HSBC is offering up to 16,800 bonus miles on its Revolution credit card for applications submitted by 30th September 2026, requiring S$1,000 of spend from your card account opening date to the end of the following month.

The bonus is awarded as 42,000 HSBC Reward points, and of course the Revolution has no annual fee at all, so unlike the bank’s TravelOne promotion running alongside it, there’s nothing to pay for these miles.

We’ve just published our full 2026 review of this card, which now earns 4 mpd on online and contactless spend, or 8 mpd for those keeping S$50,000 in an HSBC Everyday Global Account.

New to HSBC: 16,800 miles

The 16,800 miles bonus offer is available for those defined as new to the bank.

The promotion is valid for applications between 1st July 2026 and 30th September 2026, with your card approved by 14th October 2026.

If you’re new to HSBC, the bonus is:

• 16,800 miles (awarded as 42,000 Reward points)

requiring a minimum spend of S$1,000.

That 16,800 figure assumes a transfer to one of HSBC’s 2.5:1 partners like British Airways Avios, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Air France-KLM Flying Blue. Since the bank devalued KrisFlyer transfers to a 3:1 ratio in late 2024, the same 42,000 points will net you only 14,000 KrisFlyer miles.

Existing HSBC customers: S$50 cashback

Existing customers don’t get miles at all this time round, just a S$50 cashback gift, though this requires a lower S$500 minimum spend.

The cashback can only be used to offset future retail purchases. You can’t withdraw it, transfer it, or apply it against fund transfers, tax payments, finance charges or fees.

Mind the gap between the two

Read HSBC’s two definitions together and something slightly odd emerges.

A new cardholder must not currently hold a principal HSBC credit card. An existing cardholder must have taken out their most recent one more than 12 months ago.

If you took out your first HSBC credit card eight months ago, you’re neither. You hold a card, so you’re not new, but it was issued less than a year ago, so you’re not existing. That means there’s no welcome gift available to you at all.

No annual fee means free miles

This is one area where the Revolution separates itself from the rest of HSBC’s current line-up.

The TravelOne promotion requires payment of an annual fee to qualify for its sign-up bonus, and so does the Premier Mastercard unless you’re a Premier Qualified customer.

The Revolution has no annual fee to pay, in year one or for any year after it, so the only thing you’re committing is S$1,000 of spending you were probably going to make anyway.

Here’s how the bank’s three concurrent sign-up promotions of interest to our readers compare:

HSBC Sign-Up Promotions All closing 30 September 2026
Card	Bonus	Min Spend	Annual Fee	Cost per mile
Revolution	16,800 miles	S$1,000	None	Free
TravelOne	20,000 miles + Samsonite case	S$1,000	S$196.20	0.98 cents*
Premier Mastercard Premier Qualified	58,200 miles + S$200 voucher	S$5,000	Waived	Free
Premier Mastercard Non-Premier Qualified	34,200 miles + S$200 voucher	S$5,000	S$708.50	1.49 cents^

* If you place no value on the luggage gift
^ If you place face value on the Apple voucher

The Premier Mastercard offers far more miles, but it’s restricted to HSBC Premier customers and requires five times the spend. For everyone else, the Revolution card is the only one on the list where the miles actually cost nothing.

Qualifying spend period

The qualifying spend period is based on the date your card account is opened:

Card opening date	Qualifying spend period	Notification by
1 – 31 Jul 2026	1 Jul – 31 Aug 2026	by 31 Oct 2026
1 – 31 Aug 2026	1 Aug – 30 Sep 2026	by 30 Nov 2026
1 – 30 Sep 2026	1 Sep – 31 Oct 2026	by 31 Dec 2026
1 – 14 Oct 2026*	1 Oct – 30 Nov 2026	by 31 Jan 2027

* Applies to applications submitted by 30th September 2026, where the card account is then opened in early October 2026.

Open your account early in a calendar month and you’ll have close to two full months to clear the S$1,000. Reward points themselves are credited within 120 days of your card account opening date.

As with other HSBC promotions, your “Card Account Opening Date” is the calendar month printed on the letter that arrives with your card, not your approval date.

Base miles are on top

The sign-up bonus is awarded in addition to the miles you earn on the qualifying spend itself.

If you put the full S$1,000 spend through the card’s bonus categories, which is what you should be doing anyway with this one, then those dining, retail, transport, direct travel bookings, online or contactless transactions will add 4,000 miles at the card’s 4 mpd rate, taking your total haul to 20,800 miles.

Cardholders qualifying for the enhanced 8 mpd tier would collect 8,000 base miles instead, for a total of 24,800 miles.

Alternative to spend requirement

There is an alternative to meeting the spend requirement that’s easy to miss.

Based on clause 1.3.4 of the terms, instead of meeting the spend requirement you can qualify for the gift by taking out a new HSBC Cash Instalment Plan of at least S$5,000 over a minimum term of one year, applied for and approved within the same qualifying period.

It won’t suit many people, since you’re borrowing to earn the bonus. But if you were taking out a loan regardless, it’s an alternative way to score the 42,000 bonus points compared to S$1,000 of spend.

Consent to marketing

The bonus is conditional on consenting to receive marketing or promotional materials from HSBC during your application, and keeping that consent in place until the gift is credited.

Revoke it in the meantime and you forfeit the lot.

What counts as qualifying spend

Your S$1,000 has to be ordinary retail purchases, and there are two separate exclusion lists to consider here – one in the sign-up promotion’s terms governing what counts towards the threshold, and one in HSBC’s Rewards Programme governing what earns points.

That second list is considerably longer, see our full review for the complete breakdown, including the 48 excluded merchant category codes.

Here’s the quirk – the two lists don’t match. Utility bills, insurance premiums, education fees, tax payments and government services all appear on the Rewards Programme exclusion list but not on the sign-up promotion’s one.

What counts vs. what earns
Transaction type	Counts towards S$1,000 spend?	Earns HSBC Points?
Ordinary retail purchases
Utilities, insurance, education, tax and government payments
Foreign exchange, quasi-cash and gambling
Financial institutions, brokerages, securities and crypto
Money transfers PayPal, CardUp, ipaymy, SmoovPay
Prepaid and e-wallet top-ups EZ-Link, Transitlink, NETS FlashPay, YouTrip
AXS and ATM transactions
Instalment plan amounts
Balance transfers, cash advances, fees and charges
Court costs, fines, bail and bond
Unposted, cancelled, disputed or refunded

That means an education payment charged to the card earns you nothing at all, but does count towards your S$1,000 minimum spend.

We believe that reading is correct, but there’s a difference between being right and getting your bonus. If HSBC applies the same exclusions to both calculations, which would be the simpler way to assess it, such a payment might never register against your threshold whatever the terms say.

Our advice is to play it safe. Hit the S$1,000 with ordinary retail spending.

The 12-month commitment

If you close, cancel or terminate the card within 12 months of opening it, HSBC reserves the right to forfeit or recover the equivalent value of the gift at its sole discretion.

With no annual fee for life, there’s little reason to cancel this one anyway.

More importantly, terminating your card account cancels any unused Reward points, and they can’t be moved to another HSBC card account. So if you do eventually close it, transfer your points out first, not after. Transfers are instant for most partners and free of charge.

Terms and conditions

Full terms and conditions for this sign-up promotion are available here:

 HSBC Revolution Sign-Up Promo T&C

HSBC transfer partner options

HSBC extended its full transfer partner list to all its credit cards in mid-2024, so Revolution cardholders have the same twenty options that were originally exclusive to TravelOne cardholders, with sixteen airline programmes and four hotel programmes to choose from.

That selection is one of the card’s big advantages, but the transfer ratios vary considerably, and choosing poorly costs you 20% or more of your bonus miles.

HSBC Points to Airline Miles
FFP		Transfer Ratio	Miles from 42,000 bonus points
	Air France / KLM Flying Blue	25,000 10,000	16,800
	British Airways Club	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Etihad Guest	25,000 10,000	16,800
	EVA Air MileageLands	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Qantas Points	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	30,000 10,000	14,000
	Thai Airways Royal Orchid	30,000 10,000	14,000
	Air Canada Aeroplan	35,000 10,000	12,000
	Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings	35,000 10,000	12,000
	Qatar Airways Privilege Club	35,000 10,000	12,000
	Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles	35,000 10,000	12,000
	United Airlines MileagePlus	35,000 10,000	12,000
	Japan Airlines Mileage Bank	50,000 10,000	8,400
	AirAsia Rewards	25,000 20,000	33,600*

* AirAsia rewards points aren’t miles, they are worth considerably less. The favourable-looking bonus sadly doesn’t translate into good value.

Only the 2.5:1 partners deliver the advertised 16,800 miles from this promotion. British Airways Avios is a useful option, since you can boost a transferred balance from 1.55 cents each, and Avios move instantly and free of charge to Qatar Airways Privilege Club – so ignore HSBC’s poor direct transfer to Qatar.

On the hotel side HSBC offers four transfer options.

HSBC Points to Hotel Points
Programme		Ratio	Points from 42,000 bonus points
	IHG One Rewards	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Marriott Bonvoy	25,000 10,000	16,800
	Wyndham Rewards	30,000 10,000	14,000
	Accor ALL	25,000 5,000	8,400

In all cases the ratios shown represent the minimum transfer of HSBC Reward points. After that you can move miles in increments as small as two, or hotel points as low as one.

Almost all transfers complete instantly, with two exceptions – Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club takes up to five working days, and JAL Mileage Bank up to ten.

At 16,800 miles this isn’t the largest welcome bonus HSBC has on the table, but for most of our readers it’s the cheapest.

With no annual fee to pay, no fee to convert your points, and a S$1,000 spend requirement that most people will clear inside a month, the only real commitment is holding the card for a year. Since it costs nothing to keep, that’s hardly a difficult commitment.

Put the qualifying spend through the card’s own bonus categories and you’ll walk away with around 20,800 miles for mostly everyday spending.

Existing cardholders get only S$50 cashback rather than miles, which is poor next to the new customer offer. Anyone who took out their first HSBC card within the past year falls into a gap between the two definitions and gets nothing.

Finally KrisFlyer addicts give up a sixth of the headline figure, thanks to that 3:1 transfer ratio.

Apply by 30th September 2026, and don’t forget to tick and retain the marketing consent.

(Cover Image: MainlyMiles)