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Ever been stuck in a never-ending line at an ATM machine while customers of a different bank breezed past you to withdraw cash at another queue-free machine two metres away? That’s just one of the reasons it’s a good idea to have a backup bank account.
I have bank accounts at two local banks — one for convenience and availability of ATMs, the other for high interest. But having a second account also gives me a backup plan in case of maintenance or a sudden outage. Some banks also have synergy or tie-ups with certain financial products and services, which offers more choice.
If you’re looking around for a suitable bank, OCBC is a good all-rounder. They’ve got a digital app that’s a one-stop solution, so you get lots of value-added services with the opening of a single account.
Here are some of the most interesting features of the OCBC Digital app.
Money management
One of the keys to financial freedom, early retirement and all that good stuff is knowing how to manage your money. OCBC Digital app has a Money Management feature that makes it a lot easier.
The app’s Money In$ights feature tracks your spending when you sync your cards and take photos of your receipts, making it easy to see where your money is going each month. Your spending will be sorted into categories like transport, food and drinks, entertainment, shopping, etc, so you can see in which areas you can trim the fat.
You can also enter your savings goals in the app and automatically put aside money towards them every month, making it less likely that you’ll overspend.
Another thing you can do is to set a budget every month and have the app alert you when you’re about to bust it. It’s like having a financial personal trainer making sure you stay in shape.
Wealth and investment
Nobody ever retired early on savings alone. Investing protects your money from inflation and helps you reach your goals faster. This is even more important when you’re relatively young, as starting early gives your money greater potential for growth through compound interest.
The OCBC Digital app makes it easy to invest your cash through a plethora of products. When investing can be done quickly and easily, you’re less likely to let your money stay stagnant in a bank account and have its value eroded by inflation.
Using OCBC Digital, you can build an investment portfolio by trading gold and silver, equities, forex and unit trusts, just to mention a few. You can also access OCBC RoboInvest through the app if you want to invest your cash through a robo investor.
Another key component of good financial health is insurance — after all, you don’t want to lose all your hard-earned cash in a single unfortunate incident. OCBC Digital offers access to certain types of insurance products like life insurance, endowment plans and Investment-Linked Plans (ILPs).
Instant approval for credit cards and loans
OCBC’s got quite a few credit cards that are worth considering. My personal favourite is OCBC FRANK, which offers a generous 6% cashback on online purchases and overseas spending, with a reasonable minimum spending requirement of $600.
With OCBC Digital, you can get instant approval when you apply for credit cards, meaning you’ll get your card delivered to your doorstep that much sooner.
You also get instant approval for personal loans. In an emergency when you need cash in a jiffy, you can take out a personal loan instead of resorting to more costly credit card debt.
Lifestyle
Now that COVID-19 has turned all of us into hygiene freaks, you might feel reluctant to touch the buttons on ATM machines. Guess what, you don’t have to if you’re an OCBC account holder!
Thanks to the OCBC Digital app’s cardless ATM withdrawal feature, you can contactlessly withdraw money from an ATM machine without a card. Simply log into OCBC Digital app or Pay Anyone app, scan the QR code shown on the ATM machine, key in the amount you want on your phone and out comes the cash.
Another time-saving feature is STACK, OCBC’s one-stop digital loyalty platform. If you’re like me, you sign up for dozens of rewards programmes hoping to save money but then can’t keep track of them.
STACK lets you easily track and combine points from various rewards programmes, which you can then instantly redeem for e-vouchers. You’ll never again have to worry about your rewards points expiring or being forgotten.
Do it all with OCBC Digital
The OCBC Digital app is a fuss-free platform that makes your life so much easier. Using the app, you can track your finances, invest, turn your spending into rewards and get your credit card applications approved. Best of all, all this can be done on the go, so you can use dead time on the MRT or while standing in queues.
Thanks to OCBC Digital, you can also gain access to an array of investment products, including unit trusts, equities, forex, gold/silver or RoboInvest.
You can also use the OCBC Digital app to contactlessly scan and withdraw cash from OCBC ATMs located island wide.
To enjoy all these benefits and more, download the OCBC Digital app now.