OCBC has a (pretty dismal) bonus miles earning offer for its Voyage and 90°N cardholders between now and the end of June, with a bonus 0.2 mpd awarded for groceries, online shopping and foreign currency transactions.
Notwithstanding the fact the new earn rates for local spend in these categories are easily eclipsed by several 4 mpd cards on the market, OCBC is even capping the offer at:
- S$2,000 spend for Voyage cardholders (equivalent to 400 bonus miles); or
- S$1,000 spend for the first 10,000 90°N cardholders (equivalent to 200 bonus miles, if you’re lucky enough to be among the fastest 10k ‘across the line’).
In case you were wondering whether this is worth bothering with, we value 400 KrisFlyer miles at S$7.60 and 200 KrisFlyer miles at S$3.80.
How it works
Registration is not required for this promotion, all OCBC Voyage cards and the 90°N cards are automatically eligible, with no minimum spend.
Bonus miles (+0.2 mpd) will be awarded for:
- Grocery shopping (online or in-store), at:
– Cold Storage
– NTUC FairPrice (excl. FairPrice Xpress)
– RedMart
- Online-only shopping at:
– Lazada (MCC 5311 only)
– Shopee (MCC 5262 or 5331, excl. ShopeePay)
– Amazon (MCC 5311, 5399, 5411, 5732, 5814, 5817, 5818, 5941, 5942 or 5999)
- All transactions made in foreign currency
The promotion runs from 25th May 2021 to 30th June 2021.
Initially you will earn your card’s base miles for bonus category transactions as usual, with the difference between the regular rate and the bonus rate (+0.2 mpd) topped up within two calendar months after the end of the promotion period (i.e. by the end of August 2021).
Promotional earn rates
| Card Type | Grocery Shopping |
Online Spend |
FCY Spend |
 OCBC 90°N |
1.4 mpd |
1.4 mpd |
2.3 mpd |
 OCBC Voyage |
1.5 mpd |
1.5 mpd |
2.4 mpd |
 OCBC Premier Voyage |
1.8 mpd |
1.8 mpd |
2.5 mpd |
 OCBC PPC Voyage |
|||
 BOS Voyage |
Remember the bonus of 0.2 mpd in each case is capped at S$2,000 spend for the Voyage cards and S$1,000 spend for the 90°N card (with a UOB-esque 10,000 customer cap on the latter), after which you’ll earn the regular rates again.
S$5 rounding for miles earning
Don’t forget that OCBC credit cards now award miles only for S$5 spend blocks, so for smaller transactions like those you may make in these categories, be prepared to earn less than the promotional rates.
For example picking up a few items at Cold Storage costing S$14.99 will result in a round-down to S$10 for miles earning purposes (i.e. 15 miles with the OCBC Voyage card under this promotion @1.5 mpd), equivalent to just 1 mpd, not 1.5 mpd.
You’d do better than that with a Citi PremierMiles card at the regular 1.2 mpd earn rate!
Terms and conditions
Full terms and conditions for this promotion, which for some reason is labelled ‘tier up’ at the ‘paperwork’ stage (but in no other promotional marketing) are available here:
OCBC 90°N ‘Tier Up’ T&C
OCBC Voyage ‘Tier Up’ T&C
Other cards to use for groceries
For grocery shopping during this promotion at Cold Storage, FairPrice and RedMart, there are several cards offering year-round 4 mpd bonus rates for your spend.
That’s significantly better than this OCBC offer, so if you’re holding one or more of the following cards and not already maxing out the monthly bonus caps, here are the options:
| Card | In-store | Online | Notes |
 HSBC Revolution(see our review) |
4 mpd | On contactless payment or online at grocery stores, capped at S$1,000 per calendar month. | |
 UOB Lady’s |
4 mpd* | 4 mpd | If family is specified as your quarterly bonus category, capped at S$1,000 per calendar month. |
 UOB Lady’s Solitaire |
4 mpd* | 4 mpd | If family is specified as your quarterly bonus category, capped at S$3,000 per calendar month. |
 UOB PPV(see our review) |
4 mpd* | 4 mpd | On contactless payment or online at grocery stores, capped at S$1,110 per calendar month. |
 UOB VS(see our review) |
4 mpd* | 0.4 mpd | For contactless payment, capped at S$2,000 per statement cycle. |
* Except at Cold Storage, Giant, Jasons and Market Place
Do be careful to note that no UOB card will earn miles for in-store transactions at Dairy Farm Group outlets like Cold Storage (though they are fine in FairPrice and for online Dairy Farm transactions).
Other cards to use for online shopping
For online shopping at Lazada, Shopee and Amazon, you can consider the following cards with superior earn rates to this OCBC offer:
| Card | Miles per S$1 | Notes |
 Citi Rewards(see our review) |
4.0 | For (non-travel) online transactions, capped at S$1,000 per statement cycle |
 DBS WWMC(see our review) |
4.0 | For all online transactions, capped at S$2,000 per calendar month. |
| HSBC Revolution (see our review) |
4.0 | For selected online transactions, capped at S$1,000 per calendar month. |
Summary
This deal from OCBC is fairly dismal, with a maximum of 400 bonus KrisFlyer miles on offer and many cards on the market already eclipsing these bonus earn rates for the sort of spend the bank is targeting – ‘stay-home’ online and grocery shopping.
The 200-mile bonus limit and customer cap for OCBC 90°N cardholders is particularly disappointing. The bank has clearly marked these customers as ‘less worthy’ than others, like we’ve seen with the “first xxx to qualify” sign-up bonus for the card this week – straight out of UOB’s playbook.
The HSBC Revolution once again stands out as a prime choice, outshining almost every earn rate on the table here.
Sorry OCBC – but it’s a “try harder” from us!
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)