Bad form: DBS’s poor handling of the Altitude Card changes

Earlier this week, DBS unveiled some big changes to the DBS Altitude Card, which saw the earn rates for local/overseas spend boosted from 1.2/2 mpd to 1.3/2.2 mpd, but the 3 mpd bonus for online flight & hotel bookings removed.

💳 DBS Altitude Earn Rates
	Till 31 Jul 23	From 1 Aug 23
SGD Spend	1.2 mpd	1.3 mpd
FCY Spend	2 mpd	2.2 mpd
Online Flights & Hotels	3 mpd	Removed

While there’s some give and take here, my sense is that this is an overall devaluation. And you know what? I can live with that. Nothing lasts forever, and banks are perfectly at liberty to change their products as business needs dictate, just as consumers are perfectly at liberty to change their patronage as personal needs dictate.

But what didn’t sit right with me was the way the changes were announced and carried out. Even though DBS told cardholders that changes were coming, it didn’t disclose exactly what they were until they were already in effect. 

And this brings up an important question of abiding by the letter of the law, versus the spirit. 

How should changes be disclosed?

Let me preface this by saying I’m far from an expert on banking regulations.

That said, here’s a few things I want to highlight from the ABS Code of Consumer Banking Practice, described as “the minimum standards of good banking practice which you, the consumer, can expect from your bank”.

Section 4(e)

Section 9(b)(ii)

Section 13(a)(vi)

Now, even though credit card rewards are not explicitly mentioned in this document, it seems  logical to me that they should be covered nonetheless. After all, rewards programmes essentially work like rebates on spending, which affects the costs of using a bank’s services.

In other words, banks should be providing at least 30 days’ notice of any changes to the T&Cs for credit card rewards. Implicit in this is that the information provided is not only timely, but specific enough for consumers to make decisions whether or not to continue patronising a bank’s products, e.g. putting spend on their card.

So with that in mind, what did DBS do?

How the DBS Altitude Card changes went down

On 30 June 2023, DBS updated the Altitude Card’s landing page with the following message:

Does this meet the ABS guidelines? Well, on the one hand, 30 June 2023 is more than 30 days from 1 August 2023. But on the other, this notification contains no useful information at all. 

In fact, DBS didn’t provide any details about the changes until they went into effect on 1 August at midnight. Only then was the product’s landing page updated with the new card features, including the removal of bonuses for online flight & hotel spending. 

It’s almost certain there were customers who transacted on those categories with their DBS Altitude Cards in the early hours of the morning on 1 August, and I just don’t understand how it’s fair that they miss out on the 3 mpd they had every right to expect. 

Come to think of it, who’s to say all DBS Altitude Cardholders are aware of the changes already? I’m an Altitude Cardholder, and have yet to receive any SMS or eDM regarding this. Were this not my full-time job, I might very well still be oblivious!

Changes take time to propagate and digest. That’s the very reason for providing the details, in full, 30 days ahead of time. How can consumers make informed decisions if “watch this space” is the sum total of what you tell them?

So while DBS may consider the 30 June notification as discharging their obligations under the ABS guidelines, I beg to differ. Without a full disclosure of the changes, this is a classic example of following the letter of the law, rather than the spirit behind it. 

How do other banks communicate changes?

In a word: differently. 

DBS’s vague mention of upcoming changes does not gel with industry norms. Some examples from recent memory:

• When the AMEX HighFlyer Card and True Cashback Card nerfed GrabPay top-ups earlier this year, the change was announced in full detail more than 30 days ahead of implementation
• When the OCBC 90°N Mastercard and Visa were harmonised into a single product, the changes took place immediately for the Mastercard (which is fine by me because earn rates were simply increased, period) but with a one-month delay for the Visa (which should be the case because some rates increased and others were reduced)
• When OCBC ended free conversions for the 90N, Premier Visa Infinite and VOYAGE cards and cut VOYAGE limo entitlements, cardholders received the full details at least one month in advance
• When the Maybank Visa Infinite cut its airport limo and lounge benefits, both changes were announced a month ahead of implementation
• When the UOB Absolute Cashback Card cut the earn rate for GrabPay top-ups from 1.7% to 0.3%, the change only took effect after a month

I’m not saying the abovementioned banks do things perfectly- they don’t, and I’ve documented those instances elsewhere. 

But when it comes to communicating product changes, they certainly did a lot better than DBS by announcing them in advance, in full. None of this coquettish “watch this space!” nonsense, just the facts. 

Conclusion

DBS’s recent refresh of the Altitude Card saw the removal of arguably its most useful feature: 3 mpd on up to S$5,000 of flight and hotel bookings each month. That’s painful, but in the cold light of day, it’s part and parcel of the game. 

What shouldn’t be part of the game is the way they went about doing it- providing a vague heads up about upcoming changes, then quietly implementing them on 1 August 2023.

And they’re not even done yet. The DBS Altitude Card is in a state of transition, with further changes to come from February 2024.

“Watch this space”, says DBS again. 

Yes we will. And I hope the regulators are too.