Posted by Due to the low interest rate environment, Singapore bank deposit rates have dropped significantly. Gone are the days where one can easily meeting the banking activities and earn interests above 2% (some even more than 3%) for bank deposits. DBS Multiplier account is the only remaining account that offers more than 2% interest if one can meet the requirements. From the Hardwarezone forums, there are a few people who bought the cheapest term insurance in order to hit the four banking activities for higher interest for the next twelve months. I am not advocating this because insurance should be bought based on one’s needs. Nevertheless, if one has more than the S$50,000 or S$100,000 in his or her DBS Multiplier Account, where should one park the extra cash? During my search, I found out something about Maybank’s Save Up programme that I never knew about the programme and I hope to share this with the readers.
1 Different tiers of Maybank Save Up programme offers different bonus interest rates
There are three tiers of Maybank Save Up programme which corresponds to the banking relationship tier. If you have S$200,000 of AUM with Maybank, you will be at the Maybank Premier segment which offers you both a slightly higher bonus interest rates and larger deposit amount applicable for bonus interest
2 Qualifying Products differs for different banking tiers
Another interesting fact is that the qualifying products differs according to the tiers. Personally I find this customisation very well curated. For instance for the Premier banking segment, home loan for overseas property is considered a Qualify Product but not for Privilege and normal segment. However, for the normal segment, Education and Renovation loans are considered a Qualifying Product but not for the Privilege and Premier segment. I can see that there is a lot of thought that the Maybank’s product management team went through.
I have collated the different Qualifying Products in the table below. Please refer to the following links for the three different Maybank Save Up programme:
Maybank Save Up Programme
Maybank Privilege Save Up Programme
Maybank Premier Save Up Programme
3 One can earn up to 1.67% interest for Privilege and 1.8% interest for Premier if one meets the Daily Average Balance “Save” requirement
In my opening, I mentioned that one should not buy insurance products just to meet the requirements for hight interest bank accounts. Likewise, it applies to investments as well. I find that GIRO payment/Salary credit and credit card spending are the two of the easier Qualifying Product that one person can easily meet because they are necessary banking activities that one would need. With these two Qualifying Products, one will need one more to hit three and earn bonus interest of 2.75% for Privilege (for first S$100,000 bank deposit) and 3% for Premier (for first S$150,000 bank deposit)
Interestingly, Daily Average Balance (“ADB”) is a Qualifying Product for both Privilege and Premier segments. In order to meet this criteria for this Qualifying Product, you need to have an ADB of S$200,000 for Privilege segment and an ADB of S$300,000 for Premier segment.
I have calculated the effective interest rate if one meets the above three Qualfiying Product. Effective interest is 1.67% for S$200,000 for the Privilege segment and 1.8% for S$300,000 for the Premier segment. Considering the current low interest rate environment, these interest rate seems respectable.
Conclusion
I must commend the Maybank Save Up programme product team. The way that the Qualifying Product had been curated were very well thought-out and should meet the needs of the respective segments very well. However, I would implore the team to curate a low-cost investment option as a Qualifying Product. The cost of the “Invest” options included by Maybank for the Save Up programme is not the most cost optimal in the market.
Finally, from a consumer point of view, I feel that Maybank Save Up programme is suitable for those with S$200,000 to earn at respectable 1.67% interest. The consumer will need to make some adjustments to meet the GIRO payment/Salary credit and credit card spending requirements. While the Maybank Platinum Visa and Horizon Visa Signature credit cards may not be the best-in-class, they are no slouch either. One’s adjustments to credit card spending pattern is justified for the additional interest earned in the Maybank Save Up account.
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