Another sign-up gamble for UOB PRVI Miles Cards – 12,000 miles

EXPIRED This article relates to an offer or promotion which has now expired.

UOB launched a revised sign-up bonus for all three of their PRVI Miles cards today – a 12,000 miles bonus for new UOB cardmembers. It runs from today until 14th July 2019.

The problem is…

When UOB say promotion…

The bad news is typically just round the corner when UOB announce a promotion and this one is no exception.

This new sign-up bonus is subject to being among the first 2,000 cardmembers to spend at least S$4,000 on eligible transactions in the 60 days from new card approval.

That’s right – at the end of the two-month period having pushed over S$4,000 of spending through the card you may well be told that you simply didn’t qualify and therefore receive nothing. It’s effectively gambling and something other banks in Singapore do not expect you to do in our experience. UOB though are masters at this.

To complicate it further, as usual, the is bonus is split into two qualifying periods as follows:

* Based on card approval date

To add insult to injury you’ll have to wait five months to actually receive the bonus miles too (or not, as the case may be).

Eligible transactions

Of course UOB don’t allow certain categories of spending to qualify towards the S$4,000 minimum under this promotion. There is a full breakdown of those, along with enrolment instructions and full terms and conditions of this offer, which spans nine pages, available here.

What about existing cardholders?

Existing UOB PRVI Miles cardholders (i.e. those currently holding one of the PRVI Miles Visa, Mastercard or Amex), or those who have held one in the last six months are not eligible for the promotion.

If you already hold a different UOB credit card (i.e. not PRVI Miles) you can still take part but will only be entitled to a bonus of 2,000 miles – under the same principal spending and entitlement conditions.

Is it just for KrisFlyer miles?

No – in fact the bonus is credited as 6,000 ‘UNI$’, which transfers into either 12,000 KrisFlyer miles or 12,000 Asia Miles. For existing UOB credit card customers who are new to the PRVI Miles card it’s paid as 1,000 UNI$ (equivalent of 2,000 miles).

Remember there is a two-year expiry for UNI$ so be sure to transfer them to your chosen frequent flyer account before that (in KrisFlyer they’ll have a further 3-year validity window).

UOB PRVI Miles
APPLY	Sign-up Bonus:	12,000 miles
	Annual Fee:	Free in Year 1
	Cost per mile:	Zero
	Min Spend:	S$4,000 in 60 days
	Min Income:	S$30,000/yr

Summary

The UOB PRVI Miles card has its faults, but fundamentally it’s not a bad product.

It retains one of the highest miles earning rates on the market, and the ‘PRVI Pay’ facility, though not as good as it used to be, allows you to generate ‘unlimited’ miles at 2.1 cents each (see our review for details on that).

The Amex version in particular stands out to us with 20,000 bonus miles for a S$50k annual spend (one of UOB’s few ‘unconditional’ offers, it seems).

We’re not saying UOB aren’t being upfront about the deal here. They are, much more so than in the previous 10k offer where it was, shall we say, ‘better hidden’. The issue is we feel it’s a shame that they continue to roll out these unimaginative ‘gambling’ promotions, where even existing UOB customers who move across to the PRVI Miles cards might not qualify.

Frankly we think these promotions spoil the card’s allure. UOB would be perfectly happy for you to apply under the promotion in the second week of May, for example, knowing full well that it had already been exhausted.

Furthermore, if you need a nine-page terms and conditions document for such a ‘simple’ offer, you’re probably over-complicating things.

For those still interested in this card despite this repeatedly conditional sign-up bonus – we’ve updated our full review of the UOB PRVI Miles cards with all the latest details.

All we can say is… Good Luck!

(Cover Photo: UOB Group)