I realise the April Fools’ jokes are inevitable, but UOB has just launched an uncapped 45,200 miles sign-up offer for its UOB PRVI Miles Cards that runs from now till 30 April 2023.
Yes, uncapped. As in: if you get approved during the promotion period, meet the minimum spend and pay the annual fee, you’ll get the miles promised in the advertisement. No Faustian deals, no animal sacrifices to your preferred deity required.
Isn’t that a novel idea?
UOB PRVI Miles offering 45,200 miles sign-up bonus
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| Details |
New-to-bank UOB PRVI Miles Cardmembers who apply and get approved from 1-30 April 2023 will enjoy up to 45,200 bonus miles, split into:
- 20,000 miles for paying the S$259.20 annual fee
- 25,200 miles for spending S$1,000 per month for two consecutive months
| โ New-to-bank |
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New-to-bank customers are defined as those who:
Update: UOB has quietly updated the T&Cs to tighten the eligibility criteria. Instead of excluding customers who cancelled a UOB PRVI Miles Card within the past 6 months, the T&Cs now exclude customers who cancelled any principal UOB credit card within the past 6 months! |
There is no cap on the maximum customers eligible for either component. Repeat: there is no cap. However, do note that you must be approved by 30 April 2023, so don’t leave your application till the last minute.
Assuming the S$2,000 minimum spend is clocked locally, a further 2,800 base miles (@ 1.4 mpd) will be earned. If the minimum spend is clocked overseas, a further 4,800 (@ 2.4 mpd) base miles will be earned. UOB assumes the latter scenario in its marketing, which is why you’ll see claims of a 50,000 miles sign-up bonus (45,200 bonus + 4,800 base) on its website.
This offer applies to all three versions of the UOB PRVI Miles Card, namely:
Annual fee bonus
Cardholders who pay the first year’s S$259.20 annual fee will receive UNI$10,000 (20,000 miles).
Since the first-year annual fee is waived by default, cardholders must opt in by sending the following SMS to 77862 by 31 May 2023.
| ๐ฑ SMS to 77862 |
| PMAF<space>Last 4 alphanumeric digits of NRIC/Passport (Example: If your NRIC is S1234567A, send โPMAF 567Aโ) |
S$259.20 for 20,000 miles works out to 1.30 cents per mile, which is one of the cheapest opportunities to buy miles on the market right now.
Spending bonus
Cardholders who spend S$1,000 in eligible transactions per month for two consecutive months following approval will receive UNI$12,600 (25,200 miles)
For example, if your card is approved on 10 April 2023, you will need to fulfil the minimum spend criteria as follows:
| Min. Spend | Qualifying Spend Period |
| At least S$1,000 | 10 April to 10 May 2023 |
| At least S$1,000 | 11 May to 10 June 2023 |
For avoidance of doubt, you cannot simply spend S$2,000 in the first month of approval and say to yourself “job done”. The minimum spend of S$1,000 needs to be clocked in each of the two spending periods.
What counts as qualifying spend?
Eligible transactions include all retail transactions in local or foreign currency, and a full list of exclusions can be found here.
The key exclusions to highlight are:
- Charitable donations
- Education
- Government payments
- Hospitals
- Insurance
- Prepaid account top-ups (e.g. GrabPay or YouTrip)
- Utilities
For avoidance of doubt, CardUp transactions are eligible to earn miles, and will count towards minimum spend. Don’t forget that CardUp has just launched a 1.75% promotional fee for income tax payments with Visa cards, so a UOB PRVI Miles Visa cardholder could buy miles from as little as 1.23 cents each, while clocking spend towards the sign-up bonus requirement.
Supplementary cardholder spending will be pooled with the principal cardholder’s in determining if the minimum spend has been met. And before you say “isn’t that obvious?”, remember that UOB is not above such shenanigans.
When will the bonus miles be credited?
Annual fee bonus
The S$259.20 annual fee will be posted to your account by 22 June 2023, and the UNI$10,000 will be credited by 30 June 2023.
Spending bonus
The UNI$12,600 from meeting the 2x S$1,000 minimum spend will be credited by 31 July 2023.
Terms and Conditions
The full T&Cs for this offer can be found here. I would recommend saving a copy of the document for your own reference, since the link may be replaced with a newer promotion after the current one ends.
Overview: UOB PRVI Miles Card
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| Apply (AMEX) | |||
| Apply (MC) | |||
| Apply (Visa) | |||
| Income Req. | S$30,000 p.a. | Points Validity | 2 years |
| Annual Fee | S$259.20 (FYF) |
Min. Transfer |
5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles) |
| Miles with Annual Fee |
N/A | Transfer Partners |
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| FCY Fee | 3.25% | Transfer Fee | S$25 |
| Local Earn | 1.4 mpd | Points Pool? | Yes |
| FCY Earn | 2.4 mpd |
Lounge Access? | No |
| Special Earn | 6 mpd on Agoda, Expedia, UOB Travel | Airport Limo? | Yes (AMEX only) |
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
UOB PRVI Miles Cards are issued across all three networks: American Express, Mastercard, and Visa. Earn rates are the same for all (1.4 mpd local, 2.4 mpd overseas), though the American Express version has two unique features:
- 20,000 bonus miles for spending at least S$50,000 in a membership year
- Complimentary airport limo transfers with a minimum spend of S$1,000 in foreign currency per calendar quarter
UOB UNI$ can be converted to either KrisFlyer, or Asia Miles at a 1 UNI$= 2 miles ratio, with a S$25 conversion fee.
Be sure to check out my full review of the UOB PRVI Miles Card below.
Conclusion
UOB has surprised us all by launching a rare uncapped sign-up bonus for April, with all applicants able to get 45,200 miles for paying the S$259.20 annual fee and spending S$1,000 per month for two consecutive months.
If you’re a new-to-bank customer, this is pretty much as good as it gets for UOB.
I applied for UOB PRVI two weeks ago but yet to get approval. If my card gets approved this month, does that mean I can qualify for this month’s promo?
UOB takes forever to process an application. I emailed the Cs and told them if you canโt get the card approved this week then donโt bother to issue
Hi Aaron! The T&Cs say you must satisfy both (a) qualifying spend and (b) annual card fee, in order to receive the promo miles. The annual fee for the 20,000 isnโt optional, is it?
that’s right. i have removed the part about them being either/or.
Thank you Aaron! Do you happen to know if cardup payments on tax would count towards qualifying spend? Esp since โtax paymentsโ is specifically excluded.
Feel the UOB KrisFlyer card signup offer is still better.
25K miles for 2K spend within 60 days, without any annual fee or cap.
It’s arguably a better card too, quite easy to get 3mpd on the 2K minimum spend.
Question: While UOB Payment Facility does not count towards this promo as qualifying spending, but does it count towards the 50K annual spend for AMEX type? I’m deciding between the Visa or AMEX one. Thanks!
Maybe this promotion is April Fools’ after all. Submitted application on 3 April, not yet approved after 20 days. Customer support says application takes a month, which basically means no one can qualify under this promotion.
I emailed the CS and told them to cancel the application if they canโt issue by 30 Apr. what a jokeโฆ UOB sucks
The promotion page is still there to let everyone to apply until 30 apr, but the tnc says application must be approved within promotion period..really doubt is UOB can approve an application if submitted on 30 Apr? Tricky way to kill applicant’s new-to-bank benefit!! ( I submitted on 4 apr and still no respond yet!)
Has anyone gotten the first set of UNI$10k credited by the 30th June date given here? I haven’t, though the credit card fee was billed.
I saw extra UNI$10k in my total balance, I think they credited it on 30th June. But there was no entry of this UNI$10k in UNI$ history (my rewards -> UNI$ -> UNI$ history). It only shows the UNI$ credited from my spending transactions.
On a separate note. I understand that the deadline for the spending bonus to be credited is 31 July (eligible $1000 transactions per month for two consecutive months). I have not received this.
I believe I have fulfilled all the conditions to earn the UNI$12.6k. Here’s what I did: Card approval date: 6 Apr 2023 1st month window to spend min $1k: 6 Apr to 6 May 2nd month window to spend min $1k: 7 May to 6 Jun 28 Apr: Spent $863,14 (MCC 8099) and $140 (MCC 5999) –> 1st month 17 May: Spent $1080 (MCC 8099) –> 2nd month Based on the above, UNI$ could have been credited way earlier but the deadline to do so is 31 July. I waited. 31 July passed, and I still don’t see the UNI$12.6k… Read more »
Yeah, I applied during the same period as you and received the UNI$10k on 30 June but no records of it were shown in the history like you. Note that I was only charged the annual fee on 28 June even though the T&Cs say by 22 June. But I have also not received the UNI$12.6k as of today (4 Aug), which was supposed to be credited on 31 July according to the T&Cs like what you said. I called the CS and they checked my spending and confirmed that I did qualify but they are unsure why the UNI$12.6k… Read more »
has this been resolved for you? I am still stuck and being asked to wait for UOB to call me back. I am very sure definitely qualified for the spending bonus. It looks like there is a widespread issue with how the promo was handled given the other comments below
Following up on my original comment: I called in 1 Oct and was asked to send in a screenshot of the SMS confirming that I had signed up for the promo / agreed to pay the credit card fee. It was quite nice and fast but then I called in very early in the morning. I also mentioned there were multiple comments saying UOB was not honouring this promo. Today I got an SMS saying that the rewards would be credited but the customer service said I would have to wait for the next credit card statement to confirm how… Read more »
I have met the criteria and have yet to receive bonus for the spendings and annual fee. Went down to the branch to call the credit card department (cause I could not reach anyone when I call using my phone). Rep simply say bonuses are subjected to approval and I was not eligible for it. They are unable to tell me which criteria I did not meet.
i got her to investigate and inform me of the exact criteria which I failed. They say they need 5-7 working days.
I spoke to the UOB hotline CSO a few times. Each time it is a 5-7 working days wait to get a call back. The days are just piling up. The deadline for the crediting of the annual fee bonus is 30 Jun (I got mine), and the spending bonus is 31 July. I completed my spendings in early June, so a lot of time has already passed and yet UOB is still not able to sort this out…
I applied for the card in April 2023. Did SMS to pay for the annual fee and they billed on 27 Jun. Fully paid and also spent at least $1k consecutively for the first 2 months. Till today, 8 Aug 2023, I have yet to receive my bonus uni$. Called they they simply say it was not approved. Asked which criteria I did not meet and they are not able to state.
Looks like it’s a scam
The UOB hotline CSO (I think) did not dare to tell me out right that I was ineligible, because I went through the TnC with her to show her how I did everything right to be eligible to receive the spending bonus.
On 8 Aug 2023, they informed they will get back to me within 7 working days. It’s been more than 1 month and now they do not even reply to emails.
See above reply, try calling in again maybe?
I echo all the recent comments the last few days regarding the yet-to-be-credited bonus UNI$ for the sign up in April, which I also believe I fulfilled (NTB, paid annual fee, spent over $1000 for 2 consecutive months). I can’t see any UNI$10,000 in my app for paying the annual fee in June.
See above reply, try calling in if you haven’t?