The 360 Account Or The Bonus Saving Account If You Have $25,000?

If you have been checking out the local news lately, you would have noticed that one of the local bank (starting with O) has just launched a new Savings Account called the 360 Account whereby you can get up to 3.05% per year when you save and transact with the bank.

Before this launch, there was another local bank (starting with S) which has started this trend and has a rather similar savings account whereby you can get up to 1.88% per year when you save and transact with the bank.

I was sharing the news of the 360 Account with my friends and that they should consider starting one (or to convert from their current Bonus Saving Account) to further boost their savings interest rate while still maintaining their current spending /saving lifestyle (or a bit of lifestyle changes to get the most benefits).

It was until one of my friends highlighted to me one of the features of the account that prompted me to do this post (note that no banks have paid me anything to do up this post) and to do my own calculations to determine if this 360 Account is still considered the better choice.

What They Like To Know…

If they spent way above the minimum $500 Credit Card Amount (for the 360 Account) because of the 3 Bills they need to pay… will the interest earned from the 2.05% per year be lower than the 1.88% per year (for the Bonus Saving Account)?

But first… to highlight the key features of each Account and the basis of my comparison:

The 360 Account

1. 0.05% per year for account up to $200,000
2. Extra 1% if you credit your salary
3. Extra 1% if you pay any 3 Bills every month
4. Extra 1% if you spend at least $400 with the Bank’s Credit Cards every month
5. Maximum Interest Rate is 3.05% per year on the first $50,000

The Bonus Saving Account

1. 0.10% per year for account up to $200,000
2. Get 1.88% per year on the first $25,000 if you charge a minimum of $500 using the Bank’s Credit / Debit Cards every month

The Basis Of My Comparison:

1. I will be using $25,000 as the maximum (base) amount (that’s what most of my friends are doing (they are crediting their salaries to other accounts and that’s the maximum amount that Bonus Saving Account is entitling you to for the maximum interest rate as well)
2. I will not be using any Salary Crediting Amount in my comparison (that means the interest rate is 2.05% for the 360 Account vs 1.88% for the Bonus Saving Account and the $25,000 is assumed to be maintained the same every month)
3. I will be spending the minimum amount for the Credit Cards (i.e. $400 for the 360 Account and $500 for the Bonus Saving Account)
4. I will be trying out different amount of total bill payments until the interest earned is the same on both sides
5. The Interest Calculated in based on Monthly Interest Rate (i.e. 1.05% / 12,  2.05% / 12 & 1.88% / 12)

Outcome Of My Comparison:

Conclusion Of My Comparison:

1. If you just spend on the minimum for the credit cards, the Bonus Saving Account is definitely the better choice.
2. The maximum that you need to pay for your 3 Bill Payments stands around $2,135 (based on the above assumptions) and anything less than that, you will get a slightly better monthly interest for the 360 Account
3. But whatever you spend on that particular month, you have to remember to put it back or else the amount of interest earned for your 360 account will be lower than the Bonus Saving Account (which is why they recommend that you credit your salary and in return you get to boost your interest rate by an extra 1% to save you the hassle of topping up the different every month)

There are definitely many other kind of spending / saving combinations but based on this current assumption, there is definitely a little bit more interest to make every month if you are to stick to the 360 account.

The only few hassles here are that if you choose not to credit your Salary here, you have to make the effort of inter-bank transfer for the payment differences every single month.

So if you are thinking of growing your current savings and you are not those risky types to go into investments, you may wish to explore this 360 acc0unt today!

But if you have certain spending / saving combinations you would like me to try out and compare… please feel free to drop a comment or through my contact page and I can do up something and share it with the rest of the readers!