After waiting for moe than 2 years, OCBC is finally revising its interests rates due to the rate hikes by the US federal reserve. Although the interest rates is still lower compared to pre-pandemic times, the adjustment to the is definitely a good change to their policy. This means that savers can now be entitled to more interests for balances of up to $100,000 (previously up to $75,000). In today’s post, I will share how this change would be like for savers who have balances of up to $100,000 and are currently employed with a wage of more than $1,800 per month and are still able to save >$500 per month. Additionally, I will also share my views about the insurance and investment products and whether I would buy into those categories.
What is the realistic interest that most depositors will get
Most of us who use the OCBC 360 account as our main savings account will probably only be interested in a few categories. Those categories are, salary, save and spend categories and that will give you an annual interest rate of 1.8%. The reason why is because other categories namely, invest, insure and grow are only entitled to specific personalities. We will discuss about those other categories in the later segments of this post. By and large, I recommend savers who are able to maintain a surplus of savings of >$500 to cap it at around $500 so that less of your monies is trapped. As for the remaining balance, you can channel those funds into a short term investment opportunity or another bank account that can give u more than 1.8% per annum.
What about insure and invest categories
As an investor, there is no need to diversify into unit trusts and other automated investment products if you are able to generate steady yields of around 8-12% per annum. However, if you are not into investing manually, you can always choose to purchase OCBC investment products and get additional interests from your 360 account. Similarly for the insure category, my take is that we should not buy insurance products just for the sake of the additional interest. That said, if there is a suitable insurance product that suits your needs, you should get it from OCBC if it makes sense (cents) for you.
Why I stick with OCBC all these while
It is not always about the rates that keep customers because at the end of the day, almost every bank rates are the same or are only different by a small margin. I stuck with OCBC because I find that their customer service, bank locations and ATMs are all strategically positions around Singapore compared to other banks. Not to mention that OCBC bank account holders can also withdraw paper notes from all UOB ATMs. Finally, the biggest motivation to stay with OCBC is because I have gotten used to the apps and services provided by the bank and it will be a hassle for me to switch so long as OCBC continues to values us.
Closing Thoughts
The revision to the interest rates is of course most welcome for all depositors, I hope that they will continue to keep up with the rates or even become a leader in raising rates so that depositors will be more encouraged to earn and save over time.
