There has been some changes since I wrote about CDA in Aug 2017. One of the main changes is the change in CDA amount matching by the government.
CDA amount
The Baby Bonus website will let you know more. Once a CDA is opened, the child will receive CDA benefits, including the CDA First Step and Government dollar-for-dollar matching contributions for each dollar parents, up to the contribution caps shown below:
| Child Order | CDA Benefits |
Total CDA Benefits | |
| CDA First Step |
Dollar-for-Dollar matching | ||
| 1st & 2nd Child | $3,000 | Up to $3,000 | Up to $6,000 |
| 3rd & 4th Child | Up to $9,000 | Up to $12,000 | |
| 5th child and higher | Up to $15,000 | Up to $18,000 | |
What can CDA money be used for?
Money in the CDA can be used to pay for permitted expenses incurred at Approved Institutions via NETS (A NETS card will be issued by the issuing bank) or GIRO, for all your children.
Approved Institutions, which must be registered with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) under the Baby Bonus Scheme. You can check for the list of Approved Institutions here.
Highlights of difference in benefits between the 3 banks?
CDA interest rate analysis:
All three banks offers 2% interest rate but OCBC capped it for the first S$36,000. However, this cap does not make OCBC’s CDA any worse off because it does not make sense to keep so much money in the account.
- DBS/POSB and UOB are the best with no caps to the 2% interest. DBS/POSB has scrapped 2% interest rate with caps based on order of child birth.
- OCBC is second by offering 2% interest for first S$36,000.
| Deposit Amount | UOB | DBS/POSB | OCBC |
| S$0.01 to S$36,000 | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| S$36,000.01 & beyond | 0.05% |
CDA-trustee’s credit/debit card benefits analysis
- OCBC upped its ante by including cord blood banking into the medical category spending (3% rebate) of the OCBC 365 credit card.
- DBS/POSB went downhill by only offering 3% rebates for medical spending for POSB Passion debit card, excluding POSB Everyday credit card
- UOB does not offer any additional credit card benefits for CDA-trustee.
| Card benefits for CDA trustee | OCBC | DBS / POSB | UOB |
| Card | OCBC 365 Visa credit card | POSB Passion debit card | NA |
| Cash rebate amount | 3% |
3% |
|
| Cash rebate spend category | Medical spend On-site transactions made at all hospital, medical, cord blood banking and dental clinics in Singapore |
Medical spend On-site spend on medical services made at all hospitals, medical and dental clinics in Singapore |
|
| Cash rebate spend category exclusions | Transactions that are not made in person (such as online, telephone order or mail order) will not be eligible | Card-not-present transactions such as online transactions, mail/phone order and all spends at healthcare related merchants such as, but limited to, Watsons, Guardian, GNC, Hockhua Tonic, NTUC Unity and Eu Yan Sang etc. |
|
| Cash rebate cap | $80 per month for all spending | $50 per month | |
| Other bonus spend category which applies to non-CDA trustee | Petrol: 5% Grocery: 3% Dining: Overseas 3% Dining: Weekdays (local) 3% Dining: Weekends (local) 6% Telco (Recurring): 3% Online: 3% Others: 0.3% |
1 x Tap For More Points for every S$1 spent at Dair Farm Group Singapore 6 x Tap For More points for every S$1 spente at Dairy Farm Group Singapore if montly spending is more thans S$400 |
Recommendation
I do not think I need to state the obvious. But OCBC offers the best CDA account based on the card benefits to the CDA-trustee.
Finance 4 U and Me 
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