The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa gives 4 miles per $1 for Paywave transactions.ย (You also get 4 miles per $1 on online shopping and entertainment but for that you can always turn to the DBS Woman’s World card.ย If you do not meet the income requirement for that card, this may be a good alternative) I’ve always not been too big on this because I found it too much of a chore to remember which merchants gave SMART$ and which didn’t- if the merchant awards SMART$, you do not earn UNI$/miles on the same transaction.
I think my initial stance was wrong. The list of Paywave merchants is quite substantial and definitely longer than the SMART$ merchants list. And yes, most of my preferred paywave merchants like Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian and Coffee Bean participate in the SMART$ program, but there’s no reason not to use the PP Visa for transactions at other Paywave merchants since UOB pools all your points anyway. If you want to fly SQ suites, you’ve got to work for it!
Wysieย has come up with a useful link you can save on your phone’s browser as a favourite in case you’re at a Paywave merchant and want to check if you’ll get 4 miles per $1. Simple rule- if you find your merchant’s name here, you don’t get 4 miles per $1 and you should use your general spending card.
So I’m definitely going to apply for this card and add it to my UOB stash, train myself when to use it and try and build my way to the next goal: buying 2 RTW award First class tickets from Krisflyer (720,000 miles in total!)
Hey, great fan of your blog. Thought it might be worth highlighting that paywave transactions are capped at S$100 so people should keep that in mind when using paywave (esp at the restaurants/retailers).
thanks! I’d imagine most people would use paywave for smaller type transactions anyway but it’s good to note nonetheless. and if they’re willing to split the bill,do that
I’ve asked some places to split the receipt before so I can just Paywave twice or something :)!
Just remember, the transaction is rounded down to near 5$ so if u spend 4.99, u will get 0 miles. If u spend 9.99$ u only get 20 miles. For online is better using DBS WC since there is no rounding for additional 9x point (they will sum the total spend for calendar month /5 * 9 ).
For shopping grocery like in sheng shiong using paywave now i am kind of freak to calculate first total cost since before i always end to pay 19$,29$ and lost 20 miles
Is this card an alternative to DBS WC after I maxed out 2k?
I need an alternative after maxing out 2k with f3vo & im@gine. Will this card recognize the top up as 4 miles?
correct me if i’m wrong but i think you don’t get 4 miles with uob pp visa for fevo/imagine.
Ohh that’s bad. I was hoping to get this card and cont the combo after 2k with DBSWC
I have this card but gave up on it when i reached 5K UNI$.
There are so many online exclusions and the $5 rounding down was too frustrating, especially with small Paywave transactions.
Only CB, Giant, Guardian and Cold Storage are the only few merchants worth remembering in this list.There are cards options for Merchants that belongs to shopping, online spending and dining ;). I always use citibank for CB as they have discount offered with citi cards.
For this card, I had work out with my mum for her to use it and pay me cash directly to help me get even more points! Same goes for her household Bills!
While we are at the discussion of this card. Worth mentioning there also used to be an AMEX version which will actually give 10 UNI$ at dining worldwide.
(Wef 01 Oct 2015 no new applications) UOB Preferred Platinum American Express Card: Cardmembers will earn 10X UNI$ at any F&B establishments WORLDWIDE registered under the following MCC:
5812 Eating Places and Restaurants
5813 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) โ Bars, Taverns, Nightclubs, Cocktail Lounges, and Discotheques
5814 Fast Food Restaurants
Really, dining cards are dying in the industry.
no new applications- but the SMS method of application appears to be working for some people.
You still can use the SMS method to apply for the card if you are an existing UOB card member.
I have received mine this month
got myself confused, this appears to be the brown coloured dining card lol. I thought its some new card similar to amex dining.
I realized a quick way to see if it’s smart$ rebate is to see if the sticker on the pay wave machine shows UOB. If it does, generally it’s giving smart$ rebates haha.
Just now I went to reload ezlink card at GTM .. I found that I can reload via paywave.. So I reload 10 dollar by using UOB Preferred Platinum Visa for testing .. If there is no extra charges like auto reload for non DBS / POSB or Citibank. Then I will use this method to reload my ezlink and earn 4 miles per dollar if eligible..
Din realised gtm has pay wave method.
Good find. Hope it rewards. Will wait for your update
I made separate top-ups of $20 and $40 with UOB PPV early this July, and zero points were awarded for each transaction. For what it’s worth, there’s an ongoing promotion for cash rebates using this top-up method so it’s not a futile effort. http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/promotions/cards/promo_cards_transitlink.html
As of 1 Jan next year, all other cards will be accepted and I will switch to DBS Altitude then.
did you use paywave or the chip? i also topped up recently with PPV, using paywave. dunno if it earns points.
I used Paywave – that’s the whole point of the PPV!
ok damn. I used it too. Guess no points coming my way.
I am confused how the UOB uni dollars works. I have the UOB Privi miles card where Uni 3.5 is given for $5 spend. What I am unsure of is how the rounding works.
If I spend $11, do i get 7 Uni $ (11/5 = 2.2, round down to 2 * 3.5 Uni) or none ($11/5 = 2.2, round down to nearest $5 = 0*3.5 Uni).
What if this is a paywave transaction? How does the 10X point gets computed?
spend $11 means your UNI$ is awarded based on $10 of spend. so you get 7 UNI$. round down your spend to the nearest $5 to compute UNI$.
Thanks Aaron!
Can I use my UOB privi miles Amex at smart$ merchants? Since amex doesn’t attract smart$, will I get uni$ instead?
that’s right. as it says on the UOB site- SMART$ is not applicable to UOB PRVI Miles Platinum American Expressยฎ Card, UOB Preferred Platinum American Expressยฎ Card, UOB UnionPay Platinum Card, Bank 121, MPC Mastercard, Travel Accounts, Purchasing and Private Label Card
Hi Aaron, I just got a call from UOB, they are saying that this card will be phased out in 1-2 months. He wanting to “UPGRADE” me to the new YOLO card. I seriously don’t think thats an “UPGRADE”. Sigh… thats so sad….
yeah but think about it. soon you’ll have your credit card number in 4 easy to read rows. can your lousy uob ppv do that?
Hi Aaron,
For Uber/Grab transactions are those considered Online Transactions since it is done via the phone most o f the time. And if so, will the Preferred Platinum Visa Card get 4 Miles for every dollar? Otherwise do you suggest using the general spend PRVI miles card instead or any other card for that matter.
Thanks!
Ben
For overseas Paywave usage: do we also get 4 mpd?
yup
Thanks Aaron!
Hi Aaron,
Do u have any list of online merchant which is accepted by this UOB PP Visa? I am a bit scared to use this card since u mentioned that UOB is more strict than DBS in giving out 10x UNI$.
I have DBS WW Card but I already maxed out 2k per month so I need an alternative for an extra spending. Thanks!
He’s already put this in one his posts – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ffbzrIlK7iTO_IAT7nzk8ULWf1zsRX9F-rniLbRwwR4/edit#gid=2
It’s a great compilation by the guys on HWZ.
UOB PPV sneakily amended their T&Cs for online merchants. Quote from their PPV website “Please visit the terms and conditions for the revised online merchant categories eligible for 10X UNI$ rewards effective 1 Jul 2017.” T&C Link: http://www.uob.com.sg/assets/pdfs/terms-and-conditions-for-preferred-plat-visa.pdf UOB recognises only these 3 Categories as “Selected Online Transactions” to be eligible for 10X UNI$ (or 4 miles): 1) Department Stores and Retail Stores 2) Supermarkets, Dining and Food Delivery 3) Entertainment and Ticketing Though CardUp/iPayMy transactions are not explicitly excluded, I’m not sure if both merchants fall within the Merchant Category Codes (MCC) 7278, 7832, 7841, 7922, 7991, 7996, 7998-7999… Read more »
Another thing to note about the revised T&C on the UOB PPV is the change from the maximum award of UNI$24,000 per annum to UNI$2,000 per month.
That translates to $1k a month spending, and also means you can’t use cardup effectively for those big ticket items. Smart I guess.
Can someone please enlighten me on how we can identify which establishments fall under which MCC’s? I must be missing something here because that information isn’t useful unless we see a list of corresponding MCC’s, no?
That information is generally not available publicly, and most merchants wouldn’t know either. Someone said you should be able to call the bank and check after you have done the transaction though.
I know my amex (from another country) shows me the merchant category (not the code though), not sure if amex SG does that too?
Am I right to generalise and say UOB PPV gives me 4miles/dollar whenever i use paywave except at smart$ merchants?
yes that’s right.
Data point for info. Purchases on Apple Online no longer earn 10X. I was told by CSO that Apple’s MCC is 5045, not within the list in the TnCs, even when they acknowledged that the transaction was indeed online.
Hi Aaron, may I check for UOB PPV, any idea if there is a $ cap for 10 x UNI$ per transaction? So far most of the pay wave transactions is max $100. However I have seen cases that they allow us to tap more but require signature. I have also tried Apple Pay with can go beyond $100. Will the 10 x UNI$ be awarded for amounts more than $100 per transaction?
so the 10X points is capped on $1K of spending each calendar month. it is not explicitly capped per transaction, but effectively capped because of the max $100 per transaction limit that paywave has (although I hear this may be increased soon). if for whatever reason they allow you to tap for more than $100, then you will get 10X on the whole thing
Cool! Thank you for your reply Aaron!
I just paid about $1,400 using paywave. So they must have increased the transaction limit by a lot.
I just forgot to split the bill (1000 and 400) as the 10x UNI$ is capped at $1000 Spend per calendar month. ๐
all along i remember wrongly, $1k spending per billing cycle instead of CALENDAR MONTH
and yesterday did my paywave for >$100, thinking of racking those many miles, i guess those miles are goner..
got a call from uob cs that PPV will be discontinued and replaced with YOLO card
For how long did u own the ppv? Did he/she say they were going to replace for all?
they’ve been saying this for a long while but nothing has happened so far. perhaps they are directing new sign ups for ppv to yolo, but existing cardmembers will be untouched for now?
Applied via online channel recently and received confirmation that my application has been approved. Is this the new uob application mystery?
Update us if you get the card pls
Yup, have received the card and letter ๐
Hi Aaron, I’m trying to choose between the UOB Preferred Platinum and the UOB Visa Signature for general use at merchants with Paywave. Would I be right in thinking that if your spending is going to be more than 1k/mth, you should just go with the Visa Signature? (for paywave only), because then you can get 4miles/$1 up to $2k, instead of just up to $1k?
Parking.sg is out and I’m curious to see if the PPV has 10x for such parking payments
For online transactions – better not to use this card. Quite restrictive. I missed out to check the file and lost out on 10X for quite a few large purchases on Apple SG online store.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ffbzrIlK7iTO_IAT7nzk8ULWf1zsRX9F-rniLbRwwR4/edit#gid=2
Especially since this is the mentioned on the UOB website that 10x applies for electronic items. However Apple SG online store’s MCC is coded as Computers and software so it no longer earns 10X since some time last year.
“Whether you are shopping for clothes, shoes, bags, electronic items, books or even paying for the latest app, movie tickets and your fast food delivery order online, you will earn 10X UNI$^ for every S$5 spent (or 4 Miles = S$1 spent).”
Do we get 4 miles for online air ticketing?
Hi, couple questions, planning to call hotline but given the inaccuracy of some CSOs at times, like to consult the more seasoned guys here as well.
1) Certain merchants require a digital signature on the terminal if amount exceeds eg. $200 even if method of payment is by paywave.
Will this affect the awarding of uni$?
2) Cap/min spend is by statement period, is this based on posted date or transaction date?
Questions also with regards to uob visa signature, and thanks in advance!