Baby Bonus CDA Account
 

Under the Baby Bonus scheme, the government matches the amount that you save in your child's Child Development Account (CDA), dollar for dollar.

The matching contribution from the government is capped at $6,000 for your second child, and $12,000 for your third child. The amount is also $12,000 for your fourth child.

The CDA is sometimes also called Children Development Account.

To open the CDA account, you need to go to a POSB branch.

You can use the savings to pay for education and medical-related expenses for any of your children. See this for details.

See also my calculations on how much your children can get. (The total is a whopping $68k!)

When your child enters primary school, a Post-Secondary Education Account (PSE) will be created for your child. Unused savings in the CDA Account can * be transferred to the PSE Account.

The main purpose of the PSE Account is to help you save up for your child's post-secondary education, i.e. for courses in ITEs, local polytechnics, JCs, and universities (including UniSIM).

Your contributions to the PSE Account will also be matched by the government, but subject to a combined CDA-PSE cap similar to the caps mentioned earlier: the government's total co-funding for your second child, whether to CDA or PSE, will be capped at $6,000 (and $12,000 each for third child and fourth child).

The PSE Account will also earn the same interest rates as the CPF Special Account, which is currently set at 4%. (Straits Times, October 24, 2007)

* Parents have recently received letters saying that they have an option to withdraw the CDA savings when the child enters primary school.

http://www.salary.sg/2007/baby-bonus-cda-account/

856
 

Hi Salary.sg

is this benefit applicable only to Singaporean? how about PR?

Thanks.

857
 

The child has to be a Singapore citizen.
See:
link

1921
 

my babe is born on 14 dec 2007,when will the payment be?

1922
 

The first cash gift is given within 3 weeks after MCYS receives your properly completed forms. The subsequent cash gifts are given when your child is approximately 6, 12 and 18 months of age.
See: link

2074
 

Hi, I just open a CDA account for my child who is born last year.I heard from the OCBC bank staff that I can withdraw all the funds in the CDA account by cash before my child turns 7 yrs old. Is this truth or did they give me the wrong informaion?

2075
 

@lilyang, I don't think you can withdraw in cash. Check out www.babybonus.gov.sg
It says "The funds cannot be withdrawn in cash." You can only use the money for child-related expenses like medical and schooling.

2076
 

i also opened an CDA account with OCBC and heard that for child born before 31 Dec 2007, they can with all the funds when the child turn 7 yrs old

2082
 

I can confirm that you can withdraw the money in cash when the child turns 7. MCYS has sent me a written letter stating that. The article above also says "Parents have recently received letters saying that they have an option to withdraw the CDA savings when the child enters primary school."
However, I can't seem to find the same info in the official baby bonus site, or the MCYS site. It will be good if more people confirm this.

2494
 

I had checked with MCYS and they confirmed it can either be witdrawn for cash or transfer to PSED account.And i further confirmed the information o the link below.

http://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/faq.html

2495
 

More information of what i have.
A letter will be sent to parents somewhere in November the year the child turns 6yrs old.If parents opt to withdraw by cash, it will be transfered to our account somewhere in February the following year.

thanks haldiah appreciate the info. tt was wat i’m looking for.

will a single mother under 21 years of age be eligible for the baby bonus scheme?

i’m afraid not. according to the eligibility criteria in TLS the baby’s mother has to be lawfully married to the father. wish you the best.

Thanks Haldiah that means for my 2nd child i can withdraw all $12,000 in cash?

Between OCBC and Stanchart, which is the better bank for a CDA account?

An acquaintance told me her online account with Stanchart gets 1% interest because it is "linked" to a CDA account. I didn't manage to find out more from her as it was a quick conversation. Can anyone tell me more?

Appreciate any help.