In today’s low interest environment, most savings account barely pays you much for keeping your money with them. It is so low that you might as well just keep them in your Milo tin under your bed. But do all savings account really give us interest rates that suck so bad?
According to our research, there are (surprisingly) some savings account that offer generous interest rate. The only caveat? You need to fulfil some simple criteria like depositing your salary with them or meeting a minimum savings balance. We term these savings account as high-interest savings account and here’s our quick guide to high-interest savings account in Singapore.
- DBS Multiplier
For the first S$50,000 in your DBS multiplier account, you get to enjoy up to 3.50% interest rate on your savings balance.
Source: DBS
There are two criteria that you need to fulfil: Credit your salary and make transactions in at least one of the four categories (debit/credit card spending, home loan instalment, insurance with DBS/POSB or investments with DBS/POSB).
The amount of interest you can receive on your savings balance is dependent on the total dollar amount of transactions you make with DBS.
Source: DBS
- OCBC 360
If you have a higher savings account balance, OCBC might be a better option for you. OCBC’s 360 allows you to earn higher interest rate on the first S$70,000 in your savings balance.
There are four categories where you can earn additional interest: Salary, payment, spending and wealth. By fulfilling each category, it will allow you to earn additional interest rate.
Furthermore, OCBC is currently having a promotion where you can earn an additional 1% interest rate by keeping your account balance higher than the previous month’s balance.
Source: OCBC
- UOB One
Among the three local banks, UOB One’s high interest savings account is the only one that offers varying interest rate for different tiers of savings. The more balance you have in your savings account, the higher amount of interest you can earn if you spend at least S$500 on your UOB One card. If you credit your salary or pay three bills via GIRO, you will earn an additional 0.5%-1.33% interest rate per annum.
Source: UOB
- Maybank iSavvy Plus
Maybank’s iSavvy Plus account works in a similar manner as a time deposit. However, it offers slightly higher flexibility by allowing you to withdraw whenever you want. Compared to DBS, OCBC and UOB, Maybank doesn’t offer as much interest rate. However, this also means that it comes with no criterion. By simply saving your money with Maybank, you are entitled to earn higher than normal interest rate. If you keep your continue to increase your balance for six consecutive months, you get to enjoy bonus interest rate.
Source: Maybank
- Standard Chartered Bonus$aver
Standard Chartered Bank’s Bonus$aver offers additional interest rate on the first $100,000 by fulfilling either a spending, salary crediting, investing/insuring or bill payment criteria.
Source: Standard Chartered Bank
The two most “attainable” criteria are the spending and salary crediting criteria. By spending a minimum of $500 on your credit card, you will be able to earn 0.88% interest rate. Another 1% interest rate can be earned if you credit your salary with Standard Chartered Bank’s Bonus$aver account. The only caveat is that your monthly salary needs to exceed $3,000.
- Bank of China SmartSaver
Bank of China SmartSaver is a savings plan for Bank of China Multi-Currency Savings account holders. Bank of China offers up to 3.55% p.a. on the first S$60,000 of your account balance if you perform either of these three actions: Card spending, salary crediting or payment.
Source: Bank of China
If you spend at least $500 a month using your Bank of China debit/credit card, you will be able to earn 0.80% bonus interest rate. The bonus interest rate will be doubled if you spend at least $1,500 a month. Salary crediting of at least $2,000 a month into your Bank of China SmartSaver will earn you an additional 0.80% interest rate. This is further raised to 1.20% if your salary is at least $6,000. Similar to UOB One, paying 3 bills via GIRO or Bank of China’s ibanking payment function of at least $30 will allow you to enjoy another 0.35% bonus interest rate on your savings.
Open Your High Interest Savings Account Today!
So, what are you still waiting for? Simply get online and sign up for one of the six high interest savings account today!