At any one time, I am holding about 25%-30% of my current asset in cash. This includes 12 months of emergency fund. Similar to many others, I am on a regular look out for the the higher interest for this part of my asset and yet maintain the liquidity such that I can activate them almost immediately if the needs arise.
For the past few years, I have been using a combination of OCBC 360 and UOB One accounts. Salary is credited to OCBC 360 and as much as possible I will use my UOB credit card. Despite that, I had many months in which my credit card spending did not hit at least $500, and so did not get the higher interest.
Recently, I was looking out for CNY fixed deposit promotion when I came across OCBC Bonus+ account. For one reason or another, it did not appear in my radar before. To cut the story short, the account gives 1.45% interest for the entire account if $500 is deposited per month with no withdrawal. On months with no deposit, interest rate dropped to 0.75% and on months with withdrawal, it dropped to the base interest of 0.05%.
Not very exciting but with no other condition, just slightly lower rate than the promotional fixed deposit, and no account balance limit for the interest, I deem it suitable for my needs. So going forward, these will be the two main sources of interest that I will get on my cash.
OCBC 360 (1.6% – 2.5%)
Salary (1.6% for all months)
Step-up bonus (0.45% for most months)
Credit card (0.45% for some months)
I will be exploring if it make sense for me to invest minimally to OCBC product to get the additional 0.9% interest.
OCBC Bonus+ (1.45%)
For most months, I am likely be able to deposit $500 per month for most months. If the opportunity arises from the market for me to use my fund, I am more than willing to forgot this interest for the month.
OCBC 360 seems fine though i think it might be better for you to use maybank iSavvy acct
The net interest will be higher?