CPF Ordinary Accounts to continue earning interest rates of up to 3.5% in Q1 '15

THE Central Provident Fund (CPF) on Tuesday said its members will continue to earn interest rates of up to 3.5% per annum on their Ordinary Account (OA) monies, and up to 5% per annum on their Special and Medisave Accounts (SMA) monies in the first quarter of 2015.

It said the Retirement Account (RA) monies will earn up to 5% per annum in the year 2015.

"The above interest rates include an additional 1% interest paid on the first S$60,000 of a member's combined balances (with up to $20,000 from the OA), which is part of the government's efforts to enhance the retirement savings of CPF members," said the fund.

The OA interest rate will be maintained at 2.5% per annum from Jan 1 to March 31 next year, as the computed rate of 0.21% is lower than the legislated minimum interest rate.

Correspondingly, the concessionary interest rate for HDB mortgage loans, which is pegged at 0.1% above the OA interest rate, will remain unchanged at 2.6% per annum from Jan 1, 2015, to March 31, 2015.

The SMA interest rate will be maintained at 4% per annum for Q1 2015, as the computed rate of 3.4% is lower than the current floor interest rate, while the RA interest rate will be maintained at 4% per annum during the same three months.

Infographic: CPF: How it works