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Tag: UOB

  • No more 10X on PayWave payments using UOB Preferred Platinum Visa physical card

    No more 10X on PayWave payments using UOB Preferred Platinum Visa physical card

    UOB has made a small change to their terms and conditions for the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card.

    From 2 May, only mobile contactless payments and selected online transactions will earn 10x UNI$ (or 4 mpd).

    Mobile payment includes Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay and UOB Mighty. The cap of S$1,000 per calendar month remains to earn the elevated number of UNI$, after which the earn rate reverts to the usual 0.4 mpd.

    What this means is that using the physical credit card on the PayWave terminals will only earn you a measly 0.4 mpd, so you are better off loading that card on your mobile phone and leaving the card at home.

    Note that this does not include transactions made by Samsung’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology. NFC payments using Samsung Pay are somewhat in the grey zone, so your mileage may vary.

    Also, public transport payments via SimplyGo are excluded, so you will earn 0.4 mpd for those.

    Current practice

    Currently, cardholders will earn 10 UNI$ (or 4 mpd) for all contactless payments, as well as selected online transactions, up to a cap of S$1,000 per calendar month.

    UOB Preferred Platinum Visa terms and conditions dated 14 Feb 2020

    The ‘selected online transactions’ include online shopping, online food and grocery delivery, as well as entertainment purchases under the following MCCs:

    Final thoughts

    This is a truly hard push towards digital credit cards, challenging old habits of carrying physical cards around. Alas, while mobile payments are practically everywhere, there are still some merchants who insist on sighting or waving the physical card (e.g. petrol kiosks).

    For those of you who still have this habit of bringing your card around, perhaps this is a good chance to migrate to mobile pay and just lock that card up for good.

  • UOB extends SimplyGo 4.4 mpd promo for PRVI Miles

    UOB extends SimplyGo 4.4 mpd promo for PRVI Miles

    Continue to earn 4.4 miles per dollar spent on your daily commute, up to $80 per month

    UOB has been running a 4.4 mpd promotion for SimplyGo mobile transactions charged to the UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard or Visa since October 2019.

    The offer has been extended once before, to end on 29 Feb 2020. But once again the offer has been extended another time, this time to 30 Jun 2020.

    Note that registration for this promotion is required. If you have registered for the promo previously, you do not need to re-register.

    How to register?
    SMS ‘PRVI’ and last 4 alphanumeric digits of your NRIC or Passport Number (e.g. PRVI 789A) to 77862

    The promo

    Earn 4.4 miles per dollar spent on SimplyGo transactions charged to your UOB PRVI Miles card.

    Note that only the transactions made on your mobile wallet (e.g. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay) will count towards this offer, the spending using your physical card will not earn you this reward.

    The 4.4 mpd is broken down as follows:

    • UNI$3.5 per S$5 spent on locally (i.e. 1.4 mpd)
    • UNI$7.5 per S$5 spent on eligible transit transactions (i.e. 3 mpd)

    Note that there’s a cap of $80 per month for this offer per account. If you have a supplementary card, the cap is shared with the principal cardholder. And if you are holding both the Visa and Mastercard versions, both cards will also count towards a single combined cap of $80.

    Bonus UNI$ earned between 1 Mar 30 and 30 Jun 20 will only be credited by 30 Sep 2020.

    If you have been one of the first adopters for this promo, the bonus UNI$ earned from between 1 Oct 2019 and 31 Dec 2019 will be credited by 31 Mar 2020. Bonuses from 1 Jan 2020 and 29 Feb 2020 will be credited by 31 May 2020.

    The full set of terms and conditions can be found here.

    How UOB calculates bonus UNI$ for this offer

    Most UOB cardholders will know by now that UNI$ Are only awarded on blocks of $5 spend, so how does UOB award bonus UNI$ in this case? The answer lies in the fine print.

    For Visa cards, UNI$ are earned based on the accumulated spend on SimplyGo transactions per calendar month, and awarded on the 7th calendar day of the following month.

    For Mastercard, accumulated fares are posted to the credit card account every 5 days or 21 transactions or S$15, whichever comes first.

    Final thoughts

    After all the good things running out since last month (e.g. GrabRewards devaluation, end of OCBC 90N bonus miles, and more), it’s pretty heartening to hear offers like this hanging around a little longer.

    Although it’s going to be tough to accrue enough miles from taking public transport, but if you max out the offer each month, you are looking at at least another 960 miles for the next four months, so why not?

  • UOB runs targeted promotion for PRVI Miles cardholders – buy miles at 1.8 cents a piece

    UOB runs targeted promotion for PRVI Miles cardholders – buy miles at 1.8 cents a piece

    UOB has launched PRVI Pay for a while now, and most recently raised the processing fee to 2.1% in March 2019.

    Limited time offer: 1.8% processing fee

    Earlier this week, I received a physical mailer from UOB, offering a promotional rate of 1.8% processing fee to use the PRVI Pay facility.

    This effectively means that you are paying 1.8 cents per mile, which can translate to a $30 savings for every 10,000 miles bought. Note that the amount that you’ll like to apply for is up to your credit limit with UOB.

    To apply, you will need to fill up the physical form and mail it back the old-school way. Once approved, the money will be in the bank account that you designate, and the amount plus the processing fee will be debited from your credit card account. Note that there is no installment option, you will have to make full payment on the amount requested by your next statement.

    I’m not sure if all cardholders have received the mailer, or like they claim, a ‘select’ group of members.

    If you’ll like, you can download the scanned copy of the form I have here, or try your luck by calling UOB to ask about the promotion. Remember, promotion ends 31 July 2019.

    What is PRVI Pay?

    Launched in 2017, PRVI Pay is essentially a cash advance facility offered by UOB with a 2% fee for a one-time drawdown (which means you need to pay back at the end of your billing cycle), or a 2.2% fee if you want to break the about into a 3-month instalment. As with any other unsecured loan, you do not actually need to show that you actually need the money and it is credited into your bank account directly.

    The cash advance also earns you an effective rate of 1 mile per dollar drawn through PRVI Pay, awarded in blocks of 2.5 UNI$ per $5 drawn. This means you are effectively buying miles at 2 cents per mile, or 2.2 cents per mile if you opted for the 3-month instalment version (PSA: you should not be taking out instalments from your credit cards anyway).

  • A look at the UOB Krisflyer Credit Card – is it any good?

    A look at the UOB Krisflyer Credit Card – is it any good?

    After launching the UOB Krisflyer account with some flak and tweaks down the road, UOB has most recently launched yet another co-brand card: the UOB Krisflyer credit card.

    Now, UOB is only the second financial institution to launch a Krisflyer-branded card, after American Express.

    The short list

    • Income requirement: S$30,000 p.a. for Singaporeans, S$40,000 p.a. for foreigners.
    • Annual fee: S$192.60, waived for first year
    • Renewal gift: 10,000 miles when annual fee is paid

    Sign up bonus

    The sign-up bonus is essentially in two tiers, one for all customers who apply for the card, and one for new-to-UOB customers.

    For all applicants, if your card application is approved by 30 June 2019, you will receive 5,000 bonus Krisflyer miles if you spend at least $5 within the first 60 days of getting your card.

    For this bonus, you will first receive 3,000 miles in your Krisflyer account within the next month after the first spend, while the remaining 2,000 miles will be posted by 31 October 2019.

    If you are new to UOB (i.e. this is your first UOB credit card), you will get an additional 7,000 Krisflyer miles, or a return ticket to Bangkok, Lombok or Penang if you spend at least S$2,000 in the first 60 days of getting your card. This is on top of the 5,000 miles for all. Note that you will need to register for this promotion via SMS.

    The earn rates

    UOB has advertised the following earn rates:

    • 3 Krisflyer miles per dollar spent (mpd) on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot and KrisShop purchases
    • Up to 3 mpd on everyday spend, with a minimum of S$500 annual spend on Singapore Airlines Group purchases
    • 1.2 mpd on all other general spending

    Well, UOB also mentions that if you have a KrisFlyer UOB account, you can earn up to 5 mpd, or 6 mpd if you credit your salary. I’m not going to go into the details, but Milelion has a very good explanation on why this is crappy.

    Other perks

    Of course, given that this is a co-brand card, there are no transfer fees involved to convert your UOB points to Krisflyer miles.

    You will receive KrisFlyer Elite Silver status when you spend a minimum of S$5,000 on Singapore Airlines Group.

    There’s also the twice-a-year $15 credit that you can use for Grab rides, as well as a twice-a-year $15 credit for wifi routers you rent from Changi Recommends.

    Scoot privileges

    If you book Scoot tickets through the dedicated link, you and your travelling party will receive the following perks:

    • Priority check-in and boarding with Scoot
    • Additional 5kg check-in baggage allowance, if you have purchased any check-in bags
    • Standard seat selection for you only
    • S$10 booking fee waiver for you only
    • One-time change waiver

    This may be a good deal if you travel frequently on Scoot, either for leisure or (sadly) for work.

    The fine print

    Now for the headline that appears on about every other article published so far: you will get the bonus miles only a year later. Specifically, for the 3 miles per dollar spent on everyday spend, you will first receive base 1.2 mpd in your monthly statement. The remaining 1.8 mpd will only be awarded two months after your card anniversary, if you fulfill the minimum S$500 spend on Singapore Airlines Group.

    No way to earn your bonus miles faster. In the terms and conditions, it is also explicitly stated that “Expedite of fulfillment of Award is not allowed”. If you cancel your card within the first year, tough luck — you forfeit all bonus miles.

    UOB takes a broad definition of ‘everyday spend’. Everyday spend include dining (eating places, restaurants, bars and fast food restaurants), online food delivery (GrabFood, foodpanda, honestbee), online shopping, online travel and all transport cards.

    All miles will be automatically credited at the end of each month to the nominated Krisflyer account. There is no conversion fee, yippee!

    As with all other UOB cards, miles are earn in blocks of S$5 spend. You get the same number of miles whether you spend $5.20 or $9.80. And if you spend $4.80 in a single transaction, you don’t get a single mile.

    Now the assessment

    3 mpd on everyday spend is not the highest in the market, but it definitely is an attractive alternative for those who are lazy to carry multiple cards or be scrutinous on what cards to use for which transaction types.

    UOB has also fortunately taken a very broad approach to the categories of merchants for each spending type, hence you do not need to worry about whether a particular you will get the full 3 mpd. For instance, under ‘dining’, bars and cafes are all included, on top of restaurants.

    Some of the fringe perks, including the $15 Grab credits and $15 Changi Recommends credits for wifi routers are pretty decent.

    The airline perks on the other hand is rather… lame.

    First, Krisflyer Elite Silver Fast Track: if you have to spend $5,000 to get Silver, this is really nothing to be excited about. You will get 25% bonus miles, priority waitlist and standby, and some discounted service fees. Honestly, if you are like me and end up buying the cheapest economy class fare all the time which attracts 50% of mileage flown, 25% of 50% is just an additional 12.5% miles. That’s it. And also, there’s no lounge access for silver, not even a one-use pass.

    $20 KrisShop rebate: I don’t get why you can only use this once a year.

    $10 convenience fee waiver for Scoot bookings: While this seems pretty good, but note that they only waive it for the cardholder (i.e. you) when making a group booking. Factor in the fact that Scoot charges a $20 credit card fee (as opposed to $5 fee for AXS payments), you are effectively pay for any miles you get out of using your UOB Krisflyer card.

    Final thoughts

    It seems like Singapore Airlines is reserving the best perks for itself, and instead provided its partners with a range of ‘cheap perks’ in the form of Scoot privileges and discounts.

    Also remember: in order to accrue miles on Krisflyer, you will also need to purchase the Perks Plus bundle so the costs eventually adds up.

    What disturbs me the most is the fact that you have to wait an entire year to get your bonus miles on top of the base 1.2 mpd. I know this is probably so that UOB can calculate how much you did spend on SIA Group in order to qualify for the bonus, but this is pretty easy to overcome by requiring cardholders to spend the minimum upfront to unlock the higher earn rates.

    All in all, when you look at the kind of perks they offer (i.e. mostly on Scoot) as well as some of the other perks, such as Grab vouchers in lieu of limo services, it’s very clear that this is targeted at a low- to mid-budget travellers, rather than high travel spenders.

    I think there is an opportunity for UOB to launch a premium travel card to hit a segment that it has routinely missed, and given its relationship with Singapore Airlines, this might just be its perfect opportunity.

  • UOB raises fee to 2.1% for PRVI Pay

    UOB raises fee to 2.1% for PRVI Pay

    If you are into accumulating miles through your credit card spending in Singapore, chances are you will hold the UOB PRVI MasterCard (or Visa, or it’s more affluent counterpart – Amex).

    While the earn rate is now somewhat on the average side with newer entrants such as the BOC Elite Miles card, one of the most powerful function of this card is the ability to buy miles on demand through PRVI Pay.

    What is PRVI Pay?

    Launched in 2017, PRVI Pay is essentially a cash advance facility offered by UOB with a 2% fee for a one-time drawdown (which means you need to pay back at the end of your billing cycle), or a 2.2% fee if you want to break the about into a 3-month instalment. As with any other unsecured loan, you do not actually need to show that you actually need the money and it is credited into your bank account directly.

    The cash advance also earns you an effective rate of 1 mile per dollar drawn through PRVI Pay, awarded in blocks of 2.5 UNI$ per $5 drawn. This means you are effectively buying miles at 2 cents per mile, or 2.2 cents per mile if you opted for the 3-month instalment version (PSA: you should not be taking out instalments from your credit cards anyway).

    What is changing

    From 15 March 2019, PRVI Pay will increase the admin fee to 2.1% for the one-time drawdown, and remove the instalment option altogether.

    This means that you are paying 2.1 cent per mile and the sum will have to be cleared off within the grace period of your statement. While this is a nominal increase, the amount can quickly add up: if you were planning to ‘buy’ 10,000 miles, you will need to pay $210 in fees alone. Not the best way to earn miles, if you ask me.

    This is still cheaper than buying miles outright from Singapore Airlines or Asia Miles, if you are short. For the record, you can’t actually buy miles from Singapore Airlines, you can ‘top up’ through the ‘Mix Miles & Cash’ option at a rate of roughly 5.4 cents per mile. As for Asia Miles, you are able to purchase them in blocks of 1,000 at about 4.4 cents per mile.

    So should you still use PRVI Pay?

    There are several instance where PRVI Pay is still useful. For instance, if you are very close to having enough miles for a upcoming redemption you need (like for Spontaneous Escapes), and this will come in handy without having to splurge on buying miles outright.

    Also remember, there is a one-time fee of S$25 each time you transfer UOB’s UNI$ into Asia Miles or Krisflyer, and the transfer needs to be done in blocks of 10,000 miles.

    The real good thing about PRVI Pay is the fact that it can be used to pay for anything you want, or even just to round trip the number back into your credit card balance, since UOB make the payment directly to your bank account. This in itself makes it a mile-buying mechanism more than anything else.

    Given that the rate has become even less attractive, plus the fact that there are many other credit cards and channels to earn miles at better rates (e.g. iPayMy, CardUp), you should really save this for a incredibly turbulent and rainy day.