Wow. Just this morning, I published an article outlining the arguments for keeping or cancelling the HSBC Revolution.
All things considered, I think I was pretty nice, saying that despite the nerfs to the bonus whitelist and the loss of the extra 1% cashback from the Everyday Global Account, I could still see a case for retaining the card given its transfer partner variety and still-decent bonus category coverage
So naturally, HSBC:
Lo and behold, the HSBC Revolution isn’t done with its 2024 nerfing spree yet- far from it. Next on the chopping block are bonuses for contactless transactions and travel-related transactions, after which there’ll be really no reason to hold on to the card anymore.
HSBC Revolution to nerf contactless and travel transactions
HSBC has posted the following notice on the HSBC Revolution’s landing page.
With effect from 15 July 2024, the following changes will be made to the HSBC Revolution Credit Card 10X Reward Points Programme.
Contactless transactions will no longer be rewarded with 9X bonus reward points. You can still earn 1X base reward point on all eligible contactless transactions. Eligible transactions made in travel-related categories will be rewarded with 1X base reward point and 9X bonus reward points up until 31 December 2024.
-HSBC
In short:
- from 15 July 2024, the HSBC Revolution will no longer award 10X points on contactless transactions
- from 1 January 2025, the HSBC Revolution will no longer award 10X points on travel-related transactions
As before, the bonus cap across all categories will be kept to S$1,000 per calendar month.
You can find the updated T&Cs here.
No more bonuses on contactless transactions
The HSBC Revolution currently awards 10X points (4 mpd) on online or contactless transactions for travel, shopping, dining and transportation spending that codes under the following MCCs.
| ✅ HSBC Revolution Bonus Whitelist (Till 31 Dec 2024) |
||
| Category | MCCs | Examples |
| Airlines, Car Rental, Lodging, Cruise Lines | 3000 to 3350, 3351 to 3500, 3501 to 3999, 4411, 4511 | Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific, Emirates |
| Department Stores & Retail Stores | 4816, 5045, 5262, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5655, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732 to 5735, 5912, 5942, 5944 to 5949, 5964 to 5970, 5992, 5999 | Amazon, Best Denki, Courts, Harvey Norman, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, Taobao |
| Dining | 5441, 5462, 5811, 5812, 5813 | Crystal Jade, Paradise Dynasty, Hai Di Lao |
| Transport & Membership Clubs | 4121, 7997 | Comfort, Grab, gojek, TADA, Ryde, Fitness First |
| Bonuses apply to both SGD & FCY spend | ||
From 15 July 2024, 10X points will only be awarded if the transaction is made online. Any contactless spending will only earn 1X points (0.4 mpd).
For the sake of clarity:
- Online spending refers to situations where you transact in-app or on a website
- Contactless spending refers to in-person transactions where you tap the physical card, or use it with your mobile wallet
In essence, the HSBC Revolution will become an online-only card, the type you add to your apps and then keep in your drawer at home for when you shop online. It will never need to see the light of day otherwise.
No more bonuses on travel-related transactions
Losing the bonuses on contactless spending would be bad enough, but from 1 January 2025, HSBC will remove the “travel” category from its bonus whitelist altogether.
| ✅ HSBC Revolution Bonus Whitelist (From 1 Jan 2025) |
||
| Category | MCCs | Examples |
| Department Stores & Retail Stores | 4816, 5045, 5262, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5655, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732 to 5735, 5912, 5942, 5944 to 5949, 5964 to 5970, 5992, 5999 | Amazon, Best Denki, Courts, Harvey Norman, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, Taobao |
| Dining | 5441, 5462, 5811, 5812, 5813 | Crystal Jade, Paradise Dynasty, Hai Di Lao |
| Transport & Membership Clubs | 4121, 7997 | Comfort, Grab, gojek, TADA, Ryde, Fitness First |
| Bonuses apply to both SGD & FCY spend | ||
Mind you, in actual practice the whitelist will be even smaller, because most dining transactions will be paid for in-person. Yes, there may be the odd restaurant here and there where you order via a QR code and pay before getting your food, but that’s about it.
The only other workaround I can think of is if the restaurant is a Kris+ partner, or supports ShopBack Pay (because both will code as online dining). Keep in mind that food delivery services like Deliveroo and Foodpanda can often code as MCC 5814, which was already nerfed back in May.
This means means that in the span of just a year, the HSBC Revolution will have lost a shocking number of bonus categories.
| ❌ Former HSBC Revolution Bonus Categories | |
| MCC | Examples |
| MCC 4722 Travel Agencies [Excluded 1 Jan 24] |
Agoda, Expedia, Hotels.com, Klook, Pelago, Trip.com |
| MCC 7011 Lodging Not Elsewhere Classified [Excluded 1 Jan 24] |
Airbnb, Millennium Hotels & Resorts, Pan Pacific Hotels |
| MCC 5411 Supermarkets [Excluded 1 May 24] |
Cold Storage, Giant, Little Farms, NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong |
| MCC 5499 Misc. Food Stores [Excluded 1 May 24] |
7-Eleven, Crave, Cheers, Hockhua Tonic, iHerb, Nespresso |
| MCC 5814 Fast Food [Excluded 1 May 24] |
Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway |
| MCC 3000-3299 MCC 4511 Airlines [Excluded 1 Jan 25] |
Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific, Emirates |
| MCC 3300-3499 Car Rental [Excluded 1 Jan 25] |
Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Europcar |
| MCC 3500-3999 Lodging [Excluded 1 Jan 25] |
Accor, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt |
| MCC 4411 Cruise Lines [Excluded 1 Jan 25] |
Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises |
This basically turns the HSBC Revolution into a crappier Citi Rewards. Like the Citi Rewards, it will blacklist travel-related transactions. But unlike the Citi Rewards, it won’t offer any bonuses on offline spending, and bonuses for online spending will be limited to certain MCCs only.
What are the alternatives for airlines and hotels?
While the loss of bonuses for airlines and hotels will no doubt be annoying, the good news is that there are still plenty of alternatives that earn 4 mpd.
Refer to the articles below for more details.
Conclusion
Just when I thought the worst was over for the HSBC Revolution, the bank has dropped another bombshell by nerfing the card even more. From 15 July 2024, there will be no more bonuses for using the HSBC Revolution offline, and from 1 January 2025, bonuses will end for travel-related transactions.
I just don’t see any use for the Revolution following these changes, as there’ll be nothing it does that other cards can’t do better. It’s such a shame, because everyone was singing this card’s praises when it got a major upgrade in August 2020.
Harder daddy.
Bye bye HSBC!
What if you pay at restaurants but insist that they insert the card into the machine (non contactless)?
Contactless may not work if the antenna that goes around the card is damaged. “Oops, sat on *ahem* wallet too hard. “
To get 10x it must be online or contactless. Swiping the card at a restaurant won’t work.
So… this is now a card that will be used if you max out DBS Woman’s World and Citi Rewards AND you want to take the time to get the correct MCC? It’s only usable for the odd online shopping or Kris+ payment now, and it doesn’t pool with any good card?
People will keep this until they have redeemed their last HSBC miles then just cancel?
Funnily enough the one buff that it got this year means HSBC will lose even more people than otherwise. You can redeem miles in blocks of 2 (min. 10k miles), with no conversion fee, as of last month. I had just cleared out 73,822 miles from almost 2 years of using this card…
It should still work with kris+ right?
Read the damn article fool
Harder daddy
It’s a big nerf, sure. But you still get 10x for online shopping with Amazon, Lazada, Shopee etc, right?
That’s useful.
it’s certainly useful, but the question is whether you need a card just for that when you could just as well cover it with the dbs wwmc or citi rewards (or other blacklist cards). if you’re a big spender, maybe. for most people, maybe not.
can also be an, “oh i busted all my other cards cap” card
Firstly, I don’t do much online shopping so a no-AF 4mpd card for Amazon with 3 year point validity is good for me. I leave the card at home since the 1K/mth cap approximates my Amzn monthly total. Slimmer wallet. Secondly, I dislike trying to get AF waivers (also dislike asking AmexPlat for bonus miles every year, I often forget – why don’t they just follow the other 120K/500K cards and just make it automatic? Is there a need to go cup in hand on the phone with some random CSO after paying $1700 AF?). I have other Citi cards… Read more »
Wait until they read your comment.
Can pair it to the Amaze card and convert offline transactions to online like Amaze with Citi Rewards?
It’s a visa card.Amaze card can only pari with master card.
No, amaze only supports mastercards
Amaze pairs with Mastercard. Hsbc rev being a visa card will not work.
It’s not a Mastercard, so that’s not an option.
I love seeing so many different ways to say the same thing. All itchy fingers I guess hehe
Thanks all for the amazing clarifications..Lol
The only positive thing about hsbc is now gone. Classic hsbc never fails to shoot itself in the foot.
They’re effectively redirecting their entire contactless-using customer base to UOB Pref Plat Visa and UOB Visa Signature.
Truth is, HSBC don’t want customers using their cards
I added HSBC Revo to my NTUC Fairprice app and use for Kopitiam dining, is that affected by the 4mpd nerf? 😀
Purchases on the FairPrice app codes as supermarket, so you’ve been getting 0.4 mpd for your Kopitiam meals since May.
Actually purchases via FairPrice app in Kopitiam foodcourt is tagged as 5814. But given that 5814 has also been nerfed, it is also 0.4mpd.
Thanks, what’s a good replacement card to add to NTUC Fairprice app? DBS WWMC?
Yup. WWMC or CRMC.
WWMC you can use GPay / ApplePay in-app method no problem.
CRMC cannot use GPay / ApplePay in-app, have to save your credit card number directly into the FP app.
I personally use the uob lady’s card to conserve the WWMC spend limit, but options suggested by Zezima also works!
There was a recorder playing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ badly in my head as I read this article.
Fitting article image of Titanic sinking for the end of this card. I guess this card is just too good to be true. Easily one of the best generic spending card. This is as good as HSBC officially declaring killing the card.
Why don’t they just kill the card?
They wanna do it in GrabPay Card style.
What does online mean? Does it mean only transactions where you key in your 16 digits and the cvv?
at least atome is still usable
Not sure if I am missing something here; but with contactless excluded, wouldn’t inserting the card (chip) or swiping the magnetic strip still be eligible for bonus points?
I could always insert/swipe first and if both of those fail opt to use another card instead of tapping my HSBC Revolution. No?
In the first place before the nerfs, chip insert was never 10X to begin with.
Now it becomes an online-only card with very limited MCCs supported. WWMC and CRMC will be a better replacement to HSBC Revo as both online-only cards supports very wide range of MCCs for 10X.
Indeed I was missing something obvious! Thanks for the clarification.
Swipe / chip has been earning 1X since the refresh.
I just redeemed all of my points from HSBC cards I owned (Revo & Travel One). I will see if I can get my annual fee waived for the T1 card when the statement comes. If not granted, I will cancel Travel One and keep the Revolution as a spare card for online shopping only (perhaps it will still be useful if all of the other cards already busted to the max, albeit I doubt I will spend to that extend). As long as the Revolution is still free from the annual fee, I will keep the card for just… Read more »
For the purchaing of air tickets. For HSBC Revolution is it only for Singapore air/Scoot/Jetstar? Can I purchase from EVA Air or Cathay and still earn the 4mpd till 31 Dec?
As an online shopping card, you run the risk of orphan miles unless you spend a hefty amount monthly
Same here. The Revo card will get soon get very limited use from me (esp when deleted from my Google Pay app) and in future if HSBC charge a fee, then I will terminate the card.
You might as well cancel it now and wait for a new sign up bonus
Is buying groceries online with the card also considered nerfed since it falls under supermarket category? Unless I opt to shop via RedMart
Hi, if i redeem 1-for-1 dining promo using Entertainer app, i can only get 1X points using HSBC revolution card for contactless payment? Need to apply for other HSBC card if not kind of waste.
I’m so sorry for the repeated message. I think i replied wrongly.
But for the Airline bonus, is it only for SIA/Scoot/Jetstar till end of 2024? Or other airlines like Cathay and EVA air is eligible for the 4mpd too?
Thanks,
3084 (EVA) and 3099 (CX) currently get 4mpd and all other airlines (3000-3299) get 4mpd until 31/12/2024.
The problem with Credit Card is that it so laden with conditions that you lose track of them. That is where the bank makes money. I think I have enough of HSBC when I reached my 25,000 redemption limit. Trying to get another HSBC Card is a headache. They are such a pain.
Remember to delete it from your mobile wallet too!
My first ever credit card…though to be honest I had already made the decision to drop it earlier this month and had just cleared out my miles. Thing is I was still planning to re-apply July 2025 for the sign-up bonus and use the card for flight tickets – so now I may never return to HSBC at all.
HSBC is a garbage bank, only one step higher than SCB. Time to bin this card.
SCB is one tier higher than HSBC at this juncture. At least they are realistic about the (limited) benefits they have on offer and wouldn’t slash and nerf on a whim
What about restaurant in-app payments or even Kris+ that accept Apple pay? Will this code as online or contactless?
I got 5,000 orphan points and don’t have enough time to earn to hit 25000 for redemption. Any way to efficiently cash out the points?
Hi, may I know for insurance premiums (paying with both citipayall & cardup), is HSBC revo will get 4mpd? Or use citi rewards better? Seek advice please..