Confirmed: UOB$ merchants qualify for bonus miles with UOB cards

It’s long been thought that UOB cards should not be used at UOB$ merchants (formerly known as SMART$ merchants), such as Giant or Cold Storage.

That’s because UNI$ and KrisFlyer miles are not awarded for transactions at UOB$ merchants. Cardholders instead earn UOB$, which are basically a form of captive cashback that can only be redeemed on your next bill at the same merchant. It’s usually a miserable return, quite frankly, and another UOB shenanigan that gets on many peoples’ nerves. 

However, it’s not so straightforward- and that’s a good thing, in this case. I’ve recently been able to confirm with UOB that certain UOB cards are eligible for bonus UNI$ for transactions at UOB$ merchants, even if base UNI$ are not awarded.

How bonus UNI$ work with UOB$ merchants

Here’s the short version, for those who just want the tl;dr:

• UOB Lady’s Card, Lady’s Solitaire Card and Visa Signature will earn 3.6 mpd (9X UNI$) at UOB$ merchants, in addition to UOB$ (assuming, of course, you select Family as your bonus category for the Lady’s Cards and meet the minimum spend of S$1,000 on the Visa Signature)
• UOB Preferred Platinum Visa will earn no miles at UOB$ merchants, only UOB$

Why the distinction? It all boils down to how bonus points are awarded:

• With the UOB Lady’s Card, Lady’s Solitaire Card and Visa Signature, bonus points are awarded separately from the base points, as a consolidated lump sum the following month
• With the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, bonus points are awarded together with the base points, as soon as the transaction posts

You can see this mechanic at play in your UOB TMRW app. 

In the screenshot above, the LHS shows points earned on the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa. You’ll notice the bonus 9X UNI$ (162) is tied to a specific merchant — Raffles Medical Group in this case — and is posted along with the base 1X UNI$ (18). 

The RHS shows points earned on the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card. You’ll notice that there’s one lump sum figure credited each month for each of the two bonus categories, Family (180 UNI$) and Dining (144 UNI$). They’re not tied to any specific merchant because they’re an aggregated figure, the sum total of all eligible spending in a given month. 

When you use the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa at a UOB$ merchant, you won’t earn any base UNI$. Because of that, the system will not award you any bonus UNI$ either (9X zero is still zero).

When you use the UOB Lady’s Card, Lady’s Solitare Card or Visa Signature at a UOB$ merchant, you won’t earn any base UNI$ either. But at the end of the month, when the system sums up all eligible transactions for the purposes of awarding 9X, it does not care whether the transaction was a UOB$ merchant- everything goes into the pool.

To illustrate this, suppose I use my UOB Lady’s Card to make 3x transactions at Cold Storage in a given calendar month:

• Transaction 1: S$15
• Transaction 2: S$30
• Transaction 3: S$45

I will initially receive 0 base UNI$, because this is a UOB$ merchant. 

However, the following calendar month, I will receive 162 bonus UNI$, attributable as follows:

• Transaction 1: 0 base UNI$, 27 bonus UNI$
• Transaction 2: 0 base UNI$, 54 bonus UNI$
• Transaction 3: 0 base UNI$, 81 bonus UNI$

162 UNI$= 324 miles, which given a total spend of S$90 works out to 3.6 mpd.

For a more detailed understanding of how points are calculated and rounded, refer to the article below. 

How to calculate credit card points: Specialised spending cards

The upshot is that you don’t need to avoid the UOB Lady’s Card, Lady’s Solitaire Card and Visa Signature at UOB$ merchants. Yes, 4 mpd would be better than 3.6 mpd, but if you’re already using other UOB cards, then the benefit of pooled UNI$ might offset a 10% loss in earnings. 

Which merchants earn UOB$?

The list of UOB$ merchants continues to grow, unfortunately. In addition to long-time members like Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian and Cathay Cineplexes, new names like Starbucks and Crystal Jade have joined. 

Below is a list of UOB$ merchants, accurate at the time of publishing. Always refer to the official website for the latest list.

Conclusion

If you’re a UOB Lady’s Card, Lady’s Solitaire Card or Visa Signature cardholder, UOB has confirmed you’ll still earn up to 3.6 mpd at the dreaded UOB$ merchants. While that’s not quite as good as 4 mpd, it’s certainly a lot better than the 0 we had previously assumed!

Moreover, it frees up the HSBC Revolution’s precious 4 mpd cap to be used on other bonus categories, since you can now channel more of your supermarket spend towards UOB. 

Do note that you should still avoid using the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card, UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard, UOB PRVI Miles Visa and KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card at UOB$ merchants, because you won’t earn anything beyond some miserable UOB$.