Prepping For a Potential Q3 UOB Earmark Promo

We are entering June which is the last month of the second calendar quarter. This means that there are some considerations to be made if you are intending to prep your UOB account for a potential 3rd quarter UOB savings promo.

UOB’s earmark promos have been going on for quite some time now, so get acquainted with them here.

Q2 2024’s Earmark Promo flipped the script

While past promos have always used the day-end balance of the final day of the quarter, UOB’s Q2 promo this year changed things. Previously, intrepid accountholders found that it was possible to simply empty out one’s account for the final day of the quarter to be able to qualify for the next earmark promo.

Since it defeats the intent of their promo which is probably to attract fresh funds, UOB plugged the loophole with their most recent savings promo. This was achieved by the bank changing the terms and conditions to look at the monthly average balance of March 2024 instead.

Emptying one’s balance for June 2024?

Since June is the last month of Q2, it stands to follow that one can continue prepping for Q3’s promo by maintaining a S$0 balance in June. If Q3’s promo takes June 2024 as the reference month, having no funds in the account will ensure that every dollar deposited in July 2024 would count as fresh funds.

If you wish to go ahead with this, 1st June 2024 (Saturday) might be the optimal time to do it. There is no guarantee of a future promo, nor am I liable for any financial loss or opportunity cost, so please see the section on “Possible Complications” below and do the following only at your own risk.

Zeroing Out Your Account

For those who have maintained a balance of higher than S$100,000 in their UOB account – which should be a fairly common thing since S$150,000 is now the new max for UOB One – note that you have to change your transaction limit to higher than S$100,000. I recall being frustrated previously at having a cap of S$100,000, so this appears to be a new limit.

You can adjust your transaction limit by using the app and tapping “Transaction limits” on the home screen of the app.

As 1st June 2024 is a Saturday, the ideal time to transfer funds would be early in the day. If you cross a particular time (which I am currently unsure of), the value date will fall to the next working day which is 3rd June 2024. This would result in your monthly average balance going up for June. By my calculation, a S$150,000 balance placed in the account for 2 days and withdrawn after would result in a monthly average balance of S$10,000. This would result in you needing more funds to qualify for any upcoming earmark promo.

Places to put funds

To house your funds, there are a few options we can pick from. Check out the Savings page for more savings-related deals.

Possbile Complications

Of course, all this is assuming that UOB would release a Q3 promo similar to that of Q2. It is entirely possible that UOB might flip the script again: theycould decide not to have any promo at all, or further tweak the requirements (looking at the average balance of the entire quarter of Q2, perhaps, or changing the reference month to something else) to prevent such gaming. Or the promo could be entirely unattractive, wasting your efforts in zeroing out your UOB account.

On top of that, banks have the ability to terminate your banking relationship with them. Transferring large amounts of funds frequently is one such way to trigger compliance checks especially since there was a high profile money laundering case not too long ago.

Personally, I won’t be doing this and will look at other means to get higher yield and returns on my savings.

Stay subscribed for updates

Whatever the case, stay subscribed to get more updates on savings promos and personal finance related deals coming your way in June and beyond! I hear of some new and exciting things happening in June, so you’d definitely want to leave notifications on to be the first to be updated.

Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.

He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.

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