The UOB PPA was a great card for dining, but with the demise of the HSBC Advance it didn’t have any real competition in town. Offering 10X points, even on a highly discretionary category like eating out, isn’t sustainable in the long term and it seems like UOB has decided to call time on this. It’s been a long time coming.
UOB sent out an SMS today to all UOB PPA cardholders stating the following:
To summarise, starting from 10 October 2017, the maximum UNI$ you can earn on dining transaction is capped at UNI$12K per calendar year. This translates into S$6K of spending, either on overseas or local dining, per calendar year.ย
The T&C attached further clarify that the “counter” starts from 10 October. Up to 10 October, you can spend as much as you want on overseas and local dining and still earn 10X points, without cap.
After 10 October, you’re limited to S$6K for the rest of the calendar year (31 Dec 2017). Subsequently, the S$6K annual cap will apply again for 1 Jan-31 Dec 2018. If you spend more than S$6K in a year, you will earn 2X points, or $1= 0.8 miles. This is the regular earn rate for the UOB PPA.
Implications
The S$6K cap won’t hit people that hard for what’s left of the year, in that you have slightly under 3 months from 10 October till year end. And unless you are what the young kids refer to as “flying like a private passenger jet”, it’s going to take a lot of effort to reach that threshold.
But what about in 2018? Is S$6K annual spending on dining a lot? It depends on your circumstances- those of us fortunate enough to be able to expense company dinners on personal cards, or sociable/shameless enough to say “let me!” when the bill comes when dining out with friends may find the limit restrictive.
So you’re going to want to ration your S$6K cap.ย Here are some suggestions
- Use your UOB Visa Signature (if you have it) when you dine overseas– this will earn you 4 mpd (min S$1K max S$2K per statement period) and won’t burn up your S$6K PPA cap
- If the restaurant you’re dining at takes Paywave, use your UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (max S$1K per calendar month)
- Wherever a restaurant accepts both AMEX and Mileslife, consider using Mileslife. This of course depends on what rate Mileslife is offering with the restaurant, but remember you earn miles from both your credit card and Mileslife. You can also use your Krisflyer Blue card to earn double the miles on Mileslife till end October 2017
- Get a Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card as your backup dining card- with 3.2 mpd on dining (min S$300 spend per month required, on any category) and a very high cap of S$4,285 per month, it’s a good option to have
- Dining out is so overrated- why not order Deliveroo or Ubereats and convert your dining into online spending? You’ll get 4 mpd with your DBS Woman’s World Card + UOB PPV
We know the ground for dining cards in Singapore is getting increasingly thin, but with some smart planning you can continue to maximise the miles you get when you eat out.
I knew this would not last forever… but damn you UOB!!
Besides the minimum $300 expenditure, is there any other restriction on Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card?
I read your other article on the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature.
So there is a cap of $4.285 a month afterall. ๐
Yes! Slipped my mind, have updated. Thanks
But come on man, 4k a month is a lot
RIP PPA. Murdered by UOB before it could expire of natural causes.
I am not keen on orphan miles in Maybank. Should I re-apply for the OCBC voyage? What are your thoughts Aaron?
well, 2.3 vs 3.2. don’t forget the hefty voyage annual fee.
Aaron, is there any cap per month or per year for the UOB Visa signature card? Thanks.
the cap is $2k spend per statement period.
Hi Aaron,
Is this S$6k cap per account or per card? I’ve a supp card holder for this account. Can we spend up to S$12k using both our cards and still enjoy 4 miles per dollar on dining? Or is it capped at S$6k for both of us?
Thanks for the timely update!
Duh of course its per account. If its per card, i can easily sign up 4-5 supp cards and just multiply the cap with the number of supp cards i have.
per account. remember that for all things, the sup cardholder is conceptually you. so late payment fees, points caps etc will all be based on one account rather than two.
if you have 2 UOB PPA principle cards, on the other hand, it will be 12k.
I alo=so found out that the UOB Visa Signature card has been discontinued, when i tried to apply online it failed and when i called the CSO said it had been discontinued and users were being offered the “upgrade” to the PRVI miles card…
my condolences… i might have just applied the last one.
I released that recently my credit card points are crawling very slowly. I read that only UOB PP Visa gives you 4mpd. Does it mean I will not get X10 or my other additional rewards if I use WMC or UOB Priv Miles WMC via paywave?