It’s been almost a year since the Standard Chartered X Card was launched. The very first sign up promotion was so popular that the bonus miles awarded had to be trimmed down progressively as more flocked to apply for the card.
The biggest question on current cardholders’ minds is whether Standard Chartered will continue to award miles for the payment of the annual fee from the second year onwards.
Till now, there has been no confirmation of this, with the exception of a two-part promotion that awards bonus miles for new and current Standard Chartered X cardmembers, subject to minimum spending requirements. Note that this is different from the award of miles simply by way of settling the annual fee, where no minimum spend is actually required.
Upfront Gift
The first part of the promotion is really targetted at new Standard Chartered X cardholders. By simply signing up and paying the annual fee, you’ll get up to 35,000 miles. Note that if you are currently holding onto a Standard Chartered credit card as a principal cardholder, or had cancelled any within the last 12 months, you can only get 30,000 miles for signing up for the X Card.
Spend and Receive Bonus Miles
Now for the second part, where both new and existing Standard Chartered X cardholders can enjoy bonus miles, subject to some spending requirements. Basically, cardholders must spend at least S$20,000 from now until the end of 2020, over the five spend periods specified below, in order to earn up to an additional 50,000 bonus miles.
While the S$20,000 requirement is a cumulative one, note that you must spend at least S$4,000 within each spend period to qualify for the bonus miles at the end. Also bear in mind that the additional 50,000 bonus miles can only be awarded if all eligible transactions are made in foreign currency. Otherwise you’ll only be earning an additional 34,000 bonus miles.
Taking all the above into consideration, the maximum number of miles you could possibly receive is 85,000 miles, provided you are a new-to-bank customer applying for the X Card, and successfully meet all the spend requirements for all spend periods throughout the promotion period. The upfront gift of up to 35,000 miles will be credited by 30 Nov 2020, while the additional bonus miles from each spend period will be credited according to the schedule above.
Pay close attention to transactions that are eligible for this promotion in the T&Cs here.
The bottom line is that those currently holding onto the X Card are still awaiting news of whether miles will be awarded simply by settling the annual fee from the second year onwards. The annual fee of close to S$700 with no renewal bonus miles could deter cardholders from holding onto a credit card that only has an average miles earn rate, while offering just two complimentary Priority Pass visits per year! Only time will tell if Standard Chartered will move to reward its cardholders for keeping the X Card for another year.