HSBC Revolution: Keep or cancel?

It’s safe to say that 2024 has not been a great year for the HSBC Revolution so far. 

In January, HSBC axed bonuses for Airbnb, Klook, Pelago and many other travel agencies and hotels. This was followed by a second cull in May, where bonuses for groceries, food delivery and fast food were nerfed too. The extra 1% cashback from the Everyday Global Account was discontinued, and even though points pooling finally rolled out, the overall trajectory is undeniably downwards.

That’s led some to ask a question that would have been inconceivable this time last year: is it time to say goodbye to the HSBC Revolution?

Arguments for cancelling the HSBC Revolution

Key MCCs have been removed from the bonus whitelist

Since the start of 2024, the following MCCs have been removed from the HSBC Revolution’s bonus whitelist.

The HSBC Revolution no longer earns bonuses for supermarkets, fast food, travel agencies, or most hotels. And since food delivery platforms like Deliveroo, Food Panda and GrabFood can sometimes code as fast food, that makes it a risky card to use here too. 

Moreover, even though MCC 3500-3999 (the hotels MCC range) remains on the whitelist, there are many properties which code under MCC 7011. Just because a hotel’s brand can be found in the MCC 3500-3999 range is no guarantee that an individual property will code in the same manner. For example, Westin hotels uses MCC 3513, but the Westin Kuala Lumpur codes as MCC 7011. This means it’s risky to use the HSBC Revolution for any sort of hotel transaction, unless you’re willing to test the MCC first.

Reset your new-to-bank status

SingSaver periodically offers excellent welcome gifts for HSBC cards like Apple iPads and Dyson gadgets, but you have to be a new-to-bank customer to take advantage of it.

If the HSBC Revolution is your last HSBC card, then you might be tempted to cancel it, if only to start the 12-month “reset clock”. Of course, you’ll need to weigh the value of the welcome gift against the opportunity cost of foregone miles from the HSBC Revolution- assuming you would have used it in the first place. 

Your spending doesn’t bust the bonus caps of blacklist cards 

If your monthly expenditure doesn’t regularly exceed S$4,000, there’s no reason why you can’t cover most if not all of it with the various blacklist cards on the market, namely the Citi Rewards, DBS Woman’s World Card, UOB Preferred Platinum Visa and UOB Visa Signature.

💳 Blacklist Cards
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	For online trxns. Max S$1K per s. month
DBS WWMC Apply	4 mpd	For online trxns. Max S$1.5K per c. month
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd	For mobile contactless. Max S$1.1K per c. month
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd	For contactless. Min. S$1K Max S$2K per s. month

These cards award bonuses by transaction medium (e.g. online, contactless) rather than specific MCCs, so if anything this makes life easier because there’s less to remember.

There’s no more extra 1% with the EGA

HSBC Revolution cardholders could previously earn an extra 1% cashback on top of their 4 mpd with the Everyday Global Account (EGA), capped at S$300 (Personal banking) or S$500 (Premier/Jade) per calendar month.

However, this was nerfed in May 2024, when the 1% cashback on card spending became limited to the HSBC Everyday Global Debit Card only.

Arguments for keeping the HSBC Revolution

There’s no annual fee

Ever since August 2020, the HSBC Revolution no longer has an annual fee, making it the only HSBC card with such a feature (the HSBC Premier Mastercard has no annual fee either, but you need to be a HSBC Premier customer to qualify).

Despite this, you still enjoy an ENTERTAINER with HSBC membership, which offers more than 1,000 1-for-1 deals on dining, attractions and travel. If that’s what you’re after, the Revolution is a no-cost way of getting it. 

There’s still a decent number of bonus categories

While the HSBC Revolution’s bonus whitelist is nowhere as big as it was in 2023, it still offers 4 mpd on air tickets, car rental, cruises, ridehailing, e-commerce websites, restaurants and gym memberships.

If these are substantial expenditure categories for you and you can’t cover them with a different card, then it might make sense to hold on to your Revolution. 

Your spending busts the bonus caps of blacklist cards 

If you’re a big spender and your monthly spending regularly exceeds the combined caps of the various blacklist cards, then having a HSBC Revolution is a way of soaking up some of the spending and conserving the more flexible blacklist cap. 

For example, if you have a S$500 Shopee purchase, you can put that on the HSBC Revolution instead of the DBS Woman’s World Card, preserving the latter’s 4 mpd cap of S$1,500 per month for other transactions that don’t fall on any whitelist.

You want to take advantage of HSBC’s new transfer partners

HSBC cards now pool points, so all cardholders can access the 21 airline and hotel partners which were formerly TravelOne exclusives. Thanks to the free transfers till 31 January 2025, instant conversions (for all but three programmes), and conversion blocks as small as 2 miles after the first 10,000 miles, HSBC points have suddenly become very valuable.

The problem? You can’t earn them very quickly with most HSBC cards. For instance, the HSBC TravelOne Card earns 3 points per S$1 on local spend, and 6 points per S$1 on FCY spend. That works out to 1.2/2.4 mpd, but only if you choose a transfer partner with a 25,000 points = 10,000 miles transfer ratio. Some partners go as high as 50,000 points = 10,000 miles!

HSBC TravelOne Partners

✈️ HSBC TravelOne Airline Partners
Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (HSBC : 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 : Partner)
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 5,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

To make matters worse, HSBC blocks CardUp and ipaymy from earning rewards, and does not offer a tax payment facility of its own.

Therefore, the only way to “turbocharge” your HSBC points accumulation is with the HSBC Revolution, which offers up to 120,000 HSBC Points a year from spending S$1,000 per month (an earn rate of 2-4 mpd, depending on partner).

Conclusion

The HSBC Revolution’s less-than-stellar 2024 has led some to consider cancelling the card, and if you already have other 4 mpd options to plug the gaps, then I could certainly see the case for resetting your new-to-bank status.

However, if you’re a bigger spender who regularly busts the caps on blacklist cards, then the HSBC Revolution could still be a useful sponge, and it’s hard to deny the appeal of HSBC points now that so many partners are on offer (though unfortunately not all at great rates). 

I haven’t decided what to do with my card yet. I like the “exotic” transfer partners that HSBC opens up, though I’m finding it more difficult to integrate the Revolution in my day-to-day spending routines (since I have to keep reminding myself I can’t use it at the supermarket, for food delivery etc.). Besides, I’m still sitting on a pile of points I’m not quite ready to cash out- and I’ll need to cash them out if I cancel my card, or else lose them.

HSBC Revolution Cardholders- what will you be doing with your card?