Kris+ offering 2X miles or 25% milesback- earn up to 10 mpd in total

Kris+ (formerly known as KrisPay) is running a pair of Christmas offers from now till 25 December 2020, featuring 2X miles or 25% milesback at various merchants across Singapore. 

While the milesback promotion is nothing to get excited about, the 2X miles offer allows Kris+ users to earn up to 6 mpd from the app, which stacks with 4 mpd on the right credits cards for a total of 10 mpd. 

The T&C for both offers can be found here. 

Kris+ 2X miles promotion

From 14-25 December 2020, Kris+ users can earn 2X the usual miles at the following 27 merchants:

There is no cap on the maximum miles you can earn with this promotion. Do note the Kris+ app shows the upsized rate already, e.g if you see 2 KrisPay miles per S$1 with Bottles & Bottles, that’s the final rate. 

It costs you absolutely nothing to earn miles with Kris+, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be doing this. 

How do I earn miles with Kris+?

The old KrisPay app received a major visual makeover when Kris+ launched, and the “Earn” button was relocated. To find it now, tap “Wallet” on the home screen, then “Earn”. You’ll need to manually type in the amount you’re spending, which generates a QR code that you let the cashier scan. 

Frankly, I’m not a fan of this process as anything that requires manual customer input is prone to errors and forgetfulness. 

Speaking of forgetfulness, it’s not enough to remember to earn- you need to remember to transfer too. KrisPay miles earned via Kris+ can only be transferred to KrisFlyer within 7 days of the transaction. Wait any longer, and they’ll be stuck in Kris+ forever (with a six month expiry, to boot). 

Fortunately, a big “transfer to KrisFlyer” button appears upon completing your transaction, so there’s no excuse to not do it immediately. 

Also, if you happen to spend a portion of the miles earned via Kris+, the whole chunk can’t be transferred to KrisFlyer. For example, if I earn 100 miles on a given Kris+ transaction and spend 10 of them, I can’t transfer the remaining 90 to KrisFlyer.

But there’s no reason you should be spending miles via Kris+ anyway, because you earn a dismal 0.67 cents per mile when you do so. This value is sometimes boosted through the various Kris+ milesback promotions (see below), but I still wouldn’t advise it. 

What card should I use with Kris+?

There is no such thing as the “best card for Kris+”, because it all boils down to which merchant you’re transacting with. Remember, your credit card is still charged by the merchant as per normal; all you’re doing is using the Kris+ app to pick up some extra miles in the process.

The simplest option is just to use mobile payments (not tapping the physical card) with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, which earns you 4 mpd on the first S$1,110 per month. 

Otherwise, you can use the following cards for dining:

	Earn Rate	Caps
HSBC Revolution Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$1,000 per month. Must use contactless Review
UOB Lady’s Card Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$1,000 per month. Must choose dining as 10X category Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$3,000 per month. Must choose dining as 10X category Review

The following cards can be used for shopping and retail:

	Earn Rate	Caps
Citi Rewards Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$1,000 per statement month Review
OCBC Titanium Rewards Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$12,000 per membership year Review
UOB Lady’s Card Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$1,000 per month. Must choose fashion as 10X category Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply here	4.0 mpd	S$3,000 per month. Must choose fashion as 10X category Review

Kris+ 25% milesback promotion

Speaking of milesback promotions, from 14-25 December 2020, Kris+ is offering 25% milesback at the following 40 merchants:

There is no cap on the maximum milesback Kris+ users can receive. To illustrate how this works, suppose you spend 15,000 KrisPay miles at a merchant (S$100 value). You’ll receive a rebate of 3,750 miles, for a net outlay of 11,250 miles. 

This yields a value of 0.89 cents per mile, somewhat better than the usual 0.67 cents per mile but well shy of the 30-45% milesback offers we’ve seen in the past. 

It’s important to note that miles earned under this milesback promotion cannot be transferred back into KrisFlyer, so to realise that full 1.21 cents, you’ll need to make a few transactions during the promotion period. 

For example: 

• You transfer 15,000 miles to Kris+ and spend them for S$100
• You’ll receive 3,750 in milesback
• Suppose you only spend this after 25 December 2020, when the rate reverts to the usual 0.67 cents/mile. Your milesback will be worth about S$25, which means your total value for 15,000 miles was S$100 + S$25, or 0.83 cents per mile

So it’s an iterative process, and it takes a few transactions to get to that 0.89 cents/mile figure. 

How does this compare to other options?

Very poorly. 0.89 cents per mile represents relatively poor value for your miles, compared to the other things you can do with them. 

Ultimately this all boils down to how much you value a mile. If your valuation is below 0.89 cents, then this Kris+ promotion can make sense. That said, if your valuation is really so low, you’d be better off earning cashback in the first place. 

Conclusion

Don’t bother with the 25% milesback promotion; instead, focus on the 2X miles offer. I just hope you have better luck at Kris+ merchants than I do- at all the Bottles & Bottles outlets I visited, the cashiers either said the Kris+ app was down or they didn’t know how to use it. It’s incredibly disappointing, and the kind of thing that turns people off a platform altogether. 

Remember to transfer any miles earned via Kris+ to KrisFlyer within 7 days of your transaction, or else they’ll be stuck in the app.