Earn up to $150 cashback for online brokerage top-ups with OCBC credit cards

OCBC has launched an interesting new promotion for investments, the likes of which I don’t believe I’ve seen before. 

From 14 May to 15 July 2021, OCBC cardholders can enjoy up to a S$150 cash rebate when they top-up online brokerage accounts. I don’t need to remind you that such transactions are normally off-limits for credit card rewards. Even better, there’s no minimum holding period or restrictions on what you can do with the funds once they’re in. 

OCBC Online Brokerage Top-up Promotion

OCBC is running two variants of this promotion: one for its premium cardholders, and one for everyone else. Registration is not required for either.

OCBC Premier Banking Visa Infinite/VOYAGE

Brokerage Promotion for OCBC VI/VOYAGE

Let’s start with the simpler one. 

If you hold an OCBC Premier Banking Visa Infinite or an OCBC VOYAGE (any version), you can earn a 1.5% rebate (capped at S$150) when you top up at least S$10,000 to eligible online brokerage accounts (see below for the list). 

This is capped at the first 1,000 customers. All rebates will be credited within two months from 15 July 2021. The T&C can be found here. 

All other OCBC cards

Brokerage Promotion for other OCBC cards

The offer for other OCBC cards (365, FRANK, Cashflo, Great Eastern, Titanium Rewards, Plus!, 90N) is split into two types:

• New Customer Offer: If you have not used your credit card to transact with any of the eligible online brokerage accounts in the six month period before 14 May 2021, you will earn 3% cashback on your first top-up of any amount, capped at S$15 (T&C)
• Existing Customer Offer: Otherwise, you will earn 1.5% cashback when you top-up at least S$8,000, capped at S$120 (T&C)

These offers are either/or. In other words, you can’t make a top-up as a new customer, then do it again as an existing one. It actually favors existing customers, which is an interesting take given how most offers go the other way. 

The new and existing offers are capped at the first 1,000 customers each. All rebates will be credited within two months from 15 July 2021.

Which brokers are eligible?

The full list of eligible brokers is shown below:

You’ll notice I’ve added a column to show the credit card fee that each platform charges for top-ups. Presumably, you’ll want to use a broker that doesn’t charge a fee, or you’re no better off from where you started. 

The minimum top-up of S$8,000 or S$10,000 can be done across multiple platforms or multiple transactions. For example, you could top-up S$5,000 to Platform A, and S$5,000 to Platform B, or you could make 2 x S$5,000 top-ups to Platform A. 

However, there is a cap of 1,000 eligible customers, so you’ll want to hit the threshold ASAP. I see this as relatively low risk, because even if you miss the first 1,000 boat, it’s still money that you can invest and withdraw as you please (note that some platforms may charge withdrawal fees, so be sure to read the fine print). 

Conclusion

Regardless of whether you’re a miles or cashback person, you’ll know that investment account top-ups don’t usually attract rewards. You can freely move funds in and out of these brokers, so it’s basically free money if you act fast. 

As a reminder, OCBC is running a separate promotion for another category that doesn’t often earn rewards: insurance premiums. If you’ve got an OCBC 365 card, be sure to check out the offer here.