Review: OCBC Titanium Rewards Card

Here’s the MileLion’s review of the OCBC Titanium Rewards Card, the Blue and Pink dynamic duo that’s been a fixture in many miles chasers’ wallets ever since its 2016 relaunch.

But maybe not anymore.

Oh yes, we’ve had some good times with this card. Who can forget the heady days of 4 mpd everywhere via mobile payments, 12 mpd on public transport, 12 mpd on IKEA, and 8 mpd on online shopping during the pandemic?

Sadly, OCBC now seems fixated on tightening its belt. On 1 November 2023, the OCBC Titanium Rewards was on the receiving end of a massive nerf which saw the bonuses for electronics stores, IKEA and Courts removed, and the 4 mpd cap changed from S$13,335 annually to S$1,110 per month. As painful as the former was, it’s the latter that really nuked the value proposition, since the main use case for this card was big ticket spending.

In short, the once-essential Titanium Rewards has suffered a dramatic fall from grace, and I shed few tears when cancelling my card.

OCBC Titanium Rewards
🦁 MileLion Verdict
☐ Take It  Take It Or Leave It ☑ Leave It
What do these ratings mean?
With its 4 mpd now capped by month instead of year and a restrictive whitelist, there’s very few things the OCBC Titanium Rewards does that other cards can’t do better.
👍 The good	👎 The bad
Blue and Pink cards have their own 4 mpd caps Nine airline and hotel transfer partners	4 mpd cap is now applied on a monthly basis instead of annual Limited bonus categories compared to other 4 mpd cards S$5 earning blocks Underwhelming transfer ratios for most airline and hotel partners

Overview: OCBC Titanium Rewards

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

Apply
Income Req.	S$30,000 p.a.	Points Validity	2 years
Annual Fee	S$194.40 (2 Years Free)	Min. Transfer	25,000 OCBC$ (10,000 miles)
Miles with Annual Fee	None	Transfer Partners	SIA Air France-KLM British Airways Cathay Etihad United Accor IHG Marriott
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

As you might have already observed, there are two variants of the OCBC Titanium Rewards Card: the Blue and the Pink. Both cards are identical in every way except colour.

Curb your stereotypes: men are perfectly at liberty to apply for the Pink, and women the Blue. In fact, you might even want to swing both ways and get both, because each card has its own bonus cap and OCBC$ pool.

We’ll discuss this more below.

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

The OCBC Titanium Rewards card has a minimum income requirement of just S$30,000 p.a., the MAS-mandated minimum.

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.

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

	Principal Card	Supp. Card
First 2 Years	Free	Free
Subsequent	S$194.40	S$97.20

The OCBC Titanium Rewards Card has an annual fee of S$194.40 for the principal cardholder, and S$97.20 for each supplementary card. These fees are waived for the first 2 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 Spend	🌎 FCY Spend	⭐ Bonus Spend
0.4 mpd	0.4 mpd	4 mpd on selected online and offline shopping

SGD/FCY Spend

OCBC Titanium Rewards Card members earn:

• 5 OCBC$ for every S$5 spent in Singapore Dollars
• 5 OCBC$ for every S$5 spent foreign currency (FCY)

1 OCBC$ is worth 0.4 airline miles, so that’s an effective earn rate of 0.4 mpd for both local and FCY spending.

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

Online and Offline Shopping

OCBC Titanium Rewards Card members earn 50 OCBC$ for every S$5 spent (4 mpd) on online and offline shopping, whether in local or FCY spend. This is capped at 10,000 bonus OCBC$ per calendar month, or S$1,110 per calendar month. 

Caps are applied on a card basis. If you have both the Blue and Pink versions of the OCBC Titanium Rewards Card, you’ll enjoy a combined monthly 4 mpd cap of S$2,220 (S$1,110*2).

Prior to 1 November 2023, the bonus cap was applied per membership year, allowing cardholders to utilise their entire 4 mpd cap on a single big ticket purchase of up to S$13,335. That’s no longer possible, and nerfs one of the best use cases for this card. 

Moreover, it was relatively easy to make one large transaction that maxed out the 120,000 bonus OCBC$ cap, then stop spending on the card for the rest of the year. Now, you’ll have to make transactions of S$1,110 for 12 consecutive calendar months, which realistically speaking means bonus OCBC$ left on the table.

What is online and offline shopping?

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

💳 OCBC Titanium Rewards Bonus Whitelist
MCC	Examples (non-exhaustive)
MCC 5309 Duty Free Stores	Lotte Duty Free, King Power Duty Free, The Shilla Duty Free
MCC 5311 Departmental Stores	Takashimaya, TANGS, Isetan, OG, Metro, BHG, Marks & Spencer
MCC 5611 Men’s and Boys’ Clothing and Accessories Stores	Benjamin Barker, Timberland, Edit Suits, Berluti
MCC 5621 Women’s Ready to Wear Stores	Zara, H&M, Mothercare
MCC 5631 Women’s Accessory and Speciality Stores	Tory Burch, Love Bonito, Pandora
MCC 5641 Children’s and Infants’ Wear Stores	Kiddy Palace, Mummys Market, Pupsik, Motherswork
MCC 5651 Family Clothing Stores	Uniqlo, ASOS, Club 21, Burberry, Yoox
MCC 5655 Sports and Riding Apparel	Nike, Lululemon, Adidas
MCC 5661 Shoe Stores	Skechers, Charles & Keith, Bata, Foot Locker, Pazzion
MCC 5691 Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores	Ezbuy, Zalora, Fartech
MCC 5699 Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Shops	Qoo10, Cotton On, Reebonz
MCC 5941 Sporting Goods Stores	Decathlon, Fila, New Balance
MCC 5948 Luggage or Leather Goods Stores	Louis Vuitton, Coach, Rimowa

Key changes that took place on 1 November 2023:

❌ Removed	✅ Added
MCC 5045 Computers, Peripherals and Software MCC 5732 Electronics Stores	MCC 5309 Duty Free Stores MCC 5655 Sports and Riding Apparel MCC 5941 Sporting Goods Stores MCC 5948 Luggage or Leather Goods Stores

For avoidance of doubt, Amaze does not change the MCC of a transaction, so all the abovementioned transactions will still earn bonuses when you pair the OCBC Titanium rewards Card with Amaze. This could come in useful when shopping at overseas factory outlet stores, for example. 

In addition to this, transactions at the following merchants are also eligible for 4 mpd:

🛒 Specified Merchants
Alibaba AliExpress Amazon^ Daigou Ezbuy Guardian Lazada	Mustafa Centre^ NTUC Unity Qoo10 Shopee* Taobao TikTok Shop Watsons
^Amazon and Mustafa Centre transactions under MCC 5411 are not eligible to earn any OCBC$ *Shopee Pay transactions under MCC 5262 are not eligible to earn any OCBC$

Key changes that took place on 1 November 2023:

❌ Removed	✅ Added
Courts IKEA	Guardian NTUC Unity TikTok Shop Watsons

Do note that bonuses are awarded based on specific merchant name, so if you use a card that modifies the name of the merchant (e.g. Amaze), you will not earn the bonus.

Historically speaking, the OCBC Titanium Rewards Card has ran some fantastic bonus points promotions, which are a great way to pick up a few more miles. Unfortunately, these have since dried up, and the last one we saw was in October 2020. 

• 2017 and 2018: 4 mpd on all mobile payments
• January 2018: 4 mpd on dining
• March 2018: 12 mpd at IKEA
• May 2018: 8 mpd on Emirates
• July 2018: 12 mpd at ZALORA
• November 2018: 12 mpd on public transport
• April 2019: 8 mpd on Deliveroo, foodpanda, Netflix
• October 2020: 8 mpd on Amazon, Qoo10, Shopee

Many of these promotions are targeted. To receive these alerts, ensure you’ve given consent to receive marketing messages from OCBC (you can opt in via ibanking). 

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.

Base Points (1X)	Credited when transaction posts
Bonus Points  (9X)	Credited by the end of the next calendar month

How are OCBC$ calculated?

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

Base Points (1X)	Round down transaction to nearest S$5, then divide by 5 and multiply by 5
Bonus Points (9X)	Round down transaction to nearest S$5, then divide by 5 and multiply 45

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 Titanium Rewards Card, compared to another 4 mpd card like the Citi Rewards. 

	OCBC Titanium 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: 

Base Points (1X)	=ROUNDDOWN (X/5,0)*5
Bonus Points (9X)	=ROUNDDOWN (X/5,0)*45
Where X= Amount Spent

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 does provide a breakdown of points earned, though this is somewhat poorly executed since OCBC uses reference numbers rather than merchant names for tracking. You’ll need to cross reference 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 Titanium 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.

For avoidance of doubt, Amaze transactions are eligible to earn 4 mpd with the OCBC Titanium Rewards, subject to the MCC falling under the relevant bonus categories.

What’s the best card to use with Amaze?

What do I need to know about OCBC$?

❌ Expiry	↔️ Pooling	💰 Transfer Fee
2 years	Yes	S$25 (per conversion)
⬆️ Min. Transfer	✈️ No. of Partners	⏱️ Transfer Time
10,000 OCBC$	9	<24 hours

Expiry

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

For example, OCBC$ earned from 1-31 July 2020 will expire on 31 July 2022, and OCBC$ earned from 1-30 November 2023 will expire on 30 November 2025.

Pooling

OCBC$ pool across all cards that earn OCBC$, but not with OCBC’s other rewards currencies (Travel$, VOYAGE Miles).

For example, if you have 20,000 OCBC$ on both the Blue and Pink versions of the OCBC Titanium Rewards Card, you can redeem 40,000 OCBC$ at one shot and pay a single conversion fee. However, you cannot combine Travel$/VOYAGE Miles together with OCBC$ in a single redemption.

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

Transfer Partners & Fee

After numerous delays, OCBC has finally added eight new airline and hotel partners to its repertoire. 

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

Unfortunately, the transfer ratios for the eight new partners leave a lot to be desired. 

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. 

It’s true that United MileagePlus does enjoy a slightly better ratio via OCBC than Standard Chartered (3,500 SC points = 1,000 United miles), but we’re really talking fine margins here. Moreover, MileagePlus isn’t anywhere as useful as it used to be- while it absorbs fuel surcharges on redemptions (very handy for Lufthansa awards), the programme received a massive nerf in early June. 

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)

What about Accor? This is an easier comparison since Accor works like a cashback programme where 2,000 points = €40. This implies an opportunity cost of 1.5 SG cents per KrisFlyer mile, which is marginal, really. I would only consider it if Accor brings back one of its conversion bonuses.

Regarding minimum conversion blocks:

• Transfers for KrisFlyer miles must be in blocks of 25,000 OCBC$
• Transfers for all other programmes must be a minimum of 10,000 OCBC$, but subsequent conversions can be in blocks of 1,000 OCBC$. 

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 more or less instantaneous (with the exception of Accor Live Limitless, which will take a few working days), because they’re powered by Ascenda Loyalty which has a direct API linkage with the airlines. 

Other card perks

Bonus interest with OCBC 360 account

🏦 New OCBC 360 Structure (From 1 Nov 2022)
	First S$75K	Next S$25K
Salary	2.0%	4.0%
Save	1.2%	2.4%
Spend	0.6%	0.6%
Wealth (Insure)	1.2%	2.4%
Wealth (Invest)	1.2%	2.4%
Base Interest	0.05%
Max EIR	7.65%
Additional Grow bonus of 2.4% p.a. available if minimum ADB at least S$200,000

OCBC Titanium Rewards Cardholders who spend at least S$500 per month on their card will be eligible for a bonus 0.6% p.a. on the first S$100,000 in an OCBC 360 Account.

Assuming you keep the full S$100,000 inside, that works out to an extra S$600 interest per year. 

Terms and Conditions

• OCBC Titanium Rewards Terms and Conditions
• OCBC$ Rewards Programme Terms and Conditions

Summary Review: OCBC Titanium Rewards Card

Apply

🦁 MileLion Verdict

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

At the start of 2023, I’d have considered the OCBC Titanium Rewards to be essential because it filled a role that no other card could: big ticket purchases. If you were splurging on the latest iPhone, on buying furniture for your new house at IKEA or Courts, this was undoubtedly the card to use.

But following the 1 November 2023 nerf, I can think of half a dozen or so cards I’d sooner use before the Titanium Rewards.

Card	Earn Rate	Cap	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	S$1K per s. month	Online spend ex. travel
DBS WWMC Apply	4 mpd	S$2K per c. month	Online spend
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	S$1K per c. month	Groceries, dining, travel, transport, shopping
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	6 mpd	S$1K per c. month	Choice of 1 bonus category
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	6 mpd	S$3K per c. month	Choice of 2 bonus categories
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd	S$1.1K per c. month	Mobile contactless  spend
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd	S$2K per s. month*	Contactless spend
*Min S$1K spend per statement month

All these cards offer:

• Comparable or higher earn rates
• Comparable or higher monthly bonus caps
• a wider range of bonus categories

I want to expand on that third point a bit more because it cuts to the heart of the issue. The OCBC Titanium Rewards has one of the smallest whitelists of any specialised spending card. Cardholders could close one eye when an annual bonus cap was in place, but change it to a monthly one, and it quickly drops to the back of the pecking order. 

To be clear, there are scenarios where someone could find the OCBC Titanium Rewards useful, but they’re very specific ones where (1) you’re a big spender who maxed out the bonus caps on other 4-6 mpd cards already or (2) you’re buying a big ticket item where the cost can be split over several cards, and said item falls into the Titanium Reward’s whitelist. 

It just doesn’t seem to be worth the hassle for me, and that’s why this once-essential card is now something I can easily do without. 

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