OCBC VOYAGE offering 40,000 miles welcome bonus

Earlier this year, OCBC launched a new welcome offer for the VOYAGE Card, with 40,000 bonus miles upon approval and minimum spend, plus 50,000 bonus miles for executing trades. 

That offer has now been renewed till 31 July 2024, though the bonus for executing trades has now been cut to just 12,500 miles.

Leaving aside the trading component, a 40,000 miles welcome offer is noticeably better than anything we saw in 2023, though the minimum spend  is now S$3,500, a S$1,000 increase from last year.

OCBC VOYAGE Card 40,000 miles welcome bonus

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This offer is available for new-to-OCBC customers who apply for an OCBC VOYAGE Card between 15 April to 14 July 2024.

Cardholders will earn up to 40,000 bonus miles for completing the following:

The qualifying period refers to “one full calendar month from card account opening month”. For example, if the card opening date is 15 April 2024, then the minimum spend must be met by 31 May 2024.

Given the annual fee of S$498, this represents a cost per mile of 1.25 cents, before taking into account the value of any other card benefits like lounge access and airport limo transfers. 

Extra 12,500 miles for trades

In addition to the 40,000 bonus miles mentioned above, OCBC VOYAGE Cardholders can earn an additional 12,500 bonus miles for performing trades with OCBC Securities, provided they meet the conditions below:

• Already has an OEA or OSPL account which was successfully opened on or prior to 14 April 2024, or successfully applies for an OEA or OSPL account during the promotion period
• Perform at least S$150,000 of successful trades during the promotion period

Do note that this offer has been nerfed somewhat from earlier this year, when OCBC VOYAGE cardholders could enjoy up to 50,000 miles by making 4x sets of S$150,000 trades. This time round, the bonus is capped at just 12,500 miles. 

An overall cap of 2,125,000 bonus miles will be awarded, which works out to 170 blocks of S$150,000 trades.

When will bonus miles be credited?

All bonus miles will be credited within three months from the end of the promotion period, i.e. by 14 October 2024. 

What counts as qualifying spend?

A minimum spend of S$3,500 must be clocked during the qualifying period, which excludes transactions specified in section 1.4 of the VOYAGE Card’s T&Cs. 

The key exclusions to highlight are: 

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

CardUp transactions will count towards minimum spend, and OCBC VOYAGE customers can take advantage of some special codes to lower the fee even further.

Terms and Conditions

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

What can you do with VOYAGE Miles?

VOYAGE Miles can be converted to nine different airline and hotel partners at the following ratios: 

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (VOYAGE Miles: Partner)
	1:1*
	1,000 : 1,000^
	1,000 : 1,000^
	1,000 : 1,000^
	1,000 : 900^
	1,000 : 900^
	1,000 : 750^
	1,000 : 700^
	1,000 : 500^
*Minimum transfer of 1 mile ^Minimum transfer of 1,000 miles

Transfers to KrisFlyer can be done via the OCBC Rewards portal, while the other eight programmes can be found on the STACK Rewards portal. A transfer fee of S$25 applies. 

Unfortunately, the transfer ratios for many partners are far from ideal. For instance, transfers to British Airways and Asia Miles involve a 10% and 25% haircut respectively compared to KrisFlyer, when other banks like Citi or HSBC offer these at the same ratio as KrisFlyer.

Alternatively, VOYAGE Cardholders can also use VOYAGE Miles to offset the cost of any seat, on any flight, to any destination. The value per mile depends on the cabin and routing you choose, but OCBC devalued this by ~25% back in August 2023 so you’ll get no more than 1.72 cents per mile.

VOYAGE Miles earned on the OCBC VOYAGE do not expire, so long as the card remains active.

Overview: OCBC VOYAGE Card

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Income Req.	S$120,000 p.a.	Points Validity	No expiry
Annual Fee	S$498	Min. Transfer	1 VOYAGE Mile (1 mile)
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, and 2.2 mpd on foreign currency spending.

Card benefits include unlimited access to Dragon Pass Lounges (though access for supplementary cardholders has been removed, sadly), complimentary airport limo transfers, as well as periodic invitations to 1-for-1 dining events.

It’s far from the strongest card in the $120K segment, but does have its fans nonetheless. For a full review of the OCBC VOYAGE Card, refer to this post.

Conclusion

The OCBC VOYAGE Card has extended its 40,000 miles welcome offer, though the additional bonus from trading has been cut from 50,000 miles to just 12,500 miles.

Do remember that the 40,000 miles figure assumes you choose to transfer VOYAGE Miles to KrisFlyer or another partner with a 1:1 ratio. Sadly, most other airlines involve a haircut of up to 30%, which makes them relatively poor choices.