The thrills of saving, traveling & shopping for free

MANILA, Philippines - If there is anything the natural disasters in the past month have taught us, it’s that it’s wise to be prepared. Today, more than ever, saving money — not just for a rainy day, but quite literally for a storm — is the best thing we can add to the lifestyle changes we are planning.

Whether you’re a young office employee whose belt is already tight, a mid-career executive raising a family, or an entrepreneur who owns a flourishing business, the advice is the same: Start a nest egg.

You may think you no longer have money to save — but there always is, no matter how small, if only you look hard enough.

“The things that we spend on now, like cell phones, when we were starting they were virtually non-existent,” says Maricris L. San Diego, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) vice president. “Today the youth spend so much on gimmicks and go to expensive coffee shops, which is why they have a difficult time saving, but if they can resist those things once in a while, they can start saving. On the other hand, even those who have already built their wealth can never be too secure. Nobody knows what his fortune will be tomorrow. Just set something aside that you can rely on, whatever happens.”

We’ve seen that no matter where you live, you can lose your house in a natural disaster, or you can lose your job. What will then tide you over? It was true in our grandparents’ time and it is truer today: Cut back and save up.

BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank have a wide portfolio of savings products that are suited to whatever income bracket you belong to. What’s exciting about their product portfolio is that on top of their competitive interest rates, some are even bundled with free life and accident insurance up to P 4 million. And added to all this is the Real Thrills promotion ongoing until Nov. 30.  

The Real Thrills promo on BPI, BPI Family Savings Bank and BPI Direct Savings Bank savings or checking accounts has a catalogue of gifts that depositors can avail of for free. It’s like shopping for free, actually — just in time for the Christmas season. The Real Thrill gifts range from the basic kitchen appliances (such as coffeemakers and blenders) to white goods (washing machines and refrigerators), brown goods (audio-video equipment), Cebu Pacific travel vouchers that can be used on international destinations (like Osaka and Shanghai among 13 cities) and domestic flights (Boracay, Palawan, and Siargao among 31 destinations), and the boutiques of Stores Specialists Inc. including luxury brands like Jimmy Choo, Burberry, Tod’s, YSL, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Raoul and Beauty Bar.

Participating products are Express Teller Savings, Maxi-Saver, Get Started, Jumpstart, Maxi-One, Regular Passbook and BPI Direct Savings for peso accounts; Express Dollar Savings, US Dollar Passbook Savings, Third Currency Passbook Savings, BFSB Dollar Get Started for dollar accounts; and Express Teller Checking and BPI Direct Checking for peso checking accounts.

Maricris explains that one of the unique propositions of BPI is that it “has the widest range of transactions that you can do in each branch as if it were your home branch.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a depositor in Iloilo or Binondo — you can do transactions in real time in, say, Bicol or Cebu.

“For instance, if you want to encash a BPI check, you can do this in any BPI branch, not just the home branch of the issuer where they will compare the signature. If you’re depositing a BPI check, it will go to your BPI account in real time as if you deposited cash, you don’t have to wait up to three days for it to clear. If you want to change your ATM card because it was damaged or lost, or order a checkbook, a manager’s check, or request for a bank certificate, you don’t have to go your own branch because you can do this at any BPI branch that’s most convenient for you at the moment. This is also true for BPI Family Savings Bank transactions at any BPI Family Savings Bank branch.”

With over 650 BPI branches and almost 150 BPI Family Savings Bank branches nationwide, that’s a lot of branches to choose from. “When we launched the system in November 2008, our clients were thrilled, especially businesspeople because most of the time they need their money right away.”

Maricris adds that BPI — which is incidentally the biggest provider of payroll and has the most number of ATMs at over 1,500 nationwide —  is “always looking at the different services the markets need, whether they’re business or individual high-value clients, office workers or students because everybody is looking for the best ways to manage their money.”

Question is, what is the right savings product for you so you can get the best out of your savings and get to avail of the Real Thrills gifts? Here are some savings products to choose from:

• Get Started Savings Account: A build-up type of savings account that has a built-in life insurance coverage up to P2 million with Ayala Life Assurance. And you don’t even have to get a medical checkup or pay premiums because it’s automatic. The coverage is five times your average daily balance (ADB), so if you have a deposit of P200,000 you’re covered up to P1 million. The maintaining balance is as low as P5,000.

• Maxi-Saver: It’s a high-interest savings account that’s competitive with some banks’ time deposit interest rates. The advantage of this is that your funds are not locked up — you can access them anytime a need arises and you don’t have pre-termination penalties. The interest rate is 1.75 percent per annum and you get a bonus 1 percent per annum if no withdrawal is made within the month.

• Save-Up: For a minimum of P250 a month — that’s like P10 for every workday — you can start building up to bigger savings. “This product is really to make saving a habit with depositors,” says Maricris, citing the office paluwagan tradition of old. “We want to encourage office people who have a hard time saving to just do it. The minimum maintaining balance is only P1,000.” It also comes with free life and accident insurance of up to 10x the accounts balance.

• Jumpstart: This account is designed for the young, ages 10 to 17, to let them have a taste of what it’s like to handle and budget their own money. They get perks like freebies and discounts at establishments that kids frequent like Timezone.

• Express Teller:  “Our  ATM savings account is like a passport to the different electronic services, which can be done online, through your landline or mobile phone,” says Maricris. “You can do balance inquiry, funds transfer, pay bills to your country club, school, utilities, village associations, insurance companies and a slew of others. With this type of account, you don’t have to leave your office to do your transactions. You can schedule your payments, like every 15th of the month you pay your monthly dues. With your mobile you can even pay and reserve your seats at Ayala Cinemas.”

Maricris says that in addition to the competitive interest rates, insurance coverage and other perks, the Real Thrills promo makes these products even more attractive. To avail of the gifts in the Real Thrills promo, one should deposit at least P75,000 in fresh funds to a qualified savings or checking account and keep the funds on hold for at least three months. The free gifts are tiered according to your deposit and total funds may be pooled together to avail of a higher-tier gift, as long as the deposit is made within the same day (for instance you get the gifts equivalent to the P500,000 tier if you made a deposit of P300,000 and P200,000 in your Maxi-Saver and Get Started accounts respectively).

The products range from a basic American Heritage electric kettle or Cebu Pacific P500 voucher (for a P75,000 deposit) to a GE cordless phone (for P150,000), a Philips DVD player (P300,000), to an LG flat TV (P1,000,000) to a P30,000 SSI or Cebu Pacific gift certificate, or Abea furniture showcase or Samsung 32” LCD and DVD player (P5,000,000 deposit). You can redeem your gifts online or at any branch.

 “It’s really good timing for Christmas, so people can treat themselves or give the Real Thrills items as gifts to their friends and family,” says Maricris. “We have a lot of clients who are in that stage in life that they want free travel not so much for themselves but for their families. For somebody with, say, P5 million, are these gifts still important? Yes, because everybody is looking for value for money — and you’re getting all this on top of what your savings account is already giving you.”

Maybe this is how the rich get to have such big nest eggs.

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To know more about the Real Thrills promo of BPI, log on to www.myrealthrills.com.