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During the Tet Lunar New Year, cash flows typically intensify as households and businesses move funds between year-end bonuses, peak-season revenue, and money awaiting investment. The “Tet dilemma” is that holding cash for spending provides no interest, while placing savings into interest-bearing deposits can reduce flexibility when withdrawals are needed.
Ms. Hạnh Minh, who lives in Nhiêu Lộc ward, Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the days before Tet, her checking account often sees tens of millions of dong moving in and out from customers and partners. Although her account balance is frequently in the hundreds of millions of dong, she earns only non-term deposit interest of 0.1% per year.
“Depositing for a 1-month term yields much higher interest, but is less flexible; when you need to withdraw, you’ll earn non-term interest,” Ms. Minh said.
To address this demand, many banks have introduced automatic yield products designed to attract idle cash from non-term balances in checking accounts (CASA). These products aim to help customers earn higher returns without locking funds into fixed terms.
At Techcombank, the Automatic Yield product applies to all non-term balances, offering yields of up to 5.5% per year. Techcombank said it does not require “spending thresholds” or “yield thresholds” for funds in the account, and instead automates arrangements for different customer groups, such as office workers or small-business owners.
Tran Thanh Hoài, Senior Advisor to Personal Customers at Techcombank, said: “Users today need flexible solutions. They want to travel, shop, and give small-amount gifts anytime, but money not yet used—even if just for a few hours or overnight—should still generate value. Techcombank’s Automatic Yield product meets this need.”
During Tet, customers can activate the Automatic Yield product across banks or deposit savings to access higher interest rates.
VPBank offers the Super Sinh lời Premier product on the VPBank NEO app, aimed at optimizing idle cash flow. With a single registration, customers can earn superior yields of up to 4.5% per year, compared with keeping money in a standard checking account.
Customers can activate and manage Super Sinh lời Premier directly on the VPBank NEO app, and can deposit and withdraw at any time without fixed-term constraints. The bank said the product is therefore suited to Tet, when spending needs rise but customers still want to optimize returns on idle cash.
Economists cited in the article said automatic yield products help customers maximize the financial value of idle cash as consumers look for flexible investment options. The deposit rate environment has also become more competitive, with banks increasing rates to attract idle money.
Promotions offering extra interest for savers are being rolled out. SeABank, for example, is running Tet 2026 promotions for individual customers from now until April 8 across a range of products and services, including at-counter and online savings, new accounts, credit-card spending, and loan disbursement. For each qualifying transaction, customers receive a lucky-code entry to a prize draw. The promotion states that customers can receive multiple codes and may win prizes including savings accounts worth 100 million VND, a fridge, a dishwasher, an iPhone 17, and an Apple Watch. Total prize value is 1.2 billion VND.
OCB has a program to add up to 1.1 percentage points of interest for online savings during Tet. The Cake by VPBank digital bank offers 0.9 percentage points for first-time online savings of at least 100,000 VND with a six-month term, with the highest six-month rate reaching 7.3% per year.
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