There are basically three types of interest that would be applicable to the general depositor.
They are: -
- Savings Interest
- e-Xtra Interest
- Debit Card Bonus Interest
Savings Interest
Interest calculated daily & credited quarterly.
e-Xtra Interest
Applicable when you make a minimum of 4 e-Payments.
Interest calculated based on the Monthly Average Balance (“MAB”) of the Account at the end of the month and credited on the first of the following month. The maximum e-Xtra Interest you can earn is 1.9% p.a (perform 15 or more e-Payment and/or PEx transactions in a month).
Tips:
You might think that you do not have so much bills to pay & therefore cannot maximize the extra interest here. However, you could perform online IBG transactions (minimum RM100 per IBG) which would also count as an e-Payment. By the way, HLB is offering free online IBG this year. So, you can take advantage of it to transfer funds to your own account in another bank and earn extra interest.
Debit Card Bonus Interest
To qualify, each swipe must be successfully posted with a minimum spend of RM30 in a single receipt.
Interest is calculated based on the Monthly Average Balance (“MAB”) of the Account at the end of the month and credited on the first of the following month.
Capped at RM30 per month.
Tips:
If you are currently using a credit card to make purchases, you need to consider the rebate (if your current credit card provides rebate / cashback for purchases) you will lose out if you were to switch over to using Hong Leong debit card. Consider the difference between the extra interest you will earn vs. the rebate you will lose by not using your existing credit card. If you are not using credit card, I do not see any reason not to use the debit card as you will earn extra interest up to a maximum of 0.6% p.a. extra interest (5 swipes & above). Do note however if your account balance is really high, you might not get the maximum 0.6% extra interest as there is a monthly cap of RM30 for Debit Card Bonus Interest.
Charges
Debit Card Issuance Fee: RM8.48 (Waived for first year)
Service Charge where average balance for half year is below RM200: RM5.30
Summary
The table below shows the total interest rate (base interest + e-Xtra interest) for different balances assuming you are able to maximize the e-Xtra Interest: -
Assuming your account balance is RM2,000 and no. of e-Payments for the month is 15 (15 IBGs), the total interest you will get for the month is 2.35%. If your balance is more than RM20,000, then you will get 2.90%.
This does not include the the extra interest from Debit Card Bonus Interest which can go up to 0.6%. I did not include the Debit Card Bonus Interest in the table above as there is a cap on the extra interest. Based on my calculation, for account balances of up to RM20,000, you can earn the maximum 0.6% extra interest. For balances above that value, the maximum extra interest rate varies depending on the monthly average balance & the number of days in the month. It's pretty complicated, you can go calculate it yourself if you want to.
Possible uses
- Day to day account to receive your salary & make payments. You might even get 10% p.a. Bonus Interest for 5 days when you use this account for salary crediting via Hong Leong e-Payment Service (Payroll Account). Your employer need to register for it though in order for you to get the 10% Bonus Interest.
- Temporary place to park your excess funds as you can withdraw them anytime. The online transfer limit is RM50,000 and this account also comes with an optional cheque book facility. If your balance is above RM100,000, you can get 3.20% or more interest.
Refer to the following links for more information about the rates, charges & how the interest is calculated: -
Official link
Terms & conditions
No comments:
Post a Comment