UOB has launched a GSS campaign for the KrisFlyer UOB Credit & Debit Cards, which allows cardholders to earn up to 7 mpd on shopping, home & electronics transactions from 5 July to 30 September 2021.Â
Earn up to 7 mpd with KrisFlyer UOB Cards
Registration is required for this promotion, and can be done by sending the following SMS to 77862:
| 📱 SMS to 77862 |
| KFGSS<space>Last 4 alphanumeric digits of NRIC/Passport e.g. KFGSS 567A |
Only the first 2,000 cardholders to register via SMS will be eligible for this promotion. Note also that this cap is shared between KrisFlyer UOB credit and debit cards.Â
Once registered, cardholders will earn up to 7 mpd on eligible transactions (see next section) from 5 July to 30 September 2021, broken down as follows:
| Earn Rates for KF UOB Credit Card | ||
| Â | Local Spend | Overseas Spend |
| Base | 6 miles per S$5 (1.2 mpd) |
6 miles per S$5 (1.2 mpd) |
| Accelerated Miles* | 9 miles per S$5 (1.8 mpd) |
9 miles per S$5 (1.8 mpd) |
| Bonus Miles | 10 miles per S$5 (2 mpd) |
20 miles per S$5 (4 mpd) |
| Total Miles | 25 miles per S$5 (5 mpd) |
35 miles per S$5 (7 mpd) |
| *Awarded with a min. spend of S$300 on SIA Group merchants in a membership year | ||
The row in yellow refers to the bonus miles earned from this GSS campaign. The row above that refers to the accelerated miles which are part of the card’s regular proposition, credited two months from the end of the membership year to those who spend at least S$300 on SIA Group transactions.Â
The maximum bonus you can earn is capped at 2,000 KrisFlyer miles, or S$500-1,000 of eligible spending during the entire promotion period.Â
Bonus miles will be credited directly to your KrisFlyer account by 31 December 2021.
What transactions qualify for the bonus?
Eligible transactions are defined as local and overseas transactions (both online and offline) with the following MCCs:
| Category | MCC |
| Home & Electronics | 5712 – 5714, 5719, 5722, 5732, 5932, 5937, 5946, 5950, 5971 |
| Shopping | 4816, 5262, 5306, 5311, 5331, 5309, 5310, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5655, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5734, 5735, 5912, 5942, 5944, 5945, 5947 – 5949, 5999, 7278, 7399 (7278 and 7399 is applicable to Shopee, Lazada and Qoo10 only) |
| If you’re uncertain about the MCC of a particular merchant, you can always look it up via the Visa Supplier Locator. | |
To give you an idea of what’s included in these categories:
- Home & Electronics covers merchants like Castlery, Crate & Barrel, Hip Van and IKEA, as well as Apple, Audio House, Best Denki, Microsoft and Parisilk
- Shopping covers merchants like Amazon, Book Depository, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, KrisShop, Watsons, as well as pretty much every fashion, shoes and apparel merchant you can think of
The main drawback I see (apart from the 2,000 bonus miles and 2,000 registrants cap) is that the 7 mpd rate only applies to overseas shopping and home & electronics transactions. Since we can’t go overseas just yet, chances are that if you’re paying in foreign currency, you’re incurring hefty international shipping costs as well (unless you’re shopping at a purely digital merchant like Godaddy, MCC 4816).
And if you think you’re being clever by buying things on a local website and switching the currency to something other than Singapore dollars, think again. UOB has a clause that treats foreign currency payments processed inside Singapore as local currency transactions. How do you know where a merchant processes its payments? You don’t.Â
Therefore, the vast majority of cardholders will be looking at an earn rate of 5 mpd at most, which still isn’t bad in the grand scheme of things. It’s certainly more than the 4 mpd you’d earn with most other specialized spending cards, although you will need to clock at least S$300 on SIA Group transactions to trigger the accelerated miles.
| 💡 Protip: Two birds with one stone |
|
I’ll write a separate article on this soon, but KrisShop is currently running a 3X miles promotion till 28 July 2021. If you spend just S$200, you could earn:Â
That’s 3,400 miles for S$200 spend, or a whopping 17 mpd! If you need to clock SIA Group spend towards the S$300 minimum, I can’t think of a better way. |
Terms and conditions
The T&C for this promotion can be found here.
Conclusion
While it’s unlikely you’ll unlock the 7 mpd rate unless the Hong Kong ATB ATC or some other overseas travel opportunity opens up, a 5 mpd rate on shopping is quite decent all things considered.
Be sure to register your card ASAP to lock in your place in the 2,000 cardholder cap.Â
How to know if you’re part of the 2,000 to get the bonus miles? Once you get the SMS that registration is successful, does that mean that you qualify alr as part of the 2,000 cap? Like this: Your registration for the KrisFlyer UOB Cards GSS Campaign (5 Jul – 30 Sep’21) is successful. T&Cs apply. Visit uob.com.sg/kfgss-tncs for more details.
my guess is yes, but only uob will know the answer to that…
I reread this again as I am buying a new computer, and noticed that it may not be accurate in computing 5mpd on local transactions. The Accelerated Miles are mostly for dining and some online transactions. The GSS promotion is for Shopping and Home and Electronics categories. The only overlap appears to be online shopping. It’s still a bonus 2mpd which is already higher than most other cards. But maybe tough to get to 5mpd. Am I correct?
But shopping on Krishop will be off the charts.