Change in OCBC 360 account interest from May 2025
Just received an email from OCBC on 21 March 2025 stating that the interest rates for the 360 account will be revised on 1 May 2025.
To be honest, I am quite surprised that they kept the rates pretty high since UOB changed their rate lower from a realistic EIR of 5% (up to $100,000) to a realistic EIR of 4% (up to $150,000) in May 2024 and I was expecting OCBC to follow but they didn't. Looks like they maintain for a good 1 year to attract UOB One account holders to jump ship over to them, hoping that the switching cost will be high and customers will just stay with them.
But since the change happens so frequently, maybe customers have already gotten used to changing bank accounts since the opening of account is so easy these days online.
Let's see what has changed and do some comparisons as well.
OCBC 360 account changes
| Category | Tier | Current Rate | New Rate | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary | First S$75,000 | 2.00% | 1.60% | -0.40% |
| Next S$25,000 | 4.00% | 3.20% | -0.80% | |
| EIR1 | 2.50% | 2.00% | -0.50% | |
| Save | First S$75,000 | 1.20% | 0.60% | -0.60% |
| Next S$25,000 | 2.40% | 1.20% | -1.20% | |
| EIR1 | 1.50% | 0.75% | -0.75% | |
| Spend | First S$75,000 | 0.60% | 0.50% | -0.10% |
| Next S$25,000 | 0.60% | 0.50% | -0.10% | |
| EIR1 | 0.60% | 0.50% | -0.10% | |
| Insure | First S$75,000 | 1.20% | 1.20% | 0.00% |
| Next S$25,000 | 2.40% | 2.40% | 0.00% | |
| EIR1 | 1.50% | 1.50% | 0.00% | |
| Invest | First S$75,000 | 1.20% | 1.20% | 0.00% |
| Next S$25,000 | 2.40% | 2.40% | 0.00% | |
| EIR1 | 1.50% | 1.50% | 0.00% | |
| Grow2 | First S$75,000 | 2.40% | 2.20% | -0.20% |
| Next S$25,000 | 2.40% | 2.20% | -0.20% | |
| EIR1 | 2.40% | 2.20% | -0.20% |
*You will earn a base interest of 0.05% a year on your entire account balance regardless of whether you fulfil the above categories.
1For maximum EIR illustration purposes for your first S$100,000.
2Grow only applies when balance exceed $200,000 for current rate and $250,000 for the new rate.
The previous calculator I built has been updated to include the changes starting May 2025 with a toggle just above the table so that you can still access the current rate. The achievable interest drops from 4.65% to 3.3%.
Alternatives that you can consider
With the revised rates, let's look at some alternatives. Do note we are assuming you are able to meet the spend, salary, payment or save criterias that are required from the respective banks. I'm excluding the wealth / insured bonus that some of the banks offer cause I'm assuming most of us don't buy them. Do note this table reflects the change starting May 2025 although this article is written as of 23 March 2025.
OCBC 360 Max: SGD 100,000 | UOB One Max: SGD 150,000 | BOC SmartSaver Max: SGD 100,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interest Breakdown | Base: 100,000 @ 0.05% = $50.00 Salary: 2000.00 (1.6%/3.2%) Save: 750.00 (0.6%/1.2%) Spend: 500.00 (0.5%/0.5%) | Base: 100,000 @ 0.05% = $50.00 Salary: 3375.00 (75,000 @ 3%, 25,000 @ 4.5%) | Base: 400.00 (100,000 @ 0.4%) Salary: 2500.00 (2.5%) Spend: 800.00 (0.8%) Payment: 900.00 (0.9%) |
| Yearly Interest | SGD 3300.00 | SGD 3425.00 | SGD 4600.00 |
| Monthly Interest1 | SGD 275.00 | SGD 285.42 | SGD 383.33 |
| Daily Interest2 | SGD 9.04 | SGD 9.38 | SGD 12.60 |
| Effective Interest Rate | 3.30% | 3.43% | 4.60% |
1Monthly interest is calculated based on yearly interest ÷ 12 months for illustration.
2Daily interest is calculated based on yearly interest ÷ 365 days for illustration.
OCBC 360 | UOB One | BOC SmartSaver | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary: | First SGD 75,000: 1.6% Next SGD 25,000: 3.2% | First SGD 75,000: 3% Next SGD 50,000: 4.5% Next SGD 25,000: 6% | First SGD 100,000: 2.5% |
| Save: | First SGD 75,000: 0.6% Next SGD 25,000: 1.2% | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Spend: | First SGD 75,000: 0.5% Next SGD 25,000: 0.5% | First SGD 75,000: 0.65% Next SGD 50,000: 0.05% Next SGD 25,000: 0.05% | First SGD 100,000: 0.8% |
| Base Interest: | 0.05% | 0.05% | 0.15% - 0.40% |
| Payment Bonus: | Not applicable | Not applicable | 0.9% |
Now, let's discuss these individually.
UOB One Account
This has been one of the easiest and straightforward one I personally consider. With good EIR of 4% capped at $150,000. With only 2 conditions to meet, spend and salary. Although there's another option of GIRO with a lower EIR, it wasn't included in the above example.
The spend can be achieved with UOB Lady's card as well. Great for miles chaser too. If you need help to calculate the monthly average balance, here's a link to something I build something back (sorry about the poor UI): UOB Average Daily Balance Calculator. I use UOB One primarily for my day in day out expenses so the calculator helps me to keep track to optimize it.
OCBC 360 Account
The user interface is great but the incremental $500 that is required to hit the save bonus is really annoying. I had also written an article because at some point you will be losing out if you keep incrementing $500. I also don't like I have to login desktop in order to see the value date for the cut off time. I like that they calculate the monthly average balance that can be seen if you login to desktop, however the data is slightly lagging. Do take note of that. You can also enable notifications so that if any funds comes in, you can be notified via email / push notification. It's great if you want to track and maintain so that there's not too much fluctuation in the account.
Do take note for calculating the monthly average balance, especially when 1st few days of the month is a Sunday or a Public Holiday. You can read this article to understand more so that you can avoid missing out on the save bonus. The next upcoming will be on 1 May 2025 which is a Labour day.
BOC SmartSaver
The UI is terrible. But the EIR is too good to ignore. Interestingly the base interest has some tier. I like that there are no complicated tiers for spend, payment, salary but it wouldn't matter if you are aiming for $100,000. They also have extra savings interest that applies for balances beyond $100,000 and subject to maximum of $1,000,000. You can read more here. But if you have more than $100,000, you might probably go for UOB One instead. Or even considering opening another account with GXS / Maribank to place the excess funds there. Both the digital banks are fuss free without any other conditions and they pay out interest on a daily basis.
If you do not have Maribank and will like to open one, here's a referral code 6KRW79GC that you can use.
Conclusion
BOC SmartSaver is definitely one of the best EIR for balances up to $100,000. However we are not sure if the rest of the banks will adjust their rates, which usually happen when one of the banks change their rate.