Lunar New Year Promotions to Welcome the Year of the Snake

In case you have some money on hand and looking to earn more interest on your deposits, you might be interested in some of the bank deposit promotions by our local banks. All these are pretty good deals but which ever one you choose to go with depends very much on the quantum and amount of time you can keep the funds locked up.

OCBC Promotion

OCBC is having a Lunar New Year Promotion now. If you apply for either of the following Higher-Interest Deposit Account, Bonus+ Savings Account or Premier Dividend+ Savings Account (for Premier Banking customers only).

For the Bonus+ Savings Account, when you deposit a minimum of S$10,000 into the account, the deposits will earn you the interest rate of 1.8% p.a. If you deposit a minimum of S$50,000, you will receive a limited edition NETS Flashpay card with a stored value of S$38 (for the first 1,800 eligible customers).

For the Premier Dividend+ Savings Account, when you deposit a minimum of S$100,000, you will earn an interest rate of 2.0% p.a. If you deposit a minimum of S$350,000, you will receive an exclusive Cashcard gift set with a total stored value of S$302 (for the first 300 eligible customers).

For both of these accounts, if withdrawals are made within the month, you will receive only 0.2% p.a. (base interest rate) for that month. If no withdrawals are made, you will receive 0.4% p.a. (0.2% base interest and 0.2% bonus interest). If no withdrawals are made in the quarter, an additional 1.4% quarterly bonus on top of the 0.4% p.a. will be received in the 3rd month, totalling 1.8% p.a. The amount placed will be earmarked for a period of 6 months from the date of placement.

OCBC also has a Time Deposit offer. Regular customers will earn an interest of 1% p.a. with a 12-month Time Deposit with a minimum deposit of S$20,000. For Premier Banking customers, a 12-month time deposit will earn them an interest of 1.08% p.a. with a minimum deposit of S$50,000.

Promotion commences on 7 January 2013 and ends on 28 February 2013.

For more details, please go to the OCBC website.

UOB Promotion
UOB is also having a deposits promotion offering up to 1.0% p.a. plus limited edition medallions and lucky dip prizes for fresh fund deposits. Early bird gifts are offered for minimum deposits of S$48,000 (999 Fine Silver-plated Medallion worth S$208) and minimum deposits of S$138,000 (999.9 Fine Gold-plated Medallion worth S$308). For fresh funds amounts from S$10,000 to S$50,000, additional interest rates of 0.7% on top of prevailing rates of 0.1% p.a. are being offered. For amounts above S$50,000 to S$100,000, additional 0.8% p.a. is offered while for amounts above S$100,000, additional rate of 0.9% p.a. is offered. Hence, depositors can get up to 1.0% p.a. (maximum total interest rate). 0.9% p.a. (additional interest rate) + 0.1% (prevailing interest rate) assuming a deposit of above S$100,000. To qualify for the medallion coin, the fresh funds have to be earmarked for 3 months from the date of deposit.

For new deposits of at least S$10,000, you can stand to win prizes including New Moon Abalone sets, restaurant vouchers and more. This promotion for UOB Passbook Savings and Uniplus Account ends 29 February 2013. For more details, please refer to the UOB website.

Standard Chartered Bank Promotion
Standard Chartered Bank also has a new Step-Up Time Deposit promotion for the Lunar New Year. The total tenure is 36 months. For the initial 6 months, 1.08% p.a. interest will be earned. There is a step up in the interest rate once every 6 months to 1.18%, 1.28%, 1.38%, 1.48% and then to 1.68% for months 31 to 33 and then finally to 2.58% p.a. In addition, for a minimum of S$88,000 in fresh funds, you will receive a 24K gold-plated medallion. This deposit structure is similar to the ones that were offered in the last quarter of last year to depositors. Interest will be paid every 3 months and depositors are allowed to make withdrawals on each cycle maturity date (ie. every 3 months) without penalty. However, if any withdrawals are made in the first 3 months upon placement of deposits, an administrative fee of S$250 per account will be charged.

The average interest rate for the Contractual Tenor is 1.42% p.a. if the Account is held to Account Maturity Date. For more details, please refer to the Standard Chartered Bank website. Please refer to the Standard Chartered Bank website for more details.