DBS has updated the product page for its Vantage Card with a new notice informing cardholders about a reduction to the card’s local earn rate, with this change taking effect just over a month from now, from 2nd November 2026.
From 2 Nov 2026, the local earn rate will be adjusted to 1.4 miles for every S$1 spent (or 1.4% cashback).
DBS, 29th September 2026
The change is also now reflected in clause 13 of the DBS Vantage Card terms and conditions.
That’s a 7% cut on everyday SGD spending. DBS has confirmed that the card’s other headline features are unaffected.
These are the 2.2 mpd overseas earn rate, the Accor+ Explorer membership with its complimentary night stay, and the 10 complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits each year.
What’s changing?
| DBS Vantage Card earn rates | ||
| Spend | Until 1 Nov 2026 | From 2 Nov 2026 |
| Local (SGD) | 1.5 mpd (or 1.5% cashback) |
1.4 mpd (or 1.4% cashback) |
| Overseas (FCY) | 2.2 mpd (or 2.2% cashback) |
2.2 mpd (or 2.2% cashback) |
| DBS Points per S$5 (local) | 3.75 | 3.5 |
DBS Points still convert to KrisFlyer miles at a 1:2 ratio. The cut therefore works out to 3.5 DBS Points per S$5 of local spend instead of 3.75.
How much will it cost you?
The cut is small in percentage terms, but it adds up for anyone putting serious local spend through the card, which has always been exactly the kind of cardholder the Vantage has primarily targeted.
| Miles earned on local spend (per year) | ||||
| Annual local spend | At 1.5 mpd | At 1.4 mpd | Miles lost | Value lost* |
| S$25,000 | 37,500 | 35,000 | 2,500 | S$45 |
| S$60,000 | 90,000 | 84,000 | 6,000 | S$108 |
| S$100,000 | 150,000 | 140,000 | 10,000 | S$180 |
* Valuing KrisFlyer miles at 1.8 cents each
Until recently, a S$60,000 annual spend would also have triggered an annual fee waiver. That perk ended on 1st August 2026. The same cardholder now pays the full S$599.50 fee and earns 6,000 fewer miles a year for their trouble.
No longer top of the pile
Before this change, the Vantage had the highest unconditional local earn rate among Singapore’s S$120k income cards. From November it drops to joint first with the UOB Visa Infinite Metal.
It also sits level with the SCVI, although the SCVI only earns 1.4 mpd if you spend at least S$2,000 in a statement cycle.
Earn rates (S$120k income cards)
(from 2nd November 2026)
| Card | Local Spend | FCY Spend |
 SCVI |
1.4 mpd* | 3 mpd* |
 UOB VI Metal |
1.4 mpd | 2.4 mpd |
| DBS Vantage |
1.4 mpd | 2.2 mpd |
 OCBC Voyage |
1.3 mpd | 2.2 mpd |
 Citi Prestige |
1.3 mpd | 2 mpd |
 Maybank VI |
1.2 mpd | 3.2 mpd^ |
 HSBC VI |
1 mpd | 2 mpd |
* Subject to a minimum spend of S$2,000 (any currency) in the same statement cycle, otherwise 1 mpd
^ Subject to S$4,000+ spend per calendar month, otherwise 2 mpd
A card in steady decline
On its own, a 0.1 mpd trim is hardly a disaster, but the problem with the DBS Vantage is the general direction of travel, because this is the third blow to the card in just over a year.
- No sign-up bonus since June 2025. The last one, a 60,000 miles offer, was even pulled early. There’s been nothing since, despite past offers reaching as high as 85,000 miles.
- Annual fee strictly non-waivable since 1st August 2026. The S$60,000 spend waiver has gone, leaving a S$599.50 fee in exchange for 25,000 renewal miles. From November, only DBS Treasures clients who are Accredited Investors will be able to get it waived (see below).
- Now a local earn rate cut. This hits the card’s core use case, a high rate for uncapped general spend.
On the plus side, the parts of the card that arguably justified the fee are untouched. Those are the 2.2 mpd on overseas spend, the 10 Priority Pass visits and the Accor+ Explorer membership.
What should cardholders do?
If you value the lounge visits and use the card mainly overseas, very little changes for you.
If the Vantage is your default card for local spend, now is a good time to review that. This is especially true if your renewal is coming up and you’re weighing whether the S$599.50 fee still stacks up.
If you do decide to cancel, transfer your Vantage-earned DBS Points out first. Any points left on the card when it’s cancelled are forfeited. They don’t carry across to another DBS card, even though your balances pool while both cards are open.
That’s not as simple as it sounds if you hold other DBS cards.
When you redeem pooled points, DBS uses whichever points are expiring soonest, regardless of which card earned them. Points from the Woman’s World Card expire after just one year, so they’ll usually be drawn before your Vantage points. Never-expiring Altitude points are always used last.
In practice, that means transferring out enough to clear any points due to expire ahead of your Vantage balance, before you can reach the Vantage points themselves!
Remember that transfers are made in blocks of 5,000 DBS Points (10,000 miles) at S$27.25 a time, so you may be left with a small Vantage remainder. The instant Kris+ route, from as little as 100 points, is the way to mop that up, albeit at a 15% haircut.
A silver lining for Treasures clients
Cardholders banking with DBS Treasures, the bank’s priority banking tier, have received a different version of the notice. It covers the same earn rate cut, but also brings some new perks for this group, which also take effect on 2nd November 2026.
From that date, DBS Treasures clients holding the Vantage card will get:
- 4 complimentary airport limousine rides per year, and
- an annual fee waiver, but only for DBS Treasures clients who are also Accredited Investors.
The limo rides are a new feature for the Vantage, putting it alongside the other Singapore cards offering airport transfers. The fee waiver is more significant, since it reverses August’s removal of the waiver for at least some cardholders.
DBS says eligibility criteria and terms for both benefits won’t be published until 2nd November. For now, we don’t know whether the limo rides need a minimum spend to unlock, as is common with other cards, or whether the fee waiver is automatic.
If you’re a DBS Treasures client, especially one with Accredited Investor status, it’s worth waiting for the new terms on 2nd November before deciding whether to cancel.
For more information on the rest of the card’s benefits and its current features, see our recent full review.
| DBS Vantage | |||
 |
1.5 mpd on local spend |
10 lounge visits |
2 free hotel nights |
| READ OUR REVIEW | |||
| DBS Vantage | ||
|
||
|
1.5 mpd on local spend |
10 lounge visits |
2 free hotel nights |
| READ OUR REVIEW | ||
Summary
From 2nd November 2026, DBS is cutting the Vantage Card’s local earn rate from 1.5 mpd to 1.4 mpd, or from 1.5% to 1.4% cashback.
That leaves it level with rival S$120k cards, rather than ahead of them.
The overseas earn rate, lounge visits and Accor+ benefits all survive. DBS Treasures clients also get a small consolation from November, with four annual airport limo rides and, for Accredited Investors, a return of the annual fee waiver.
Still, with no sign-up bonus for over a year and no way for most cardholders to waive the fee, it’s getting harder to make a case for this card, particularly from the second year onwards.
(Cover Photo: Simon Vu / Shutterstock)