Rounding out the credit card deals for Christmas

Each year the Banks will roll out different promotions around Christmas which aim to get people to put their big ticket purchases on their cards. Some of these are great. Others are more like coal in your stocking.

In general I’m not a big fan of these promotions, because whatever free gifts they give tend to be limited to “FIRST XXX CUSTOMERS ONLY!” and you have no way of knowing ex-ante whether it’s already been fully redeemed. This is something of a cynical ploy by Banks, and I don’t really let it affect my spending decision.

That said, let’s look at the different promotions

UOB- Vivienne Tam bag

Spend: S$1,800 on local retail purchases, max 6 receipts (S$1,000 if you’re a new UOB cardholder and have UOB’s promotional SMS)

Targeted: No

Period: 19 Nov-31 Dec 2015

Registration: Not required

Limited Quantity: No

UOB allows its cardmembers to redeem a limited edition Vivienne Tam tote bag when they spend $1,800 on local retail purchases (i.e online purchases do not count, even if they’re processed in SGD) over a maximum of 6 charge slips.

Despite the tag “Limited Edition”, there appears to be no limit set on the number of people who can redeem this (although each cardmember can redeem a maximum of 2 bags). Note that main and supplementary cardholders cannot combine their spending to redeem for the bag.

Guys, help me out here. I know nothing about fashion, so I can’t tell you if this bag is “worth it”. Give me bonus miles any day! I suppose if this is something you really want, it can’t hurt to put your spending on your UOB PRVI Miles card, given that @ 1.4 miles  per local dollar spent, it’s the best deal in town.

Standard Chartered- Luggage, RWS Invites Membership or Equarius Hotel Stay

Spend: $5,000-$7,999 for the TSA Luggage, $8,000-$15,999 for the RWS Invites Membership & Passes, $16,000 and above for Equarius Hotel 1 Night Stay

Targeted: No

Period: 4 Nov 15- 15 Jan 16

Registration: Required, maximum 100,000 registrations

Limited Quantity: TSA Luggage- 1,000, RWS Invites Membership & Passes- 700,  Equarius Hotel 1 Night Stay- 500

Nice sounding gifts, but again, beware the redemption cap! Given that we are well into December, I think it’s safe to say all these gifts are long gone. Also, registrations were capped at 100,000.

Spending on your supplementary card does count for this promotion, though, but you can claim a maximum of one gift.

ANZ- Bonus Miles

Spend: S$500 minimum to enjoy this promotion

Targeted: Yes

Period: Until 25 Jan 2016

Registration: Not required

Limited Quantity: Maximum bonus miles of 2,550

ANZ has a targeted promotion which awards a bonus of 2.8 miles per $1 spend, subject to a $500 minimum. This helps boost their base earn rate of 1.4 miles, however the bonus you can earn is capped at 2,550 bonus miles regardless of how much you actually spend.

As I mentioned in my ANZ article, this implies that you’d max this out at around S$910 of spending. So use this card if you’ve been targeted, but I’d be weary of my ability to cash out whatever bonus miles I earn through this, especially since ANZ has increased the minimum conversion amount from 2,000 miles to 5,000 miles.

OCBC-$10 Robinsons/Swensens/Toys R Us Vouchers

Spend: S$300 over a maximum of 3 receipts

Targeted: No

Period: 27 Nov-24 Dec 15

Registration: Not required

Limited Quantity: Yes, amazingly. A total of 20,000 vouchers are available over this period

It appears that OCBC really wanted everyone to frontload their spending this year, because their “star” attraction of a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (only 100 available though) was for spending between 6-26 November ($20,000 of spending though!)

For those of us late to the party, fret not! You can still get $10 worth of Robinsons, Swensens or Toys R Us vouchers! Yes, you can feel the excitement pulsating from within me as I type this.

In an act of wanton generosity that is sure to make Father Christmas sit up and take notice, the number of vouchers available is indeed capped as per the schedule below

You are entitled to a maximum of 1 gift during the relevant periods. But given how shitty OCBC cards are, why would you want to?

Oh you can also get some vouchers at orchardgateway but I couldn’t be bothered to find out more about that

Maybank- Pandora bracelet or Passes to SEA Aquarium at RWS

Spend: S$3,500 for the Pandora bracelet, S$4,000 for the RWS passes, 3 transactions maximum

Targeted: No

Period: 10-31 Dec 15 for the Pandora bracelet, 5 Nov- 31 Dec for the RWS Passes

Registration: No

Limited Quantity:  470 redemptions for the Pandora bracelet, 700 redemptions for the RWS passes

There were other gifts like log cakes, Hard Rock Hotel rooms etc but those have been fully redeemed. The amazing thing is that there is a maximum of 3 receipts- meaning that you’re looking at fairly big ticket purchases to get these gifts.

DBS- Spin & Redeem Gifts

Spend: S$200 in a single receipt

Targeted: No

Period: 25 Nov- 31 Dec 15

Registration: Not required

Limited Quantity: 1,000 redemptions per day

DBS seems to be pushing its Lifestyle app because all redemptions have to be made through their app. So the deal is you need to spend a minimum of $200 in a single transaction and enter your details (very frustratingly they ask for your full name, your card number, your IC and the exact amount spent, which translates to a lot of keying. You’d think they’d be smart enough to automate most of this)

I tried it once and won a $5 Watson’s voucher. The other possible gifts are

i. Apple Watch

ii. Apple iPhone 6s (16GB)

iii. Apple iPhone 6s Plus (16GB)

iv. A Pair of Return Air Tickets to Seoul/Bali/Hong Kong/Bangkok (worth 200,000 BIG Points)

v. S$50 GrabTaxi (GrabPay) Cash Rebate

vi. S$5 iTunes Code

vii. S$5 Watsons Voucher

viii. S$5 Fish & Co Dining Voucher

ix. A Pair of Madame Tussauds Singapore Admission Tickets (worth S$78)

x. S$50 Four Seasons Hotel Dining Voucher xi. S$50 Mandarin Orchard Hotel Dining Voucher

xii. S$50 Park Hotel Group Dining Voucher

There’s a catch here in that you need to play the game within 2 days of making the purchase, but you can only play a maximum of once per day. This implies that if you make multiple purchases over the course of a day you will not be able to spin multiple times.

Have I missed anything out?

cover photo by isaacbowen