Bank Deposits in Singapore

Today I talk about 100% capital guaranteed investment. That's it! Bank deposits.

(1) eSaver - Standard Chartered Bank.
It is a saving account. You can withdraw money anytime. No minimal balance to maintain. The drawback is that you must transfer fund to other account to withdraw money. To withdraw over counter will incur $5 fee. The promotion rate is 2.45% per annual till 31/12/05. They haven't announced the rate for next year. The normal rate is 1.28%.

(2) iSAVvy - Maybank
Competing product with eSaver. But an ATM card is provided so that you can withdraw cash from ATM without charge. Nothing comes with no price. You should maintain at least $500 to avoid $2 monthly admin charge. To enjoy first three month high interest rate, the minimal balance is $5000. The rate is 2.38% for first 3 months. After that it is 1.38% ( balance must be over 5000, otherwise the rate is only 0.25% ). Today they even announced online Time Deposit: 2.88% for 12-month tenure. $25,000 to start.

(3) 10-month and 10-day fixed deposit - OCBC
Only $40,000 to open the account. High promotion interest rate at 2.79% per annual. May apply admin charge if withdraw premature.

(4) CPF fund - UOB
This is for those who have a lot of money in their CPF. Total $105,000 to open it. Interest rate is about 2.78%, higher than CPF board 2.5% rate.

(5) Unfixed time deposit - Citi Bank
$50,000 to open. Tenure is 1 year. After one month, you can withdraw partially without admin charge. The withdrawn part has 1.88%. The mature part has 2.68%. I like this one best. It can lock high rate for 1 year, while at same time you are free to withdraw. ( You can't close the account premature. You must leave there at least 5000 )