Analysis: UOB One Account – Second Rate Increase in A Month
When news broke that UOB was raising rates for its savings account, I thought: haven’t they already done that? It turns out that they are revising it upwards again, and here are the new rates:
UOB’s requirements are decidedly simpler than that of DBS Multiplier or OCBC 360; there are just two things to do for the highest rates: spend $500 on an eligible UOB Card + credit your salary (at least S$1,600) via GIRO.
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Eligible UOB Cards
The cards eligible for the $500 requirement are:
- UOB One Card
- UOB Lady’s Card (all card types)
- UOB EVOL Card
- Debit Cards (UOB One Debit Visa Card, UOB One Debit Mastercard, UOB Lady’s Debit Card and UOB Mighty FX Debit Card)
The three featured credit cards see use even on their own even by non-UOB One savings accountholders. UOB EVOL, in particular, is a high-tier card in my books, getting an effective 6.67% cashback. The minimum spend of $600 is not too far off the $500 spend required by the UOB One Savings Account.
UOB One Card, despite being repeatedly nerfed, still has some use particularly for those who use it. It gives a relatively low 3.33% p.a. cashback rate, but those who spend frequently on Grab or Dairy Farm merchants can get quite a lot of added cashback.
Some bank accounts require you to use a not-so-great card to get higher interest rates, and I think that’s not the case here for UOB One.
Effective interest rate analysed
Since the requirements are pretty easy and realistic for most working adults to achieve, I’ll analyse this account based on the highest rates.
UOB One savings account has traditionally been “top-heavy”, meaning to say higher rates are awarded on higher balance amounts, and this continues with lower balances getting around 1.4% p.a. rates and higher amounts getting as much as 3.60% p.a.
The headlining 3.60% p.a. rate is only for amounts after $75,000 of funds have been placed in the account, and this means that the effective interest rate of $100,000 will not be close to 3.60% p.a.
Here are a few balance amounts and their effective interest rates:
| Balance Amount | Effective Interest Rate |
| $15,000 | 1.40% p.a. |
| $30,000 | 1.40% p.a. |
| $45,000 | 1.43% p.a. |
| $60,000 | 1.45% p.a. |
| $75,000 | 1.66% p.a. |
| $100,000 | 2.15% p.a. |
Conclusion
The maximum interest rate you can get is 2.15% p.a, and that is assuming you have a full $100,000 balance. This bests OCBC 360’s realistic rate of 1.85% p.a, while some may be better off with DBS Multiplier depending on how many categories they can fulfil.
Perhaps some analysis of DBS Multiplier is in order, and an ultimate showdown between all three accounts should happen, so stay subscribed to my Telegram for updates.
You can sign up for UOB One Account here.
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