The BOC Elite Miles Mastercard has been the best general spending card for miles in Singapore, with an earn rate of 1.5 mpd for local spend and 3 mpd for overseas spend. However, with effect from 15 Jun 2020, BOC has decided to amend the conversion rate of BOC Points to miles, which will effectively lower the earn rate to 1 mpd for local spend and 2 mpd for overseas spend.
This represents a 33% decrease in the miles earn rate for the BOC Elite Miles Mastercard.
Essentially, the current conversion rate from BOC Points to KrisFlyer miles is 30000 to 10000, but this will be amended to 45000 to 10000 from 15 Jun 2020. What this actually means is that if you do not cash out your BOC Points before the new conversion rate takes effect, all your previously earned points would be devalued according to the new effective earn rates.
The kinder move would have been to simply amend the miles earn rate on the card spend, while leaving the conversion rate from BOC Points to miles intact. In this case, all your previously earned BOC Points would retain its previous value when you eventually convert them to miles. However, what BOC has chosen to do is to simultaneously devalue the earn rate of all spend before and after the new T&Cs come into effect.
Also note that the new T&Cs include additional transactions that will be excluded from the earning of BOC Points. Note that CardUp falls under one of these categories, so you might have to edit your scheduled payments on CardUp to replace your BOC Elite Miles Mastercard with another card for payments from 15 Jun 2020.
The upcoming devaluation means that the BOC Elite Miles Mastercard will no longer be the best general spending card for miles. In place of this card, you can use your Standard Chartered Visa Infinite card which earns you 1.4 mpd and 3 mpd for local and overseas spend respectively (subject to a minimum spend of S$2000 per statement period), or your UOB PRVI Miles card, which earns you 1.4 mpd and 2.4 mpd for local and overseas spend respectively.