OCBC 90°N Cards Spend & Win campaign: Everything counts

OCBC has launched a new Spend & Win promotion for OCBC 90°N Cards that runs from now till 15 October 2022.

The top-spending OCBC 90°N Mastercard and OCBC 90°N Visa cardholders will win prizes like return Economy Class tickets to the Maldives, iShopChangi and Travel with OCBC vouchers, as well as Jay Chou concert tickets. 

While Spend & Win promotions aren’t anything new, what’s unique about this one is that OCBC is including spend from typically-excluded categories like GrabPay top-ups, insurance premiums, government transactions and utilities payments. 

How it works

Spend & Win: 90°N Mastercard

Spend & Win: 90°N Visa

From 15 August to 15 October 2022, every S$5 spent on the OCBC 90°N Mastercard or OCBC 90°N Visa will earn tickets as follows:

Remember that OCBC rounds all transactions down to the nearest S$5, so a S$9.50 transaction will earn the same number of tickets as a S$5.99 one. 

A few points to note.

Transport

Bus and MRT rides paid through SimplyGo (i.e. tapping your credit card at the gantry) will earn 3 tickets for every transaction, instead of every S$5 spent.

It’s important to understand the difference between how Mastercard and Visa process SimplyGo transactions, because it affects the number of tickets you earn:

• For Mastercard, accumulated fares are posted to your credit card account every 5 days or S$15, whichever comes first
• For Visa, fares are accumulated and charged on a daily basis

This means it’s generally better to use the OCBC 90°N Visa for public transit rides, since you would basically be earning 3 tickets every day you take the bus or MRT.

OCBC is also counting Grab, gojek and taxi rides towards this category.

Insurance

That’s not a typo. OCBC is really counting insurance premiums towards qualifying spend for this campaign, at a rate of 3 tickets per S$5 spent. 

Online shopping

Online shopping only refers to transactions made with Amazon, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee and Taobao, processed under the following MCCs:

• Amazon (MCC: 5311, 5399, 5411, 5732, 5814, 5817, 5818, 5941, 5942, 5999) 
• Lazada, Shopee (MCC: 5262, 5311)
• Qoo10 (MCC: 5399, 5699, 5262)
• Taobao (MCC: 5311, 5399)

Online food delivery

Online food delivery only refers to transactions made with Deliveroo, foodpanda, Grab Food and Oddle, processed under the following MCCs:

• Deliveroo, foodpanda, GrabFood (MCC: 5812, 5814)
• Oddle (MCC: 5812)

Excluded transactions

Other transactions that are normally excluded from earning rewards with OCBC cards (such as GrabPay top-ups, government transactions, education expenses and utilities bills) will earn 1 ticket per S$5 spent, capped at S$1,000 spend for the entire promotion period.

All transactions for which Travel$ are not awarded, as specified in Clauses 1.4 to 1.6 of the Terms and Conditions Governing OCBC 90°N Visa/Mastercard Programme (with the exception of Transport and Insurance transactions as set out in Table A), will earn 1 Ticket per S$5 spend, capped at the first S$1,000 spend.

For example, you could top up S$1,000 to GrabPay and earn 200 tickets in the process.

For avoidance of doubt, there is no cap on the number of tickets you can earn from transport and insurance premiums (see above).

Prizes

At the end of the promotion period, the top 85 OCBC 90°N Visa cardmembers with the highest number of tickets will receive the following gifts.

OCBC 90°N Visa
Winners	Prize
1-30th Place	Visa FIFA World Cup Themed Party Box (includes Xbox Series S, official World Cup ball and Adidas merchandise)
31-35th Place	2x Jay Chou Concert Tickets- Category 1
36-85th Place	S$100 Travel with OCBC voucher

Likewise, the top 100 OCBC 90°N Mastercard cardmembers with the highest number of tickets will receive the following gifts.

OCBC 90°N Mastercard
Winners	Prize
1-12th Place	2x return tickets to Maldives on SIA Economy Class
13-50th Place	S$300 iShopChangi e-voucher
51-100th Place	S$100 Travel with OCBC voucher

In addition to the prizes above, each 90°N Visa or Mastercard cardmember with a minimum of 5 tickets will receive a one-time gift of 100 Travel$. Even if you don’t have a realistic chance of being top spender, you could ride the bus/MRT for two days with the 90°N Visa (3 x 2 = 6 tickets) and have a bonus 100 miles to show for it. 

These bonus Travel$ will be credited within two calendar months after the end of the promotion period (i.e. by 30 November 2022). 

Terms & Conditions

The T&Cs of this campaign can be found here:

• OCBC 90°N Mastercard
• OCBC 90°N Visa

Conclusion

OCBC’s latest Spend & Win promotion takes the unusual step of counting normally excluded transactions such as insurance and government payments towards qualifying spend. That might be enticing enough for some to switch, though it should be reiterated that you can still earn rewards on such transactions by combining selected cards with GrabPay and AXS. 

Assuming you have an AMEX HighFlyer Card (1.8 mpd), AMEX True Cashback Card (1.5% cashback) or UOB Absolute Cashback Card (1.7% cashback), the question you’ll need to ask is whether it’s worth losing a guaranteed reward in exchange for a chance to win something from OCBC’s prize pool. 

But otherwise, it’s a no-brainer to put these expenses on your OCBC 90°N Mastercard or Visa, and hope it’s enough to land you in the top 100 or 85 spots.