My reunion with the BOC Elite Miles Card

Back in 2020, I swore off the BOC Elite Miles Card forever. 

Frankly speaking, the decision had been a long time coming. It was one thing to wink at BOC’s many, many annoyances when the earn rates were great, but once they started slashing them and adding all sorts of rewards exclusions, there was no reason to stick around.

But as we all know, “forever” isn’t quite as long as it used to be, especially in the miles game. And with the BOC Elite Miles Card boosting its regular earn rates, and offering an incredible 8.8 mpd promotion through the end of 2025, I find myself back in bed with BOC once again.

So what’s changed in five years?

Recap: BOC Elite Miles up to 8.8 mpd promo

From 20 September to 31 December 2025, BOC Elite Miles Cardholders will earn a bonus 6 mpd on the following transactions.

The bonus is subject to two conditions:

• A minimum spend of S$1,000 per calendar month
• A cap of S$5,000 per calendar month (equivalent to 30,000 bonus miles)

The BOC Elite Miles Card normally earns 1.4 mpd (SGD) and 2.8 mpd (FCY), so together with the bonus, you’re looking at 7.4 mpd (SGD) and 8.8 mpd (FCY).

Now, there’s probably a more fundamental question: am I, as someone who applied for the card after the promotion launched, even eligible to participate? 

Truth is, I’m not 100% sure. BOC has labelled its promotional materials “for existing cardmembers only”. That could mean that you must have been a cardholder as of 20 September 2025 in order to be eligible. 

However, I don’t see any such mention of this in the T&Cs (it just says the promotion is applicable to all existing principal cardmembers, but doesn’t otherwise define the term), and some people claim to have written in to BOC and been told that the offer is valid for both new and existing cardmembers. Moreover, I don’t know if BOC’s systems are even sophisticated enough to filter out who’s new and who’s existing.

So call it copium on my part if you want, but I’m going to roll the dice on this. Anyway, we’ll have a better idea at the end of October, when BOC is due to send out its first batch of SMSes for cardholders to respond with their KrisFlyer numbers for the crediting of the bonus miles component (6 mpd).

I don’t actually expect to get an SMS then — because my card was only approved in October, so the earliest for me would be November — but we could get some reports from new cardholders who were approved towards the end of September. 

BOC’s processes have improved

Like any grizzled veteran will know, BOC has never been the easiest bank to deal with. In fact, if you have blood pressure or other health concerns, I’d advise you not to get on board with them. 

That said, my experience so far has been much less painful than I remember…

Card application is faster

Back in 2018, BOC Elite Miles Card applications were only accepted through manual forms, and the processing time often stretched over several months. And when The MileLioness misplaced her card in July 2019, it took 36 working days to get a replacement!

Credit where it’s due, however, because it looks like things have improved. BOC now has a dedicated online platform for card applications, with SingPass integration. I applied for the card on 7 October, got an approval notification on 10 October, and received the physical card on 14 October.

Card linkage is easier

It used to be that the only way of linking a new BOC credit card to internet banking was to pay a visit to a physical bank branch.

Thankfully, that’s no longer necessary. Once your card is activated, you’ll be able to link it instantly to your internet banking under Credit Card > Credit Card Management > Link.

eGIRO setup is a breeze

BOC isn’t exactly at the cutting edge of technology adoption, but if there’s one area where it’s ahead of other banks, it’s eGIRO.

I’m still struggling to believe that even though eGIRO launched in November 2021, none of the major banks have adopted it for credit card payments yet. But BOC has, and I was able to set up GIRO payment for my BOC Elite Miles Card through my DBS bank account in a matter of minutes.

There’s a functional(ish) mobile banking app

During my previous stint with BOC, managing your account was a desktop-only job. The mobile app was either not available, or too buggy to bother with.

BOC now has a stable app that lets you do pretty much everything the desktop platform does. However, it is hypersensitive about what other apps you have installed (which banking app isn’t these days?) and getting a lot of 1-star reviews from people saying it refuses to work if it detects legitimate apps like antivirus, Tasker and Nova Launcher. I had to guess and check which app to delete until I figured it didn’t like my Parallel Space app cloner. 

It also doesn’t let you take screenshots, which is annoying. 

What annoyances remain?

While I’m quite relieved that my worst fears going back to BOC haven’t come to pass, there’s still other annoyances (or possible annoyances) which remain. 

Digital card support

BOC currently does not support Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay, and I see no signs that’s going to change anytime soon.

This means that engaging a “player 2” to help accumulate spending is trickier, since your card can’t be in two places at once. You’ll instead need to apply for a supplementary card, and I don’t know how long that will take to process. 

Points transfer time

While the promotional 6 mpd will be credited directly to KrisFlyer, the base 1.4 or 2.8 mpd will still be credited in the form of BOC points.

This means that at some point in the future, I’ll need to deal with BOC’s archaic transfer process, which involves filling out a form and emailing it to the bank. The quoted waiting time is 14 to 21 working days, which is way more than the instant or 2-3 day transfers offered by most other banks. 

Moreover, BOC also charges S$30.56 per transfer, and limits you to converting a maximum of 100,000 KrisFlyer miles at a time. If you want to transfer more than that, you’ll need to complete a second form, and pay a second fee. 

Disputed transactions

Given the scope and frequency of BIN attacks, it’s probably only a matter of time before I get hit by a fraudulent transaction on my BOC Elite Miles Card.

When that happens, I’ll be curious to know how painful/painless the dispute process will be. 

Will I use the BOC Elite Miles Card after the promo?

Well I’m not going to rush to cancel it, that’s for sure. 

Leaving aside the fact the T&Cs require cardholders to keep the card for at least 12 months after the promotion period ends (point 17), BOC hardly ever has welcome offers for new customers, so there’s no real incentive to “pump and dump”.

I don’t see the harm in keeping it on ice, ready for reactivation if/when BOC runs a similar promotion for 2026.

The one situation where I could see myself using the BOC Elite Miles Card outside this promotion is for FCY spending, where it earns an uncapped 2.8 mpd. I rate it higher than the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature, because: 

• No minimum spend is required to earn 2.8 mpd on FCY spend (Maybank: min. S$800)
• It has a 3% FCY transaction fee (Maybank: 3.25%)

Of course, my first choice will still be to the 4 mpd FCY spend cards like the Maybank XL Rewards Card and UOB Visa Signature first. 

Conclusion

I might very well live to regret this, but I’m now back onboard with the BOC Elite Miles Card, in the hope of eking out some extra miles on my year-end spending.

Assuming new cardholders are eligible for this offer, and assuming BOC doesn’t pull it early, then I’m looking at 111,000 to 132,000 miles for S$15,000 of spending- none too shabby indeed.

Anyone else back onboard the BOC train?