This is our review of the OCBC Voyage card issued in Singapore. It forms part of our series of credit card reviews, which are all summarised on our dedicated Credit Cards page.
Dollar amounts refer to SGD, and ‘miles’ refer to KrisFlyer miles, except where stated. This review was updated on 30th August 2020.
| OCBC Voyage | |||
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1.3 mpd local spend |
Unlimited lounge access |
Free airport limo rides |
| APPLY HERE | |||
| OCBC Voyage | ||
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1.3 mpd on local spend |
Unlimited lounge access |
Free airport limo rides |
| APPLY HERE | ||
Mainly Miles Says
The OCBC Voyage card benefits from some nice perks, including a competitive local earn rate and flexible, fee-free transfers into KrisFlyer miles.
There are also complimentary airport limo rides for those spending over $5,000 per month, however the drawbacks include the bank’s new annoying $5 rounding policy for miles accrual, plus a limited selection of airport lounges compared to other cards in this high annual fee category.
| Pros | Cons |
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Eligibility
- Minimum Age: 21
- Minimum Income: $120,000/yr
The OCBC Voyage card has a $120,000 per year income requirement for all applicants.
Annual Fees & Interest Rates
- Annual Fee (principal): $488
- Annual Fee (supplementary): $188
- Fee Waiver: $60k+ annual spend (regular), $30k+ (Premier)
The annual fee for the OCBC Voyage Visa card is high at $488, though this also gets you 15,000 bonus miles on sign-up and at each yearly renewal. On its own that’s not worth it – you’re paying 3.25 cents per mile which is way too high, but the card does come with some other useful benefits which may make up the value for you.
If you meet a minimum spend of $60,000 in your card membership year, you’ll currently be eligible for automatic annual fee waiver. Premier customers can unlock fee waiver with a reduced spend of $30,000. Any other fee waiver is on request from OCBC. If the annual fee is waived on renewal, the 15,000 bonus miles will not be credited.
You monthly statement shows how much more you need to spend in the current membership year to trigger automatic annual fee waiver on renewal.
Supplementary cards can be added to your account for an annual fee of $188 each, with the same waiver policy described above.
Other fees and interest rates for the OCBC Voyage card include:
- EIR: 26.9%
- Interest-free period: 23 days
- Minimum payment: 3% (or $50, whichever greater)
- Late payment fee: $100
- Cash advance fee: 8% (min. $15)
Sign-up bonus
The current sign-up bonus for the OCBC Voyage Visa card is one of the following options:
- 15,000 miles for a $488 annual fee (3.25 cents/mile)
- 150,000 miles for a $3,210 annual fee (2.14 cents/mile)
For the 150,000 miles sign-up option, the entire bonus must be converted to KrisFlyer miles (you cannot hold them as Voyage Miles, see below).
Fun fact: The OCBC Voyage card previously offered a 500,000 miles sign-up bonus option for a $10,000 annual fee, however this was withdrawn in August 2018.The ‘enhanced’ sign-up bonus option (with 150,000 miles) was also reportedly being re-offered at annual renewal for some cardholders last year, though there is nothing in the terms and conditions about this so it is likely a targeted or temporary offer. You may or may not receive the option.
Regular earn rates
The OCBC Voyage Visa card earns:
- 1.3 miles for every $1 spent locally (i.e. transacted in SGD), and
- 2.2 miles for every $1 spent overseas (i.e. transacted in foreign currency).
These revised earn rates took effect in June 2020, with the card’s bonus earn rate for dining transactions (1.6 mpd) withdrawn.
If you are an OCBC Premier, OCBC Premier Private Client or Bank of Singapore Voyage cardmember, you’ll get higher earning rates of:
- 1.6 miles for every $1 spent locally (i.e. transacted in SGD), and
- 2.3 miles for every $1 spent overseas (i.e. transacted in foreign currency).
Bonus earn rates
OCBC Voyage cardholders can earn up to 7 miles per dollar for hotel bookings in foreign currency and 6 miles per dollar for SGD bookings at Agoda.
This is valid for bookings made before 31st July 2021, for stays through to 31st December 2021, via the following dedicated link:
Note that this promo is for prepaid bookings through Agoda, so be careful to shop around for the best price first. Initially you’ll earn at the regular 1.3 mpd (SGD) / 2.2 mpd (FCY) rates, with the bonus element awarded within two calendar months of your completed stay.
Full terms and conditions are available here.
Eligible transactions
OCBC awards Voyage Miles on all retail transactions, with the exception of the following:
- All card fees and charges, card annual fees, membership fees, renewal fees, balance transfer and charges incurred for any balance transfer facility, cash-on-instalment facility and charges incurred for any cash-on-instalment facility.
- Instalment payment plan, extended payment plan, income tax payment, interest, late payment charges, GST, cash advances, bill payments made via internet banking, and other fees and charges.
- Payment of funds to prepaid accounts and merchants who are categorised as “payment service providers”, which include (without limitation) EZ-Link, NETS FlashPay, eNETS, SAM, Transit Link and AXS.
There are also some merchant-specific excluded MCC codes, including payments to charitable organisations and for utilities, insurance and education, plus payments to Singapore public hospitals. Grab top-ups are also excluded.
For a full up to date list of exclusions, see the card terms and conditions.
What about CardUp and ipaymy?
At the time of writing the OCBC Voyage card accrues miles normally at the local earn rate for both CardUp and ipaymy transactions, allowing you to accumulate miles on bill payments, monthly rental and income tax, among other invoices.
Remember to check the cost per mile based on the prevailing fee for your transaction type to make sure you’re ‘buying’ miles at a sensible rate when using card payment providers.
Are KrisFlyer miles credited directly?
No, in fact rather than being credited miles directly you’ll accrue ‘Voyage Miles’ for your regular spending on this card. These transfer to KrisFlyer miles at a 1:1 ratio, so for $10,000 of local spending (regular cardmember), you’ll net 13,000 Voyage Miles, which can be converted to 13,000 KrisFlyer miles.
Which loyalty schemes can I transfer into?
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is the sole frequent flyer program for OCBC redemptions. With the obvious exception of the KrisFlyer co-brand credit cards, that makes OCBC the only bank in Singapore not offering an alternative miles transfer partner, such as Asia Miles or Emirates Skywards (even UOB supports Asia Miles transfers!).
That’s a big drawback of the OCBC cards in our opinion, as we often top up our balances in these other programmes to give us oneworld and other partner redemption opportunities.
Be sure to bookmark our continually updated list of which banks transfer where for the latest range of options.
For the best range of transfer partners, look towards Citi, American Express or Standard Chartered cards.
↥ Is there a minimum transfer amount?
The OCBC Voyage card is almost completely unique in Singapore in allowing single miles to be transferred to KrisFlyer.
That’s right, you can transfer as little as 1 mile across, with no upper limit applied.
That means you can transfer exactly the number you need for a redemption, with no wastage. For example if you have 91,250 miles but you want to lock in a Singapore to London saver award in Business Class priced at 92,000 miles, just transfer 750 miles across from your Voyage Miles.
When do Voyage Miles credit?
Voyage Miles should reflect in your account once your transaction posts, which takes anywhere between one and three days.
You won’t have to wait until your monthly statement for the points to be added, so if you’re making a purchase to achieve a short-term top-up they should be available to you within a few days.
For example, a $1,000 local purchase on a Monday should see 1,300 Voyage Miles added to your rewards account by Thursday the same week, which you can then transfer to KrisFlyer.
The only exception is bonus Voyage Miles earned from the Agoda promotion, which credit within two months of your completed stay, and Voyage Miles earned from payment of the annual fee, which are credited to your account only on publication of the associated monthly statement.
Do Voyage Miles expire?
No they don’t, which is great because as you will probably know once transferred into KrisFlyer miles they will then only last for three years. That means no need to keep an eye on the expiration date at the OCBC side, just transfer to KrisFlyer when you need to.