The Bank of China recently rolled out their latest card – the BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard. In addition, the launch was accompanied with a promotion, allowing you to earn 5 mpd on all overseas spend, and 2 mpd for all local spend, but only until 31 Dec 2018. After the end of this promotion, the earn rates will revert to 3 mpd and 1.5 mpd for overseas and local spend respectively.
With the Citibank/Apple Pay promotion ending at the end of July, and the OCBC Titanium Rewards mobile payment promotion ending on 4 Aug 2018, most miles enthusiasts will have to fall back on other cards, such as the UOB PPV for contactless payments in order to earn at least 4 mpd on spending. Of course, as mentioned before, having a specialised spending strategy will definitely earn you more miles than if you choose to adopt a general spending one, but in cases where you’ll have to settle for the latter, this card can serve you well.
It is a no brainer that this card trumps all other general spend cards during the promotion period. Even after that, the card will be great for local spend. At 1.5 mpd, this beats the UOB PRVI Miles card that only gives 1.4 mpd. For overseas spend, at 3 mpd, this is on par with the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite card that also gives you 3 mpd, but with a minimum spend of S$2000 per statement cycle.
So should you get this card? It’s a definite yes! You’ll enjoy a first year fee waiver, and you can transfer your miles to your Krisflyer account in blocks of 10000 miles for a fee of S$30 (plus GST). Do note, however, that the miles in your BOC account will expire within 12-24 months, so you have to monitor your miles balance closely.
For me, my other cards are able to offer the travel privileges satisfactorily, so those that come with the BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard don’t really entice me. But with the (potentially) best general miles spend card in your wallet, you can’t really go wrong there.