OCBC has just announced several changes to the way miles can be earned through some of their credit cards. These changes may make it a little harder for you to earn those miles, but you should be able to get by if you monitor your spending carefully. Of course, the assumption is that you should have other credit cards to use in place of your OCBC credit card should the earn rate become unfavourable for any particular transaction.
OCBC Titanium Rewards Card
The OCBC Titanium Rewards Card is splendid for online and offline shopping, both locally and overseas. Specifically, you’ll earn 4 mpd for such purchases, up to a cap of 48000 miles per card anniversary year. However, with effect from 1 Jun 2020, OCBC will only issue miles in blocks of S$5. This means that the earn rate will actually be 20 miles per S$5, with the effective earn rate still remaining at 4 mpd.
This means that you should pay close attention to smaller purchases, where the change in the way miles are issued will have a greater impact. For example, a S$4.99 purchase will no longer earn you any miles, while a S$9.99 purchase is effectively the same as a S$5 purchase when the issuing of miles is concerned.
To get by, you could for example use your DBS Woman’s World Mastercard for online transactions to earn you the same 4 mpd for your spending, if the rounding is going to be a big issue.
The new T&Cs can be found here.
OCBC 90N Card
This card is also not spared from the issuance of miles on a per S$5 block basis. Miles will be awarded as 6 miles per S$5 for local spend and 10.5 miles per S$5 for overseas spend from 1 Jun 2020 onwards. The effective miles earn rates, however, are unchanged at 1.2 mpd and 2.1 mpd for local and overseas spend respectively.
The new T&Cs can be found here.
OCBC Voyage Card
The OCBC Voyage Card is also using a minimum of S$5 blocks for the issuance of miles through spending with effect from 1 Jun 2020. The new T&Cs can be found here.
However, besides the use of S$5 blocks for the issuance of miles, the actual earn rates for specific spend categories will also change from 1 Jun 2020. Specifically, the earn rate for local retail will increase from 1.2 mpd to 1.3 mpd. However, the earn rate for overseas spend will decrease from 2.3 mpd to 2.2 mpd, while the earn rate for local dining will decrease from 1.6 mpd to 1.3 mpd.
Thankfully for most miles chasers out there, this card shouldn’t be at the forefront of your spending strategy, since the earn rates aren’t exactly stellar to begin with. That being said, the card is useful with its tax payment facility as well as the annual fee bonus of up to 150000 miles when you settle your annual fee of S$3210. Of course, if this annual fee is too steep, you can opt for 15000 miles for S$488 as well.
Overall, these changes with OCBC credit cards mean that you may have to put in more thought into your spending strategy, for example, with smaller amount purchases with your OCBC Titanium Rewards Card, as the issuance of miles in blocks of S$5 can be a little tricky to contend with. That being said, if you’ve got a few cards to choose from, you always have the option to replace the card with another one (e.g. DBS Woman’s World Mastercard for online purchases), while not compromising on the total miles earned on the transaction.