[UPDATED] Interest rates are dropping! Which savings account should you put your money now?

This post has been updated to reflected the recent NERFS done by banks till date (16 June 2025)

OCBC has recently declared a significant reduction in interest rates for their popular 360 account. The previous 4.6% p.a. return on the first 100k will sharply decrease to 3.25% p.a. starting on 1st May 2025.

Here are the new rates published from their website notice:

Photo credit: OCBC website

While there are numerous categories to attain the highest interest rates, I will focus solely on the more practical ones that do not require me to insure or invest anything with the bank. This narrows it down to three categories:

1. Salary (crediting at least $1,800)

2. Save (increase the monthly average balance MAB) by $500)

3. Spend (spending at least $500 on selected credit cards - I use OCBC Rewards & OCBC 90N)

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How does this compare to other banks?

In my opinion, the UOB One account and UOB Stash account are the best options. The DBS Multiplier has too many challenging criteria to fulfill.

Here are the UPDATED rates published from UOB One as they also recently announced a rate cut shortly after OCBC did:

Photo credit: UOB ONE website

& UOB Stash:

Photo credit: UOB Stash website

The criteria for these 2 accounts are pretty easy to meet.

For UOB ONE:

1. Spend $500 on selected credit cards. I spend on my UOB Lady's

2. Salary (crediting at least $1,600)

For UOB Stash:

1. Simply maintain or increase your monthly average balance (MAB)

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Wow, that's complicated! How do I figure out the actual interest rates (p.a.) I'm receiving? And where should I invest my money with the flexibility to withdraw them anytime? Don't worry! Here's my simple guide, assuming you meet the criteria mentioned earlier:

*GXS Boost I.R only applicable for the 1st 3 months

So what if I'm super cash rich and have more than 150k savings?

Simple answer - Just look at the tables above and choose the next best option. i.e. (400k of savings should go into 150k (UOB One), 100k (OCBC 360), 100k (UOB Stash), 50k (GXS))

I did not include the rest of the banks because while they offer superior interest rates, that is only the case if you fulfil all their conditions such as insuring, investing etc and that's too complex.

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Some questions remain. How do I credit salary into 2 accounts when I only have 1 job? How do I spend $500 each on UOB and OCBC every month? Stay tuned for tips and tricks..

p.s. info updated as of 16 June 2025