EXPIRED This article relates to an offer or promotion which has now expired.
OCBC has a new dining offer for its Voyage, Premier Voyage, OCBC Premier Private Client Voyage and OCBC Bank of Singapore Voyage cardholders, worth 2.5 miles per dollar spent during August 2020. The bonus rate is capped at S$1,000 spend during the promotion period.
Eligible categories
Only dining transactions made under the below Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) will qualify:
- MCC 5811: Caterers
- MCC 5812: Eating Places, Restaurants
- MCC 5814: Fast Food Restaurants
While this covers most restaurants in Singapore, be particularly careful when dining at restaurants within hotels. These usually code under a hotel MCC, not a dining one, and therefore won’t be eligible for the bonus miles under this offer.
How it works
Registration is not required for this promotion, all OCBC Voyage cards are automatically eligible, with no minimum spend.
Initially you will earn your Voyage card’s base miles for dining transactions as usual, with the difference between that level and 2.5 mpd topped up as bonus miles, which will be awarded within two months after the end of the promotion period.
That means the total 2.5 mpd will be reflected for eligible transactions by the end of October 2020.
| Card Type | Base Miles | Bonus Miles | Total Miles |
| OCBC Voyage | Local: 1.3 FCY: 2.2 |
Local: 1.2 FCY: 1.3 |
2.5 Miles |
| OCBC Premier Voyage
BOS Voyage OCBC Premier Private Client Voyage |
Local: 1.6 FCY: 2.3 |
Local: 0.9 FCY: 0.2 |
Remember the bonus rate of 2.5 mpd is capped at S$1,000 spend on dining transactions in August 2020, thereafter you’ll earn 1.3 mpd with the OCBC Voyage card locally as usual (1.6 mpd on the Premier / BOS versions).
S$5 rounding for miles earning
Don’t forget that OCBC credit cards now award miles only for S$5 spend blocks, so you may earn less than 2.5 miles per dollar, especially for smaller transactions.
For example a dining charge of S$14.99 will be rounded down to S$10 (25 miles under this promotion), equivalent to 1.67 mpd.
The rounding issue becomes much less of an impact for larger transactions, for example a $94.99 charge will be rounded down to $90 (225 miles), equivalent to 2.37 mpd.
Once your transactions exceed S$100, as they will in many cases for dining in a restaurant, the rounding issue becomes negligible.
Other cards to use for dining
The OCBC Voyage cards aren’t necessarily the best options for local dining transactions. In some circumstances the following cards will give you up to 4 miles per dollar instead.
| Card | Miles per S$1 | Notes |
 UOB Lady’s Card |
4.0 | 4 mpd if dining is specified as your quarterly bonus category, capped at S$1,000 per month. |
 UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card |
4.0 | 4 mpd if dining is specified as your quarterly bonus category, capped at S$3,000 per month. |
 HSBC Revolution(see our review) |
4.0 | 4 mpd on dining with no minimum, capped at S$1,000 per month. |
 Maybank Horizon Visa Signature(see our review) |
3.2 | 3.2 mpd on all local dining transactions with a total spend in any category of at least S$300 in the same calendar month. |
Terms and conditions
Here’s a link to the full terms and conditions applicable to the OCBC 2.5 Voyage Miles Dining Promotion:
OCBC Voyage 2.5 mpd Dining T&C
Summary
OCBC recently removed its year-round 1.6 mpd bonus rate for dining transactions on the Voyage cards, so a 2.5 mpd promotion is great to see. Despite the S$1,000 cap and one-month duration of the offer, this should be useful for many Voyage cardholders.
Remember there are some other cards offering superior rates on dining transactions, with some conditions attached, including the new 4 mpd rate for S$1,000 monthly dining spend with the HSBC Revolution Visa we comprehensively reviewed yesterday.
Make sure you’re exhausting the caps on those cards first if you have them, before moving on to this offer.