DBS has announced 2 promotions for its DBS Altitude Visa card, one for new sign ups and one for existing cardholders.
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Let’s break this into 2 parts
New Sign Up Bonus
In a classic story of “why you should wait before you apply for credit cards”, DBS has enhanced its sign up offer for the DBS Altitude Visa card.
The current offer gives you 15,000 bonus miles if you spend a minimum of $1,000 per month for the first 2 months after you get the card (the previous version offered 8,000 bonus miles for the same condition)
Note that the 15,000 bonus miles are for new DBS/POSB cardholders (that is, you don’t own any DBS/POSB credit cards at all). If you are an existing cardholder you will get 10,000 bonus miles. ย Full T&C here. Sign ups must be done by 31 Dec 2016.
Please note that you need to apply completely online to get the 15,000/10,000 miles bonus. If you get “sales assistance”, as the T&C put it, you only get 5,000 miles. I would say this is incentive enough to get all the details right the first time.
Although the best offer I ever saw for the DBS Altitude was 12,000 bonus miles with $800 spend in the first month, I think such generous promotions are long gone (that was 2013, in case anyone was interested).
Even though the DBS Altitude’s general earning rate is not as good as the UOB PRVIย Miles card (1.2/2 for local and overseas versus 1.4/2.4 for the PRVI), I do like the DBS Altitude for its frequent promotions.ย Besides, with a $30,000 income requirement it’s the most accessible miles card in Singapore.
If you’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger on a card application for the Altitude I’d say this is as good an offer as any.
Overseas Spending Bonus
For the months of November 2016- Feb 2017 (start and end months inclusive) DBS is offering 3 miles per $1 on all overseas spending, capped at $2,000 spend per month. Registration is required and can be done here.
Note that “overseas spending” as defined for the purposes of this promotion refers to physical spending, not online spending. In other words, your card must be physically swiped overseas.ย Also, given that this is a Visa, be careful not to fall for the DCC scam overseas. If you are billed overseas in Singapore dollars, you will not qualify for the bonus miles.
To enjoy these bonus miles you need to spend a minimum of $2,500 in a givenย calendar month on your Altitude Visa card. Full T&C can be found here.
Although my preferred card for overseas spending is still the UOB Visa Signature with 4 miles per $1 (maximum $2,000 per statement period, subject to minimum $1,000 spend),ย this promotion will still come in handy for me given the volume of overseas spending inย incur in my job.
When considering whether or not it makes sense to use your credit card overseas, you might want to have a read of this primer.
Conclusion
I do love DBS’s promotions because they’re straightforward and transparent. UOB, in contrast, loves to do promotions on their PRVI miles card where they say “limited to the first X customers who sign up” and there’s no way of knowing beforehand if you’re within the first X.
Remember that the DBS Altitude offers 3 miles on all your online hotel and flight spending (max $5,000 per month), so if you’ve exhausted your DBS Woman’s card cap for the month and do not have a HSBC Advance card, you might want to give this a look.
Got me excited for a while cos the subject implied existing altitude members also enjoy this promo…
the existing altitude cardholders get the 3 miles per $1 on overseas spending.
actually, let me tweak the title.
Didn’t read till the bottom cos I thought the sign up bonus was the only offer this article was about and I didn’t qualify… Your new title is much better.
Hmm.
Reading the terms, it is the additional 1 mile per dollar (from the regular 2 miles per dollar) that is limited to 2000 miles? But you need to spend $2500, but you would only get 7000 miles because the additional $500 doesn’t count, i.e. This is really 2.8 miles per dollar….. is my math correct?
well- think of this situation. suppose I spend S$2,500 on the card in total, of which S$2,000 is foreign spend and S$500 is local spend. on the foreign spend i earn 6K miles, on the local spend I earn 600 miles. that’s a total of 6.6k miles for which i spent $2,500, or 2.64 miles per $1. then assume i spend $2,500 on the card in total, of which S$2,500 is foreign spend. on the first $2,000 I get 3 miles per $1, on the next $500 I get 2 miles per $1 or a total of 7k miles. that… Read more »
I applied for this card on 4th Nov. I’ve only received an email saying they are working on my application. Do you think i will still be eligible for this offer or the old one with 8000 miles?
as per the T&C this promotion starts from 5th november. so i think your chances aren’t good. call them and ask if you can cancel and reapply?
Yes, it’s indeed a cap of 2000 miles and not 2000 DBS points. I’ve called the DBS CSO and they admitted the final $500 will earn only the normal 2 mile/dollar rate.
While better than nothing, this does imply stingyness on DBS’s part especially when Citibank’s 3 mile/dollar long weekend promo does not cap the bonus miles below the minimum spend limit (1k)
One clarification. If I am told to email them some document. That would mean I would get “sale assistance” is that right?
my interpretation is yes. you might want to check with them.
Do you think topping up my fevo would constitute as spend?
hahah i have learned that fevo is an area i should not wade into because i dont actually own one. intuitively? yes. but please don’t get mad at me if it doesnt.
Hahahah. You’re funny. No I won’t get mad at you. ๐
Promo has been extended till 31 March 2017.
I have a question which I’m hoping someone can help enlighten pls?
This is with regards to the promotion that Dbs altitude is currently running (get 15k miles when you spend $1k each for first two months). Does Dbs give you miles on your $1k x 2 mths spend in addition to the 15k bonus miles? Or it is just flat 15k bonus miles?
[…] The last sign up bonus that was offered to customers who signed up for the DBS Altitude card was back inย November 2016.ย It has been almost two whole years since we last saw a sign-up bonus offer from DBS for its Altitude product. […]