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.
62 Comments
Hi Salary.sg
is this benefit applicable only to Singaporean? how about PR?
Thanks.
The child has to be a Singapore citizen.
See:
link
my babe is born on 14 dec 2007,when will the payment be?
“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
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?
@lilyang, I don’t think you can withdraw in cash. Check out http://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It says “The funds cannot be withdrawn in cash.”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.
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
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.
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
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 http://www.babybonus.gov.sg the baby’s mother has to be lawfully married to the father. wish you the best.
Hi,
My child turns 7 in August 2009.I received a letter in December 2008 to either withdraw or transfer the CDA $ to the child’s education account.I opted to withdraw, and the $ was transferred to my POSB account in February 2009.
For children born from 2001-2007, the trustees will receive an option at their official address (as maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs) in November in the year the child turns 6 years of age to choose to transfer the CDA balance into the PSEA or to withdraw the amount in cash.
Source: https://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/faq.html
hi there….
i am entittled for the cash withdrawal and i have select it to withdraw the cash. but other than the letter off notification, i did not receive any letter saying when or how are they going to give me the cash. is there anyway for me to check online cause i cant find any link on MCYS website regarding this.
hi,
i would like to check the listing for education and medical-related expenses for my child. i cant open the link given. where else can i check?
try this link:
http://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/jsp/inst/InstInternetMaint.jsp
tick the “Kindergarten” checkbox and click the Search button.
hi,i just opened a CDA acc for my son who was born year may 2010.all this while i received the baby bonus cash gift,thru my acc…n nxt mnth,my baby is going to receive the 12mnths baby bonus..is it true,that once i open the CDA acc,they will deposit the baby bonus into my CDA acc? or they eill deposit it to my initial acc?
pls..any advise?
Hi sasha, cash gift will still be credited into your personal account as per application form. The CDA account is for you to top up on your own to a maximum cap amount according to your child birth order, and govt will do the corresponding matching in the month that follows.
Hope this helps. =D
I think it’s better to pump the cash gift to CDA.
Xtra 4k for govt to match. So just use Nets for payment in any approved instituitions. Settled 🙂
Hi, I nd sm advise. My sis wantd a loan of $9K frm me to top up on her 6yr old son’s CDA ac to enjoy d govt’s dollar to dollar then withraw everythg. Q is, do u tink she is able to get all $18K by Feb. Im worried cos I cant get any info on this. Worried she wont b able 2 withraw everythg. I really want to help her cos d xtra $9K is definately gg to help her big family.
You can’t withdraw from CDA. The money can only be used for educational purposes.
“4.             Unused savings in the CDA will be transferred to the PSE Account once a child enters primary school. Further, parents can continue to contribute to the PSE Account until the child is 18. The Government will match the amount of savings the parents contribute. This will give parents more time to contribute and therefore benefit fully from Government co-savings in their child’s account, beyond the child’s first 6 years.”
http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2005/pr20050822_print.htm
It abit confusing when some of the reply stated that we are able to withdraw the full amount when the child reach 7 years old and some reply stated we are NOT ABLE TO withdraw the funds as it will onlyto be used for the child education. So can you help me to clear my confusing about this matter? Btw i have 7 children are they entilted for the govement one to one contribution?
Pls be refer to below, maybe it can be useful for you.
Unused Savings in the Child Development Account (CDA)
1.
What happens to unused savings in the CDA?
The usused balance in your child’s CDA will be transferred to his or her Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA) in the year your child turns 7 years of age. You may continue to contribute to the PSEA until your child turns 18 years of age and receive the Government’s matching contributions subject to the combined CDA/PSEA matching contribution cap of up to $6,000 each for the first and second child, $12,000 each for the third and fourth child and $18,000 each for the fifth and subsequent child. The funds in the PSEA can be used to pay fees for post-secondary education in Singapore for your child and his or her siblings. The PSEA is under the purview of the Ministry of Education (MOE). More information on the PSEA can be found at MOE’s website at: http://www.moe.gov.sg.
For children born from 2001-2007, the trustees will receive an option at their official address (as maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs) in November in the year the child turns 6 years of age to choose to transfer the CDA balance into the PSEA or to withdraw the amount in cash.
I already opened CDA account for my son who was born on july 2007 . He is my first son and he became singapore citizen on feb 2010.So can he eligible to get dollar for dollar match?
yes, i think so. easiest way is to deposit a few hundred dollars into your CDA and see if the government tops up your account after 1 month.
Hi, i opt to withdraw cash out of my child cda when he reach 7. Heard mcys will credit the cash by 3rd week january, is it true?
Hi juli, yes for those who opt to withdraw will received by 3rd week of Jan and infact its already been credited to my acct this morning 🙂 Have check n confirm. *wink*
Hi Naylimd… did u check that u only receive the balances in the CDA account in the bank but not the matching Govt contribution. According to MCYS they will credit the matching Govt contribution later. Will get our deposit in the CDA account and ultimately MCYS will credit the matching Govt contribution by end of Jan 2012 or early Feb 2012.
Further to my reply above. This only applies if you have top up the balance by the due date of 29 Dec 2011. Then the credit by third week of Jan 2012 is excluding the Govt matching contribution (for the mth of Dec 2011) otherwise if you have top up way earlier …. u will get all the balances + govt contribution 🙂
I,M SITI I HEARD TAHT MY DAUGTER BALANCE 3000 HOW DO I WITDRAW 3000 TO MY ACCONUT . I CHEK THAT MY BANK 400 BUT THE 3000 HOW .TO TEKE THAT IS THE BALANCE.
I have an ex-colleague who’s son turned 7 last year, so in Nov/Dec 2010, she deposited $6k to her son’s CDA account to enjoy the govt’s dollar to dollar matching contribution. Then sometime in end Jan or early Feb 2011, she told me that $12k has already been deposited in her POSB savings account. So i guess its true.
But how can we choose that option instead of the money being transferred to our child’s Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA)?? Will there be any notification letter (from MCYS or Bank) send to us?? Who should we call to get more info? The MCYS or the bank? The MCYS website doesn’t seem to state that. My ex-colleague told me not everyone knows about this option….
i am a spore citizen but my child only optain citizenship when he is 4 years old.Will he be entitled to the baby bonus?
it says “The amount of cash gift and/or matching Government contribution may be pro-rated according to the date of the child’s citizenship if the child is not a citizen by birth.” But since your child is already more than 18 months old, maybe there won’t be any bonus?
Best is to call them directly and ask.
http://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/faq.html
Hi.. I am a single mother, age 27 , with a daugther age 2yrs old, i open her the cda acct, but i find it not in use or neccessary, i cant get the baby bonus benefit for my daughter, which is like the monthly payment thing….instead i have to top up my daughter cda acct myself..why must there be a differenciation between married and single mother/father…We ppl legally bore a SINGAPOREAN baby, and the baby is not at FAULT..but why government give such a rule where only legally married or such are eligible.. cant there be a way, where gvm or our salary be implementated inside?
in addition to the one-off bonus, i think there’s also a co-payment bonus, where the government will match your savings. whether you’re single or married, you still have to put in money in order to receive the matched bonus.
Hi i have withdraw & receive cash pay out for my 2004 baby. But what about my 20007 baby, can we still opt?
Hi there my son going to be 18 months this year. He born in 22 augst 2011. But now the babybonus change the law. So may i know how much do my son get?
for baby born after 2007 will not get cda cash withdrawal if closure of cda account cos 2008 government change new rule thanks
My doter born in the year 2007, which means we are eligible to withdraw the balance CDA. Can someone assist me on this… I dont understand. If we are eligible for 6k and we used only 4k…so we have to top up 2k for us to withdraw the balance 4k (after the matching). Is my understanding correct
hi there, may i ask, can a single mother (not married to father of child) open a CDA account for her child? if yes, how does she go about doing it?
it seems CDA is part of the baby bonus scheme and the latter requires the child to have parents who are legally married. this is based on what i read in the official websites, so please call the ministry directly to confirm.
hi, i just want to check, I opt to withdraw cash from my child cda when he reach 7. So once the govt matches the money, can it be used for our own purpose or is the use of the withdrawn cash going to be restricted to certain aspects?
It’s my daughter 6th year and i also opt to close and withdraw[and i just top up $12k two days ago before due date which is 25th dec c”,]],by end next mth[January2014] all the balances inc matching contribution will be deposited in my account,which means i can spent or do whatever i want with that $
Btw my daughter is my 3rd child and therefore max caps of $12k c”,]
Him Lynn, have you received the matching credited to your a/c or only received the amount you contributed into cda?
Hi Dc…yup rcvd the cda balance,the matching contributions(gov) not yet shud be anytime now coz hafta be a week later for I deposited in december if october then I,ll get in a lump sum.
hi all , my 2nd child is turning 7 next yr…she is born on feb 2008…will I get the option to withdraw the cda account?
@Yati….Dear,the final year for the,close n withdraw balance in cash is 2007 babies.Onwards is at 18thyear transfer to P.S.E.A till certain age n then unused to CPF.But u can still benefit from matching constribution to use for sch,medi n many more c”,)