HSBC offering full refund of Mileage Programme annual fee

HSBC cardholders (excluding the HSBC TravelOne Card) currently pay an annual Mileage Programme fee that allows them to convert rewards points to either Asia Miles or KrisFlyer miles for a 12-month period.

While this is noticeably higher than the S$25 fee that other banks charge, what sets this apart is the fact that it allows for unlimited conversions. The only condition is that each conversion be at least 10,000 miles; beyond that, HSBC doesn’t care if you make one or 100 conversions during your programme period.

But last week, HSBC announced a major shake up of its rewards system come 28 May 2024, which will migrate non-TravelOne Cards to the same platform as the TravelOne Card, with all points pooled. Also announced was a retirement of the Mileage Programme, and a waiver of all conversion fees until at 31 January 2025. 

So where does that leave HSBC cardholders who have already paid their annual Mileage Programme fee?

HSBC will refund Mileage Programme fees

Per a statement from a HSBC spokesperson, the bank will be automatically refunding the mileage programme fees paid by all customers from June 2023 onwards.

Customers that enrolled and paid for the Annual Fee for the mileage programme from June 2023 onwards will be eligible to get a full refund. The fee will be credited back to their card account by 31 July 2024.

-HSBC spokesperson

No action is needed on your part. The fee, whether paid in cash (S$43.20 in 2023, S$43.60 in 2024) or points(9,000), will be credited to your card account by 31 July 2024.

You can, of course, continue to make transfers to KrisFlyer and Asia Miles under the current Mileage Programme until the scheme is sunset on 20 May 2024. 

Did I say Asia Miles? Well, not really. Asia Miles transfers under the Mileage Programme have been unavailable since late 2023, and it looks like HSBC won’t get around to fixing this after all. However, they work just fine for HSBC TravelOne Cardholders, and once everyone is migrated over to the same platform, the problem will solve itself.

HSBC points pooling coming 28 May

In case you missed last week’s announcement, HSBC will be carrying out a major upgrade of its rewards redemption system from 20-27 May 2024.

During this period, you will not be able to perform any rewards redemptions via the following channels:

• Redemptions via Phone Banking (IVR): From 20 May 2024 onwards
• Redemptions via Online Banking: From 20 May 2024 onwards
• Redemptions via HSBC Singapore App: 20 – 27 May 2024 (temporarily unavailable)

When the upgraded rewards system launches on 28 May 2024, points redemptions will only be available via the HSBC Singapore app. 

Because of this rewards redemption “blackout”, HSBC will automatically extend the expiration date for rewards points expiring on 31 May 2024 by a further month, to 30 June 2024. 

After the upgrade is completed, your total rewards points earned across all HSBC credit cards will be pooled together. This means that all HSBC cardholders will be able to access the full roster of 21 airline and hotel transfer partners that are currently TravelOne exclusives.

✈️ HSBC TravelOne Airline Partners
Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (HSBC Points : Partner)
	50,000 : 10,000
	40,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

🏨 HSBC TravelOne Hotel Partners
Hotel Programme	Conversion Ratio (HSBC Points : Partner)
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 5,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

I also had a chance to clarify with HSBC that even though points will be pooled for the purposes of redemption, cardholders who wish to cancel a credit card must redeem all their points before doing so, or else forfeit them.

For example, if I have a total of 15,000 points across HSBC Card A (5,000) and HSBC Card B (10,000), cancelling Card A will leave me with only 10,000 points. This is similar to the practice that DBS currently has in place.

For the full story on HSBC points pooling, refer to this post. 

Conclusion

HSBC will be refunding all Mileage Programme fees paid from June 2023 onwards. This is to reflect the fact that the programme is being sunset on 20 May 2024, so members won’t be able to enjoy their full 12-month validity. 

From 28 May 2024, all HSBC cardholders will be migrated to the new rewards redemption platform, where they’ll enjoy unlimited free conversion till 31 January 2025 (let’s hope there’s no 10,000 points conversion fee after that!).