I Switched From OCBC 360 Account To BOC Smart Saver Account And Never Looked Back

A few years ago, when the various banks started to offer the smart savers program, (where interest was stepped up if you credit your salary to the savings account, pay bills using the savings account, clock minimum spend on bank’s credit cards…etc), I signed up for the OCBC 360 account because the interest was good.

However, I later realised that the Bank Of China (BOC) smart saver account offered a higher overall interest rate as compared to OCBC bank, so I switched over to BOC bank. Since then, I have continued to use BOC smart saver account and have not switched back to OCBC, UOB or DBS savings program.

OCBC 360 Account Vs. BOC Smart Saver

Let’s do a comparison with the latest revised interest rate offered by the 2 banks. We will use $100,000 savings to compare between the 2 banks.

This is what OCBC has to offer:

This is what BOC has offer:

Let’s breakdown the interest that I will be getting (per annum) for the various category:

Salary Credit

For OCBC, I will get 75k x 2% + 25k x 4% = $1,500 + $1,000 = $2,500

For BOC, I will get 100k x 2.5% = $2,500

Card Spent

For OCBC, I will get 100k x 0.6% = $600

For BOC, I will get 100k x 0.8% = $800

Increase of Average Balance By $500

For OCBC, I will get I will get 75k x 1.2% + 25k x 2.4% = $900 + $600 = $1,500

For BOC, I will get $0 as they do not have this feature

Payment of 3 Bills

For OCBC, I will get $0 as they do not have this feature

For BOC, I will get 100k x 0.9% = $900

Extra Savings Bonus

For OCBC, I will get $0 as they do not have this feature

For BOC, I will get 100k x 0.6% = $600

Base Interest

For OCBC, I will get 100k x 0.05% = $50

For BOC, I will get 100k x 0.4% = $400

Total Accumulated Interest for Saving Account of $100,000

For OCBC, I will get $2,500 + $600 + $1,500 + $50 = $4,650 (4.64% per annum)

For BOC, I will get $2,500 + $800 + $900 + $600 + $400 = $5,200 (5.2% per annum)

For savings account lesser than $75,000, the difference between the 2 banks will be higher as OCBC offers a higher interest for the next $25,000 of savings.

Credit Card Rebates Comparison

Other than the interest that the banks are offering, we should also look at the cash rebate offered by the respective credit card as the higher the rebate offered, the more attractive the card is, which indirectly influences the bank to choose.

Let’s compare the OCBC 365 Credit Card and the BOC Family Card.

For OCBC 365 Credit Card, the cash rebates are as follow:

For BOC Family Card, the cash rebates are as follow:

I put some of the categories that are relevant to me side by side for comparison.

I like BOC family for their 10% cash rebate for dining expenses and purchase of movie tickets. The rest are about the same between the 2 cards, while the cashback cap is slightly higher for BOC banks for a minimum spent of $800.

Other Recommended Credit Cards

Other than the BOC family card, I use a couple of other banks’ credit cards for different purposes or when I have clocked the limit for my BOC Family card.

For grocery shopping, I prefer to use Citibank Cashback card for the 8% rebate.

For huge purchases between $3,000 to $6,667, I like to use the Standard Chartered Manhattan card.

It allows me to earn up to $200 cash rebate per quarter.

I hope you find this sharing useful and can help you make an informed decision if you decide to switch out of your OCBC 360 account.

PS: I have some readers asking how the BOC Smart Saver Account measures up against the mighty UOB One Account.

Here is the maximum interest rate that UOB One account is offering for $100,000 worth of savings if you manage to fulfill the criteria of a minimum spend of $500 on an eligible UOB credit card and salary credit into the account.

The overall interest per annum is at 5%, which is slightly lower than BOC’s 5.2%. This difference will be bigger if the account size is less than $75,000 as UOB gives 7.8% interest for the last $25,000 of the $100,000 total savings.

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