CPF Extra Interest: 1% on Your First S$60,000, and 2% at Age 55
CPF pays extra interest on your first S$60,000 of combined balances, and the OA counts to S$20,000. Tiers, two examples and what using the OA does.
CPF (the Central Provident Fund) pays extra interest on the first S$60,000 of your combined balances. Below age 55 the extra is 1% a year. At 55 and above it is 2% on the first S$30,000 and 1% on the next S$30,000.
Your Ordinary Account (OA) counts for at most S$20,000 of the total. CPF’s release of 22 September 2026 confirms these tiers for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
The rule
| Member | Part of combined balances | Extra interest a year |
|---|---|---|
| Below 55 | First S$60,000 | 1% |
| 55 and above | First S$30,000 | 2% |
| 55 and above | Next S$30,000 | 1% |
The OA part is capped at S$20,000 in every case. Think of it as a table with a fixed number of seats: only the OA’s first slice gets one.
The extra interest sits on top of the normal rate of each account.
Source: CPF, extra interest and CPF release of 22 September 2026. Schematic.
CPF’s historical interest table says the 1% on the first S$60,000 has applied since 1 January 2008.
Members aged 55 and above have earned an additional 1% on the first S$30,000 since 1 January 2016. That makes 2% on that slice (see notes 4 and 5 of the table).
How CPF counts your balances
CPF’s page on extra interest (last updated 7 February 2025) counts balances in this order:
- Retirement Account (RA)
- OA, up to S$20,000
- Special Account (SA)
- MediSave Account (MA)
Extra interest earned on OA money goes to the SA if you are below 55, or to the RA if you are 55 and above. CPF’s interest page says the same.
Savings used for CPF LIFE (the lifelong payout scheme) still count for members above 55, per the same historical table.
Two examples
These use round numbers and ignore base interest. CPF calculates interest monthly, so real figures differ slightly.
Member below 55. OA S$35,000, SA S$30,000, MA S$15,000.
- Counted: OA S$20,000 (the cap) + SA S$30,000 + MA S$10,000 (the part needed to reach S$60,000) = S$60,000.
- Extra interest: S$60,000 × 1% = S$600 a year. Of that, S$200 comes from the OA part and goes to the SA.
Member aged 55 or above. RA S$25,000, OA S$30,000, MA S$10,000.
- Counted: RA S$25,000 + OA S$20,000 (the cap) + MA S$10,000 = S$55,000.
- First S$30,000 × 2% = S$600. Next S$25,000 × 1% = S$250. Extra interest: S$850 a year.
Using the order and tiers in CPF, extra interest, as at 6 October 2026. The balances are examples, not data.
How using CPF for a home changes the count
CPF’s page on using CPF to buy property (updated 6 August 2025) gives a warning. The more OA savings you use for property, the less CPF you will have left for retirement.
It recommends keeping S$20,000 in the OA, which earns up to 3.5% (the 2.5% OA rate plus the extra 1%). CPF’s page on using CPF for a home lists only the OA as the account for a home purchase or housing loan.
The OA counts for at most S$20,000, so the effect follows from the rule.
- Below 55: OA falls from S$35,000 to S$20,000. The count stays at S$60,000, so the extra stays at S$600.
- Below 55: OA falls to S$5,000. The count is S$5,000 + S$30,000 + S$15,000 = S$50,000. The extra is S$500, which is S$100 less.
- Age 55 or above: OA falls from S$30,000 to zero. The count is S$35,000. The extra is S$600 + S$50 = S$650, which is S$200 less.
From the rules in CPF, extra interest, as at 6 October 2026. Round numbers, extra interest only.
So the first S$20,000 of OA is the part that earns extra interest. OA money above S$20,000 does not.
