I can do.
Bonus interest will apply to the first $100,000 in the account only.
So, let's see. What is the interest rate from SCB Bonus Saver for me?
0.1% + 0.78% + 0.25% = 1.13%.
This is after jumping through 2 hoops.
OK, quite clearly, if I must jump through hoops to get higher interest rate on my savings, SCB Bonus Saver beats OCBC 360 which would give me a miserable 0.6% per annum.
Read the blog on why I junked OCBC 360:
https://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/03/ocbc-360-updated-and-downgraded-again.html
However, if your circumstances are like mine, UOB ONE account is still the number one choice.
An interest rate of 2.43% beats the competition flat.
Unfortunately, it is for the first $50,000 in the account only.
Now, most people my age are not retired like me. So, let us see what they will get if they have a salary to credit monthly:
SCB Bonus Saver: 2.13%
OCBC 360: 1.8%
UOB ONE account: 2.43%
How like that?
I am a shareholder of the giamsiap bank and, of course, another giamsiap bank which didn't even get a mention here.
Maybe, the moral of the story is to invest in giamsiap banks.
Aiyoh! Bad AK! Bad AK!
For who does the SCB Bonus Saver make sense?
If we have much more than $50,000 in savings and if we have a monthly salary to credit, it could make sense to migrate to SCB Bonus Saver because of the much higher cap at $100,000.
Lower interest rate compared to UOB ONE but SCB Bonus Saver will pay more interest income in absolute dollar terms then.
Related post:
UOB ONE, OCBC 360, CIMB Starsaver and BOC Smart Saver.
Bloggy Award
4 comments:
Bernard Tay Chun Rong:
CIMB fast saver 1% with full liquidity and no conditions...
AK:
Good for the first $50,000.
Bernard Tay Chun Rong:
Just open another fast saver if you have another 50k... done... abit more management but u got full flexibility.
AK:
I too lazy. I just stick to the CIMB Starsaver account. :p
I figured that if I am not touching that $50,000, I might as well put the money in a CIMB FD and get 1.9% interest back when it was launched.
For liquidity, because I am still old fashion and need a cheque book, I stick with Starsaver lor.
Ya, lazy too lah.
Just a bit more work to transfer money here and there.
Get extra $100 in interest a year also good what.
Bad AK! Bad AK! ;p
Fong Sau Yee:
I prefer Citibank Maxigain Savings Account. Simpler.
https://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/deposits/mxgn-savacc.htm
AK:
Oh, they called this the Step Up account many years ago. I had it. I junked it liao.
Kelvin Tan:
The problem with maxisaver is you can only withdraw the interest, if you don't want your counter to fall.
AK:
Yes, that was why I junked it.
Some months, I might need to use more money and then my counter gets reset.
I don't want to have to worry about that.
On top of that, I had to pay for the cheque book.
Fong Sau Yee:
First cheque book is free. Nowadays with electronic transfers, I very seldom use cheques.
AK:
I very old fashioned lah. :p
I also very giamsiap and like my free cheque books :p
Reference to point number 9 in
https://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/deposits/pdf/MaxiGainTnC.pdf
"If your lowest balance in the current month is lower than the lowest balance in the previous month, the Counter will reset as follows..."
Should take into account the cashback also.
UOB One card gives 3.33% cashback on the $500 and 5% on $2000 while Bonus$aver card gives nothing :/
Having said that, I still have a Bonus$saver account cause it allows for joint accounts. 2.13% ain't too bad. haha.
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