Will you continue to be loyal to the revised OCBC 360 Account?

When I was in the midst of work today, I received an SMS from OCBC informing that there will be changes to the OCBC 360 Account effective on 1 April 2017. I took a quick glance and was kind of disappointed with the so-called 'enhancements'.

In one of my posts, I blogged about the OCBC360 on What’s Next After Savings? This was the account which helped to kickstart my investment journey. With the upcoming revised changes to the interest rates, is it still worthy to put your funds in this account? Let’s delve deeper.

With effect from 1 April 2017, OCBC will be making five changes to the OCBC 360 Account.

Table 1: Comparison on upcoming change to OCBC 360 Account w.e.f. 1 April 2017
	Current	New
Balance cap to earn bonus interest under OCBC 360 Account	$60,000	$70,000
Salary bonus - Credit a minimum monthly salary of S$2,000 through GIRO	1.2%	No change
Payment bonus - Pay at least 3 unique bills with your OCBC 360 Account	0.5%	0.3% (To qualify, pay at least 3 bills totalling at least S$150)
Spend bonus - Spend a minimum of S$500 across your OCBC Credit Card(s)	0.5%	0.3%
Save bonus	Earn 1% per year on your incremental balance	Earn 1% per year on the first S$70,000 if account balance is ≥S$200,000
Wealth bonus	1%	Up to 1.2%
Base interest	0.05%	0.05%

With the above changes, how will it impact my current funds sitting in the account?

In my situation, all the changes will impact me except Weath Bonus as it is not applicable to me because I did not purchase their insurance product.

Let’s do a comparison assuming I have S$70,000 sitting in OCBC 360 Account under the revised scheme and fulfilled the salary, payment, spend and save bonuses.

Table 2: Comparison of Interest Earned
	NEW	CURRENT
	Interest Earned p.a. for $70,000	Interest Earned p.a. for $60,000
1.2% Salary Bonus	$840	$720
0.5% Payment Bonus		$300
0.3% Payment Bonus (revised)	$210
0.5% Spend Bonus		$300
0.3% Spend Bonus (revised)	$210
1% Save Bonus (revised)	N.A.	Assuming there is no increment
0.05% Base Interest	$35	$30
TOTAL (indicative)	$1,295	$1,350

In the table above, it is clear that I will earn $55 less under the revised changes. Moreover, I would have earned more interest under the existing Save Bonus if there are any incremental balances from the previous month’s balance contributed by my monthly salary which I did not reflect in the table.

For the Payment Bonus, you need to ensure your 3 bills total up to at least $150. There is no cap currently. However, I believe this should be easily achieved for most working adults.

If I continue to keep my funds in the revised OCBC 360 Account in Table 2, I will only get to earn 1.85% interest per year, down from 2.25% currently. On the other hand, I am sure there are many other better fixed deposit accounts which you can earn more than 1% with $200,000 rather than park it under OCBC 360 Account for 1% on the first $70,000. That means the balance $130,000 will be idling in the account and only accrue a miserable 0.05% base interest.

While OCBC calls it an ‘enhancement’, I seem to interpret that they telling us that the good O’ days of OCBC 360 Account is going to be over soon :(

Maybe it’s time to search for other better savings account now.

Will you continue to pledge your loyalty to OCBC 360 Account? Feel free to share your views as different people have different savings strategies :)

Cheers, EzHuat

Related posts:

What’s Next After Savings?

Update to OCBC 360 Account