SCB relaunches (plastic) X Card with 60,000 miles sign up bonus; clarifies eligible spending

Well well well. Just a couple of days after I speculated when we’d see the X Card return, SCB has gone and relaunched the product- but not quite how I expected it.

It’s now possible get your hands on an SCB X Card once again- if you’re ok with plastic. As per SCB’s website:

As metal X Cards need a longer time to produce, we thought it is better for you to receive a plastic card first to experience the power of X. You can still enjoy all X Card privileges, the metal X Card will be sent to you as soon as it is ready

According to SCB, plastic X Cards will be sent out in white envelopes as an interim measure until metal X Cards and boxes are ready. Plastic cardholders will automatically be upgraded to metal cards upon availability, with no action needed from them.

What I also didn’t expect is that SCB has kept the same 60,000 miles sign up bonus that we saw just before the card got pulled on 20 August. This suggests the reason for the suspension was a lack of card stock rather than acquisition budget.

SCB clarifies exclusion categories for sign up bonus

With so much on the line, it’s no wonder people are going into paranoid overdrive about what does and doesn’t count towards the S$6,000 spending for the 100,000 (or 60,000 if you missed the boat) miles sign up bonus.

Although SCB already lists excluded transactions in the T&Cs, it’s come out to provide some helpful clarifications on frequently asked questions:

Unfortunately, there’s no still answer to the always bewitching Paypal question, or SimplyGo for that matter. Nonetheless, it’s a step in the right direction and I hope the FAQ will be updated as necessary.

The FAQs also re-emphasize that the bank is unable to confirm with individual cardholders if the spending requirement has been met, that cardholders will receive an SMS informing them about their eligibility by 30 November, and that points cannot be credited in advance.

Conclusion

I’m curious to see what a plastic X Card looks like, so if you happen to receive one please let me know.

As I’ve said before, a 60,000 miles sign up bonus, while obviously not as good as 100,000 miles, is still a very compelling offer. You’ll need to pay a non-waivable S$695.50 annual fee, but your net cost will be about 1.16 cents per mile, which is quite a bargain in the grand scheme of things.

Everyone who got on board with the 100,000 miles sign up bonus should have completed their qualifying spending by now, so all that’s left to do is wait for the end of November to roll round.