Updated T&C for Blue Chip Investment Plan (BCIP)

I just got a letter from OCBC regarding the Blue Chip Investment Plan that I am on. It has updated some terms and conditions that govern this product with effects from 15 Sept 2014.

Most of them relate to cut-off dates which they will withdraw money from your account for the shares purchase and these does not affect me much.

What is interesting about the new conditions is the one that determine how much shares will be allocated with each purchase. From their website, I have extracted the condition.



"On completion of the execution of the aggregated Purchase Instructions, the actual number of shares/units of each Security allocated to each Customer is computed by dividing Net Investment Amount by the Average Purchase Price, rounded down to the nearest whole number.

For Cash settlement, OCBC Bank will credit the unutilised portion of the Gross Investment Amount after excluding the fees (i.e. the residual monies which was not utilised to purchase Securities) back to the Customer’s GIRO-linked account.

For SRS settlement, OCBC Bank will only debit an amount equivalent to the gross investment amount plus fees for the Securities actually purchased from the Customer’s SRS account."



As some of your may have know from my earlier post, I wrote about the hidden cost of investing in BCIP. With this new condition in place, it effectively remove the hidden cost and I am very happy with the way the product operates now.

Well done OCBC for listening to consumer feedback!

OCBC 365 Credit Card

OCBC has launched a new credit card, named OCBC 365 credit card. It is a rebate card that aims to capture the "everyday spending" market by giving different rebate tiers to different spending categories. Below is a summary of the different spending tiers and their cash back rebates.


Cash back categories

• 6% for weekend local dining
• 3% for weekday local dining and overseas dining
• 3% for online shopping
• up to 18.3% for Caltex petrol
• 5% for all other petrol
• 3% for supermarket
• 3% for recurring telcos bill
• 0.3% for all other spending

As seen from the list, it is aiming the spending for daily essentials by providing more cash back for activities such as dining, petrol, groceries and bills. In a way, it seems to be competing for the same market segment as the POSB Everyday Card.


There are some conditions on the cashback though,

1. Minimum monthly spending of $600 for the card
2. Cash rebate is capped at $80 per month.

Those who are interested can find out more from the link below
http://www.ocbc.com.sg/personal-banking/cards/365card.html

OCBC FRANK Credit Card earns 6% rebate with NETS FlashPay and Online Shopping

NETS FlashPay is the contactless stored value payment solution by NETS. Do you know that you can earn 6% rebate by using NETS and doing online shopping?


Online Shopping

All transactions marked by VISA as originating from an online merchant will qualify for 6% rebate if you pay by this credit card. This is a huge list and even bill payments from Telcos are eligible. To be entitled for this 6% rebate, there are some terms and conditions that we will be covering shortly.


NETS

OCBC FRANK credit card comes embedded with NETS FlashPay. The 6% rebate is given when you use the Auto Top Up (ATU) feature of NETS FlashPay.

When you flash the card on the reader of MRT, LRT, public buses, ERP or EPS Cepas2 carpark and there is insufficient value for payment, ATU will be triggered. $50 will be charged to your credit card and the same amount will be credited to your NETS FlashPay in the credit card. With this stored amount, you can then buy any goods and services from shops that will accept NETS FlashPay. Earning 6% rebate at top up will essentially means that you are also earning 6% when using NETS FlashPay for purchases. However, there are some conditions that you will need to take note to earn the 6% rebate.


Qualifying conditions for 6% rebate

You will need to fulfil some conditions before being eligible for the 6% rebate.

1. To qualify for 6% rebate, you will need to spend at least $500 per month on the credit card.
2. The cap of rebate is $60 per month for all ATU and online transactions that are charged to the card.
3. Once a top up using the ATU is successfully, you can only do another ATU after 3 calendar days.

Conclusion

I figured that this card will be interesting for those who shop online often, or those who often buy stuff that cost less than $50 using NETS FlashPay. It is a bonus if you also often pay ERP or take public transport. Honestly, 6% rebate is quite a lot and it easily beats the rewards program of most credit cards. So depending on your spending pattern, this may yet be another good card to have in your wallet.

UOB bank is offering a 1.08% p.a. for Fixed Deposit

This news may be coming a little late, as the promotion is ending on 31 May. Nevertheless, I want to highlight that UOB is offering a 1.08% p.a. interest for a 13 month fixed deposit for Singapore Dollars. To qualify for this, you will need to bring in fresh funds of more than S$20,000.  Those who are interested can find out more at UOB branches or at their website.

Standard Chartered having a promotional rate of 1.5% p.a. for Fixed Deposit

Standard Chartered bank is having its Fixed Deposit promotion again to attract fresh funds.
This time round, it is give 1.5 % p.a. of interest for a 3-month SGD Time deposit. There as some terms and conditions as usual,

1. The maximum deposit that qualify for this promotion is S$50,000
2. It must be fresh fund and they have a new definition for this. From their website, it is stated that "Fresh funds refer to funds not originating from any existing account with the Bank and funds that are not withdrawn and re-deposited within the last 30 days".

But nevertheless, this is still a good time deposit promotion and those with excess cash and who are looking for short term deposit will certainly find this attractive.


Do check it out!

Comparing DBS Multiplier Program with OCBC 360 Account

Those who have been reading my posts will know that I have been blogging about these 2 different accounts for sometime now. From my point of view, these are fantastic new products by the banks that offer higher interest rate than what they supposing "high interest account" offers.


So with limit cash on our hands, which is the better account to deposit our money into? Lets take a look at them heads on.

Overview of DBS Multiplier program

DBS Multiplier  looks at the total transaction based on 4 activities in your associated DBS/POSB accounts. These are

• Salary crediting
• Credit Card spending
• Home Loans Instalment
• Investment Dividends

Once the total for all 4 activities in your account hit and exceed a certain threshold, you will be rewarded with a higher interest rate for the first $50,000 cash in your multiplier account. Details for the interest rate can be found
http://moneychatroom.blogspot.sg/2014/03/dbs-multipler-programme-has-increased.html


In short, there is no minimum amount that you must hit for each individual activity.

Overview of OCBC 360 Account

For this account, you will be awarded a base interest rate of 0.05% p.a. for your account. In additional, the first $50,000 in your account will be rewarded with an interest of 1% p.a. for each of the following activities.

• Credit Salary of at least $2,000 per month
• Make 3 unique bill payments from this account with OCBC Online Banking
• Spend $400 on all your OCBC credit cards per month

In theory, you can get a maximum of 3.05% p.a. of interest for the first $50,000 in the account. But even if you do not hit the requirement for all 3 activities, hitting each one would already have netted you 1% of interest.

Which one is for you?

Generally, I feel that the conditions from OCBC is easier to reach for middle income worker, as they revolves around activities that you most likely will do every month, such as paying 3 bills, spending $400 on credit cards.


Although DBS does not have a minimum amount for each activity, its minimum threshold for all activities is at $7,500, which shows that it is aiming at those who are earning and spending more. They are also targeting the group that has high home loan instalment and/or high investment income.


So you will need to work our based on your earning, spending and investment patterning to see which one can give the best return for your money.


If you do not have problem hitting the all the requirements for both, the OCBC will be better as it offers a higher interest rate of 3.05%. DBS highest interest rate is only at 2.08%. Better yet, put into both if you have more than $50,000 so that you can enjoy higher interest rate for higher amount of your cash.

OCBC 360 Account

Some time back, I wrote an article about DBS Multiplier Program where DBS rewards you with higher interest based on the total banking relationship with the bank. Hot to the heels of DBS is OCBC, where they have recently launched their OCBC 360 Account.

How does it works?

It earns a base interest of 0.05% p.a. for all money in the account.


In addition, it will award extra interest in the month on the following condition,
1% p.a. on the first $50,000 in the account if you credit your salary to that account.
1% p.a. on the first $50,000 in the account if you pay any 3 bills in that month.
1% p.a. on the first $50,000 in the account if you spend more than $400 in credit card


With everything in, this means that the maximum interest rate that one can possible earn from $50,000 is 3.05% p.a. This is a very good rate, taking into account the current low interest environment that we are living in.

Conclusion

If you indeed have banking relation with OCBC, do consider using this account to increase the rate of return of your money