The US Fed has been increasing interest rates recently, and banks have also in turn increased interest rates for some of the account types. It’s prime time to take advantage of the high interest rate environment.
While most of high interest savings accounts are targetted at working adults with criteria not achievable by students, there are several accounts in the market that provide a way to earn competitive interest rates without needing to worry about minimum requirements or fall-below fees.
Here are some of the bank account offering high-interest saving accounts.
A good student saving account should one with:
- Low initial deposit
- Interest rates that are at least 1% per annum
- No minimum average daily balance
- No fall below fees
- No spending required
- Must be part of Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC) Deposit Insurance (DI) Scheme
Standard Chartered Bank JumpStart Account
Minimum initial deposit: $S0
Minimum Average Daily Balance: $S0
Fall Below Fee: N/A
Interest rate: 2.0% (up to S$50k)
Age requirements: 18 – 26 years old
Referral code: 63FB4
With no minimum balance and fees, this makes the Standard Chartered JumpStart account a no brainer for students. Moreover, you are able to earn an interest of 2% on your deposit (up to $20k) as well as 1% Cashback on eligible purchases on Standard Chartered Cashback debit card (up to $60 cashback) that comes with the account. I personally use it for most of my own daily expenses ever since Grab has nerfed its GrabRewards.
Currently, Standard Chartered is offering an additional 0.5% p.a. (Up to S$20k) when you perform at least 1 buy transaction on SC Online Trading platform OR Online Unit Trust platform OR from any of their Bank Branch in a calendar month.
Do note you have to be between 18 – 26 years old to open a JumpStart account.
Minimum initial deposit: $S1000
Minimum average daily balance: $S0 ($S1000 to earn interest)
Fall-below fee: Nil
Interest rate: 1.5% (base), up to 4.2%
Age requirement: 16 years old and above
Another bank account you can consider is the CIMB FastSaver account if you do not hit the age requirement to open the SCB JumpStart account. For a typical student with roughly less than S$25k in savings with no credit card or insurance products with CIMB, you basically get 1.5% interest rate without any frills.
Minimum initial deposit: $S0
Minimum average daily balance : $S0 (Withdrawing money will result in the forfeiture of the additional 3.5% p.a.)
Interest rate: 0.05% (Base) + 3.5% (Bonus when you meet the criteria)
Age requirement: 16 years old and above
If you are student who is working part-time with salary credited via GIRO (no minimum salary amount) and usually make no withdrawals, this account might be for you. To fully benefit the additional 3.5% p.a. interest, you need a DBS/POSB savings/current account in which you are crediting your salary from. A fixed savings amount will be deducted each month from your primary account to the POSB SAYE.
However, if you withdraw within the 2 years or have not enough amount savings in your primary bank account to transfer the fixed amount monthly, you would forfeit the 3.5% additional interest.
Minimum initial deposit: $S0
Minimum average daily balance: $S0
Interest rate: 0.08% (Base), 3.48% when you put into Saving Pocket
Age requirement: 16 years old and above
Note: By Invite only basis
A consortium backed by Grab and Singtel, GXS Bank is a digital bank that began offering services to a select group of people on 31 August 2022. It is an account you should consider signing up for if you have an opportunity to do so as it is currently on an invite only basis where only selected users are able to sign up.
With a interest rate of 3.48% without any criteria other than just putting it in a saving pocket, it is by far one of the highest interest rate account a student can get. The deposit in the saving pocket is also withdrawable anytime, making it attractive to individuals wanting a high yielding interest account while having access to funds.
Do note however that the total deposit amount is capped at $S5k currently on the deposit account (includes both the main account and the saving pocket).
Updated as of 1 March 2023