DBS Vantage Card cuts welcome bonus to 60,000 miles

The DBS Vantage Card has been offering its best-ever welcome offer of 85,000 bonus miles for the past two months, but this month it’s reverted to the usual level of 60,000 bonus miles.

This is valid for applications received by 31 August 2025, and the minimum spend remains the same at S$4,000 in the first 30 days of approval.

Unfortunately, there’s still no sign of a welcome offer for existing DBS cardholders. With the Citi Prestige’s upcoming nerf, dangling an offer for disgruntled customers might not be the worst idea.

DBS Vantage offering 60,000 miles sign-up bonus

DBS Vantage Card

Apply

This 60,000 miles welcome offer is valid for new-to-DBS cardholders who apply for a DBS Vantage Card between 1 May to 31 August 2025, and receive approval by 14 September 2025.

New-to-DBS cardholders are defined as those who:

• do not currently hold any principal DBS/POSB credit cards, and
• have not cancelled any principal DBS/POSB credit cards in the past 12 months

Cardholders must pay the S$599.50 annual fee and spend S$4,000 within 30 days of approval.

If you’re an existing DBS cardholder, you’ll receive the usual year-round 25,000 bonus miles for paying the S$599.50 annual fee, with no further spending bonus. 

The welcome bonus is on top of whatever base miles you normally earn with the DBS Vantage, so new-to-DBS cardholders should expect at least 68,000 miles in total, based on S$4,000 spent locally at 1.5 mpd. 

Do remember that the “real” bonus is 35,000 miles, since cardholders receive 25,000 miles for paying the annual fee every year anyway.

What counts as qualifying spend?

Cardholders are required to spend at least S$4,000 within 30 days of approval.

Qualifying spend includes both local and foreign retail sales and posted recurring bill payments, excluding the transactions mentioned in point 11 of the T&Cs, such as:

• Charitable donations
• Education
• Government agencies
• Hospitals
• Insurance premiums
• Prepaid account top-ups
• Utilities

CardUp rental transactions which code under MCC 6513 (Real Estate Agents and Managers) will count towards qualifying spend. However, all other CardUp transactions will not count towards qualifying spend, even though they will earn base miles.

Refer to the article below for more information.

Clarified: Using CardUp rental for DBS welcome offers

ipaymy transactions are explicitly excluded from counting towards qualifying spend.

For the avoidance of doubt, supplementary and principal cardholder spending will pool when calculating whether the minimum qualifying spend has been met.

When will the miles be credited?

The 25,000 miles for paying the S$599.50 annual fee will be awarded (in the form of 12,500 DBS points) after the annual fee is charged.

The bonus of 35,000 miles will be credited within 2-4 months from the date of fulfilling the qualifying spend (in the form of 30,000 DBS points). 

Terms & Conditions

The T&Cs for this welcome offer can be found here. 

Is this a good deal?

Not compared to 85,000 miles, that’s for sure!

Given the S$599.50 annual fee, the cost per mile works out to approximately 1 cent each, higher than the previous offer’s 0.71 cents. Mind you, that’s before factoring in the value of the rest of the DBS Vantage Card’s perks, such as an Accor Plus Explorer membership and 10 complimentary lounge visits per year.

It’s not a bad deal, in and of itself, but if you can afford to wait, then I’m quite sure the 85,000 miles will return at some point this year. 

What can you do with DBS Points? 

DBS Points earned on the DBS Vantage Card expire after three years, and can be converted to any of the following frequent flyer programmes with a S$27.25 admin fee.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (DBS Points : Miles)
	5,000 : 10,000
	5,000 : 10,000
	5,000 : 10,000
	500 : 1,500

Transfer to KrisFlyer and Asia Miles are typically processed within three working days.

In my opinion, it’s only worth transferring miles to KrisFlyer or Asia Miles. AirAsia BIG is more of a rebates program than a traditional frequent flyer scheme, and Qantas Frequent Flyer doesn’t have any real sweet spots for Singapore-based travellers.

Overview: DBS Vantage Card

Apply
Income Req.	S$120,000 p.a.	Points Validity	3 years
Annual Fee	S$599.50	Min. Transfer	5,000 DBS Points (10,000 miles)
FCY Fee	3.25%	Transfer Fee	S$27.25
Local Earn	1.5 mpd	Points Pool?	Yes
FCY Earn	2.2 mpd	Lounge Access?	Yes: 10x Priority Pass
Special Earn	N/A	Airport Limo?	No
Cardholder Terms and Conditions

The DBS Vantage Card earns 1.5 mpd on local spend and 2.2 mpd on FCY spend.

Cardholders enjoy benefits such as:

• A Priority Pass membership with 10 free lounge visits per year (which can be used by the main cardholder or his/her guests)
• Accor Plus Explorer membership with up to 50% off dining and one complimentary hotel night at selected Asia Pacific hotels

While the card’s annual fee cannot be waived in the first year, it will be waived subsequently when you spend at least S$60,000 in a membership year (which can include CardUp transactions).

Should the fee be waived, you will not receive the 25,000 miles, though you will receive the rest of the benefits like the Accor Plus Explorer membership and lounge passes.

You can read my full review of the DBS Vantage Card below. 

Review: DBS Vantage Card

Conclusion

DBS Vantage Card

Apply

If you’ve been considering applying for a DBS Vantage Card, hopefully you jumped on the upsized welcome offer during the past two months, because from May it’s back to the regular 60,000 miles.

I suspect it’s only a matter of time before the 85,000 miles offer is brought back again, however, so those who can afford to wait might want to see what happens after August. 

The DBS Vantage Card might not be the best performer in the $120K segment, but the welcome offer goes a long way towards making the first-year value proposition worthwhile. Moreover, this is one of the few $120K cards whose annual fee can be waived, which might be attractive to those who can spend at least S$60,000 a year.