Get 8 mpd with your OCBC Titanium Rewards card on up to S$500 spend at six merchants between now and 30th November
OCBC is currently running a new promotion for the upcoming 10.10 shopping festival, offering Titanium Rewards cardholders to earn 20X OCBC$ (or 8 KrisFlyer miles) for every dollar spent.
This bonus earn rate is capped at an additional 5,000 OCBC$ (or 2,000 miles). The bonus miles only apply if you spend with six local merchants until the end of November 2020, but you’ll have to act quick since it’s capped at the first 5,000 to register.
First, you must register for the promotion here. You will need your credit card number as well as the registered mobile phone number.
Once successfully registered, you will 8 miles per dollar spent at the following six merchants from now until 30 Nov 2020:
Amazon
Apple
Lazada
Qoo10
Shopee
Taobao
The fine terms
Note that if you hold both the blue and the pink versions of the card, you will only be entitled to a maximum of 5,000 bonus OCBC$ combined, even if you register both cards.
Also, given that OCBC has moved to a $5 earning block since June 2020, the bonus miles awarded will be based on what you earned on the base transaction.
For instance, if you spend $8 on Shopee, this is how many OCBC$ you will earn:
This is a 1.2 additional mpd on top of its usual 1.3mpd
OCBC VOYAGE cardholders finally have something to shout about: the bank will offer 2.5 miles per dollar spent on dining spending in August 2020, capped at S$1,000.
This enhanced earn rate applies to all versions of the VOYAGE card and the enhanced rate of 2.5mpd holds same, regardless of what’s your base earn rate (either 1.3 or 1.6 mpd).
These versions of VOYAGE card will also earn 2.5 mpd on dining in Aug 2020
Registration for this promotion is not required and all cardholders are automatically included in the promotion.
For any reason you are dining overseas (perhaps you are just based in UK and decides to use your Singapore credit card anyway), you will still earn only 2.5 mpd on dining spend.
Bonus miles will be awarded by October
According to OCBC’s terms and conditions, the bonus miles will be awarded two months after the end of the promotional period, i.e. by 31 Oct.
Note that OCBC has moved to a S$5 block for the award of miles, so that means that you will earn a total of 25 miles per S$5 spent effectively.
What qualifies as dining spend?
Based on the terms and conditions, dining spend refer to any of the following MCCs:
Dining transactions are defined as those with the following MCCs, whether online or offline:
MCC 5811: Caterers
MCC 5812: Eating Places, Restaurants
MCC 5814: Fast Food Restaurants
Note that there are some eating places such as food kiosks, cafes (including coffee places such as Starbucks), restaurants in hotels that may not fall under the above categories, so you ought to be careful if you frequently spend in those places.
Final thoughts
Given that travel credit cards are pretty much useless while Covid-19 effectively grounds all travel, it’s good to see banks offering bonus earn rates on other categories.
OCBC has earned killed its 1.6 mpd earn rate on dining, so this promotion is definitely very welcomed, even if it’s only for a month and with a spending cap. That said, S$1,000 is still a fair amount to get through, so be sure to charge your OCBC VOYAGE cards for your meals.
Even after you run out the cap, there are plenty of other cards that you can still use to clock up at least 4 mpd, such as the UOB Lady’s Card, UOB Preferred Platinum and more.
Right after OCBC made changes to the 90°N card, the bank also revised the OCBC Titanium Rewards card to give out points in blocks of S$5 spend from 1 Jun 2020.
On top of the earning change, OCBC will also be add more exclusion categories to what will earn you bonus points with the Titanium Rewards card.
Earning OCBC$ based on $5 blocks of spending
Currently, cardmembers earn a flat 10 OCBC$, or 4 miles, per dollar spent on the Titanium Rewards card when spending on eligible categories (i.e. sclothes, accessories, shoes, bags, electronics and gadgets and babies’ and children’s wear).
From 1 Jun, this will have a technical change: OCBC will award 50 OCBC$, or 20 miles, per S$5 spent, rounded down to the nearest S$5.
Why this makes a difference
Why this change is material to the Titanium Rewards card is because unlike the 90°N card, this card is a specialised spending card (i.e. the bonus applies for spending in specific categories). The difference lies in the way OCBC$ is awarded previously and from 1 Jun.
At present, 1 OCBC$ (or 0.4 mile) is awarded when the transaction is posted, while the remaining 9 OCBC$ (or 3.6 miles) will be awarded a month later. From experience, the bonus 9 OCBC$ is calculated based on an aggregate spend from the preceeding month, and awarded based on the total spend.
From 1 Jun 2020, OCBC will award the OCBC$ in two parts too: the first 5 OCBC$ will be given per S$5 spent when the transaction is posted, and the remaining 45 OCBC$ for the same transaction will be awarded a month later.
As an example, in a given month, you make the following spend:
Shopee: $124.30
Ikea: $264.90
Challenger: $47.20
Qoo10: $2.60
This is how your OCBC$ earnings will look like, before and after 1 Jun:
Before 1 Jun
After 1 Jun
Spending
1X
9X
1X
9X
Shopee – $124.30
124
Based on total spend of S$439: 3951
120
1080
Ikea – $264.90
264
260
2340
Challenger – $47.20
47
45
405
Qoo10 – $2.60
2
0
0
Total OCBC$
4388 (1755 miles)
4250 (1700 miles)
For a total spend of S$439, you may argue that 55 miles is not a big sum (~3%), but when you scale it up to a S$20,000 annual spending, this grows to about 2,400 miles difference per year.
Slightly higher spending cap per year
With the tweak in the terms and conditions, it turns out that there’s slightly higher cap in the annual limit of bonus OCBC$ that can be earned.
Previously, Titanium Rewards card had an annual cap of 120,000 OCBC$ (or 48,000 miles) for eligible spending, which include both the 1X and the 9X components. This annual cap is calculated based on your card anniversary (e.g. if you got your card in January, your card annual period is from Jan to Dec). To earn the max of 120,000 OCBC$, you will need to spend at least S$12,000 in the year.
From 1 Jun, only the 9X bonus OCBC$ will count towards this annual cap of 120,000 OCBC$, so that lifts your annual spending to S$13,335. The base OCBC$ (or the 1X) is counted as a base rate, so will not go into this cap.
This cap is on a per account basis, and one person can hold both the pink and blue versions of the card, effectively doubling the cap. Note that any supplementary cards will count towards the main cardholder’s limit.
New exclusion categories
Similar to the 90°N card, OCBC has added new exclusion categories for the earning of OCBC$. Note that transactions under these categories will not even earn you the base rate of 1 OCBC$.
Cleaning, Maintenance and Janitorial Services (MCC: 7349)
Tolls and Bridge Fees (MCC: 4784)
Cigars Stores and Stands (MCC: 5993)
Automobile Associations (MCC: 8675)
Labor Union (MCC: 8699)
Transactions to Singapore Government Public Hospitals including Non-Profit Hospitals, Community Hospitals and Polyclinics under the MCC 8062
Note that transactions under transportation categories are missing from this list (unlike the 90°N card), but this doesn’t mean you should use the card for transportation or Grab top-ups.
Final thoughts
It seems like OCBC has followed the lead of UOB in implementing S$5 earning blocks. While at first glance this means a little bit of cost savings (read: give out less miles) for OCBC, I’m personally not sure if the trade-off is worth it.
Having said that, there is a silver lining: you have a slightly higher cap, or about 10% headroom on top of the usual $12,000 annual spend limit. The OCBC Titanium Rewards is an extremely useful card to hold for online spending on frivolous shopping (not sure about you but I’ve spent about S$1,000 during this Circuit Breaker).
Unlike some other cards such as the UOB Platinum Preferred Visa, the OCBC Titanium Rewards card’s 10X cap is based on membership year, making it very useful for large ticket items such as electronics.
Travel$ to be awarded in blocks of S$5 spend from 1 Jun
OCBC has made some tweaks to their 90°N card, to be effected from 1 Jun. These changes are not major, but may affect the way you spend if you are still using that as your default card.
Travel$ to be awarded in blocks of S$5 spend
From 1 Jun, OCBC will award Travel$ in blocks of S$5 spend, meaning:
For local spend, every S$5 spend will earn you 6 Travel$, equivalent to 6 miles (i.e. 1.2 mpd)
For foreign spend, every S$5 equivalent spend will earn you 10.5 Travel$, equivalent to 10.5 miles (i.e. 2.1 mpd)
AXS Pay+Earn will earn you 5 Travel$ for every S$5 spend (i.e. 1 mpd)
Previously, OCBC award Travel$ based on dollar spend, rounded down to the nearest dollar.
So this means that there will be slight changes to the number of Travel$ you earn after 1 Jun:
Transaction amount
Local/Overseas spend
Travel$ earned before 1 Jun
Travel$ earned on or after 1 Jun
$4.99
Local
4.8
0
$9.50
Local
10.8
6
$26.40
Local
31.2
30
$3.80
Overseas
6.3
0
$19.48
Overseas
39.9
31.5
$200.00
Overseas
420
420
So as you can see, by and large, you are going to get a bit less Travel$ after 1 Jun, and all the little bit adds up. If your spend is mostly under S$5, this makes it even more obvious, as any transactions under S$5 will effectively get nothing from 1 Jun.
More excluded transactions
OCBC has also added in even more exclusions in the earning of Travel$. These new categories will be excluded from 1 Jun, on top of existing ones:
Cleaning, Maintenance and Janitorial Services (MCC: 7349)
Tolls and Bridge Fees (MCC: 4784)
Cigars Stores and Stands (MCC: 5993)
Automobile Associations (MCC: 8675)
Labor Union (MCC: 8699)
Transactions under Transportation and Tolls (MCC: 4111, 4121, 4131), except for Grab Transport, Gojek and Comfort/Citycab transactions
Transactions to Singapore Government Public Hospitals including Non-Profit Hospitals, Community Hospitals and Polyclinics under the MCC 8062
This is consistent with many other card issuers, which have been excluding transactions from MCCs that typically pay very low fees.
Final thoughts
I’ve long set aside this card since the launch promotional earn rates ended on 29 Feb earlier this year, and these changes will just make me bury this card even further down the pile.
Even before these changes are announced, with its regular miles earning rate, you are better off using some other cards, including the UOB PRVI card and BOC Elite Miles cards (although the customer service is rather dire, but hey it’s a trade-off).
The upside for this card remains to be the free conversion of miles to Krisflyer programme and non-expiry of Travel$, but beyond these, there really isn’t much point using this as your default card whenever there is no promotion.
Earn up to 8mpd for hotel bookings and 4mpd for flight bookings
OCBC is the latest to jump on the miles card launches, unveiling yet another miles earning card for the Singapore market.
A glance at the headline earning figures will sound pretty attractive: up to 8mpd for hotel bookings, and 4mpd for flight bookings.
So what are the key perks of the card?
An overview of the card:
Income requirement: S$30,000 p.a. for Singapore citizens and PRs, S$45,000 for foreigners
Annual fee: S$192.60 for principal cardmembers, waived for the first year; S$96.30 for supplementary cards, waived for the first year
Annual fee gift: 10,000 miles (in the form of 10,000 Travel$)
Earn rates: 1.2 mile per dollar spent (mpd) locally; 2.1 mpd overseas; see promotions below for special launch promotion earn rates
Foreign currency transaction fee: 3.0%
Most importantly, miles don’t expire.
OCBC 90°N Card key perks
The base earn rates are pretty average: BOC Elite Miles give you 1.5mpd for local spend, and 3mpd for overseas spend. Plus, there are an assortment of other cards that give you up to 4mpd for specialised spending, so 1.2mpd is nothing to write home about.
So why do you want to use this card? There are no conversion fees for converting your Travel$ (the card rewards currency) to Krisflyer miles. What’s even better is that you can transfer in blocks of 1,000 miles, which means you don’t have to chalk up a great deal of spend before redeeming them.
Another minor but pretty significant point is the definition of ‘overseas spend’. For this card, OCBC has decided that all foreign currency spend, regardless of where it’s processed, are counted as foreign spend earning a rate of 2.1mpd, so that will make calculating miles earned much easier.
Launch promotions
OCBC has unveiled several launch promotions in conjunction with the card:
1. Sign up bonus of $50 and 7,000 Travel$ for new-to-OCBC customers
If you have not held any OCBC cards in the last six months, you will receive $50 credit when your card is approved, and 7,000 Travel$ (equivalent to 7,000 miles) if you spend at least $5,000 in the first three months of your card approval.
Sign up bonuses for both new and existing customers
If you are an existing OCBC cardholder, your only bonus will be 3,000 Travel$ if you spend at least $5,000 on the card within the first three months.
2. Earn 4 mpd on select airlines including SQ; 8 mpd on Airbnb and some OTAs
From now until 29 February 2020, cardmembers will earn 4mpd and 8mpd respectively for select flight and OTAs bookings.
Earn accelerated miles on special categories
Eligible airlines and hotel booking sites include:
Airlines:
Singapore Airlines Group (including SIA, Scoot, SilkAir)
For accommodation, the fee must be prepaid, so if you select to pay at the hotel, you will not earn the bonus miles. Note that for Agoda, your hotel booking needs to be made between 26 Aug 2019 and 29 Feb 2020, for stays between 26 Aug 2019 and 30 Sep 2020.
Expedia is a little more complicated as you will earn 8mpd for both hotels and eligible airline flight bookings. The full list of participating airlines can be found here.
On top of the above, you will also get 4mpd for duty-free shopping at DFS and Shilla Duty Free, as well as Netflix and Spotify.
3. Overseas spend will earn a flat 4mpd until 29 Feb 2020
To provide a boost for the newly launch card, OCBC will be offering a bonus 1.9mpd on top of the existing 2.1mpd for all overseas spend until 29 February 2020.
Unlike other banks that will post the extra miles or points after the promotion period, OCBC will post all Travel$ as soon as the transactions are posted, so you will be able to tally your miles rather easily.
So what’s lacking from the card?
Of course, this card is not without its cons. For a start, it’s fairly strange for a travel card to not accord any lounge privileges at all, however token.
Beyond that, there isn’t very much else that the card offer in terms of perks, which may be a good thing for some cardholders who prefer a no-frills card with lower fees.
Final thoughts
The card may not take the local miles-chasing scene by storm, but the card is as good as it says, with a fairly decent launch promotion: 4mpd on overseas and up to 8mpd on some specialised spending for a fairly long period of time.
Also, the sign-up bonus may not be as great as the Standard Chartered X Card, but I’m pretty sure at least they won’t have to suspend card applications.
After the initial promotion phase, the key plus side of the card will probably be the smaller blocks required for conversion of miles to your FFP, as well as the lack of a conversion fee – these alone are good reasons to have this card handy in your wallet.
