Source: OCBC Additional Monthly CPF Interests That May Be LostĪs explained in this article by my colleague Shashi, investing your OA savings comes with an additional month (or two) lost in terms of CPF interest. OCBC charges $2.50 per transaction for payment/receipt of funds for fixed deposit. According to CPF, typical charges for fixed deposits would include $2.50 per transaction and $2 per counter per quarter. When we leave our OA savings untouched in our CPF account, we earn 2.5% p.a., without having to incur any transaction costs.įor CPF investment, there are transaction fees that we pay. Transaction Fees When Investing Our CPFOAĪnother area to consider is the cost of investing our CPFOA. In other words, you need a minimum of $40,000 in your OA before you can consider depositing $20,000 as CPF fixed deposits.

This is on top of the $20,000 that you need to set aside as a minimum amount before you can invest your CPF OA. The first thing to know is that the minimum placement is $20,000. How Much More Interest Will You Get If You Invest Your CPF Special Account In T-Bills Now? Since the fixed deposit can earn us 3.4% instead of the 2.5% that CPF pays us, CPF members will earn higher returns when parking their CPFOA savings in the fixed deposit. to attract CPF members to deposit their CPF savings into fixed deposits. With market interest rates much higher today, banks have the incentive to offer a rate that is higher than 2.5% p.a. Previously, however, with market interest rates so low, it didn’t make any sense for banks to offer more than the CPF base interest rate of 2.5%. To capitalise on Singaporeans parking their OA savings outside of the CPF system for higher yield, OCBC announced last week that it will be offering fixed deposits for CPFOA savings at 3.4% p.a.įixed deposits were always an eligible product that CPF members can invest their OA savings. And with Singapore government treasury bills already yielding 4% in recent months, some Singaporeans including members of the DollarsAndSense editorial team have started investing their excess OA savings in these higher-yielding treasury bills. The base interest rate for our CPFOA is 2.5%, with the first $20,000 in our OA earning us an extra 1.0%. Our CPF Ordinary Account (CPFOA) forms a big part of our savings. Combining this with the fact that the stock market has been performing poorly since the start of 2022, it’s no surprise that Singaporeans are on the search for higher, safer returns.

Higher interest rates mean better yield on the money that we lend. Since the start of the year, interest rates have been rising.

Ocbc bank fixed deposit rates