CardUp offering discounted 1.5-2% fee for OCBC credit cards

CardUp has a long-running partnership with OCBC that offers cardholders a discounted admin fee for any payment on its platform, including rent, tuition fees, income tax and insurance premiums.

This partnership has now been extended for 2024, with new and existing CardUp users enjoying an admin fee of 1.5% and 1.8 or 2% respectively, depending on card.

This works out to a cost per mile ranging from 0.92 to 1.51 cents each.

OCBC VOYAGE & OCBC Premier Visa Infinite: 1.5% or 1.8% fee

New CardUp users (1.5%)

New CardUp users (defined as those who have yet to make a first payment on the platform) can use the code OCBC15 to enjoy a 1.5% admin fee on their first payment of any kind. 

The payment must be scheduled on CardUp by 30 June 2024, 6 p.m (SGT), with a due date on or before 3 July 2024.

No minimum payment is required, nor is there any maximum. 

The code can be used either on a one-off payment, or the first payment of a recurring series.

Existing CardUp Users (1.8%)

Existing CardUp users can use the code OCBC18 to enjoy a 1.8% admin fee on any CardUp payment.

The payment must be scheduled on CardUp by 30 June 2024, 6 p.m (SGT), with a due date on or before 3 July 2024.

No minimum payment is required, nor is there any maximum. 

The code can be used either on a one-off payment, or the first payment of a recurring series. There is no limit on the number of times each account can use this code.

What’s the cost per mile?

Here’s the cost per mile for the OCBC VOYAGE and OCBC Premier Visa Infinite Cards, given their earn rates and a 1.5/1.8% admin fee.

Card	Earn Rate (mpd)	Cost Per Mile (1.5% fee)	Cost Per Mile (1.8% fee)
OCBC VOYAGE (Premier, PPC, BOS)	1.6	0.92¢	1.11¢
OCBC VOYAGE	1.3	1.14¢	1.36¢
OCBC Premier VI	1.28	1.15¢	1.38¢

The cost per mile starts from 0.92 cents, which is certainly worth considering especially since there’s no maximum cap on the payment you can make.

Remember: both the amount due and the CardUp fee are eligible to earn miles.

Terms & Conditions

The T&Cs for both the OCBC15 and OCBC18 codes can be found here.

OCBC 90°N Card: 1.5% or 2% fee

New CardUp users (1.5%)

New CardUp users (defined as those who have yet to make a first payment on the platform) can use the code OCBC90N15 to enjoy a 1.5% admin fee on their first payment of any kind. 

The payment must be scheduled on CardUp by 30 June 2024, 6 p.m (SGT), with a due date on or before 3 July 2024.

No minimum payment is required, but the maximum payment you can make is S$10,000. Any amount in excess of S$10,000 will be charged at the prevailing fee of 2.6%. 

The code can be used either on a one-off payment, or the first payment of a recurring series.

Existing CardUp Users (2%)

Existing CardUp users can use the code OCBC90NV (for 90°N Visa) or OCBC90NMC (for 90°N Mastercard) to enjoy a 2% admin fee on any CardUp payment.

The payment must be scheduled on CardUp by 30 June 2024, 6 p.m (SGT), with a due date on or before 3 July 2024.

No minimum payment is required, but the maximum payment you can make is S$10,000. Any amount in excess of S$10,000 will be charged at the prevailing fee of 2.6%. 

The code can be used either on a one-off payment, or the first payment of a recurring series. There is no limit on the number of times each account can use this code.

What’s the cost per mile?

Here’s the cost per mile for the OCBC 90°N Visa and Mastercards, given their earn rates and a 1.5/2% admin fee.

Card	Earn Rate	Cost Per Mile (1.5% fee)	Cost Per Mile (2% fee)
OCBC 90°N Visa/MC	1.3	1.14¢	1.51¢

The cost per mile starts from 1.14 cents apiece, still a competitive price albeit capped at a S$10,000 transaction.

Terms & Conditions

The T&Cs for both the OCBC90N15, OCBC90NV and OCBC90NMC  codes can be found here.

What can you do with OCBC points?

90°N Miles, VOYAGE Miles and OCBC$ can be converted to nine airline and hotel partners, with a S$25 conversion fee.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (OCBC: Partner)
	90°N Miles & VOYAGE Miles	OCBC$
	1:1 (VOYAGE)	25,000 : 10,000
	1,000 : 1,000 (90°N)
	1,000 : 1,000	10,000 : 4,000
	1,000 : 1,000	10,000 : 4,000
	1,000 : 1,000	10,000 : 4,000
	1,000 : 900	10,000 : 3,600
	1,000 : 900	10,000 : 3,600
	1,000 : 750	10,000 : 2,900
	1,000 : 700	10,000 : 2,800
	1,000 : 500	10,000 : 2,000
All ratios expressed as OCBC points : partner miles/points

The problem is that not all conversions take place at the same ratio. Only one airline programme shares parity with KrisFlyer; the other airlines all involve a haircut of 10-30%. It’s particularly poor that Asia Miles requires a 25% haircut, when every other bank in Singapore offers transfer parity between KrisFlyer and Asia Miles.

Citi PayAll alternative

Citi PayAll 1.8 mpd Promo

If you have a Citibank card, don’t forget that the bank is running a promotion that offers 1.8 mpd on payments set up by 29 February 2024. Given the 2.2% admin fee, that works out to a cost of 1.22 cents per mile.

However, this requires a minimum aggregate payment of S$8,000, and there is a cap of S$120,000.  So in some scenarios the OCBC x CardUp deal will be better; in others you should consider Citi PayAll.

For more details on this offer, refer to the post below.

Citi PayAll offering 1.8 mpd on all payments; buy miles at 1.2 cents each

Conclusion

Save S$30 off the fees for your first-ever CardUp transaction with code MILELION, no minimum spend required. This code is valid for Visa and Mastercard payments only

OCBC cardholders can take advantage of a 1.5% (new) or 1.8/2% (existing) fee when paying bills with CardUp, depending on which card they hold.

There’s no cap on redemptions, and the existing customer codes can be used as many times as you wish during the promo period.

The new customer fee is particularly attractive, so do consider it if you have any upcoming bill payments to make.