The credit card points landscape in Singapore continues its painful descent this year, as UOB delivers yet another blow to miles enthusiasts. The UOB Lady’s Solitaire card, once a favourite of the miles-earning community, will see its monthly bonus cap reduced from S$2,000 to S$1,500 effective from 1st August 2025.
That follows a 33% cut from the card’s former S$3,000 monthly bonus cap back in April 2024, effectively meaning the benefit will have been halved in the space of only 16 months.
But that’s not all – the bank is also introducing individual category caps of S$750 per month, fundamentally changing how cardholders can deploy their spending strategy, and in some cases arguably increasing the appeal of the baseline UOB Lady’s card in some scenarios.
What’s changing?
From now until 31st July 2025, the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card retains its current earning and bonus structure:
- Monthly bonus cap: S$2,000 across two chosen categories
- Flexibility: Spend the entire S$2,000 on one category if desired
- Maximum annual bonus miles: 96,000 miles
From 1st August 2025, these are the key changes to note:
- Monthly bonus cap: S$1,500 across two chosen categories
- Individual category caps: Strictly capped at S$750 per category per month
- Maximum annual bonus miles: 72,000 miles
This represents a 25% reduction in the overall spend cap and significantly reduces the flexibility that made the card attractive to many users. The annual loss of 24,000 miles for those maxing out the card’s current bonus level is equivalent to a one-way Business Class saver award to Bangkok – hardly insignificant.
There remain seven bonus categories to choose from with the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card, and you can change the two you want to benefit from every quarter if you wish:
- Travel
Airlines, hotels, cruises, duty free stores - Beauty & Wellness
Pharmacies, cosmetic stores, spas and massage parlours - Dining
Restaurants, food delivery services, fast food outlets - Entertainment
Bars, cinemas and theatres - Family
Grocery stores - Fashion
Clothing stores, accessories stores and department stores - Transport
Taxis, Limos, MRT
The double whammy
The introduction of category sub-limits is arguably more damaging than the overall cap reduction. Previously, cardholders could allocate their S$2,000 cap however they wished between their two chosen categories.
A cardholder might spend S$1,500 on travel and S$500 on dining, or even the full S$2,000 on travel alone – the latter being quite realistic for many of our readers, given the scale of flight and hotel costs.
Under the new structure, each category is strictly capped at S$750 per month, which means less cross-category flexibility, the need for more complex spend tracking each month, and reduced earning potential for single category-focused spenders.
Here’s a practical example:
Current scenario:
- S$1,100 dining + S$900 transport = S$2,000 total
- Miles earned: 8,000 miles (S$2,000 × 4 mpd)
Post 1st August 2025 scenario:
- S$1,100 dining: S$750 at 4 mpd + S$350 at 0.4 mpd = 3,140 miles
- S$900 transport: S$750 at 4 mpd + S$150 at 0.4 mpd = 3,060 miles
- Total: 6,200 miles
That’s a loss of 1,800 miles per month, or 21,600 miles annually.
What’s not changing?
Importantly, these changes only affect the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card. The following remain untouched:
- UOB Lady’s card: Maintains S$1,000 monthly cap on single category
- UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal card: Retains S$2,000 monthly cap across two categories
However, the Metal Card comes with its own challenges. You must spend at least S$45,000 in a 3-month period on the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card to even get an upgrade invite, and the annual fee is steep at S$600.
It doesn’t even make sense to spend that much on the Lady’s Solitaire card, since you’re significantly exceeding its bonus caps in order to do so – making it a non-starter for most of our readers.
Is the baseline Lady’s card now better?
The entry-level UOB Lady’s card will now be better than the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card, in the sense that you can earn 4 mpd on up to S$1,000 of spending in your single preferred bonus category, instead of just S$750 with the Solitaire in a single category.
This creates an oddly awkward hierarchy where the lower-tier card with a S$30,000 income requirement offers better value for some users than the premium card requiring S$120,000 in annual income!
For cardholders who primarily use one spend category, the baseline Lady’s card will now provide superior earning potential.
Existing cardholders should contact UOB to discuss downgrading to the base Lady’s card, if it better suits their spending patterns from 1st August 2025.
The bigger picture
These changes reflect a broader trend in the Singapore miles and cashback landscape over the last year or so.
Banks seem to be finding their current (or former) rewards generosity unsustainable, and with savvy cardholders becoming increasingly sophisticated in maximising their returns, there’s a systematic rollback of benefits taking place almost across the industry.
The DBS WWMC card is also suffering for a second time, with its once-S$2,000 monthly 4 mpd cap already slashed to S$1,500 and further again to S$1,000 come 1st August 2025.
One rare bit of good news is the recent improvement from the HSBC Revolution card – with a 50% monthly cap increase to S$1,500 and both online travel and contactless transactions back on the eligible category list – but it’s only good for the next three months or so.
Summary
The UOB Lady’s Solitaire card’s latest bonus cap reduction represents more than just a cut in earning potential – it’s a fundamental shift in how the card operates.
The loss of flexibility thanks to new S$750 individual category limits, combined with the overall cap reduction to S$1,500, significantly diminishes its value proposition – especially following a reduction in the cap last year from S$3,000 to S$2,000 per month.
While the DBS WWMC card also joins the cap cut group next month, there’s some hope at least with a short-term improvement for the HSBC Revolution card – offering 4 mpd on S$1,500 of monthly spend including online travel and contactless transactions between now and the end of October.
For Solitaire cardholders though, maybe the basic Lady’s card now looks like a simpler solution?
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)