As its name already suggests, it is the minimum amount of money you need to keep or maintain in your savings account for it to earn interest. Save for Optimum Savings and Junior Savers, all BDO savings accounts enable you to earn a gross interest rate of 0.0625% every year. This earning is spread out over 12 months, which means: 0.0625% / 12 = 0.0052083% per month Again, to consistently earn interest every month, you need to ensure your balance doesn’t end up less than the minimum balance to earn interest (see the fourth column of the table below). As for Optimum Savings, interest rates may vary depending on how much your money is and the BDO branch where you opened the account. Account holders can expect between 0.50% to 1.25% gross interest rate per annum. Keep in mind, however, that interests earned from the BDO savings account are taxable. A 20% withholding tax is imposed on every interest you earn monthly. Therefore, if you make Php 100 in interest this month, Php 20 (20%) will be deducted from it as withholding tax, trimming down your earnings to only Php 80 per month.