It’s been almost a year since UOB started offering a bonus rate of 4.4 miles per dollar for PRVI Miles Visa and Mastercard customers using SimplyGo on their bus and MRT journeys. The promotion was extended a few times along the way, finally coming to an end on 30th June 2020, with the cards reverting to their 1.4 mpd rate since then.
This month UOB is back with the offer, running very much along the same line as last time, with one major exception…
If you kept using it, you’re not eligible this time
That’s right, if you “did the right thing” and stopped using your UOB PRVI Miles card on or before 30th June 2020 for SimplyGo (ABT) transactions (or any contactless local train or bus ride), when the last 4.4 mpd promotion ended, you’re good to go again with this promotion.
If you did use your UOB PRVI Miles card for SimplyGo (ABT) transactions anytime between 1st July 2020 and 31st August 2020 – you are not eligible, regardless of whether you tapped your mobile wallet or your physical card.
That’s quite a kick in the teeth for those who effectively just “got used” to using their PRVI Miles card this way and didn’t stop doing so once the last promo ended, though presumably that’s exactly what the bank intended (and this is UOB we’re talking about, so most “promotions” have at least one catch).
Nonetheless if you are eligible and want to take part, here are the details.
Registration
This offer is valid for new and existing principal UOB PRVI Miles Visa and Mastercard holders (the PRVI Miles American Express card is not eligible, since Amex cannot be used with SimplyGo).
You must successfully register to participate by sending an SMS to 77862 using your mobile number registered with UOB, in the following format:
| PRVI [space] Last 4 alphanumeric digits of your NRIC or Passport Number
Example: If your NRIC is S1234567A, you will need to send “PRVI 567A” to 77862 |
You can register for this deal any time during the promotion period of 1st September 2020 to 31st December 2020.
The promotion
Between 1st September 2020 and 31st December 2020, you’ll be eligible to earn up to UNI$11 per S$5 spend on bus and MRT rides (equivalent to up to 4.4 miles per S$1 spend) using your UOB PRVI Miles Visa or Mastercard.
This comprises:
- The existing rate of UNI$3.5 per S$5 spend locally (equivalent to 1.4 miles per S$1 spend); and
- a bonus rate of UNI$7.5 per S$5 spend on eligible transit transactions (equivalent to 3 miles per S$1 spend)
Points from the regular (existing) earn rate for the PRVI Miles Visa card are awarded based on accumulated spend per calendar month on SimplyGo transactions, and awarded to cardholders on the 7th of the following month.
Points from the regular (existing) earn rate for the PRVI Miles Mastercard are awarded each time SimplyGo submits the transactions to your card account, which is every 5 days or when S$15 has been spent if sooner.
Remember that although you won’t earn any UNI$ for individual transactions of less than S$5 on your PRVI Miles card, since the spend in this category is aggregated for each calendar month (or 5-day period for the Mastercard) before UNI$ are awarded, the rounding issue will not be a significant factor unless you take very few journeys.
The bonus rate is capped at UNI$120 per month, which is equivalent to S$80 worth of spending in this category. Any additional spending for the month above that level will earn the existing rate of 1.4 mpd as usual.
If you hold both the UOB PRVI Miles Visa and Mastercard, you unfortunately won’t get two separate monthly caps under this promotion, it’s one cap across both cards in that case.
How it works
You won’t be able to simply tap your PRVI Miles Visa or Mastercard when travelling by bus or MRT to be awarded the bonus miles, in that case you will only be eligible for the regular existing earn rate.
With this promotion you must register your PRVI Miles card with SimplyGo then charge the individual journeys to your Transit Card via your mobile phone using Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, Google Pay and/or Samsung Pay.
Eligible spend on any supplementary cards will count towards your primary card account for this promotion.
Note that you won’t get 4.4 mpd when using your PRVI Miles cards for EZ-Link top-ups, even if you make a mobile contactless payment.
You can learn more about using SimplyGo with UOB cards here.
When you’ll get your bonus
Initially these transactions will be awarded the regular earn rate of 1.4 miles per dollar, based on aggregate spending each month and awarded on the 7th of the following month (Visa) or every 5 days / S$15 spend (Mastercard).
The bonus miles earned during this promotion period from 1st September 2020 to 31st December 2020 will be credited by 31st March 2021.
Remember to register for SimplyGo and use your mobile device to tap for your journeys in order to the eligible for this promotional earn rate. Tapping your physical card will not earn any bonus.
Full terms and conditions for this offer can be found here.
The UOB PRVI Miles cards
We comprehensively reviewed the UOB PRVI Miles cards in Singapore in July 2020, but we’ve updated that review today to reflect this new promotion.
| UOB PRVI Miles | |||
 |
1.4 mpd local |
2.4 mpd FCY |
6 mpd travel |
| READ OUR REVIEW | |||
| UOB PRVI Miles | ||
|
||
|
1.4 mpd local |
2.4 mpd FCY |
6 mpd travel |
| READ OUR REVIEW | ||
UOB is currently offering a S$150 cash credit when you apply for this card during September 2020 and spend S$1,500 within 30 days from the approval date, though you’ll have to be one of the first 200 to meet the spend requirement in order to be eligible.
Summary
4.4 mpd on the first S$80 of bus and MRT rides each month isn’t a life changing boost to your miles balance, however if you’re able to maximise the promotion for all four months it is running it’s good for over 1,400 miles.
That’s not bad for something you were probably doing anyway.
Don’t forget if you used your UOB PRVI Miles card on any contactless payment for local public train and bus rides during the two month period between 1st July 2020 and 31st August 2020, you won’t be eligible for this one.
(Cover Photo: Visa)