"I’m Withdrawing All My Stocks for the Bank"... Chuseok Spurs Surge in Installment Savings With Up to 13.5% Yields

Highest 1-Year Time Deposit Rates
Gwangju Bank "Good Start Deposit" Offers Annual Rate of 3.95%
Major Banks Also Offer Annual Rates Between 3.40% and 3.55%
Mutual Finance and Savings Banks Provide Deposits With 4.0% Annual Rates

As 'reverse money move' trends shift funds from the stock market to banks, regular term deposit and installment savings products at banks are gaining attention as potential places to store Chuseok holiday money. With market interest rates rising, some products are now offering deposit rates in the high 3% range, and installment savings rates as high as 13%, drawing particular interest.

Yonhap News Agency

According to the Korea Federation of Banks’ consumer portal on September 24, the highest interest-rate regular term deposit available among banks for a one-year maturity is Gwangju Bank’s 'Good Start Deposit.' It offers a base rate of 3.45% and an additional preferential rate of up to 0.5 percentage points for meeting certain conditions, such as making your first deposit transaction (0.4 percentage points) and consenting to the collection and use of personal information (0.1 percentage point). The highest possible rate is thus 3.95% per year. BNK Busan Bank’s 'The Special Term Deposit' also provides a base annual rate of 2.10%, which can be boosted to a maximum of 3.92% per year for new customers, those who consent to receiving mobile financial information and benefits notifications, and those qualifying for special promotion rates.

There are several other term deposit products that offer annual interest rates in the high 3% range: Busan Bank’s 'The Level-Up Term Deposit' (3.87%), BNK Kyongnam Bank’s 'The Reliable Deposit Season 2' (3.85%), Standard Chartered Korea’s 'e-Green Save Deposit' (3.85%), Jeonbuk Bank’s 'JB123 Term Deposit' (3.83%, lump sum at maturity), 'JB Direct Deposit Account' (3.81%, lump sum at maturity), and 'JB Direct Deposit' (3.80%, flexible maturity), SH Suhyup Bank’s 'SH First Encounter Preferential Deposit' (3.81%), and Jeju Bank’s 'J Term Deposit' (3.80%, paid at maturity).

Among the five major commercial banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup), NH Nonghyup Bank—having raised its deposit rates the day before—offers the highest rates for 'NH All One e-Deposit' and 'NH Waltz Rotating Deposit II' at 3.55% per year. They are followed by KB Kookmin Bank’s 'KB Star Term Deposit' and Woori Bank’s 'WON Plus Deposit,' each at 3.50% per year. Shinhan Bank’s 'Sol Comfortable Term Deposit' and Hana Bank’s 'Hana Term Deposit' are both at 3.40% per year. For internet-based banks, KakaoBank’s 'KakaoBank Term Deposit' (3.70%), K Bank’s 'Code K Term Deposit' (3.61%), and Toss Bank’s 'Toss Bank Early Interest Term Deposit' (3.60%) were all offering top rates between 3.60% and 3.70% per year.

For those seeking deposit rates in the 4% range, mutual finance institutions and savings banks may be good alternatives. As of the previous day, institutions including Nam Daejeon Credit Union, Dongho Credit Union, Incheon Jungbu Credit Union, and Hamyeol Credit Union were all offering term deposits with rates up to 4.3% per year. Among community credit cooperatives, Jeongeup community credit cooperative had the highest rate at 4.23%, while Wonkwang and Ujangsan community credit cooperatives were both posting 4.22%. According to the Korea Federation of Savings Banks, among 312 products from 79 savings banks, Union Korea Savings Bank’s 'e-Term Deposit' offers the highest rate at 4.03%. MS Savings Bank’s 'e-Term Deposit' (4.02%), Cham Savings Bank’s 'e-Rotating Term Deposit' (4.02%), and Kiwoom YES Savings Bank’s 'SB TokTok Rotating yes Term Deposit' (1-year variable rate product, 4.02%) all followed closely behind.

Installment savings products boasting even higher rates than regular term deposits are also worth considering. Jeonbuk Bank’s 'JB Super Seed Installment Savings' offers a base rate of 3.5% per year, which can be increased to a maximum of 13.5% per year with an event preferential rate of up to 10.0%. In this product, after opening the account via mobile banking, if one of the automatically generated seeds (up to 11) each month is selected as the super seed when paying the previous month’s installment, you receive the event preferential rate—so winning a super seed is key. Other notable products offering double-digit rates include KB Kookmin Bank’s 'KB Card-use Installment Savings' (12.0%) and iM Bank’s 'The Coupon Installment Savings' (11.0%). Among savings banks, Union Korea Savings Bank’s 'iDoL Installment Savings' provides up to 10.0% per year—offering a base annual rate of 3.0%, an additional 4.0 percentage points for pregnancy and giving birth within the year, up to 2.0 percentage points based on the number of preschool children, and another 1.0 percentage point for single-parent families.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.