Compared: UOB One Account vs OCBC 360
UOB One and OCBC 360 are probably familiar names for those who have been “adulting” for more than a couple of years. Once offering high interest in exchange for you completing a few requirements, they fell to the wayside when interest rates hit rock bottom, becoming irrelevant for almost 2 years. Rightfully so, because nobody wants to jump through hoops for nearly nothing
They’re back in the spotlight now as rate hikes have made them attractive places to once again get higher interest as long as you’re willing to complete a few easy requirements. Which is a better choice?
Comparison 1: all requirements are met
For the first set of comparison, I’m going to assume that all requirements are met… with the exception of onerous requirements like buying investment/insurance products from the bank. If you have read my stuff for a while now, you would know that it is a generally bad idea to purchase financial products from banks as they have high costs and commissions, and just more often than not better for the bankers selling you the product than you.
We will thus just assume Salary, Save, and Spend requirements are met for OCBC 360, while UOB One merely requires Spend and Salary to be met for the highest rates. Kudos to UOB One for not even dangling the investment/insurance carrot here.
All rates are effective interest rates:
| Balance | OCBC (Salary + Save + Spend) | UOB (Salary + Spend) |
| $100,000 | 4.65% p.a. | 5% p.a. |
| $75,000 | 3.85% p.a. | 4.07% p.a. |
| $50,000 | 3.85% p.a. | 3.87% p.a. |
| $25,000 | 3.85% p.a. | 3.85% p.a. |
UOB One handily takes this round. Not only does it give higher rates for most balance amounts, it does not require you to Save (which is to increase your balance each month).
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Comparison 2: Salary + Spend
By making all requirements the same, OCBC 360 loses quite badly without the Save category being met:
| Balance | OCBC (Salary + Spend) | UOB |
| $100,000 | 3.1% p.a. | 5% p.a. |
| $75,000 | 2.65% p.a. | 4.07% p.a. |
| $50,000 | 2.65% p.a. | 3.87% p.a. |
| $25,000 | 2.65% p.a. | 3.85% p.a. |
It’s safe to say that not doing the Save requirement makes the OCBC 360 quite a subpar account. While it’s fairly easy to achieve if you’re just using the OCBC 360 as an account to hold a fixed amount of spare cash, it’s not as practical for those who use this as a banking account with lots of money movement.
Comparison 3: Not spending
If you’re not willing or unable to spend on your credit card, however, UOB One has roughly the same interest as your Khong Guan biscuit tin:
| Balance | OCBC (Salary / Salary + Save) | UOB (Salary) |
| $100,000 | 2.5% / 4% p.a. | 0.05% p.a. |
| $75,000 | 2% / 3.2% p.a. | 0.05% p.a. |
| $50,000 | 2% / 3.2% p.a. | 0.05% p.a. |
| $25,000 | 2% / 3.2% p.a. | 0.05% p.a. |
While S$500 of spend should be quite easy for most working adults, I’m sure there’re some people who can’t meet this category, and UOB One is automatically out of the question.
Comparison 4: No salary crediting
UOB One allows for 3 GIRO transactions per month to replace salary crediting, albeit offering lower rates. It still edges out OCBC 360, which gives at most 1.8% to 2.1% p.a. interest without salary crediting.
| Balance | OCBC (Spend / Spend + Save) | UOB |
| $100,000 | 0.6% / 2.1% p.a. | 2.26% p.a. |
| $75,000 | 0.6% / 1.8% p.a. | 3% p.a. |
| $50,000 | 0.6% / 1.8% p.a. | 2.7% p.a. |
| $25,000 | 0.6% / 1.8% p.a. | 2.5% p.a. |
Spend requirement compared
While both accounts require you to spend S$500 per month, the list of eligible cards are quite different.
OCBC 360 requires spending on OCBC 365, OCBC NXT, OCBC 90°N or OCBC Titanium Rewards Credit Card. These are all credit cards and there is no debit card option. The strongest option here is the OCBC 365, and that’s not a very stellar choice considering how many better cashback cards there are in the market right now.
UOB One, on the other hand, offers a range of debit and credit cards, including the excellent UOB EVOL, okay-ish UOB One, and the decent UOB Lady’s Card. UOB EVOL can give you as much as 6.72% cashback on your spend, UOB One can offer 3.33% to 8.33%, and UOB Lady’s card earns you 4 miles per dollar spent. They are simply more compelling than OCBC’s offerings.
Conclusion
It seems like an easy conclusion that UOB One is the superior account unless you really can’t hit the S$500 spend. If you can do that, however, UOB One is the clear choice, and even gives you much better cards to fulfil the spend requirement on.
Full disclosure: I get an affiliate fee when you sign up for UOB One through my link (see promo details here), but not for OCBC 360.
UOB One Account
Up to S$110 cash credit comprising EITHER 1a) S$60 cash credit, OR 1b) S$30 cash credit and 2) S$50 cash credit:
Get as much as 5% p.a. effective interest on $100,000 balance!
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