How to calculate credit card points: General spending cards

What’s harder than splitting the atom? Reconciling credit card points.

Those of you who obsessively track your points will know what I’m talking about. It’s rarely the case that Transaction Amount * Miles Per Dollar = Total Miles, because of how banks calculate and round points.

In fact, rounding policies may mean you don’t always get the headline rates that banks advertise. For example, if you spend S$19.99 in Singapore on your UOB PRVI Miles card, you may think you’ll earn S$19.99*1.4=27.99 miles.

Not quite. UOB’s calculation process involves the following:

• S$19.99 transaction is rounded down to the nearest S$5, i.e. S$15
• 3.5 UNI$ are awarded for each block of S$5, i.e. 10.5 UNI$
• UNI$ are rounded down to the nearest whole number, so the 10.5 UNI$ is further rounded down to 10 UNI$, which is equal to 20 miles

Therefore, your earn rate isn’t 1.4 mpd, it’s actually 1 mpd (and yes, this means that if you spend S$4.99, you earn zero miles)!

It’s an extreme case of course (UOB isn’t the only one guilty of this; OCBC and Maybank do the same), and the effect gets smaller as your transaction gets bigger, but it does show how rounding can mess up what should otherwise be a simple calculation.

In this post, we’ll look at the rounding policies of different general spending cards on the market.

Calculations: General Spending Cards

Here’s how each general spending card rounds and awards points, sorted by the minimum spend required to earn points.

Card	Remarks	Min. Spend to Earn Points
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend	SGD: Multiply trxn. by 1.2, then round to the nearest whole number	S$0.42
	FCY (Jun/Dec only): Multiply trxn. by 2, then round to the nearest whole number	S$0.25
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card	SGD: Multiply trxn. by 1.1, then round to the nearest whole number	S$0.46
	FCY (Jun/Dec only): Multiply trxn. by 2, then round to the nearest whole number	S$0.25
BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard	SGD: Multiply trxn. by 4.5	S$0.01
	FCY: Multiply trxn. by 9
Citi PremierMiles	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$1, then multiply by 1.2. Round to the nearest whole number	S$1
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$1, then multiply by 2.2. Round to the nearest whole number
Citi Prestige	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$1, then multiply by 3.25. Round to the nearest whole number	S$1
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$1, then multiply by 5 (FCY). Round to the nearest whole number
DBS Altitude AMEX/Visa	SGD: Divide trxn. by 5 and multiply by 3.25. Round down to the nearest whole number	S$1.54
	FCY: Divide trxn. by 5 and multiply by 5.5. Round down to the nearest whole number	S$0.91
DBS Vantage	SGD: Divide trxn. by 5 and multiply by 3.75. Round down to the nearest whole number	S$1.34
	FCY: Divide trxn. by 5 and multiply by 5.5 (FCY). Round down to the nearest whole number	S$0.91
HSBC TravelOne Card	SGD:Multiply trxn. by 1, then round to nearest whole number, multiply trxn by 2, then round to nearest whole number. Add both figures	S$0.25
	FCY: Multiply trxn. by 1, then round to nearest whole number, multiply trxn by 5, then round to nearest whole number. Add both figures	S$0.10
HSBC Visa Infinite	SGD: Multiply spend by 2.5, round to the nearest whole number	S$0.20
	FCY: Multiply spend by 2.5, round to the nearest whole number, then multiply by 2
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 6	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 6
Maybank Visa Infinite	SGD: Round down trxn. to the nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 15	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to the nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 25
OCBC 90°N Card	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 6.5. Round to the nearest whole number	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 10.5. Round to the nearest whole number
OCBC Premier Visa Infinite	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 16. Round to the nearest whole number.	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 28. Round to the nearest whole number.
OCBC VOYAGE	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 6.5. Round to the nearest whole number	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 11. Round to the nearest whole number
OCBC VOYAGE (Premier, PPC, BOS)	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 8. Round to the nearest whole number	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 11.5. Round to the nearest whole number
SCB Journey Card	SGD: Multiply trxn. by 3, then round to nearest whole number	S$0.17
	FCY: Multiply trxn. by 3, round to nearest whole number, then multiply trxn. by 2, round to nearest whole number, then add the two figures
SCB Visa Infinite	SGD: Multiply trxn. by 2.5 then round to the nearest whole number*	S$0.20
	FCY: Multiply trxn. by 2.5 then round to the nearest whole number*
UOB PRVI Miles	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 3.5. Round down to the nearest whole number	S$5
	FCY:  Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 6. Round down to the nearest whole number
UOB Visa Infinite Metal	SGD: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 3.5. Round down to the nearest whole number	S$5
	FCY: Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, then multiply by 6. Round down to the nearest whole number
*Bonus 1 (local) and 5 (FCY) points is contingent on hitting S$2K in a statement cycle and is awarded within five days after the end of the statement month

A few things to point out.

Round versus round down

It’s important to note whether your bank rounds or rounds down transaction and points amounts

• Round means 3.6 becomes 4, 3.4 becomes 3 (.5 is always rounded up)
• Round down means that both 3.6 and 3.4 become 3

Obviously, the former is more generous than the latter.

For example, the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend does not round transactions; it rounds the KrisFlyer miles awarded to the nearest whole number. Therefore, a S$36.35 transaction would earn 43.62 miles (36.35*1.2), rounded up to 44 miles.

In contrast, the UOB PRVI Miles rounds down your transaction to the nearest S$5, then rounds down the awarded UNI$ again. So this same S$36.35 transaction would first be rounded down to S$35, then the resulting 24.5 UNI$ (35/5*3.5) would be rounded down to 24 UNI$.

Fractional points

Of all the banks here, BOC is the only one I’m aware of which awards fractional points. If I spend S$10.80 and S$6.85, for example, I’ll get 48.6 points and 30.825 points respectively, or 79.425 points in total. Most other banks would have rounded those figures down to 48 and 30, for a total of 78.

It’s a small difference to be sure, but it really means every cent counts.

Best cards to use for small amounts

The effect of rounding is most noticeable on small transactions. You definitely don’t want to be using OCBC or UOB cards for this, given their S$5 earning blocks!

It’s better to stick with American Express, HSBC, Citibank or Standard Chartered cards, because their rounding policies are less punitive for small amounts. 

Excel formulas

If you’re the sort who uses Excel to calculate your points, here’s formulas to plug and play. “X” refers to the transaction amount.

Card	Formula for Points
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card	SGD: ROUND(X*1.1,0) FCY: ROUND(X*2,0)
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend	SGD: ROUND(X*1.2,0) FCY: ROUND(X*2,0)
BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard	SGD: X * 4.5 FCY: X * 9
Citi PremierMiles	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X,0)*1.2,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X,0)*2.2,0)
Citi Prestige	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X,0)*3.25,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X,0)*5,0)
DBS Altitude AMEX/Visa	SGD: ROUNDDOWN ((X/5)*3.25,0) FCY: ROUNDDOWN ((X/5)*5.5,0)
DBS Vantage	SGD: ROUNDDOWN ((X/5)*3.75,0) FCY: ROUNDDOWN ((X/5)*5.5,0)
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card	SGD & FCY: ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*6
HSBC TravelOne	SGD: ROUND(X*1,0) + ROUND(X*2,0) FCY: ROUND(X*1,0) + ROUND(X*5,0)
HSBC Visa Infinite	SGD: ROUND((X*2.5),0) FCY: ROUND((X*2.5),0)*2
Maybank Visa Infinite	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*15,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*25,0)
OCBC Premier VI	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*16,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*28,0)
OCBC VOYAGE (Normal)	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*6.5,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*11,0)
OCBC VOYAGE (Premier, PPC, BOS)	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*8,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*11.5,0)
OCBC 90°N Card	SGD: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*6.5,0) FCY: ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*10.5,0)
SCB Journey Card	SGD: ROUND(X*3,0) FCY: ROUND(X*3,0)+ ROUND(X*2,0)
SCB Visa Infinite	SGD & FCY: ROUND(X*2.5,0)
UOB PRVI Miles	SGD: ROUNDDOWN (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*3.5,0) FCY: ROUNDDOWN (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*6,0)
UOB Visa Infinite Metal	SGD: ROUNDDOWN (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*3.5,0) FCY: ROUNDDOWN (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*6,0)

Remember that the formulas above give you the number of points you can expect to receive (e.g. UNI$, DBS Points, VOYAGE Miles, OCBC$), not miles. A further calculation is necessary to convert points to miles.

Conclusion

If your mind has turned to mush by now, I don’t blame you. That’s a lot of math to take in, so head on over to the Credit Card Calculator if you want a quick answer.

For what it’s worth, you shouldn’t be doing a lot of spending on your general spending card in the first place. The first port of call should still be specialised spending cards wherever possible!