UOB nerfs rewards for hospitals and utilities for premium cardholders

UOB has published an update to the T&Cs of its UNI$ rewards programme, which adds several new categories to its exclusions list effective 1 October 2024. 

Of course the headline here, and what everyone will be discussing for weeks to come, is the exclusion of Amaze. I’ve already covered that in a separate article, but if you’re holding on to one of UOB’s premium cards, there’s additional nerfs which will affect you too.

In short, the special exemptions carved out for hospitals and utilities are finally getting the chop, though fortunately, education survives.

UOB adds hospitals and utilities to rewards exclusion list

From 1 October 2024, UOB will be adding the following MCCs to its rewards exclusion list. 

• Updated T&Cs: UOB Reserve Card
• Updated T&Cs: UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card

The key ones to note here are hospitals and utilities.

Wait a minute, you say. Weren’t these already exclusion categories?

Yes and no. UOB excluded hospitals in February 2021 and utilities in August 2022. However, each time a special exemption was carved out for UOB Reserve and UOB Visa Infinite Metal Cardholders (strangely, no exemption was given to the UOB Visa Infinite or UOB Privilege Banking Card).

💳 Exemptions for UOB Premium Cards (ends 30 Sep 24)
	UOB Reserve^	UOB VI Metal Card
Hospitals	✔️	✔️
Utilities	✔️
^Also Reserve Diamond Card

Well, no longer. These exemptions will end from October 2024, and if you have any such expenses to pay, it’s worth seeing if you can bring them forward (though not by too much, as at some point the opportunity cost of an earlier outflow of funds will outweigh the incremental miles earned).

Hospitals

With hospitals now on the exclusion list, you won’t earn any miles for any surgeries or treatments, whether in a public or private facility.

However, the exclusion of hospitals doesn’t mean every medical expense is ineligible for rewards. You can still earn miles on your clinic visits, health screenings, tele-consults and dental checkups, as the medical practice spans a wide range of MCCs.

2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Medical Expenses

Utilities

I always found it interesting that UOB carved out a special exemption for the utilities exclusion for UOB Reserve Cardholders (though if you think about it, a GCB probably uses a lot of electricity!), but that’s now over. 

Unfortunately, with StanChart also excluding utilities from 3 September 2024, there’s very few options left here- basically just Maybank cards. 

2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Electricity & Utilities Bills

Education survives!

When I first heard the rumours that UOB was adding new exclusion categories, my first instinct was: that’s it for education.

So it’s a relief that that hasn’t happened. UOB Reserve, UOB Visa Infinite, UOB Visa Infinite Metal and UOB Privilege Banking Cardholders can continue to earn miles on school fees and university tuition, wherever cards are accepted.

For more on this (and other workarounds if you don’t have one of these UOB cards), refer to the post below.

2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Education, Enrichment and Childcare

Conclusion

UOB will be updating its rewards programme T&Cs from 1 October 2024, and while Amaze is the big headline here, UOB Reserve and UOB Visa Infinite Metal Cardholders should also note the impending removal of points for hospitals and utilities. 

It’s been painful to see bank after bank removing these categories, but also not surprising. While some workarounds (and Maybank, of course) remain, at this point most people will have to bite the bullet and pay an admin fee for a service like CardUp or Citi PayAll if they wish to earn rewards on these transactions.