You will get the interest during maturity. For example, you choose the 12-month one, you will only get the interest 12-month later.

The only catch is that if you must withdraw the money before your FD account matures, they will only give you the interest rate based on the normal board rate. They will also deduct the interest already paid based on the promotional rate from your principal.

4% for FD is quite a good deal i must say. Before the credit crunch, our normal FD rate for 12-month placement was only 3.7% and it is even lower if your total FD amount in one single bank is more than RM1 Million. If you really have no idea where to put the money and are quite certain you won't be needing it in the next few years, i'd say go for it. Besides, not that you'll loss a lot should you decide to withdraw before the contract ends.


It won't affect much as 4% is kind of the pre-credit crunch rate already. And there should be at least one more round of OPR hike this year. Most economists predict it's going to happen in July but yeah, it may also happen in September instead. If they increase the OPR in July, there should be no more OPR hike at least until next year. Some predict the OPR will stand at 2.75% by year end while some say 3%.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jun 13 2010, 11:49 PM

This rumor has been circulating since 2008.


You forgot to mention that PNB could go bankrupt if the government defaults on bonds since all of them are so closely connected. Just like what doctors usually say, there is nothing absolutely 100% in medicine.

Held in trust ? Are you sure ?

And i never said the rumor has no basis either

A minimum of RM5,000 for 1-month placement and only RM1,000 for contract greater than 1-month.



First, look for a savings account that pay high interest. May i suggest you either the CIMB Bank AirAsia Savers Account or CIMB Islamic Bank passbook-based Mudharabah Savings Account-i ? Both offer really good interest.


Fixed Deposit is also known as Time Deposit. Depends on which bank you go to, some call it Fixed Deposit while some call it Time Deposit. Fixed Deposit/Time Deposit is not like the share market. You can't target the interest rate. All the interest rates shown are fixed by the respective banks. Generally, fixed deposit rates offered by banks across Malaysia do not differ much. You should just go to the bank that is the most convenient to you.

At the moment, fixed deposit yields around 2.4% - 3.05% depends on the bank and term.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jun 15 2010, 04:53 PM

However, it should be noted that not all Islamic Banks offer good profit rate (to those who don't know, in simple English it's what we usually call interest rate).

Anyway, i've been following the Bank Islam's profit rate given to its savings account since late 2008 and the best profit rate declared is 1.40+%. This still lags behind what Standard Chartered Bank used to give to its e$aver account which was 2.5%. Bank Islam gave 1.35% of profit rate to its Mudharabah Savings Account last month. Even though the return is really good, the lack of ATM is a major drawback. I would therefore, suggest you guys to check out AmBank and CIMB Bank.

CIMB Bank
AirAsia Savers Account
- RM8/pa for ATM card
- 1.20% interest on all balances (credited monthly)
- keep a minimum of RM5,000/month in your account with no over-the-counter transaction, they will award you another extra RM5 every single month !!!

CIMB Islamic Bank
Mudharabah Savings Account-i
- RM8/pa for ATM card
- 1.10% on all balances (credited monthly)

AmIslamic Bank
Basic Savings Account-i
- Choose either to pay RM8/pa for ATM card for unlimited transaction or pay no annual fee with only 8 free ATM cash withdrawals per month
- 1.10% on all balances (credited monthly)

AmBank
Amstar Extreme savings-cum-current account
- No ATM card annual fee
- 1.50% (at least RM5,000 to earn interest; interest credited monthly)
- 5 FREE cash withdrawals at other banks' ATM
- 5 FREE online interbank fund transfe
- RM5 penalty if average balance per month is less than RM5000

AmBank Amstar Extreme is definitely the best current account in the market !!!

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jun 15 2010, 08:10 PM

FD is the money that you shouldn't touch during the entire tenure of the contract so you can get all the interest agreed on the day you opened the account. Savings on the other hand, is your liquid money that you can access anytime you want.

One shouldn't put everything into FD. Always make sure you have some money in your savings.



Please note that CIMB Bank offers several types of savings account and each type of savings account comes with different T&C and interest rate(s). And yes, FD always will offer higher interest rate than savings account. This is because your FD has to be locked for a certain period of time in order to enjoy the higher interest whereas you don't have to do so with savings account. You can withdraw the money in your savings account anytime you want and you won't loss the interest you've already earned.

By the way, technically the interest for CIMB AirAsia Savers account is only 1.20%. They advertise it as up to 2.40% because of the RM5 they give to their account holders keep at least RM5000 in the account every month with no over-the-counter transaction in a month. For example, let say you keep RM10,000 between July 1st - July 31st and never touched the account the whole month, they will give you about RM10 (interest) + RM5 (reward for no over the counter transaction and that you keep at least RM5000 in your account the whole month)


Not too sure about the e-Voucher and all. I do have this account solely because i love the interest given to this account.

About the free stuff offered to the first 100,000 AirAsia Savers Account holders, it is the Tune Money VISA Prepaid Card. The first 100,000 will get a complimentary Tune Money VISA Prepaid Card with the annual fee for the 1st year waived. Please note that this Tune Money VISA Prepaid Card is optional. My advise ? Don't get it if you don't need it. It is a USELESS card ! If you really need a debit card, get either the Public Bank Day2Day VISA debit card or Maybank VISA debit card. Both are thousands times better than Tune Money VISA Prepaid Card with absolute no stupid fees.



That's the thing i envy most about the savings account offered down under. It makes investments offered by PNB look silly ! Anyway idea what's the tax rate like if i were to pay tax on the interest earned from my savings and term deposit there ?



Agreed ! Standard Chartered Saadiq has 3 types of savings account and it is the "Savings Account-i" that you guys should go for, if any of you are interested.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jun 15 2010, 10:32 PM

Economists do not look good on our MYR ...


The interest for 1-month at Public Bank as of today is only 2.50%. Once it has served its contract, you can take out the money anytime without incurring any losses. You may also move the money to any other banks you want.

If you don't mind me asking, since the money is already in Public Bank and assume you're a happy Public Bank customer, why even bother to move the money to Maybank ? The interest given is more or less the same ...



Yes. You can. However, all the banks require you to have a savings or current account with them in order to open a FD with them.



Most of the savings account in Malaysia give only 0% - 2%.



Yes. It is higher than most other banks.



This card is optional. You can refuse the card if you don't need it.


Sorry. Not too sure about this. I open this account solely because of the attractive interest rate.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jun 16 2010, 08:42 PM

3.05% for 12-month at Affin Bank and BSN.

There is an on-going FD promotion at AMBank now. It is called Top Rates FD. They always have this kind of FD promotion several times a year and the rate really is quite good. See below :

When you sum it all up and take the average, you'll only get 2.90% return. Rate shown is per annum, by the way.



Yes. You can open a non-fee AmIslamic Bank Basic Savings Account-i. It comes with an annual fee free ATM card with 8 free ATM cash withdrawals and high interest of 1.10%. The profit (interest) will be credited to your account on a montly basis on the 16th of every month.

Thanks

No. Read the fine prints.

That was the rate before the credit crunch in the second half of 2008. NZD was giving as high as 9% while EUR and GBP were both yielding more than 4% that time.

No. As long as you keep no less than RM5000 in your account and do not perform any over-the-counter transaction every month, you'll get the RM5.


They charge one flat rate of RM2. There is however an ongoing 50% promotion now. The last day of this promotion is 31/7/10.

That is totally up to you but bear in mind that Powervantage account is a current account while Air Asia Savers Account is a savings account. Besides, HSBC Powervantage account gives you unlimited free inter-bank transfer while Air Asia Savers Acccount doesn't.

I think there is a monthly fee for your Powervantage account, right ? Ranging from RM5 to RM15 depends on what kind of Powervantage account it is.

No.

Trouble as in ? The maximum amount you can place online or you are afraid of BNM come knocking your door ?

HSBC Hong Kong no longer offers HSBC PowerVantage since two or three months ago. It has been replaced by HSBC Advance and the HSBC PowerVantage account in Malaysia too, has been replaced by HSBC Advance effective today.

HSBC Malaysia offered two types of HSBC PowerVantage accounts in Malaysia.
1. HSBC PowerVantage E-Chequeing
or
2. HSBC PowerVantage Complete Access

For HSBC PowerVantage E-Chequeing, you need to keep at least RM20,000 in HSBC (can be in fixed deposit or your PowerVantage account) to avoid the RM5/monthly fee. As for HSBC PowerVantage Complete Access, you need RM60,000 to avoid the monthly fee which is higher at RM15.



Yes. Correct. But it is actually divided by 365 days.


This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jul 12 2010, 01:16 PM