OCBC VOYAGE Card offering Apple HomePod Mini sign-up gift

OCBC VOYAGE has launched a new sign-up offer, which is valid for applications till 30 June 2023. 

New cardholders who pay the first year’s annual fee and spend at least S$2,500 in a single transaction within the first 30 days will receive 15,000 VOYAGE Miles and an Apple HomePod Mini. 

This is a rather weak offer compared to previous ones, however, and unless you need an OCBC VOYAGE Card right this minute, I’d wait for something better to come along. 

OCBC VOYAGE Card sign-up offer

Apply Here

From 1 May to 30 June 2023, customers who apply for an OCBC VOYAGE Card or OCBC Premier VOYAGE Card will receive 15,000 VOYAGE Miles + an Apple HomePod Mini when they:

• Pay the S$492.50 annual fee
• Spend at least S$2,500 in a single transaction within 30 days of approval

For example, if the card account opening date is 5 May 2023, the S$2,500 transaction must be made by 3 June 2023.

You will be eligible for this offer provided you do not currently hold a principal OCBC VOYAGE or Premier VOYAGE Card, and have not cancelled one in the past six months prior to application. For avoidance of doubt, holding other OCBC cards, in and of itself, will not render you ineligible. 

While this offer is valid for:

• all OCBC VOYAGE Cardholders who meet the eligibility criteria
• the first 200 OCBC Premier VOYAGE Cardholders who meet the eligibility criteria

Why OCBC would want to cap the offer for OCBC Premier VOYAGE Cardholders, I really do not know, but in any case there’s no way of knowing at the time of application whether you’re still eligible, so be warned!

When will the sign-up bonus be credited?

Eligible cardmembers who qualify to receive the gift will be notified within three months from the end of the promotion period, i.e. by 30 September 2023. 

They will receive the redemption details via an eDM or letter to their registered email/billing address with OCBC.

What counts as qualifying spend?

A full list of exclusions can be found in the VOYAGE Card’s T&Cs (at point 1.4), but the key ones to highlight are:

• Charitable donations
• Educational institutions
• Government transactions
• GrabPay top-ups
• Insurance premiums
• Public hospitals
• Utilities bills

For avoidance of doubt, CardUp spending will count towards the minimum spend. However, if you intend to use CardUp to meet the minimum spend, you might be better off with an alternative offer- see below for more details.

Terms and Conditions

You can find the full T&Cs of this offer here.

Is it worth it?

For context, here’s the last three sign-up offers we’ve seen for the OCBC VOYAGE Card:

• 1-30 April 2023: $250 MBS Destination Dollars + 15,000 miles for paying the annual fee and spending S$2,500
• 1 February to 31 March 2023: 30,000 miles for paying the annual fee and spending S$2,500
• 1 October to 30 November 2022: 30,000 miles for paying the annual fee

It seems to me that the sign-up offer has been getting worse and worse; not only is an Apple HomePod Mini retailing for just S$139, you need to spend the whole S$2,500 in a single transaction now!

Therefore, I wouldn’t consider this a deal worth grabbing, and would much rather wait for a better offer to come along.

Alternative offer

In fact, a better offer may already exist. 

From now till 31 July 2023, new OCBC VOYAGE Cardholders who spend S$1,000 on CardUp within the first 30 days of approval and pay the first year’s annual fee will receive 30,000 bonus VOYAGE Miles. 

OCBC VOYAGE offering 30,000 miles sign-up bonus to CardUp customers

You’ll need to apply via this link to be eligible. The landing page is rather confusing as it references the current Apple HomePod Mini offer, but you can see in the URL the AgentSourceCode is ‘VOYCUP’. This is how OCBC will tag applications and award the 30,000 VOYAGE Miles instead of the Apple HomePod Mini. 

If this is your first time using CardUp, you can use the code OCBC15 to enjoy a 1.5% admin fee on a single payment made with the OCBC VOYAGE Card, valid till 3 January 2024. 

Overview: OCBC VOYAGE Card

Apply Here
Income Req.	S$120,000 p.a.	Points Validity	No expiry
Annual Fee	S$492.50	Min. Transfer	1 VOYAGE Mile (1 mile)
Miles with Annual Fee	15,000	Transfer Partners	SIA
FCY Fee	3.25%	Transfer Fee	S$25
Local Earn	1.3 mpd	Points Pool?	No
FCY Earn	2.2 mpd	Lounge Access?	Yes
Special Earn	N/A	Airport Limo?	Yes
Cardholder Terms and Conditions

OCBC VOYAGE Cardholders earn 1.3 mpd on all Singapore dollar spending (1.6 mpd for Premier VOYAGE), and 2.2 mpd on foreign currency spending (2.3 mpd for Premier VOYAGE). Card benefits include unlimited access to Plaza Premium Lounges, complimentary airport limo transfers, as well as periodic invitations to 1-for-1 dining events.

Unfortunately, the limo benefit was nerfed at the start of February. Cardholders now need to spend S$12,000 per quarter to unlock two rides, with the maximum number of free rides cut from 24 to 8 per year. 

While transfers to KrisFlyer used to be free, they now attract a S$25 fee (though the minimum transfer amount remains at just one mile).

OCBC has said that it will be adding eight new airline and hotel partners including Asia Miles and Marriott Bonvoy, but the timeline for this remains uncertain. 

Conclusion

New OCBC VOYAGE and Premier VOYAGE Cardholders can now enjoy a sign-up gift of an Apple HomePod Mini + 15,000 VOYAGE Miles when they spend at least S$2,500 in a single transaction within 30 days of approval and pay the first year’s annual fee.

This is a rather unattractive offer due to the low retail price of the HomePod Mini and the need to spend the entire S$2,500 in a single transaction, so I’d pass on this if I were you.