Which credit cards offer free miles conversions?

Unless you’re spending on a cobrand card that automatically credits miles into your frequent flyer account, you’ll eventually need to convert your bank points into airline miles.

This conversion usually comes with an administrative fee— but not always! In this post, I’ll cover the fees charged by different banks, and highlight the credit cards that offer free conversions.

How much do miles conversions normally cost?

Banks have two main models for conversion fees: 

• Per conversion: Pay a fee every time you convert miles
• Annual option: Pay a fee that covers unlimited conversions in a 12-month period

Here’s how much various banks normally charge for points conversions to airline or hotel loyalty programmes:

💰 Points Conversion Fees by Bank
Issuer	Per Conversion	Annual Option
	Free	N/A
	S$30.56	N/A
	S$27.251	N/A
	S$27.252	S$43.603
	Free	N/A
	S$27.25	N/A
	S$25	N/A
	S$27.25	N/A
	S$254	S$505
1. Waived for Citi ULTIMA Cardholders 2. Waived for DBS Insignia Cardholders 3. Automatic conversions in blocks of 500 DBS points (1,000 miles) each quarter. Additional ad-hoc redemptions can be done for free 4. Waived for UOB Reserve, UOB Visa Infinite Metal, UOB Visa Infinite and UOB Privilege Banking Cardholders 5. Automatic conversions in blocks of UNI$2,500 (5,000 miles) each month for balances above UNI$15,000. Additional ad-hoc redemptions cost S$25 each

The average fee across the market per transaction is around S$25. GST is applicable in all cases, though some banks choose to price this into the S$25 figure, and others charge it on top.

With the exception of Bank of China, the conversion fee is the same regardless of how many points you transfer. In other words, it costs the same to transfer 5,000 DBS points (10,000 miles) as it does 500,000 DBS points (1,000,000 miles), provided you do it in a single transaction.

Bank of China caps the maximum number of points you can convert in a single transaction to 10 blocks (i.e. 100,000 KrisFlyer miles). If you want to transfer more than this, you’ll need to pay an additional conversion fee. It’s ridiculously arbitrary, but hey, it wouldn’t be BOC if it weren’t.

Also note that Maybank ended free points conversions for the Maybank World Mastercard and Maybank Visa Infinite with effect from 1 April 2025. 

Which cards don’t charge conversion fees?

Cobrand cards

Miles earned on Singapore Airlines cobrand cards are automatically batched and credited directly into the cardholder’s KrisFlyer account, once per month.

This avoids conversion fees, but on the flip side, it also means the three-year expiry countdown starts immediately. Had you spent on a non-cobrand card instead, you would enjoy two layers of validity: one on the bank side, and another on the airline side.

💳 Singapore Airlines Cobrand Cards
Card	Min. Income	Annual Fee
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card	S$30K	S$196.20 First Year Free
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card	N/A*	S$179.85 First Year Free
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend	N/A*	S$397.85
AMEX PPS Card	N/A*	S$561.35 First Year Free
AMEX Solitaire PPS Card	N/A*	S$561.35 First Year Free
*American Express cards no longer publish official income requirements, merely stating that approvals are “subject to internal review”.

Non-cobrand cards

Regardless of the bank’s overall policy, some credit cards offer waivers of miles conversion fees.

💳 Non-Cobrand Cards
Card	Min. Income	Annual Fee
HSBC Revolution Card	S$30K	Free
HSBC TravelOne Card	S$30K	S$196.20
DBS yuu Card	S$30K	S$196.20 First Year Free
AMEX Platinum Credit Card	N/A*	S$327
AMEX Platinum Reserve	N/A*	S$545
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card	S$120K	S$654
HSBC Visa Infinite	S$120K	S$662.15
HSBC Premier Mastercard	S$30K (min. S$200K AUM)	S$708.50 (waived if min. AUM is met)
AMEX Platinum Charge	N/A*	S$1,744
UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite	S$30K (min. S$350K AUM)	S$1,962 (waived if min. AUM is met)
DBS Insignia Card	S$500K	S$3,270
UOB Reserve Card	S$500K	S$3,924
Citi ULTIMA Card	S$500K	S$4,237.92
*American Express cards no longer publish official income requirements, merely stating that approvals are “subject to internal review”.

DBS

DBS Insignia Cardholders enjoy free points conversions, and since DBS Points pool, points earned on other DBS cards can also be converted for free.

DBS yuu Cards are a special case, since they don’t actually earn DBS Points. Instead, they earn yuu Points, which since September 2024 can be converted into KrisFlyer miles at a 3.6:1 ratio, without any fees. 

HSBC

All HSBC cardholders enjoy fee-free conversions to HSBC’s 20 airline and hotel partners, until further notice.

UOB

UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite, UOB Reserve and UOB Visa Infinite Metal Cardholders enjoy free points conversions, and since UNI$ pool, points earned on other UOB cards can also be converted for free.

Do conversion fees really matter?

I get it. No one likes paying conversion fees. They seem arbitrary, and in the case of Bank of China, opportunistic. Does it really cost S$25 to process a miles transaction? And with improved processes and API integration, shouldn’t the cost be falling over time? 

All the same, I don’t think you should get too hung up about them. You should minimise fees where you can, but the odd S$25 here and there is more of an annoyance than a deal-breaker.

The average person will transfer miles maybe once a year, and if you’re using a multi-card strategy, you’ll pay two, perhaps three fees which will add up to less than S$100. Put it another way: no one ever grumbled about conversion fees when they sat down in a Business Class seat for the first time.

If conversion fees really bother you, try and spread your spending across different cards within a bank that pools points, like UOB. For example, you might use the UOB PRVI Miles Visa as a general spending card, with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, UOB Lady’s Card and UOB Visa Signature for 4 mpd opportunities. When the time comes to transfer points, you’ll only pay a single transfer fee as all your UNI$ are pooled together.

In contrast, Citibank does not pool points. If you use the Citi PremierMiles Card as a general spending card, with the Citi Rewards Card for online spending, you’ll need to pay two separate transfer fees as your points are kept in silos.

Kris+ lets you avoid conversion fees (at a cost)

S$5 for new Kris+ Users

Get S$5 when you sign-up with code W644363 and make your first transaction

Kris+ offers instant conversions of Citi, DBS and UOB credit card points into KrisFlyer miles, without any conversion fees. 

However, this comes with a catch. You’ll usually incur a 15% haircut, compared to the number of KrisFlyer miles you’d have earned had you converted those points via the bank’s regular rewards portal.

Therefore, you need to weigh whether the lost miles are worth the savings in conversion fees, which will only be the case for relatively small transfers. 

Conclusion

Points conversion fees are an annoying, yet persistent feature of the Singapore credit card market. Expect to pay around S$25 per conversion, though some banks may offer unlimited conversions for a fixed fee, or free conversions with certain credit cards.

In other words, conversion fees are just another cost of doing business in the miles game. If your goal is to fly in comfort, then paying S$25 here or there is a small price to pay. Your attention is better focused on maximising earn rates and redeeming wisely—because those will always have a far greater impact on your value than a one-off transfer fee.