Review: OCBC Rewards Card

Here’s The MileLion’s review of the OCBC Rewards Card, formerly known as the Titanium Rewards Card.

For years, this was a staple in the wallets of many miles chasers, and what a run it had. Who can forget the glorious days of 4 mpd on all mobile payments, 12 mpd on public transport, 12 mpd on IKEA, and 8 mpd on online shopping during the pandemic?

But in November 2023 came a major devaluation: bonus categories like electronics, IKEA and Courts were removed, and the 4 mpd bonus cap was changed from S$13,335 per year to S$1,110 per month. Losing the bonus categories was painful enough, but the switch to a monthly cap was the real blow, since it limited the ability to use this card for big-ticket purchases.

To make matters worse, early 2024 saw a rebrand that ditched the “Titanium” label and dual colour scheme in favour of a single card, named (somewhat generically) “OCBC Rewards”. No, I don’t care about aesthetics or monikers. What I do care about is that this removed the possibility of doubling the bonus cap by holding both the Pink and Blue versions!

Thankfully, there’s been more to cheer recently, with the introduction of a quarterly 6 mpd promotion. This started off weak, but later gained momentum thanks to the inclusion of MCC 5311 (Department Stores)— and the concurrent rise of HeyMax.

HeyMax allows you to convert diverse categories like dining, groceries, ride-hailing, electronics and petrol into 5311, expanding the scope of OCBC Rewards Card’s otherwise-limited bonus whitelist. In fact, OCBC should really be sending a Christmas card to HeyMax for single-handedly revitalising this card’s fortunes!

OCBC Rewards Card
🦁 MileLion Verdict
☑ Take It ☐ Take It Or Leave It ☐ Leave It
What do these ratings mean?
The OCBC Rewards Card has a limited bonus whitelist, but the fact that HeyMax is one of the bonus categories — plus a quarterly 6 mpd promo — saves the day.
👍 The good	👎 The bad
Nine airline and hotel transfer partners Quarterly 6 mpd promotion Earns bonuses on MCC 5311 (which includes HeyMax)	Limited bonus categories compared to other specialised spending cards S$5 earning blocks Underwhelming transfer ratios for most airline and hotel partners

Overview: OCBC Rewards Card

Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the OCBC Rewards Card.

Apply
Income Req.	S$30,000 p.a.	Points Validity	2 years
Annual Fee	S$196.20 (2 Years Free)	Min. Transfer	25,000 OCBC$* (10,000 miles)
Miles with AF	None	Transfer Partners	9
FCY Fee	3.25%	Transfer Fee	S$25
Local Earn	0.4 mpd	Points Pool?	Yes
FCY Earn	0.4 mpd	Lounge Access?	No
Special Earn	4 mpd on online and offline shopping	Airport Limo?	No
Cardholder Terms and Conditions

First, some legacy matters to address. 

Back when the OCBC Rewards Card was known as the OCBC Titanium Rewards Card, both a blue and pink version were available. Both cards were identical in every way except colour, and each card had its own bonus points cap. Customers were perfectly at liberty to hold both cards, if they wished (and many did).

In contrast, there is only a single OCBC Rewards Card. If you’re holding on to both the blue and pink Titanium Rewards Cards, you can enjoy double the bonus cap until they expire. After that, you’ll only receive a single OCBC Rewards Card as a replacement, and therefore no more double bonus cap.

How much must I earn to qualify for an OCBC Rewards Card?

The OCBC Rewards card has a minimum income requirement of just S$30,000 p.a.

If you do not meet the minimum income requirement, it’s possible to get a secured version of the card by depositing S$10,000 in a fixed deposit with OCBC. Visit any OCBC branch to do the necessary paperwork.

What welcome gifts are available?

Apply

New-to-bank customers who apply for an OCBC Rewards Card through the links in this post can enjoy welcome gifts from SingSaver, including:

• Apple AirPods 4
• Stryv Airflex 2.0
• S$200 Shopee voucher
• S$160 cash

Cardholders must make at least one transaction of any amount within 30 days of card approval. 

New-to-bank customers are defined as those who do not currently hold a principal OCBC credit card, and have not cancelled one in the past 12 months.

How much is the OCBC Rewards Card’s annual fee?

The OCBC Rewards Card has an annual fee of S$196.20 for the principal cardholder, and S$98.10 for each supplementary card. These fees are waived for the first two years.

In subsequent years, a fee waiver will be automatically granted if you spend at least S$10,000 in a membership year, though based on personal experience, OCBC is not very strict about this requirement.

No points are awarded for the payment of the annual fee.

How many miles do I earn?

SGD/FCY Spend

OCBC Rewards Cardmembers earn a base rate of 5 OCBC$ for every S$5 spent (0.4 mpd) in Singapore Dollars or FCY.

All transactions in FCY attract an FCY fee of 3.25%.

Needless to say, you don’t want to be using the OCBC Rewards Card as a general spending card!

Online and Offline Shopping

OCBC Rewards Cardmembers earn a total of 50 OCBC$ for every S$5 spent (4 mpd) on shopping.

This applies to both offline and online transactions, whether in SGD and FCY, and is capped at 10,000 bonus OCBC$ per calendar month (equivalent to S$1,110 of spending).

Prior to 1 November 2023, the bonus cap was based on membership year, allowing cardholders to utilise their entire 4 mpd cap on a single big ticket purchase of up to S$13,335.  Unfortunately, that’s no longer possible, and you’ll need to consistently spend each month to extract the most value from this card.

OCBC defines shopping as purchases made at any merchant with the following MCCs:

While the list of bonus-eligible MCCs may seem rather brief (and it is!), one big plus is the inclusion of department stores (MCC 5311). Why? Because of HeyMax.

HeyMax sells vouchers for numerous merchants across different categories.

👍 250 Max Miles joining bonus
Sign up for a HeyMax account and get up to 250 Max Miles as a welcome bonus
250 bonus Max Miles
Airalo Amazon Best Denki Courts Deliveroo Foodpanda Giant Grab IKEA Klook Lazada Muji	Natureland NTUC FairPrice Oddle Eats Pelago Pupsik Ryde Shein Shell Sheng Siong Sephora TADA TANGS ZALORA

Transactions made directly at these merchants would code under a wide range of MCCs, most of which would not be eligible for bonuses with the OCBC Rewards Card.

But if you buy vouchers from HeyMax, the MCC gets standardised to 5311. I hope you see where I’m going here. Whether you’re buying electronics or furniture, booking activities, taking a Grab or gojek, ordering food delivery, buying eSIMs or shopping online, you can use HeyMax to turn that into a 4 mpd opportunity for the OCBC Rewards Card.

The sheer variety of HeyMax voucher coverage means you should be easily maxing out the bonus cap each month. To sweeten the deal even further, you can earn Max Miles from voucher purchases on top of your credit card miles, convertible to 28 different airline and hotel programmes at a 1:1 ratio.

In addition to the MCC whitelist, transactions at the following merchants are also eligible for 4 mpd.

Can I use Amaze?

If you’re spending in FCY, you might be thinking of pairing the OCBC Rewards Card with Amaze for better FX rates.

You will still earn 4 mpd in situations where bonuses are awarded based on MCC, e.g. shopping at Harrod’s (MCC 5311), as Amaze does not change the MCC. 

You will not earn 4 mpd in situations where bonuses are awarded based on merchant name, e.g. AliExpress. This is because Amaze modifies the merchant name to Amaze*Merchant, which messes up tracking.

What’s the best card to use with Amaze?

Quarterly 6 mpd promotion

Since January 2024, the OCBC Rewards Card has been running a quarterly promotion that offers 6 mpd at selected merchants, such as duty-free and departmental stores.

• Q1 2024: TANGS & SHEIN
• Q2 2024: Duty-free shopping, department stores and Watsons
• Q3/4 2024: Department stores and Watsons
• Q1/2 2025: Department stores and Watsons
• Q3/4 2025: Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, Taobao and Watsons

No registration is required, and the 6 mpd earn rate is capped at S$1,000 per calendar month. Any spending above this threshold will earn the usual 4 mpd up till S$1,110, and 0.4 mpd after that.

What was particularly amazing about this promotion is that from 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2025, MCC 5311 was eligible to earn 6 mpd, making the previously-mentioned HeyMax option even more lucrative.

The current promotion no longer includes 5311, but does cover Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, Taobao and Watsons. Some of these platforms also sell vouchers for other merchants, though the coverage is not as wide as HeyMax, and some vouchers are sold above face value. 

When are OCBC$ credited?

Base points will be awarded when the transaction posts (typically in 1-3 working days).

Bonus points will be received by the end of the next calendar month. If you’re earning points under the limited-time quarterly 6 mpd promotion, the extra 5X points (2 mpd) will also be credited by the end of the next calendar month.

OCBC does not have a fixed crediting date, but based on previous data points, you can expect to receive the bonus between the 15th to the 21st.

How are OCBC$ calculated?

Here’s how you can work out the OCBC$ earned on your OCBC Rewards Card:

On 1 June 2020, OCBC started awarding credit card points in blocks of S$5. This means you’ll be penalised should your transaction not be in a block of S$5. For example, a S$9.90 transaction will earn the same number of points as a S$5 transaction, and a S$4.99 transaction will earn zero points. In other words, the minimum transaction to earn points is S$5. 

Here’s how this policy affects the miles you earn on the OCBC Rewards Card, compared to another 4 mpd card like the Citi Rewards. 

	OCBC Rewards Earn Rate: 4 mpd	Citi Rewards Earn Rate: 4 mpd
S$5	20 miles	20 miles
S$9.99	20 miles	36 miles
S$15	60 miles	60 miles
S$19.99	60 miles	76 miles
S$25	100 miles	100 miles
S$29.99	100 miles	116 miles

If you’re an Excel geek, here’s the formulas you need to calculate points: 

For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:

• General Spending Cards
• Specialised Spending Cards

OCBC provides a breakdown of points earned, though this is somewhat poorly executed since reference numbers are used for tracking, instead of merchant names. You’ll need to cross reference with your card statement to figure out which transaction is which.

Full instructions are provided below. 

How to check credit card points breakdowns

What transactions aren’t eligible for OCBC$?

A full list of transactions that do not earn OCBC$ can be found in the T&Cs.

I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:

• Charitable Donations
• Education
• GrabPay Top-Ups
• Government Services 
• Insurance Premiums
• Non-Profit and Government Hospitals
• Real Estate Agents & Managers

The OCBC Rewards will not earn 4 mpd on platforms like CardUp, ipaymy and RentHero.

You can earn points on bus/MRT rides with SimplyGo, but there’s no reason to settle for 0.4 mpd when much better options exist.

What do I need to know about OCBC$?

Expiry

OCBC$ earned on the OCBC Rewards Card expire after 2 years.

For example, OCBC$ earned from 1-30 November 2023 will expire on 30 November 2025.

Pooling

OCBC uses three different rewards currencies:

• OCBC$
• 90°N Miles
• VOYAGE Miles

Similar rewards currencies are pooled. For example, if you have 20,000 OCBC$ on the OCBC Rewards Card, and 10,000 OCBC$ on the OCBC Premier Visa Infinite, you can redeem 30,000 OCBC$ at one shot and pay a single conversion fee. However, you cannot combine 90°N/VOYAGE Miles together with OCBC$ in a single redemption.

Since OCBC$ pool, you do not need to transfer them out before cancelling your OCBC Rewards Card, assuming it’s not your last OCBC$-earning card.

Transfer Partners & Fee

OCBC has a total of nine airline and hotel transfer partners.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (OCBC$ : Miles)
	25,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 4,000
	10,000 : 4,000
	10,000 : 4,000
	10,000 : 3,600
	10,000 : 3,600
	10,000 : 2,900
	10,000 : 2,800
	10,000 : 2,000

Sadly, the conversion ratios of most partners are disappointing. 

I would at the very least have expected Asia Miles to enjoy the same conversion ratio as KrisFlyer. That’s the way it is for every other bank on the market, and it effectively eliminates Asia Miles as a viable transfer partner. After all, why on earth would you take a 25% haircut on the value of your OCBC points (and therefore your card spending rebate) when no other bank forces you to do that?

Likewise, it’s disappointing to see that there’s a 10% haircut for British Airways Executive Club and Etihad Guest, when Citibank and the HSBC TravelOne Card offer transfers to both at the same ratio as KrisFlyer. 

As for hotel partners, the ratios for IHG and Marriott Bonvoy aren’t that appealing when you factor in the opportunity cost- you’re basically forgoing 1 KrisFlyer mile (~1.5 SG cents) for every IHG (~0.5 US cents/0.67 SG cents) or Bonvoy (~0.7 US cents/0.94 SG cents)

The only non-KrisFlyer programmes I might consider would be Air France-KLM Flying Blue and Accor Live Limitless. With Accor, 2,000 points = €40, so there is an opportunity cost of 1.5 cents per KrisFlyer mile, roughly what I’d deem acceptable.

OCBC, to its credit, does offer periodic transfer bonuses which can improve the ratios:

• November 2024: ~20% transfer bonus to Asia Miles
• July 2024: 70% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy
• June 2024: 15% transfer bonus to British Airways Executive Club
• November 2023: 15% transfer bonus to Asia Miles
• October 2023: 20% transfer bonus to Flying Blue
• October 2023: 50% transfer bonus to IHG One Rewards

 Regarding minimum conversion blocks:

• Transfers for KrisFlyer miles must be in blocks of 25,000 OCBC$ (10,000 miles)
• Transfers for all other programmes must be a minimum of 10,000 OCBC$ (2,000-4,000 miles/points), but subsequent conversions can be in blocks of 1,000 OCBC$ (200-400 miles/points). 

A S$25 fee applies to all conversions. 

Transfer Times

OCBC splits its partners across two different platforms:

• Transfers for KrisFlyer miles are done via the OCBC Rewards portal, and are usually processed within 24 hours

• Transfers for the other programmes are done via the STACK Rewards portal, under the Points Exchange tab. Transfers should be instantaneous, because they’re powered by Ascenda Loyalty which has a direct API linkage with the programmes. 

Other card perks

Bonus interest with OCBC 360 account

Spending at least S$500 per month on the OCBC Rewards Card will qualify for the Spend bonus on the OCBC 360 Account.

Here’s the OCBC 360 Account’s current interest rate structure, which is valid till 31 July 2025.

From 1 August 2025, the interest rate structure will be revised as follows.

Assuming you keep the full S$100,000 inside, that works out to an additional S$400 per year in interest.

Terms and Conditions

• OCBC Rewards Terms and Conditions
• OCBC Rewards 6 mpd promotion
• OCBC$ Rewards Programme Terms and Conditions

Summary Review: OCBC Rewards Card

Apply

🦁 MileLion Verdict

☑ Take It ☐ Take It Or Leave It ☐ Leave It

On its own, the OCBC Rewards Card is of limited use because of its restrictive bonus whitelist. There are many other specialised spending cards out there which reward a wider range of spending. 

But HeyMax changes everything. With HeyMax, the OCBC Rewards Card can earn 4 mpd on food delivery, groceries, activities, electronics, furniture, and petrol — basically anything you can buy a voucher for. And while it’s unfortunate that the quarterly 6 mpd promotion no longer covers HeyMax, major merchants like Lazada, Shopee and Watsons are still included.

OCBC also offers a decent variety of transfer partners, though given the ratios, only KrisFlyer, Flying Blue and Accor are really of any value. 

That said, if my spending were more modest, I wouldn’t prioritise getting an OCBC Rewards Card. I would instead focus on using (in this order) the Citi Rewards Card, DBS Woman’s World Card, UOB Lady’s Card and HSBC Revolution Card before bringing the OCBC Rewards Card into the picture. Both the Citi Rewards and DBS Woman’s World Card offer 4 mpd on almost all online spending, without the need for the HeyMax layer. 

So that’s my review of the OCBC Rewards Card. What do you think?