Hi, I am new to this forum which I have been following for quite sometime. Want to thank you all for the very usefull info which helped to save a lot of legwork and phone calls when I need to 'pindah' my money from here to there:)

Thought its time I do some community work too, especially some of you seemed to have been stumped or stung by this crazy OCBC 5% deal. So, here's my very loong and bizzare story with OCBC. Please bear with me.

Went to OCBC yesterday at around 11am with hope of opening FD, saving acct and maybe a GIA deposit to be eligible for priority status and as well as the 5% FD rate promo shown on their website. The chap (not a RM)who attended to me said there was no such promo but he has something else quite similar; I would have to purchase an investment product from a list (which was quite different from the one shown on their website) if I wanted to get the 5% FD rate. I told him to check OCBC's website to confirm but he was reluctant to do so and seemed to be very sure he was right. So I thought I was mistaken and decided to settle on the 3mths FD at 3.6% and signed the application form for priority status for which I was given the passport holders (not told that there was Peach Blossoms picture too).

The whole process was quite tedious - about an hour or more to get my FD slips. While waiting for my FD slips to be ready, nature called and I enquired about the whereabouts of the nearest washroom and was told to go out and use a nearby cafe's toilet if I am not a priority customer!! That's discrimination!! Anyway, I told them I was being processed to be a priority customer and was promptly ushered to the 'atas' area where there is a washroom which had no toilet tissues despite the the priority banking reception area being quite done up. Not at all impressed with OCBC in this respect:(

Anyway got home with the FD slips and still felt that I was 'shortchanged' and decided to call the Premier Centre hotline about the three-products promo. Guess what? They said I was right and that I could have gotten the 5% with the FD, if I open savings acct and GIA accts as well. The nice lady at the call centre promptly contacted the branch to inform them of the error and advised me to rush back to the branch to have the whole matter sorted out at the Priority Centre despite me not being assigned a RM yet. By then, it was near 4pm and I had to make my hubby drive like a maniac to get to OCBC before their doors were shut.

Went to the 'atas' area and asked for the person the call centre told me to see. That person, presumably a RM, did not even have the courtesy to come out and meet me and instead asked the receptionist to refer me back to the 'bawah' people (meaning the chap who made the blunder) to sort the matter. Aiyo, he was such a blur king! He was totally shocked when told he was wrong and was running around the place like a headless chicken, and I looked just as silly trailing him around. He did not know how the scheme worked and was shuttling from 'atas' to 'bawah' before he could do anything constructive.

After disappearing into one of the closed-door rooms to consult with someone who never even bothered to come out to see me, the 'bawah' chap finally came out and said they would change the rate in the FD slips to 5%. When I enquired about opening the other two accounts, he said there was no need to and asked me to take a seat and wait for the new slips. I was very happy and impressed with this. Thought they were making amends for their mistake by waiving the condition for two other accounts. Well, fat hope! Before I could even settle down to enjoy a cup of coffee, he came up from 'bawah' and said he made a mistake and that I must open or buy two other products. He then proceeded, in full view and within earshot of other people sitting in the Premier Centre, to discuss how much of $X I should put in insurance or some other investment products. I was appalled and embarassed that my financial details were being broadcasted to all and sundry. I stopped him and asked him to bring the discussion into one of the many empty meeting rooms.

In the room I told him I wanted to do the barest minimum to meet the conditions to enjoy the 5% rate, meaning a savings account and maybe a GIA deposit for 1mth. When I asked him about the types of savings account they have, he was stumped and I had to tell him what I found out from their website! He quickly rushed out of the room and dragged in a very reluctant but pretty RM (I guess) to explain the various types of accounts I could open in addition to the FD. She was very brief with her explanation and was not very helpful. So decided to cut short my agony by simply putting in RM3000(min) in the Esteem Savings Acct and RM10,000 in GIA 1mth deposit.

Then, after another round of tedious form-filling and signing and thumb-printing, I waited and waited and waited for my FD slips, GIA receipt and Saving Acct Passbook to be told at around 5.15pm that the counters were closed for the day and he could not process the GIA and Saving Acct. They could only be done the next day. Then what happened to my FDs?! The tellers were waiting for someone in HQ to email the approval to change the FD to 5% effective from 3.1.2012 and for the other accounts to be effective from 4.1.2012, before they could do the amendment. So, another round of waiting for the email before the amended slips finally came out at around 5.50pm. We were the last customers and we were watching the staff dismantling the Christmas tree!!

So, yeah!! At last the FD slips with 5% printed were in my hands and I was confident the 50% cap does not apply to me. This was because I highlighted clause 3.1.3 to the 'bawah' chap and he agreed with me that it does not apply to new Premier customers. Despite the comedy of errors I was happy to get the 5% eventually and even apologised to him for keeping him and the tellers behind on their first working day of the year and looked forward to collecting the passbook and GIA receipt from him later today. However, my happiness was short-lived. Barely 45minutes after we left the bank , the 'bawah' chap called me. He felt, after some discussions with his colleagues, he could have been wrong (again!) about clause 3.1.3 and feared that only half my FD placements would earn for 5% and the other half would get Board Rate. He was not sure what to do as he had given me all FD slips that showed 5%. By then I was too tired out by the whole saga and told him to have a good evening and come back to me today with a definitive answer.

I am surprised to learn from this forum that others are also having problems with OCBC over the 5% deal. Well, Gen X, like you say if you average it out the promo and board rate, the effective rate will be 3.975% which is still not too bad for 3mths tenure. The other bank offering 5%, with some conditions attached, is CIMB. I am a customer there and my RM told me that my deposits (capped at 500k) into my current account will earn 5% up till the end of this month. I wasted no time in asking SCB to 'rentas' (processed at around 10.30 am yesterday) over to CIMB and I am surprised to see that the amount is still not deducted from my e-savers account. It means the 'rentas' did not go through the same day, and I lost 1day's interest at CIMB. I wonder if I can get SCB to compensate as the teller told me the money would definitely be received by the end of the day.

In conclusion, I must say that if not for the fact I 'yeow-kwee' the 5%, I won't bank with OCBC after my experience with them yesterday. I still do no know who is my RM and none of the peope in the Premier Centre even bothered to come and help out or even say 'hello' despite me banking in more than the minimum to qualify for Premier status. I am glad that I can take out my deposits in 3 months time and I am sorry for them that the only permanent deposit they are getting from me is the one I left in their 'atas' washroom!!

Thank you for the welcome:)

Just to update. Told by OCBC today that there could be two possible outcomes over those FDs with 5%. One, if I got lucky and no one in the bank noticed anything amiss, I may get 5% on all my FDs on maturity. Two, if someone wants to gain brownie points with the higher-ups and raise the issue, the rate may be reduced to no lower than the board rate. So, worse come to worse I will get 3.975% on my total FD placements on maturity. Thus, decided not to pursue the matter and let 'sleeping dogs lie' and hope for the best outcome. Also, got my GIA receipt and my Savings Passbook to complete the package.

Got no choice but bring this clause to his attention. Wanted his confirmation that my intepretation is right. That way, he can't wranggle his way out if he is wrong which is precisely the situation now. I went and parked so much money in FD because he confirmed and concurred with me that I will not be affected by the 50% cap and that the full sum will enjoy 5% interest. If not, why would all the FD slips show the 5% interest? The reason he called me last evening was because he was worried that I will hold him responsible for the shortfall in interest should clause 3.1.3 be invoked. Of course, as you all know, I did not bother with him last night. Know what? He called me first thing in the morning and asked to see me to discuss the matter. After my meeting with him, I posted the following update.



I decided to let him off the hook because I did not enjoy watching him squirm and making him miserable over a small sum of money. We all make mistakes don't we? The cost of the mistake may be higher for him than me - he could well lose his job. I believe in giving people a chance, especially a green-horn like him. That was also the reason why I did not push him about the other products. I already had the Esteem Savings acct and the GIA deposit in mind, but I was hoping he could advise, like your RM, some other even more 'economical' products to fulfil the 5% promo conditions, but, clearly he was out of his depth and the pretty RM 'friend' he dragged in to help explain the products was not much help.



I am well aware of the modus operandi of RMs. That's why whenever I was assigned one, I would tell them upfront not to get their hopes high that I will be a 'captured market' to push their products, firstly because I am very risk-averse, thus this obession with FDs and secondly because I can be very fussy with details on things that I am not familiar with (meaning the products they may try to sell to me). This usually put most of them off and they would give me a wide berth and let me enjoy their tea/ coffee and cookies in peace



My thoughts, exactly. You could tell that the people at the Premier Centre were very territorial and they were not making it easy for this young punk who sabotaged what was rightfully theirs, since this is a Premier Account promo. They sure put him in his place, i.e. 'bawah' and that was where I had to conduct business with him the last two days - the open banking hall. Had the feeling that he dare not go to the 'atas' area.



Gark, I can understand why you feel this way. If you are working or your precious resource, time, can be better used elsewhere to help you earn higher returns than FD, then playing musical chairs with your money is such a pathetic waste of time. For me, I am a housewife with grown-up children, I have plenty of 'wu liao' time to play money musical chairs to earn me some small change to pay for my Unifi connection (no money for Ipad2 or Iphone whatever) and perhaps a pair of Vincci slippers. My dear husband likes to chant this nursery rhyme and shakes his head whenever he sees me checking on my FD interests - " Four and twenty black birds sitting in a pie and la, la, la,... and the queen is in her parlour counting pennies" Well, 'pennies' is the operative word here.


**Post edited to fix the text quote's code.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jan 5 2012, 02:29 AM

This was the product that young chap was trying to get me to buy when I first asked about the 5% deal. It's a structured investment product that's not capital-guaranteed and gotta hold for 5 yrs if want capital back. What with the world coming to an end in 2012 and the possibility of Eurozone going into disarray, thought I better stick to 3mths with the good old FD

Btw, thanks, MilesAndMore, for helping out with the editing of my posts. Treading into alien territory, so guidance much appreciated

Before I knew of the OCBC 5% promo, I thought Bank Rakyat's rate wasn't too bad. So, I made a call to check. Was told that their product sort of investment linked and thus the payout fluctuates. The branch manager assured me that they had so far been on target with their projection of the profit. She also said that they and their products are not PIDM insured, but, not to worry, they have insured themselves with Takaful. She urged me to try them out with perhaps a small amount like 10K. Well, of course, I didn't.

If OCBC can offer 4% for 12mths for Islamic Time Deposits with PIDM coverage, why would you want to risk your money with Bank Rakyat which offers only a midge more at 4.1%? Anyway, Bank Rakyat is a cooperative bank whose principals, I am told, are making losses.

Ya, think the bank itself got no problem, just worried about its principals. I am risk-averse (Kia-si) so better put my money in an old and trusted bank. But, that's not a guarantee - look at Lehman's and !

No, I didn't get any statement from OCBC. Found out consolidated statement sent only to customers who have current accounts. So, will wait till maturity to find out if full interest is paid on all the FD slips showing the 5% rate. On Wednesday, 8th Feb, I uplifted my one-month Islamic GIA deposit which matured on 4th Feb and was surprised to learn that OCBC does not give back-interest for the 4 days public holiday. They said back-interest is only given for conventional FD but not Islamic GIA deposit.

Also found out that Mighty Savers weekend promo rate of 4% (3 mths-conventional FD) is not restricted only to children below 18 yrs old. Adults also can enjoy the promo rate provided they open a savings account as well. Min placement is 10K and max is 50K. The FD will start on the next working day, meaning if you issued a cheque for 50K to open FD on Saturday, 4th Feb 2012, the term will only start on Wednesday, 8th Feb 2012 (minus the long weekend holidays). It does not matter when your cheque is cleared.

A strange thing about OCBC is that kids above 12 yrs old can open savings account in their own name if they have an IC. But, if you are to open a Trust Savings Account, meaning parent/legal guardian in joint names with the kid, OCBC need the child's original birth cert even if he/she has an IC. The parent/guardian can enjoy the promo 4% FD only if they open the Mighty Savers Account which is a Trust Savings Account. Unless you are really intent on opening a Trust Savings Account for your children, I think it is much more straight forward to just go with the adult version of the Mighty Savers Weekend promo which is on every first Saturday of the month.

Talking about ICs, please note that HSBC requires passports to open accounts with them even if you have a red PR IC. Also, their GIA deposit cannot be uplifted on the same day it matures. You will have to wait for the next working day. Thus, if your GIA deposit matured on Friday, 3rd Feb, you cannot touch your money until Wednesday, 8th Feb. That's about 5 days of 'lost' interest! I am sure they, like OCBC, do not give back-interest for GIA deposits as I have to 'lose' one day's interest when my RM made a mistake on my GIA deposit with them. After rectifying the mistake, she could not back-date the GIA deposit slips - the term starts on the next working day. She said she could have back-dated the placement if it had been a conventional FD. So, beware if you want to open GIA deposits.

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Added on February 11, 2012, 4:51 pmCheck out http://www.hlb.com.my/pfs/dep/depflexifd_f...flag=depflexifd

Has anyone have any experience with this type of FLexi-FD? I understand Citibank has the same but early partial withdrawal is in multiples of RM5000 instead of RM3000 in HLB's case. I think Citi's rate is also lower.

HLB's 12 mths rate of 3.25% or 3.35% for premier customer may not be very attractive but I think it allows you to quickly respond to a great promo like the SCB one (which is unlikely to happen again in the near future) or a good investment opportunity that requires you to move fast or any other emergencies that need cash fast without you having to forfeit the interest earned on the balance amount left behind in the account.

Was told that interest is paid monthly into your savings or current account and that pro-rated interest is paid for the partial amount you uplifted. You must also keep a mininum balnce of 10K in the account which continues to earn the 3.25% interest right up to maturity.

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Added on February 11, 2012, 5:14 pmSorry, wrong advice from call centre. OCBC do give statements - it just came in through the letter-box. Yup, interest on FD still 5% Fingers crossed that Gen-X and I can enjoy the full amount

This post has been edited by sylille: Feb 11 2012, 05:14 PM

Ya, thought it is only for children too but when bring me sonny to open account, no do because of birth cert ruling for trust account. That was when the officer said the weekend offer of 4% (3 mths conventional FD) available to adults too, provided they open a savings account too. The catch is if you already have a savings account, you cannot open another one. Since I already have an account, got round the problem by getting dear hubby to open a Savings account under his name and got the FD issued in joint names with me I got the FD slip showing 4% for 3mths. So, it is no mere hearsay that the weekend promo is for adults too.

OCBC was also very fair. Due to a mistake on my part, my cheque was not cleared and I had to re-issue another cheque. Naturally, the effective date of the FD cannot be backdated but they were kind enough to let me have the 4% rate despite the new date being a workday and the mistake was mine. With that OCBC salvaged back some of the goodwill they have lost through their earlier bungling with my accounts. The 'bawah' people (not the same young chap whom I avoided) also redeemed themselves this time around as my Mighty Savers weekend experience was serviced by them. I did not go to my RM after I got a rather curt and terse 'welcome' call from her. I'd rather call the hotline which sometimes give the wrong info but at least the CS are more pleasant.

Gen-X, think the hotline ppl gave wrong info. So far didn't see any consolidated statement from OCBC. I got only the FD statement, the format is as you described in your earlier post. Like yours, my statement shows that all of the 'problematic' FDs still tagged at 5%. Hopefully, the problem will turn out to be a mini windfall for the two of us and others who may be 'lucky' enough like us to get the really, really special rate!

After reading gsc's latest post, I was puzzled and decided to call the hotline to confirm that the FD slip I have in hand is indeed a Mighty Savers weekend promo product. The CS said it is not issued under the Mighty Savers Weekend promo which is exclusively for children below 18. Now I don't know and don't care what promo it comes under so long as I get the promised 4% on maturity.

My sincere apologies to all who have been misled by my posts on the so-called adult version of the Mighty Savers weekend promo. (Think the 'bawah' officer should take part of the blame for this fiasco. She gave the impression that it was a weekend promo especially when she had to ask her higher up permission to let me have the 4% after I had to re-issue my cheque.)

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Added on February 15, 2012, 4:26 pmMy branch in an 'old' branch. So don't think it's an 'Official Opening' offer. Anyway, like I said, I don't know and don't care anymore. I am fed-up!

This post has been edited by sylille: Feb 15 2012, 04:26 PM