HSBC keeps rewards points conversions free for all cardholders

HSBC cardholders will continue enjoying a redemption fee waiver for rewards points conversions, beyond the original 31 January 2025 deadline.

When the HSBC TravelOne Card launched in May 2023, HSBC took the opportunity to introduce a new rewards platform offering (mostly) instant conversions to 12 airline and hotel partners, with all conversion fees waived.

The fee waiver was originally positioned as a limited-time promotion, set to lapse on 31 December 2023. HSBC planned to introduce a jaw-dropping conversion fee of 10,000 HSBC rewards points after that, but such was the backlash that the bank decided to delay the implementation till 31 May 2024, and then 31 January 2025.ย 

HSBC has now decided to extend the conversion fee waiver indefinitely, which is great newsโ€” though it’ll no doubt be drowned out by the concurrently-announced decision to nerf transfers to KrisFlyer.

HSBC rewards points conversions to remain free

Enjoy free conversions to Air France and other HSBC transfer partners

Per an announcement on its website, HSBC will not be implementing any sort of redemption fee for HSBC rewards points from 31 January 2025 after all.

The waiver on the redemption fee for airline miles and hotel points will be waived until such time as may be determined by HSBC.

-HSBC

I would assume this means the 10,000 HSBC rewards points conversion fee is now off the table, and thank goodness for that. That would have been the equivalent of 4,000 KrisFlyer miles (3,333 KrisFlyer miles from 16 January 2025!), well above the market average of S$25. To put it another way, the HSBC TravelOne Card is currently offering a 20,000 miles welcome bonus. This conversion fee, if it came to pass, would eat up 20% of it!

As a reminder, all rewards points conversions must be done via the HSBC SG mobile app, with the desktop rewards portal already decommissioned. A step-by-step guide can be found here (written for the TravelOne Card, but equally applicable to all HSBC cards).

HSBC rewards points are arguably the best in Singapore

HSBC rewards points have come a long way from a few years ago, and I’d rank them as the best rewards currency in Singapore right now.

  • Conversion fees are now waived indefinitely
  • Conversions to all but two programmes (Hainan and JAL) are instant
  • Rewards points pool across all HSBC cards
  • While theย minimum conversion blockย is 10,000 miles, the subsequent block is just two miles (so you could transfer 10,002 or 20,496 miles, for example)
  • Even though non-expiring pointsย would be nice, HSBC still offers longer validity than most competing banks at 37 months
  • It has 16 airline and four hotel transfer partners, by far the most of any bank in Singapore

With regards to the last point, the sheer variety that HSBC cardholders have access to is enough to make anyone giddy. It’s probably one of the reasons why management even dared to devalue its KrisFlyer transfer ratioโ€” the first time I’ve seen a bank offer an inferior ratio for KrisFlyer compared to other airline partners.

โœˆ๏ธ HSBC Airline Partners
Frequent Flyer Programme Conversion Ratio
(HSBC Points : Partner)
50,000 : 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
krisflyer logo 25,000 : 10,000
Till 15 Jan 25
30,000 : 10,000
From 16 Jan 25
25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000
asia miles logo 25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000
๐Ÿจ HSBC Hotel Partners
Hotel Programme Conversion Ratio
(HSBC Points : Partner)
30,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 5,000
25,000 : 10,000
25,000 : 10,000

The catch, if you want to call it that, is that not all partners share the same ratio. While we often think of the HSBC Revolution as earning 4 mpd, for example, that only holds if you choose a partner with a 25,000 points : 10,000 miles ratio. The earn rates drop as the transfer ratio worsens, as illustrated in the table below.

Transfer Ratio
(Points : Miles)
HSBC T1
(Local)*
HSBC T1
(FCY)^
HSBC Revo
(Bonus)#
25,000 : 10,000 1.2 mpd 2.4 mpd 4 mpd
30,000 : 10,000 1 mpd 2 mpd 3.33 mpd
35,000 : 10,000 0.86 mpd 1.71 mpd 2.86 mpd
40,000 : 10,000 0.75 mpd 1.5 mpd 2.5 mpd
50,000 : 10,000 0.6 mpd 1.2 mpd 2 mpd
*3 points per S$1 on local spend
^6 points per S$1 on FCY spend
#10 points per S$1 on bonus categories

Therefore, some of these partners are not as useful as they appear on first glance.

All that said, I still find it very useful to be able to convert points instantly to Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, and even Qantas Frequent Flyer on occasion (they have WestJet awards for domestic travel within Canada starting from 10,000 miles).ย 

The problem with HSBC rewards points is that they’re very hard to earn, due to repeated nerfs to the HSBC Revolution, the lack of bonus categories for general spending cards, and the exclusion of CardUp and ipaymy from earning rewards.ย 

For more on this conundrum, refer to the post below.

The problem with HSBC rewards points

Who else offers free points conversions?

While free conversions are offered by some other credit cards, HSBC is unique in offering this as a bank-wide feature.

๐Ÿ’ฐ Points Conversion Fees by Bank
Issuer Per Conversion Annual Option
S$201 N/A
S$30 N/A
S$27.252 N/A
S$27.253 S$43.604
Free N/A
S$27.255 N/A
S$25 N/A
S$27.25 N/A
S$256 S$507
1. Waived for all Platinum and Centurion cardholders
2. Waived for Citi ULTIMA cardholders
3. Waived for DBS Insignia cardholders
4. Automatic conversions in blocks of 500 DBS points (1,000 miles) each quarter. Additional ad-hoc redemptions can be done for free
5. Waived for Maybank Visa Infinite and Maybank World Mastercard cardholders
6. Waived for UOB Reserve, UOB Visa Infinite Metal, UOB Visa Infinite and UOB Privilege Banking cardholders
7.
Automatic conversions in blocks of UNI$2,500 (5,000 miles) each month for balances above UNI$15,000. Additional ad-hoc redemptions cost S$25

In fact, there are currently no entry-level cards, cobrand cards aside, that offer fee-free conversions. This is a perk usually reserved for higher-end cards like the Maybank Visa Infinite or UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card, so it’s great that HSBC is extending this to all cardholders.

Conclusion

HSBC will be extending its redemption fee waiver for all cardholders indefinitely, beyond the originally-announced 31 January 2025 deadline.

Of course, nothing is truly permanent in the miles and points game, so there could very well come a day when this gets nerfed. But until then, that makes HSBC rewards points extremely nimble and flexible. It’s just a shame they’re so hard to earn!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Jess

Thanks Aaron! Can you share in future articles more about the utility and/or sweet spots for Singaporeans for Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, and even Qantas Frequent Flyer?