Nerfed: DBS Woman’s World Card cuts monthly 4 mpd cap to S$1,000

Well this sucks.

Barely one year after the DBS Woman’s World Card reduced its 4 mpd cap for online spending from S$2,000 to S$1,500 per month, we’re now seeing a second nerf that cuts it further to S$1,000.

This is painful, no two ways about it. With so many daily transactions taking place online — ridesharing, shopping, food delivery, groceries, movie tickets, streaming subscriptions, air tickets, hotels —the DBS Woman’s World Card’s no-nonsense 4 mpd bonus cap is a precious commodity.

DBS Woman’s World Card cuts 4 mpd bonus cap (again)

From 1 August 2025, the DBS Woman’s World Card will cut its 4 mpd cap from S$1,500 to S$1,000 per calendar month. 

Per an update on the DBS website:

From 1 August 2025, please note that the cap for online bonus awarding on eligible spend will be revised from S$1,500 to S$1,000. Continue to use your DBS Woman’s World Card to enjoy up to 4 miles per S$1 on your purchases. Terms and conditions apply.

Any spend beyond the bonus cap earns just 0.4 mpd (unless it’s in FCY, in which case you earn an uncapped 1.2 mpd, which is still rather underwhelming), so cardholders should take great care not to go above the cap. I recommend using the DBS Payment Controls feature to limit your spending to S$1,000 a month. 

There is no change to how the bonus posts: 

• If your online transaction is in SGD, you’ll receive 0.4 mpd initially, and 3.6 mpd by the end of the next calendar month
• If your online transaction is in FCY, you’ll receive 1.2 mpd initially, and 2.8 mpd by the end of the next calendar month

With the reduction to the bonus cap, cardholders will max out at 48,000 miles per year. That’s still equivalent to a round-trip Business Class ticket to Thailand or Vietnam, but it’s painful to think that in early 2024 you could earn up to 96,000 miles per year, just shy of a round-trip Business Class ticket to Japan or South Korea!

No changes to the DBS Woman’s Card

Not that anyone really cares, but there are no changes to the DBS Woman’s Card, which continues to earn 2 mpd on the first S$1,000 of online spend per calendar month.

That’s a rather unattractive rate, and there’s really no reason why any of you should be using it- especially since the DBS Woman’s World Card’s S$80,000 income “requirement” is not strictly enforced.

How bad is this nerf?

It’s not great news, that’s for sure. 

With this nerf, the DBS Woman’s World Card’s monthly bonus cap is now on par with competitors like the Citi Rewards Card and UOB Lady’s Card. This also further reduces the options available for big ticket expenses, where the transaction can’t be split over multiple cards.

I’m not about to cut up my card, because the DBS Woman’s World Card remains a compelling option for online spend even with a reduced cap. While it may not have the same transfer partner variety as the Citi Rewards Card, it also doesn’t have exclusions for travel-related spend, and pools points with other DBS cards.

Head-to-head: Citi Rewards Card vs DBS Woman’s World Card

The key drawback of the DBS Woman’s World Card is its one-year points expiry, which necessitates annual cash-outs (which will now be at 48,000 miles per pop, instead of 72,000 miles).

What alternatives are there?

For what it’s worth, there are still numerous alternatives for online spending, though perhaps not as straightforward as the DBS Woman’s World Card.

Apart from the Citi Rewards Card, other options for online spending include the HSBC Revolution, OCBC Rewards, UOB Lady’s Cards and UOB Preferred Platinum Visa.

The key thing to note is that apart from the Citi Rewards Card, the rest of these options adopt a whitelist approach, which means that a given transaction will not earn bonuses unless its MCC is specifically included. That’s different from the DBS Woman’s World Card and its blacklist approach, where a given (online) transaction will earn bonuses unless its MCC is specifically excluded.

For detailed guides on the ins and outs of each card, refer to the articles below:

• Review: Citi Rewards Card
• Review: HSBC Revolution
• Review: OCBC Rewards Card
• Review: UOB Lady’s Cards
• Review: UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

Conclusion

From 1 August 2025, the DBS Woman’s World Card will cut its monthly bonus cap from S$1,500 to S$1,000 per calendar month.

This is the second nerf in just over a year, and leaves the UOB Lady’s Solitaire and UOB Visa Signature as the only specialised spending cards with a monthly bonus cap of more than S$1,000.

What do you make of the DBS Woman’s World Card nerf?

(HT: Suitesmile)