Maybank SaveUp Account vs BOC SmartSaver

There is a new player in town who is trying to compete with BOC SmartSaver, called Maybank SaveUp Account. It lets you enjoy up to 3% p.a(cap at $50k) if you are able to complete 3 sets of action out of a choice of 9. You can click here to view their website.

The interest setup looks pretty similar to BOC Smartsaver. It has a separate base interest rate tier and a special interest rate tier. From the diagram above, your first S$3k deposit gives you a base rate of 0.1875% p.a, the next S$47k gives you 0.25% p.a and anything above S$50k gives you 0.3125% p.a. If you manage to fulfill all three requirements and have $50k deposit in this account you will get (2.75% + 0.1875% for the $3k) and (2.75% + 0.25% for the $47k). Which adds up to be close to 3% for your $50k deposit.

In comparison with BOC Smartsaver, the base interest rate tiers for Maybank SaveUp is definitely lower and more 'sliced up'. The Smartsaver gives you 0.4% base rate for the whole S$50k portion once you hit the $50k mark. So in my view BOC Smartsaver wins hands down in regards to base rate interest. Now lets compare their 'bonus' interest.

Maybank SaveUp Qualifying Products

From the first look, you can see that Maybank SaveUp has 9 qualifying products which gives you much more 'choices' compared to BOC Smartsaver(which is only limited to 3). If you have many different loans with Maybank or bought life insurance/unit trust with them, you can theoretically use this together with BOC Smartsaver since they are mostly non overlapping except for the salary crediting part. For me personally, I don't have any loans with them and have never bought any life insurance or unit trust before.

I would guess that a majority of us would only be looking at the credit card spending, salary crediting and giro services requirements. If we base the comparison solely on these three requirements, BOC Smartsaver will be easier to fulfill. Since their pay bill function is basically just paying $5 to any bills including any credit cards.

Credit card wise, the BOC's shop card is better than Maybank Platinum Visa Card in my view. I find the Maybank card to be quite similar to the UOB One card(which i stopped using). Its basically a quarterly 3.33% rebate if you spend a min of $300 monthly for three consecutive month. As for the BOC 5.5% rebate Shop card for online spending, there are many ways to use it(will explain more indepth in the future).

So to conclude, the Maybank SaveUp account is a good attempt by Maybank to break into the 'high' interest with requirements savings account market which is getting more and more crowded now(OCBC360, UOB One, BOC Smartsaver, etc). If you have a deep relationship with Maybank in regards to loans, financing, insurance and uni trust, this savings account would be a good addition for you to park your cash.

Do note that if you are able to complete the requirements for both accounts, the effective interest rate for BOC Smartsaver is higher(3.55% vs close to 3%). The deposit cap for BOC Smartsaver is also higher($60k vs $50k). In my view, BOC Smartsaver > Maybank SaveUp > UOB One > OCBC360. So if you are currently parking your cash in UOB One or OCBC 360, this Maybank SaveUp account will be a better upgrade(unless you have certain insurance or investment with OCBC that enables you to get the additional 1% for OCBC360).

I personally will most likely continue to stick to my BOC Smartsaver and give this one a miss.