Standard Chartered’s Bonus$aver Account is getting a boost. From 1 June 2025, the bank is raising bonus interest rates across several categories, enhancing the potential returns for customers who meet the required conditions.
Category | Old Rates | New Rates (After 1 June 2025) | Notes |
Base Rate | 0.05% | 0.05% (unchanged) | Applies to full balance |
Card Spend | 1.00% | 1.50% | With S$1,000/month spend on eligible transactions |
Salary Credit | 1.00% | 1.50% | With S$3,000/month salary credit via FAST, GIRO, or PayNow |
Invest | 2.00% | 2.50% | 6‑month bonus interest for ≥ S$20K investments |
Insure | 2.00% | 2.50% | 6‑month bonus interest for ≥ S$12K premiums |
Maximum Effective Interest Rate | 6.05% | 8.05% | On first S$100K balance |
How to Achieve 3.05% p.a. Interest:
- Credit a salary of at least S$3,000/month via FAST, GIRO, or PayNow. There are no hacks for this at the moment.
- Spend at least S$1,000/month on your linked Bonus$aver credit or debit card.
How to Achieve an Additional 2.5% p.a. Interest:
- You can do either below:
- Subscribe, through SC, and settle a trade for an eligible unit trust with a minimum single subscription amount of S$20,000; OR
- Trade a minimum of S$20,000 in cumulative buy trades for eligible Online Equities via SC Online Trading within a calendar month
Harder to Achieve:
- Purchase insurance with at least S$12,000 in annual premiums through Standard Chartered. I would not go for it.
Card Spend: Opportunity Cost
While spending S$1,000/month unlocks bonus interest, it’s worth considering the opportunity cost.
Assuming you’re giving up 3.33% cashback with a UOB One Card (~S$400/year) or 5% with an OCBC 365 Card (~S$600/year), the Bonus$aver starts to pull ahead once your monthly balance crosses about S$53,300 (versus UOB One). Beating OCBC 365 is trickier at any balance level.
Also note that not all transactions count towards the minimum spend.
Excluded categories include:
For the avoidance of doubt, the following transactions are not qualifying retail transactions and will not be taken into consideration:
i. Transactions arising from the use of your linked Bonus$aver cards as an ATM card at an ATM or at an EFTPOS or NETS terminal;
ii. Balance transfers to your Bonus$aver card;
iii. EasyPay monthly instalments;
iv. Online bill payments;
v. Income tax payments;
vi. Payments to loans or credit facilities or deposit accounts;
vii. Payments to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Ministry of Manpower and Land Transport Authority;
viii. EZ-link card transactions and other transit link transactions;
ix. Top-ups of any stored value facility;
x. AXS payments;
xi. Any fees and charges (including annual fees, interest charges, cheque processing fees, administrative fees, cash advance fees, finance charges and/or late payment charges and other miscellaneous fees and charges) charged to your linked Bonus$aver card;
xii. Any amount charged to your linked Bonus$aver card in that calendar month that is subsequently cancelled, voided or reversed;
xiii. Any balances owing on your linked Bonus$aver card from previous or other months; and
xiv. Recurring payments (being automatic payments where a principal cardholder or supplementary cardholder of the Bonus$aver World Mastercard credit card has given a one-time authorisation or instruction for the merchant to charge the payment directly to a Bonus$aver World Mastercard credit card at a fixed interval) made pursuant to Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited’s 0% Interest Instalment Plan
xv. Any other amount charged to your linked Bonus$aver card as we may determine from time to time;
Please refer to Bonus$aver Product Terms for full T&Cs and list of exclusions
This account may also be great for those who do not want to remember category spend on credit card spend, effortlessly spend S$1,000 per month on their credit or debit card.
Invest Tier: Low-Cost Way to Earn the Bonus Interest
To qualify for the 2.5% bonus under the Invest category, you’ll need to execute at least S$20,000 in cumulative buy trades per calendar month via SC Online Trading. You will need to sign up for a SC Online Trading account too.
Given that the bonus runs for six months, and the requirement can be fulfilled with one single buy trade (which can be sold immediately), the cost of qualifying is relatively low — particularly with SGD-denominated assets to avoid foreign exchange risk.
For a S$100,000 balance, hitting the spend, salary credit, and invest criteria yields about S$5,550/year, which could easily beat the UOB One and OCBC 360 Account interest.
Keep in mind:
- The invest and insure bonuses are valid for 6 months only.
- All bonus interest is credited monthly, the month after you meet the requirements.
Use Code: DBF6F
Conclusion:
With a potential effective interest rate of 5.55% p.a., the revamped Bonus$aver offers a compelling option for those who can consistently meet the spend and salary crediting requirements — and are comfortable with the additional step of executing trades once every 6 months. However, banks do change their terms and conditions every month, so stay tuned to my Telegram channel for updates!
