Money under the Mattress

I'm wondering if I shouldn't just adopt this investment strategy. It took me almost 2 weeks before I got approved for a local bank account and credit cards and another week to receive everything separately in the mail (credit cards, ATM card, check book and account pin). I did it once and got rejected, try to do it a second time and found out my 6 month employment pass was no good, but third time is a charm once you have a 3 year employment pass and meet with a competent representative.

I have a step-up account that requires no minimum deposit as long as I am direct depositing my paycheck each month. No problem! Then, I earn a minimum amount of interest. If my balance increases each month, my interest rate goes up. But, if the SGD/USD rate is good and I make a big transfer home, I get bumped back down to the minimum interest rate and start at the bottom of the ladder again. Different concept than I've seen before and there is a maximum rate, but mostly the no minimum balance is what got me in. The other banks wanted S$2-3K balance....umm....no. Also, it's with Citibank, so it will be easier to deal with from the U.S. when I'm back home.

As I mentioned, took a while to get this up and running. Meanwhile, I received my paycheck for September and 8 days in August. With no account, I sat on the checks. This week my account is up and running. Today at lunch, I go to the local Citibank right near the office and there's an express deposit kiosk! I'm reading the sign as another expat gets behind me in line. I nicely let him do his business as I have no clue what I'm doing. He checks between the two slots in the kiosk (kinda like a post office mail-box) and drops a slip of paper (check I assume) into one. He leaves and I look closer, one slot is for corporate accounts, the other customers. The sign says write your account, name and contact number and make your deposit. The back of the check was fill in the blank, so I had it written out already. BAM! Two checks into the box. Hmmm....should I maybe have taken a copy of them? That was quite a bit of money I just dropped into a box that I'm not 100% sure where it goes. Hmmm...too late now, let's get lunch.

I haven't figured out how to log-in online or memorized my ATM pin (6 or 8 digits instead of 4). I will surely let you know if my money does not appear in my account. Cross your fingers!!