This is a long overdue post. A lot of bloggers have already commented on the high interest rates of banks this past few months. I find that I still have to drill on the essentials so that more of you understand how big a deal this is. If you do not like monitoring your savings, now it's time to do so. If you account is under a different savings account and not UOB One or DBS Multiplier, you will also have to set up a new one. 

UOB One Account

UOB One boasts of the highest interest rate and Fixed Deposit account currently, up to 7.8%. This is in tiered status, which amount to 5% interests in total. That's only for people with $100,000 in the bank but this $100,000 will actually give $500 interest every month. That's a staggeringly high amount for doing nothing, or next to nothing. 

2 criteria to get the high interests:

Criteria 1) Spend $500 on a UOB credit or debit card. 

I spend more than $1,000 a month for my household so this is manageable. Pair it with the UOB One Credit Card and you will get a further $50 (spending $500 every month) or $100 (spend $1000 every month) every quarter.

Criteria 2a) Credit minimum $1,600 for your salary. 

That's around $2,001 gross salary because you need to deduct CDA/Mendaki amount and only 80% will be credited into the bank after CPF. This is also the minimum amount to apply for most credit cards. Before you complain you earn lesser than that, which my employees like to tell me, you can also skip this and go for the next criteria.

Criteria 2b) Make 3 Giro transactions every month. 

Giro means you pay the bills automatically every month. Bills such as utilities, mobile phone, internet, credit cards, HDB parking, school fees.  The interest is lower if you opt for this and do without salary credit. Still better than the usual 0.05% interest rate. 

I don't have $100,000 but because the interest rates get higher the more I have, I asked my husband to deposit his funds with me instead of having 2 separate lower interest. Hooray, more free money!  

Pros: 

Low entry barrier 

Easy to meet the criteria

Cons:

No idea when interest rates will be lowered

Troublesome to keep track of $500 spending 

DBS Multiplier

I have a POSB kids savings account since young and it's always there because it has no minimum balance required. Unlike OCBC 360 account which is a current account and requires a minimum of $3000. On a side note, I cancelled my OCBC 365 credit card many years ago because it wants me to pay for subscription fees. If balance falls below $3000, you will be deducted $2. 

To apply for the DBS Multiplier account, I got into my POSB/DBS Digibank app, click "More" at the right button, click "Deposit Accounts" and you can see DBS Multiplier Account there. Sign in with SingPass and you will get the account in a few minutes. Shockingly fuss free compared to pre-covid where I have to go to the bank to do it. Even the GIRO applications can be done online without mailing back the forms, technology rocks! 

2 criteria to get the high interests:

Criteria 1) Credit your salary. 

No minimum value needed but a higher amount would count as higher eligible transactions to give higher interest rates.

Criteria 2a) Paylah or DBS credit card spending. 

I just applied a POSB Everyday card because Sheng Siong is near me. That's 5% rebates which is a lot for daily groceries. I mentioned that I spend around $1000 but that fluctuates so $500 would go to UOB One while the rest would go to POSB Everyday.  Confusing? Not really, just pay with the Everyday card when I go Sheng Siong. The rest is non consequential. 

Criteria 2b) DBS home loan, insurance or investments. 

It's suitable if you have outstanding DBS home loan. I blogged previously that I changed to DBS home loan from HDB loan at the lowest rate of 1.5% for 5 years. I will let you know if I regretted it in 2 years' time. If you and your spouse is paying half of the home loan, the total amount will be eligible. For example, you pay $800 and your spouse pay $800. The full amount of $1,600 is counted towards the eligible transactions. 

If you are doing investments with DBS then that's helpful. For me, I switched the dividends deposit to DBS and it qualifies as the eligible transaction. If you are someone with lots of dividends monthly, then this account is actually quite suitable for you. Or if you are investing regularly with DBS Vickers, this would be good. 

Interest depends on your eligible monthly transactions

I keep DBS account as my secondary account as I always have some GIRO transactions linked to it so there is always a small amount of money there. Plus, DBS Paylah is very aggressive with their promotions, especially the $3 discount every Friday for all hawker meals. 

Pros: 

Useful if you are already in the DBS ecosphere

Good as secondary account, no minimum amount needed in the account or minimum spending

Cons:

Eligible transactions fluctuate every month especially on the amount of dividends that are credited or transactions made.

The tiers are more confusing but it's indicated on your digibank app. Example shown below.

Conclusion

DBS Multiplier is a bit more confusing and gives lower interests than UOB One so you don't have to consider it. Pump as much money as you can into UOB One now. If you have extra money lying around under your bed and is currently a DBS home loan customer, it's good as a secondary account. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

P.S: Not a sponsored post. 

I wrote a post previously that I was still with HDB loan because of the peace of mind and lesser cash upfront needed when I purchased my house.

Now with the all-time low interest rates, I have decided to cave and change to a bank loan. Now is the time when we have 20 years lowest interest rate, I would be a fool not to consider it. Currently, I could get 1.45 to 1.5% for my home loan from various banks. The best part of all, is that DBS has a 5 years fixed interest rate. That's incredible! 

Considering I only have 21 years left, 5 years is like 25% of the loan and I happily signed on with it. A lot of you may have the same considerations as me - What if interest rates go up and higher than HDB interest rate of 2.6%? 

The last time it went anywhere near in the recent 20 years was in 2001, and the highest was 2%. My solution is to repay a lump sum if the interest rate go much higher. 

A lot of us do not know that you can actually pay the bank loan early without the 1.5% penalty - By either giving the bank 1 month's notice (check the contract terms), or after the lock-in period, which is 5 years for my case. When it's time for you to re-finance the loan, take a look if the interest rate is still acceptable, or if it's time to repay a higher amount, such that you have a lower loan value remaining and will not need to pay so much interests, even with a higher interest rate.

For that, you need to set aside some funds. which I have 5 years to do that. 

In any case, for the interest rate to go down from 2.6% (HDB Loan) to 1.5% (DBS Loan) is a huge savings of $50,000 (over a period of 20 years and only if the interest rate does not increase much)! That's compounding interest for you and shockingly huge when it's over a long period of time.

For people who are still with HDB loan, probably time for you to consider. No obligations since I am not earning any commission from any banks. I saved some money in the long run, and hope some of you will benefit too.