OCBC cards offering bonus miles on groceries, online shopping and FCY spend

OCBC has launched a new tier-up promotion for the OCBC 90N, OCBC Premier Visa Infinite and OCBC VOYAGE cards, which allows cardholders to earn an incremental 0.2-0.24 mpd for spending at selected supermarkets and online shopping merchants, as well as all foreign currency transactions. 

However, you’d still be much better off spending on other 4 mpd cards, as we’ll see below. 

Tier-up offer: Earn up to 2.5 mpd with OCBC cards

From 25 May to 30 June 2021 (both dates inclusive), the following cardholders will earn bonus rewards points when they spend at qualifying merchants. 

Card	Local	FCY	Spend Cap	Eligible Cap
OCBC 90N	1.2 1.4	2.1 2.3	S$1K	First 10K customers
OCBC Premier VI	1.28 1.52	2.24 2.4	S$2K	N/A
OCBC VOYAGE	1.3 1.5	2.2 2.4	S$2K	N/A
OCBC VOYAGE (Premier, PPC, BOS)	1.6 1.8	2.3 2.5	S$2K	N/A

Qualifying merchants are defined as the following:

Registration is not required, but do note there’s a cap of 10,000 cardholders for the OCBC 90N. 

OCBC determines the first 10,000 based on the timestamp of your first eligible transaction. So my recommendation would be to “lock in” your place by making a S$5 spend at any of the eligible merchants ASAP (S$5 because OCBC requires a minimum spend of S$5 to earn points). The remaining S$995 can then be spent any time up to 30 June 2021. 

The base points/miles will post along with the transaction as per normal, and the bonus component will be awarded will be awarded within two calendar months after the promotion has ended, i.e by 31 August 2021. For example, if you spend in local currency with the OCBC 90N Card, you’ll receive 1.2 Travel$ at first, then a further 0.2 Travel$ by 31 August 2021. 

The relevant T&Cs have been compiled below:

• OCBC 90N
• OCBC Premier Visa Infinite
• OCBC VOYAGE (all versions)

Is it worth it?

While this may be a good promotion for those dead set on using one card for everything, those willing to diversify a bit will find much richer rewards with other cards. 

For groceries, the HSBC Revolution offers the most fuss-free way of earning 4 mpd, although you can use several UOB cards too if you avoid SMART$ merchants like Cold Storage, Giant and Jasons. 

🛒 Best Cards for Groceries
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
HSBC Revolution Apply	4.0 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month, must use contactless Review
UOB Pref. Plat Visa Apply	4.0 mpd*	Max S$1,110 per c. month, must use mobile payments Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4.0 mpd*	Min S$1K Max S$2K on contactless/ petrol per s. month
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4.0 mpd*	Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose family as 10X category. Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4.0 mpd*	Max S$3K per c. month. Must choose family as 10X category. Review
C. Month= Calendar Month, S. Month= Statement Month *Except Cold Storage, Giant and Jasons

For online shopping, it’s simpler to just charge things to your Citi Rewards or DBS Woman’s World Card, both of which will earn you 4 mpd. 

Since I can’t imagine many people are traveling overseas right now, the aforementioned cards will also work if you’re making transactions in foreign currency online. But just for completeness’ sake, here’s the best cards to use for in-person foreign currency transactions.

Conclusion

Tier-up offers are always welcome, but I can’t see this being of much use to dedicated miles collectors given the abundance of higher-earning alternatives elsewhere. There’s nothing here that would compel me to switch away from my existing card strategy, although I imagine “one carders” will be quite pleased.