Bad news: OCBC 90°N introducing S$5 earning blocks, adding new rewards exclusions

From 1 June 2020, the OCBC 90°N will be updating its T&Cs to introduce S$5 earning blocks and additional rewards exclusion categories.

In a nutshell, these changes are bad. Cardholders suffer an effective devaluation in the miles earn rate thanks to the S$5 earning blocks, and the new exclusions further limit the places you can earn rewards.

The old T&Cs can be found here, while the new T&Cs can be found here. For ease of reference, I’ve created a comparison which you can view here.

Introduction of S$5 earning blocks

Here’s how earning points on the OCBC 90°N Card will change from 1 June 2020.

On first glance, it seems like the status quo’s been maintained. After all, S$1 currently earns you 1.2 Travel$. From 1 June 2020, S$5 earns you 6 Travel$. Some quick math shows they’re one and the same, right?

Not quite. The devil is in the details, or rather, the rounding.

Here’s how OCBC currently calculates points on the 90°N Card:

• Round transaction down to the nearest S$1
• Multiply by 1.2 (local) or 2.1 (FCY)
• Round figure to nearest whole number

From 1 June 2020, here’s how points will be calculated:

• Round transaction down to nearest S$5
• Divide transaction by 5
• Multiply by 6 (local) or 10.5 (FCY)
• Round figure to nearest whole number

If that’s too much math for you, perhaps this table will clarify things:

The introduction of S$5 blocks effectively devalues the earn rate, because there is no scenario where 90°N cardholders come out better, and several where they come out worse.

Now, the effect of rounding obviously gets smaller as your transaction size increases, and the most miles you’d lose on any transaction is 5. At the same time, however, it just doesn’t seem equitable that someone who spends S$14.99 is rewarded the same as someone who spends S$10. After all, the merchant fees a bank earns from a S$14.99 transaction will be more than on a S$10 transaction- why should they pocket all of the extra?

New exclusion categories

From 1 June 2020, the following transactions will no longer earn points:

• MCC 7349: Cleaning, Maintenance and Janitorial Services
• MCC 4784: Tolls and Bridge Fees
• MCC 5993: Cigars, Stores and Stands
• MCC 8675: Automobile Associations
• MCC 8699: Labour Union
• Transactions to Singapore Government Public Hospitals including Non-Profit Hospitals, Community Hospitals and Polyclinics under the MCC 8062
• Transactions under Transportation and Tolls MCC 4111/4121/4131 except for Grab Transport, Gojek and Comfort/Citycab transactions

There’s not much to say about cleaning services, automobile associations or labour unions, but here’s my thoughts on the rest.

👍 Cleaning services rendered through Helpling don’t code as MCC 7349. Instead, they code as MCC 5734 Computer Software Stores. I know, right?

MCC 4784

We don’t have bridge fees in Singapore, but my guess is MCC 4784 covers MotorPay transactions. MotorPay, for the uninitiated, is a service which lets you pass through ERP gantries without a cashcard in your IU. Your tolls are billed to your credit card on a periodic basis.

MCC 5993

The loss of cigar stores is…puzzling, but this isn’t the first time a bank’s taken a stand on clean lungs. A while back I wrote about the weirdest things I’ve found in credit card T&Cs, and smack in the middle of DBS Reward’s T&Cs was this gem:

4.5 The use of Redemption Voucher for any tobacco or tobacco related product purchases are not allowed.

So yeah. Don’t smoke, kids.

MCC 8062

It’s important to note that OCBC has not done a blanket exclusion of MCC 8062. Rather, they’re excluding public, non-profit, and community hospitals, as well as polyclinics. These entities presumably enjoy a discounted MDR (merchant discount rate) which makes rewards uneconomical.

OCBC has told me that you will continue to earn points at private hospitals under MCC 8062, such as Gleneagles, Mount Alvernia, Farrer Park Hospital etc. I’ve requested for the full list of private hospitals where points will still be earned, and will update this article when I receive it.

MCC 4111/4121/4131

This one’s particularly confusing. OCBC will cease to award points on transactions under MCC 4111/4121/4131, except for transactions with Grab Transport, Gojek and licensed taxi operators (including, without limitation, Comfort/Citycab/ Transcab/ SMRT Taxi/ Premier Taxi/ Prime Taxi/ HDT Taxi).

This would rule out other private car hire services.

Conclusion

The OCBC 90°N still retains its no-fee conversions, a transfer block of just 1,000 Travel$, and non-expiring points.

However, it’s disheartening to see them join UOB in the “S$5 block” club, and I really hope this doesn’t entice other banks to do likewise.