Which credit cards have the smallest miles conversion blocks?

Unless you’re spending on an airline cobrand card like the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend or KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, you’re technically earning bank points, not airline miles. 

Therefore, you’ll need to convert your points into miles before redeeming them, which then raises the question: how many must you convert at one time? This is known as the minimum conversion block.

💳 Credit Card FAQs

This article forms part of a series on Credit Card FAQs. Refer to the articles below for guides to other common questions.

Which credit cards offer free miles conversions? Which credit cards earn non-expiring points? How do you check credit card points breakdowns? Which banks pool credit card points? Which credit cards have the smallest conversion blocks? How do you avoid orphan miles? What happens to my credit card points after I die? How are points calculated on general spending cards? How are points calculated on specialised spending cards?

How does the minimum conversion block vary by bank?

The minimum conversion block starts from as little as 1 mile and goes as high as 10,000 miles. 

Don’t assume a bank applies the same policy across all its cards! Some banks have multiple points currencies, each with its own minimum conversion blocks. For example:

• OCBC Rewards/Premier Visa Infinite Cardholders transfer OCBC$ in minimum blocks of 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
• OCBC 90°N Cardholders transfer 90°N Miles in minimum blocks of 1,000 points (1,000 miles)
• OCBC VOYAGE Cardholders transfer VOYAGE Miles in minimum blocks of 1 point (1 mile)

Even if the points currency shares a common name, the minimum conversion block may vary depending on card:

• Standard Chartered Visa Infinite and Journey Cardholders transfer SC Rewards Points in minimum blocks of 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
• All other Standard Chartered cardholders transfer SC Rewards Points in minimum blocks of 34,500 points (10,000 miles)
• AMEX Platinum Charge and Centurion Cardholders transfer Membership Rewards Points in minimum blocks of 400 points (250 miles)
• All other AMEX cardholders transfer Membership Rewards Points in minimum blocks of 450 points (250 miles)

I’ve also added a green label indicating whether points are pooled. Points pooling means the points earned on different cards within the same bank can be combined and redeemed at one go, and mitigates the effect of a larger conversion block.

For example, DBS has a minimum conversion block of 10,000 miles, and pools points. If I have 5,000 miles on my DBS Altitude AMEX and 5,000 miles on my DBS Vantage, I can redeem one block of 10,000 miles.

In contrast, Citibank has a minimum conversion block of 10,000 miles, but does not pool points. If I have 5,000 miles on the Citi Rewards Mastercard and 5,000 miles on the Citi Rewards Visa, I cannot transfer anything until I earn a further 5,000 miles on each card.

Also note the unique arrangement that HSBC has. While you need to convert a minimum of 10,000 miles, the subsequent conversion block after that is just 2 miles. For instance, you could convert 10,496 miles or 30,338 miles if you were so inclined. This means that so long as you have at least 10,000 miles in your account, you can cash out your entire balance with almost nothing leftover. 

Why do smaller conversion blocks matter?

While most banks have gone with 10,000 miles as their default minimum conversion block, smaller conversion blocks are much more customer-friendly.

Maintain flexibility

Most banks offer conversions to multiple frequent flyer programmes, and a small conversion block enables you to transfer just the number of miles you need, keeping the rest of your points for transfers to other programmes as needed.

Maximise validity

Your points have “two validities”: one on the bank side, and one on the airline side.

For example, AMEX Membership Rewards points never expire. Once they’re converted into KrisFlyer miles, however, they expire in three years. UOB UNI$ expire in two years, but if you max out their life before transferring them to KrisFlyer, you get a total of five years. 

Therefore, it makes sense to keep points on the bank side until they’re needed, and smaller conversion blocks help with that. 

Avoid orphan points

In the event you need to cash out your points and close your card account, smaller minimum conversion blocks help reduce orphan points. 

For example, suppose John spends S$10,000 each on the Citi PremierMiles Card and OCBC 90°N Mastercard. At an earn rate of 1.2 mpd, he will have:

• 12,000 Citi Miles
• 12,000 90°N miles

Now suppose he wants to close both cards. Since the minimum conversion block for Citibank is 10,000 Citi Miles, he’ll have 2,000 Citi Miles leftover (known as orphan points) which can only be spent for vouchers or cash rebates at a rather poor rate. But since the minimum conversion block for OCBC is 1,000 Travel$, he can cash out his entire balance with nothing leftover.

Is there any way to reduce conversion blocks?

Auto-conversion programmes

DBS and UOB offer auto-conversion programmes that automatically convert points to miles, with a smaller minimum conversion block

• DBS’s programme costs S$43.60 per year and is available to DBS Insignia, Treasures Black Elite and Altitude cardholders. The minimum conversion block is reduced to 500 DBS Points (1,000 miles)
• UOB’s programme costs S$50 per year and is available to all UNI$-earning cards. The minimum conversion block is reduced to 2,500 UNI$ (5,000 miles)

Reducing conversion blocks via Kris+

S$5 for new Kris+ Users

Get S$5 (in the form of 750 KrisPay miles) when you sign-up with code W644363 and make your first transaction

Kris+ supports instant transfers from Citi Miles & ThankYou points, DBS Points and UOB UNI$ to KrisPay miles, which can then be instantly converted into KrisFlyer miles at a 1:1 ratio. 

With Kris+, the minimum transfer block is reduced to as low as 200 miles, as shown below.

Bank	Transfer Ratio	Min. Transfer
Read More	1 Citi Mile: 0.85 miles	4,000 Citi Miles (4,000 miles)
	1 TYP: 0.34 miles	10,000 TYP (4,000 miles)
Read More	1 DBS Point: 1.7 miles	100 DBS Points (200 miles)
Read More	1 UNI$: 1.7 miles	1,000 UNI$ (2,000 miles)

Here’s the catch: there’s a 15% haircut compared to the number of miles you’d receive via the bank’s transfer portal (e.g. 100 DBS Points is normally worth 200 miles via the DBS Rewards portal, but only 170 miles via Kris+).

On the plus side, you get to avoid the bank’s usual S$27 transfer fee. Assuming you value a mile at 1.5 cents, a S$27 transfer fee would be equivalent to ~1,800 miles, which given a 15% haircut means your indifference point is roughly around the 12,000 miles mark. If your miles account just needs a small top-up, it might make sense to take this route instead.

Other ways of doing small top-ups

If you just need a small top-off your KrisFlyer account, there are other alternatives besides transferring credit card points, such as spending with a Kris+ merchant or transferring CapitaStars, GrabRewards points or Linkpoints.

For the full details, refer to this post.

Instant and quick ways to top-up a KrisFlyer miles balance

Conclusion

In an ideal world, conversion blocks would be in the hundreds of miles, if not less. But unfortunately, 10,000 miles is where most of the market has settled, though there’s noticeable exceptions for American Express, OCBC and HSBC (where the conversion block is just 2 miles after the first 10,000 miles block).

All things equal, I’d try to earn points with banks that have smaller conversion blocks, just to minimise the issue of orphan miles and keep my flexibility.