UOB publishes criteria for credit card annual fee waivers

UOB’s decision making process for credit card annual fee waivers has historically been rather opaque.

The only card with a published waiver criteria is the UOB PRVI Miles AMEX, which waives its S$261.60 annual fee for customers who spend at least S$50,000 in a membership year. For all other cards, it’s a big black box!

However, a reader just alerted me to a new page on the UOB website which sheds a lot of light on this topic. For the first time I can recall, we now have clear, unambiguous guidelines about how much you must spend to get a fee waiver — and who is exempt from the requirement.

UOB publishes credit card annual fee waiver policy

Fee Waivers

UOB has updated its page on card fee waivers with more transparent information on the eligibility criteria for credit card annual fee waivers.

I’m not sure exactly when the update was made, but it appears to be fairly recent. The new information wasn’t present as of March 2026, which is the most recent snapshot available on the Wayback Machine.

Anyway, here’s the relevant section:

There’s a lot of interesting stuff to dig into here.

No fees for UOB Private Banking/Privilege Reserve

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that UOB Private Banking (min. AUM S$5M) and UOB Privilege Reserve (min. AUM S$2M) customers are basically exempt from credit card annual fees. It would be silly to antagonise this group with an annual fee that amounts to nothing more than small change. 

However, there are two exceptions. UOB enforces a strict no-waiver policy for the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card and UOB Reserve Card (and obviously its Diamond Card variant too). No matter how much money you have with the bank, these fees have to be paid, period.

No fees for customers with only a single UOB card

What is surprising, however, is the reveal that if you only have a single credit card with UOB, you can get the annual fee waived regardless of spending (unless it’s a UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card or UOB Reserve Card, of course).

But it makes sense, if you think about it. UOB would rather retain you as a cards customer than risk losing you and having to woo back your business with an expensive welcome offer. Besides, if you only have a single credit card, chances are you’re not one of those annoying miles chasers who mercilessly min-maxes every UOB 4 mpd opportunity!

Minimum spend for waivers

If you have more than one credit card with UOB, then your eligibility for an annual fee waiver depends on how much you spend. 

There are three possible routes:

• The first is by spending at least S$5,500 on a credit card whose annual fee was paid (either because it was mandatory, or because you simply didn’t get a waiver)
• The second is by spending at least S$22,000 across all your UOB credit cards
• The third is by spending at least S$3,000 in overseas spend across all your UOB credit cards

This would explain my relative ease in getting fee waivers over the years. I never added up my transactions, but I’m quite certain I meet the second and third criteria consistently.

Spending is based on an 11-month period

But here’s the unexpected thing. The spend mentioned in the previous section must be made within 11 months of your card anniversary date, and not the full 12 months as you might have expected.

For example, if your annual fee is charged on 1 May 2026, only spending from 1 May 2025 to 31 March 2026 will be counted.

My guess is that UOB wants some buffer for its calculations. If it were to assess spending on the anniversary date itself, transactions made towards the end of the membership year may not yet have posted. Unfortunately, it also means that any “last-minute” spending will not count towards the waiver calculation. 

Then again, the UOB PRVI Miles AMEX’s annual fee waiver is based on the full membership year’s spend…

AUM and tenure count too

When deciding whether to grant an annual fee waiver, UOB may also look at other factors such as your overall relationship with the bank and AUM.

So if you didn’t meet the published criteria but still received a waiver, maybe someone at UOB likes you.

You must still request an annual fee waiver!

Here’s the tricky bit: UOB does not automatically grant fee waivers. Even if your status or spending qualifies you for a credit card fee waiver, you won’t receive it unless you ask for it. 

In fact, as you might already know, UOB’s default behaviour is to deduct UNI$ to cover annual fees, which can range from UNI$6,500 to UNI$10,000 (13,000 to 20,000 miles) for popular cards. If you don’t have sufficient UNI$, then the annual fee will be billed in cash.

💳 UNI$ deductions for annual fee
Card	Annual Fee	Full Waiver*
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	S$196.20	UNI$6,500
UOB Preferred Visa Apply	S$196.20	UNI$6,500
UOB Visa Signature Apply	S$218	UNI$6,500
UOB PRVI Miles Card AMEX MC Visa	S$261.60	UNI$6,500
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card Apply	S$414.20	UNI$10,000
*A half waiver requires 50% of the UNI$ and 50% of the cash

When this happens, you’ll need to request a fee waiver through the UOB TMRW app.

1. Log in to the UOB TMRW app
2. Tap Accounts at the bottom of the screen
3. Select the card you wish to request a fee waiver for
4. Tap Settings, then Waive Fees
5. Select Annual Fee and confirm

Waiver requests can be made for any annual fee billed within the past three statement months. If the request is successful, you’ll see a green screen.

Do note that the annual fee must be posted to your account before a waiver can be requested. If you’re an eager beaver and request it too early, you’ll get an error message saying “your card currently has no annual fee incurred within the past 120 days”.

It usually takes 1-2 days for the annual fee to go from pending to posted, so be patient.

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

How do UOB’s automatic UNI$ deductions for annual fees work?

What about other banks?

The policy on annual fee waivers varies from bank to bank. Some have clearly published minimum spend requirements, others are more “vibe-based” — or at least, appear to be, anyway!

I’ve published a bank-by-bank guide to this topic, now updated with the latest from UOB.

Credit card annual fee waivers: A bank-by-bank guide

Conclusion

UOB has updated its website with more information on who is entitled to a credit card annual fee waiver. Some of this we already knew, but other things — like the guaranteed waiver for customers with only a single UOB credit card, and the use of an 11-month calculation period rather than a 12-month membership year — are unexpected.

We also have, for the first time, explicit spending thresholds for annual fee waivers. Customers will receive a fee waiver if they spend S$22,000 across all UOB credit cards, S$5,500 on a fee-paying card, or S$3,000 on overseas spend across all cards. That last one is probably the easiest route for most miles chasers, as UOB has numerous cards offering 4 mpd on overseas spend (or even zero FCY fees, in the case of the EVOL).

(H/T: J J)