| The following is a sponsored post by OCBC Bank. The opinions remain those of The Milelion. |
OCBC has launched the OCBC 90ยฐN Visa Card, a companion to the OCBC 90ยฐN Mastercard that debuted back in August 2019.
The OCBC 90ยฐN Visa boasts not just a new look, but new features too. Cardholders can earn up to 4 mpd on online entertainment, online retail, food delivery, groceries, and overseas spend, as well as 6 mpd on Agoda, Expedia and kkday. They’ll also enjoy non-expiring points, and free transfers to KrisFlyer that start from just 1,000 miles.
With the expanded (and now child-friendly) VTLs set to launch from 19 October, this comes at quite the opportune time indeed.
Overview: OCBC 90ยฐN Visa
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| Apply Here | ||
| T&Cs | ||
| Income Req. | Annual Fee | FCY Fee |
| S$30,000 | S$53.50 (First year fee waived for sign-ups bet. 15 Oct 21 to 31 Jan 22) |
3.25% |
The OCBC 90ยฐN Visa has a S$30,000 income requirement and an annual fee of S$53.50. This will be waived for the first year for customers who sign up between 15 October 2021 and 31 January 2022.
From the second year onwards, cardholders can top up S$139 to the annual fee (i.e. S$192.50 total) for 10,000 Travel$ upon renewal.
Now, I don’t normally focus on card design, but there’s something very arresting about the OCBC 90ยฐN Visa. The ยฐ houses an embedded LED light that illuminates upon making a contactless transaction- no battery required. Yes, it’s a gimmick, but a pretty cool one at that.
OCBC 90ยฐN Visa cardholders earn 5 Travel$ per S$5 (equivalent to 1 mpd) on local spend, and 10 Travel$ per S$5 (equivalent to 2 mpd) on overseas spend. This is notably less than the Mastercard version (1.2/2.1 mpd on local/overseas spend), and therefore I wouldn’t see this so much a general spending solution.
It’s the bonus categories where things get more interesting. For a limited time, cardholders can earn up to 20 Travel$ per S$5 (4 mpd) on online entertainment & retail, food delivery, groceries and overseas spending.
As a reminder, Travel$:
- Do not expire
- Can be transferred to KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio with no conversion fees
- Have a minimum conversion block of just 1,000 Travel$
Travel$ can also be redeemed for merchandise (I got myself a Dyson vacuum last year), exchanged for other rewards currencies on OCBC STACK, or used to offset bills directly at a rate of 1,000 Travel$ for S$10. This makes them significantly more flexible than other bank points, which typically have a S$26.75 conversion fee and a 10,000 mile minimum conversion block.
If you already hold an OCBC 90ยฐN Mastercard, Travel$ will be pooled together across cards.
Launch promo: 4 mpd on bonus categories
From 15 October 2021 to 31 January 2022, cardholders will earn a total of 20 Travel$ per S$5 (i.e. 4 mpd) on the following transactions:
| Category | Eligible Merchants |
| Online Entertainment |
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| Food Delivery |
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| Online Retail |
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| Groceries (Online/Offline) |
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| Overseas Spend |
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| Launch Promo T&Cs |
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| For avoidance of doubt, any merchant not listed here e.g. Jasons, Marketplace, will not earn bonus Travel$ | |
This rate is broken down as follows:
| Local Spend | Overseas Spend | |
| Base | 5 Travel$ per S$5 | 10 Travel$ per S$5 |
| Bonus | 15 Travel$ per S$5 | 10 Travel$ per S$5 |
| Total | 20 Travel$ per S$5 (4 mpd) |
20 Travel$ per S$5 (4 mpd) |
Base Travel$ will post to the cardmember’s account along with the transaction. Bonus Travel$ will be credited by the end of the following month after the transaction posting date. For example, bonus Travel$ for transactions made from 15-31 October 2021 will post by 30 November 2021.
The bonus component is capped at a maximum of 5,000 Travel$ per calendar month. In other words, you’ll max this out with:
- S$1,667 of local currency spending
- S$2,500 of foreign currency spending
From 16 January 2022, the earn rate for overseas spending will revert to 2 mpd, and the earn rate for bonus categories will be adjusted as follows:
| Online Entertainment | Online Retail, Food Delivery, Groceries | |
| Base | 5 Travel$ per S$5 | 5 Travel$ per S$5 |
| Bonus | 10 Travel$ per S$5 | 2.5 Travel$ per S$5 |
| Total | 15 Travel$ per S$5 (3 mpd) |
7.5 Travel$ per S$5 (1.5 mpd) |
| The bonus component will be capped at 500 Travel$ per calendar month. | ||
This is a more marginal proposition in my opinion, since you could earn up to 4 mpd with other cards on the market (although you should assign some weight to the fact that Travel$ don’t expire and have no conversion fees).
But in any case, for four months the OCBC 90ยฐN Visa becomes the best credit card to use for groceries and overseas spending.
| ๐ก You could earn 4 mpd on groceries with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa by using mobile payments, but remember that Cold Storage and Giant are excluded (SMART$ merchants). In any case, using the OCBC 90ยฐN Visa frees up that cap for other transactions. |
In fact, with 4 mpd on the first S$2,500 each month, it outperforms even the UOB Visa Signature (4 mpd on the first S$2,000, with a minimum spend of S$1,000) when it comes to overseas spending.
| ๐ก Of course it’s hard to beat the Amaze Card for overseas spend, but assuming you’ve maxed out the 4 mpd caps on the cards linked to it, the OCBC 90ยฐN Visa provides an additional S$2,500 of overseas spend firepower. |
All in all, it’s a great way to rack up some easy miles during the four month promo period (which you can then cash out to KrisFlyer without any fees).
Conclusion
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| Apply Here |
OCBC 90ยฐN Visa Card is offering a very compelling launch promotion, with bonuses on a wide range of everyday spending categories. This lasts till 31 January 2022 with a cap that resets monthly, so sign up soon in order to maximise the value you get.
That light up ยฐ doesn’t hurt, either.
Based on the T&C, it appears that both the Visa and Mastercard will be following the same base earn rate of $5 = 5 Travel$, is it?
https://www.ocbc.com/iwov-resources/sg/ocbc/personal/pdf/cards/tncs-90n-card-programme-wef-1dec21.pdf
edit: there’s no changes to the 90n MC for the moment. T&Cs have been updated to remove mentions to 90n MC.
On closer look, not terribly attractive apart from 4mpd overseas. Alas Im travelling in Feb .. (planning to travel somewhere else in Dec, but I have local cards for that country so not worth it) The other 4mpd options are pretty narrow. Similar or better options exist (HSBC Rev 4mpd +1% cashback, others are CRMC, WWMC, Titanium, PPV, VS; up to 10% cashback with UOB One if you can go qualify) and the $5 rounding bites on online entertainment (Amazon Prime is laughable – $2.99/mth, rounds to zero). Only thing it adds is additional 4mpd monthly cap for a few… Read more »
Very well said! OCBC seems to forget that 90n MC was a massive failure after the 8mpd tactical campaign and the sneaky $5 rounding block. Like you, Iโm struggling to think of a use case for this card. For foreign currency spend, anyone with primary school mathematical skills would have chosen WWMC/CRMC + Amaze over this. Or even UOB VS if you can manage the min spend and max cap. For any other local bonus categories, HSBC Revo. And letโs not even talk about what this card would become after Jan 16, 2022, itโs gonna be even worse than BOC… Read more »
While this may not be as good as the 90n MC launch promo, it’s too much of a stretch to say someone should choose UOB VS over 90n Visa. Why put up with $1k min spend, 2 year uni$ expiry and $25 transfer fee when you can earn 4 mpd on fcy with no points expiry and free points transfer? as for use case: i can think of a very good one. make hay while the sun shines. earn 4 mpd on all the bonus categories (it never hurts to have a bigger 4 mpd cap) until 15 jan, then… Read more »
I guess for those who never for once looks at FF programs other than Krisflyer this is true.
KF is totally fine for those based in SG, which is OCBC’s target audience. Would you be happier if they also offer MAS or AirAsia or Delta or BA?
There are cards out there that give 4 mpd on all the bonus categories in the promo. If you already have those cards, you can use those instead. Putting the spending on the 90N instead would leave you the risk of orphan points. Though I would acknowledge that since the transfer block is 1000, not 10,000, miles, the number of orphan points would be lower.
I wouldn’t accept a BOC or ICBC card even if they gave me cash to apply for it.
And I just don’t get the unhappiness with $5 block since all 3 local banks do it and, unless your expenses are all $9.90, it’s a rounding error in the bigger scheme of things.
Nice! Just as I was about to redeem my Travel$ and cancel my 90N MC this month to avoid paying annual fee. So I will quickly apply this new card and once I receive it, cancel the other one while keeping my Travel$ as they are pooled. Am I correct that this works like the pink and blue TR cards?
yes, that’s right. points will pool together, you can cancel one 90n card and maintain the travel$ in the pooled account.
What I like about OCBC rewards program is that they offer better rates for non-miles redemption. It costs way less than 1000 miles to redeem a $10 grocery voucher. I don’t feel bad about redeeming those vouchers. The rates at other banks are just horrible.
Yup exactly, and 1c per mile for Voyage miles is not ideal, but acceptable to me. Double or more than most banks that give 0.4c – 0.5x c
just wondering if I use grab food but choose self pick up and pay by this card does it count as bonus spend under food delivery?
Don’t see why not. MCC is the same.
of course. mcc is the same
CARD WITH LIGHTS IM GETTING IT
OCBC just notified us that the 90N(MC) will have its annual fee reduced by half, with no 10k bonus T$ upon renewal anymore. We’re ditching the card like we planned, and it’s a great time to convert everything to KF anyway.
Hi. Just want to confirm this – if Iโm still holding the old 90N, I wonโt be able to apply for the new 90N visa until I cancel the old one? Thanks!
you can hold both the visa and mastercard version at the same time.
If only OCBC was lenient with the annual fee waiver…
Get the HSBC Revolution instead.
I don’t understand people nitpicking about the $5 blocks, esp when the other local banks do the same. Unless most of your expenses are $9.90, it’s a rounding error in the bigger scheme of things.
I’m more irritated with the miles/points being credited the following month (but then again, HSBC does the same) and their having 3 different rewards – Travel$, OCBC & VM – which is probably a legacy issue.
Will the spending reset by calendar or statement month?
Does this card also have the horrible S$5 rounding to earn points?
$5 rounding is a feature of all ocbc cards, unfortunately.
Yikes!
Hi Aaron, do you know if this card is giving 4 mpd for MCC 5999 for Atome BNPL?
If i keep both MC and Visa cards, will I be able to pay for the annual for both cards and get 10K Travel$ for each card?
yup that’s right.
Is the local and overseas spending non-exclusive to each other, meaning local spending of S$1,667 and overseas spending of S$2,500 for a total spending of S$4,167?
they share the same cap.
Hey ML, I noticed the launch promotion is extended to 31 Jan 2022 instead of 15 Jan 2022, as indicated in the T&C. You may want to update this blog?
done, thank you!
I’m guessing after 15th Jan, one can opt to cancel this card since the bonuses have been reduced? Or can one stop using the card, get the 10k Travel$ after renewal then cancel the card? Was considering if I should cancel the card since the 4mpd bonus ended. Thanks!