DBS extends online and contactless promo for September: Get 8% cash rebates (up to S$160)

Back in July, DBS launched its “Go Online, Go Contactless” promotion, which awarded up to S$160 in cash credits or e-vouchers each month for meeting a certain minimum spend. 

This campaign was supposed to end on 31 August 2020, but DBS has extended it a further month to 30 September 2020. They’ve also removed all the e-voucher “booby prizes”- for the month of September, all gifts will be given in the form of cash credits. 

DBS Go Online, Go Contactless

If you registered previously, there’s no need to register again- you’ll automatically be eligible for this month’s promotion as well. If you haven’t already registered, sorry- all 30,000 slots have already been fully subscribed. 

As a recap, registered participants will receive a personalised spend goal (check it on the DBS Lifestyle app).  This is based on how much they spent online on average from Feb to May 2020. 

Cardholders then need to hit their spending goal in Qualifying Period 1, Qualifying Period 2, Qualifying Period 3, or any combination of the three. 

Upon meeting the target, they’ll get 8% of their spend goal back in the form of cash credits or e-vouchers. They can receive one reward for each qualifying period, and only need to register once. 

The spending target can be hit with online/in-app purchases or contactless spending at any merchant except the following: 

“Contactless spending” includes transactions made with the physical card, as well as those made through mobile wallets like Apple/Samsung/Google Pay. What’s interesting is that the T&Cs explicitly state the transaction amount must be S$200 or less- I think this is a hangover from the old days when contactless transactions were capped at that amount. That hasn’t been the case for a long time though, so I find the inclusion of the term somewhat odd. If it really worries you, break up your transaction accordingly. 

Your spending will be combined across all your DBS/POSB credit cards, and supplementary cardholder spending will accrue to that of the principal cardholder. 

What gifts are available?

Here’s the full list of gifts and the quantity available for each Qualifying Period. 

As mentioned previously, DBS has scrapped all the e-vouchers for Qualifying Period 3. It’s plain vanilla cash, and plain vanilla never tasted so good. 

Cash gifts will be credited to the qualifying cardholder’s account by 60 days after the end of each Qualifying Period, and remember: you must redeem it on the DBS Lifestyle App. It does not automatically post to your account, and if you fail to claim your gift in time (by 31 October 2020), too bad. 

The full T&C can be found here, and the FAQs here.

What card should I be using to hit my spending goal?

For online spending, you’ll definitely want to use your DBS Woman’s World Card for 4 mpd, capped at the first S$2,000 each month.

For contactless spending, the DBS Altitude would earn the usual 1.2 mpd for local currency spending. You could do much better with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (4 mpd), however, so to minimize the opportunity cost, try to hit your spending goal via online spending. 

Conclusion

Most miles collectors will already be using their DBS Woman’s World Card for all online spending, so this simply adds an extra 8% rebate on top of the usual 4 mpd.

Do remember that there’s usually a time lag between transactions posting and the DBS Lifestyle App tracker updating, so don’t worry if your online/contactless transactions aren’t showing up straight away.