UOB One Account: UOB Savings Account Review 2024

The UOB One account is currently right up there as one of the highest-earning savings accounts in Singapore. How high? Up to 7.8% p.a. high! Like any other savings account, you need to perform certain actions every month to hit that maximum interest rate. There are 3 options, each with increasing bonus interest rates:

• Minimum $500 credit or debit card spend (see list of eligible cards below)
• Credit card spend ($500) + 3 GIRO debit transactions
• Credit card spend ($500) + salary credit (min. $1,600)

Eligible UOB credit cards	Eligible UOB debit cards
UOB One Card UOB Lady’s Card (all card types) UOB EVOL Credit Card	UOB One Debit Visa Card UOB One Debit Mastercard UOB Lady’s Debit Card UOB Mighty FX Debit Card

According to the UOB One Account bonus interest FAQs, recurring insurance payments actually count towards your monthly minimum credit/debit card spend. Neat! This is a category often excluded. However, the usual exclusions like remittances, hospital bills, and EZ-link payments remain exclusions. See the FAQs (Q4) for the full list.

Realistically, not all of us are going to be able to meet all 3 requirements. So now the question is, how much is the interest if I only hit 1 or 2? Here’s the breakdown of the UOB One account interest rates as of Feb 2024: 

Account balance	S$500 spend per month on eligible UOB Card	S$500 spend per month on eligible UOB Card + 3 GIRO/PayNow debit transactions	S$500 spend per month on eligible UOB Card + credit salary via GIRO/PayNow
First $30,000	0.65%	2.50%	3.85%
Next $30,000	0.65%	3.00%	3.90%
Next $15,000	0.65%	4.00%	4.85%
Next $25,000	0.05%		7.80%
Above $100,000	0.05%

You can also use the handy UOB One account + UOB One card calculator to calculate how much interest you can earn.

UOB One Account effective interest rates

Let’s go even deeper into these bonus interest rates. You’ll notice that the 7.8% p.a. rate only applies to $25,000—specifically, the next $25,000 after your first $75,000. So while 7.8% is extremely enticing, to think it applies to the full pot of gold you put into your UOB One Account would be a gross error.

This is where the concept of effective interest rates (EIR) would be very useful. EIR refers to the actual return on your savings, taking into account things like the tiered bonus interest rates I mentioned in the preceding paragraph and compound interest. Compound interest is the addition of interest to the principal sum of a loan or deposit, where the interest that has been added also earns interest. For example, if you had $10,000 and earn $10 interest, you’re next earning interest on $10,010 instead of just $10,000.

But let’s save you from the complicated math and return to the EIR of the UOB One Account. Here’s what you’ll really earn from it:

	UOB One Account Effective Interest Rate (EIR)
Account Balance	S$500/month credit card spend	S$500/month credit card spend + 3 GIRO/PayNow debit transactions	S$500/month credit card spend + credit salary via GIRO/PayNow
$30,000	0.65%	2.50%	3.85%
$60,000	0.65%	2.75%	3.88%
$75,000	0.65%	3.00%	4.07%
$100,000	0.05%	2.26%	5.00%

So if you put in $100,000 and fulfil the credit card spend and salary criteria, you’ll earn 5%—that’s $5,000 a year or about $417 a month. This is a really good deal if you are already spending $500 a month on a UOB credit card (or are happy to start) and can easily credit your salary to your UOB One Account via GIRO or PayNow. To put things into perspective, the highest fixed deposit rates right now don’t even come close to 4%, and most fall below 3.5%. The UOB One Account can give you 5% interest and still keep your money liquid, unlike fixed deposits or T-bills, for that matter.

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ALSO READ: Fixed Deposit Alternatives in Singapore—5 Easy, Low-Risk Investments

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There’s a cap of $100,000 on which you can get bonus interest. Simply, this means that you can only get bonus interest rates on the first $100,000 you put into your UOB One Account. Beyond that, you’ll only get the base 0.05% p.a. interest. Fair enough—most people wouldn’t be keeping more than that amount in cash anyway, unless you’re about to make a massive purchase. 

 

2. UOB One account minimum balance, fall below fee & more

The UOB One account is about as “no strings attached” as such savings accounts get. Here are some of the basic things to note about the UOB One account:

Minimum age: 18 years old

Nationality: Singaporeans, PRs, E-Pass, S-Pass & Dependent Pass holders

Initial deposit: $1,000

Minimum balance (monthly): $1,000

Fall-below fee: $5 if monthly average balance is less than $1,000 (This fee is waived for 6 months for accounts opened online)

Early account closure fee: $30 (If account is closed within 6 months from opening)

Bonus interest cap: $100,000

 

3. Who is the UOB One account suitable for?

The answer is simple. Go for it if you hate maths and want to keep your life simple. Compared to many other similar savings accounts in Singapore, the UOB One account is one of the least complicated. It doesn’t even involve insurance and investment which are categories most other banks have as a requirement to earn higher bonus interest rates.

With the UOB One account, there’s no need to tally up 12 different types of bonus interest. You just need to figure out which camp you’re in:

• Credit card spend only (EIR = 0.65% p.a. for first $75,000)
• Credit card spend + 3 GIRO debit transactions (EIR = 3.00% p.a. for first $75,000)
• Credit card spend + salary credit of min. $1,600 (EIR =5.00% p.a. for first $100,000)

Credit card only: Are you a freewheeling millennial raking in money from your YouTube channel while living under your parents’ roof? Not many savings accounts will reward you for bumming around, so the UOB One account is not a bad choice.

If you can spend at least $500 on a UOB credit card, that is. Sure, you’ll only earn 0.65% p.a. interest but that’s better than the basic 0.05% p.a..

Credit card spend + GIRO payments: Don’t have a regular salary? You’ll still be able to get an EIR of 3% p.a. if you make at least 3 GIRO bill payments per month. And bills are one thing we’re definitely not short of in Singapore. So that’s good news for freelancers, part-timers, retirees, landlords, etc.

Credit card spend + salary credit: Conventional salaried workers should have no problem at all arranging a recurring salary credit (min. $1,600) and monthly spending on your credit card (min. $500) to hit the EIR of 5%% p.a. even if your account balance is less than $15,000.

Now, moving onto the next big question you probably have on mind. Which UOB credit card should you use with your UOB One account?

 

4. Is the UOB One Card the best credit card for the UOB One account?

I love the way UOB spoon feeds their customers by giving their signature bank account and credit card the same name. 

Regardless of which bonus interest tier you’re on, the minimum requirement is to spend $500 a month on a UOB credit card. The best credit card for this purpose is… drumroll…. the UOB One card! If you couldn’t already tell, the clue is in the name. 

Not only do you perform the bare minimum to get bonus interest on your UOB One account, you get extra cash rebates of up to 10% (up to 15% for new UOB Credit Cardmembers) on top of it. There is a minimum spend of $500, but hey—that’s the same minimum spend for the UOB One Account. See what I mean about spoon feeding?