Review: OCBC 90°N Card

Here’s The MileLion’s review of the OCBC 90°N Card, the card that makes you wish that the standard QWERTY keyboard came with a dedicated ° key.

OCBC was a relatively late entrant to the miles game. It wasn’t until 2015 that the bank unveiled its first miles card — the OCBC VOYAGE — and a further four years before the mass-market OCBC 90°N Mastercard launched, followed later by the OCBC 90°N Visa in October 2021.

Late though they were, the 90°N had some sensational launch offers: 4 mpd on foreign currency spending, Singapore Airlines, Scoot, AirAsia, Jetstar, Netflix and Spotify, 8 mpd on Airbnb, Millennium Hotels and Mr & Mrs Smith — all uncapped!

That’s a hard act to follow, and sadly, the 90°N has since settled into a mediocre slump. It’s badly in need of a spark, and I don’t just mean the built-in LED. 

OCBC 90°N Card
🦁 MileLion Verdict
☐ Take It ☑Take It Or Leave It ☐ Leave It
What do these ratings mean?
The OCBC 90°N Card offers non-expiring miles and (mostly) instant transfers, but is held back by middling earn rates and poor conversion rates.
👍 The good	👎 The bad
Nine airline and hotel transfer partners Most conversions processed instantly 90°N Miles never expire Transfer blocks as small as 100 miles	S$5 earning blocks Poor conversion rates for most partners, except Flying Blue and KrisFlyer No airport lounge access No points pooling with non-90°N cards No more free points conversions
💳 Full List of Credit Card Reviews

Overview: OCBC 90°N Card

Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the OCBC 90°N Card.

Apply (Mastercard)
Apply (Visa)
Income Req.	S$30,000 p.a.	Points Validity	No expiry
Annual Fee	S$196.20 (FYF)	Min. Transfer	1,000 90°N Miles* (Up to 1,000 miles)
Miles with Annual Fee	10,000	Transfer Partners	9
FCY Fee	3.25%	Transfer Fee	S$25
Local Earn	1.3 mpd	Points Pool?	Yes
FCY Earn	2.1 mpd	Lounge Access?	No
Special Earn	7 mpd on Agoda	Airport Limo?	No
Cardholder Terms and Conditions
*Transfers beyond the first 1,000 are in blocks of 100 for all partners except KrisFlyer

The OCBC 90°N Card is offered on both the Mastercard and Visa network. Historically, there were big differences between the two versions:

• The Visa had lower general spend rates, but enjoyed a bonus (insofar as 1.5 mpd can be called a bonus) on groceries, online food delivery and shopping
• The Mastercard had higher general spend rates, but lacked a bonus category

Both cards were harmonised in early 2023 and are now a single product with identical core features, issued across two networks.

While initially issued on traditional horizontal cardstock, the 90°N Cards have now transitioned to the new portrait-style design that’s becoming increasingly common (portrait-style design supposedly allows for a smoother user experience, as it mimics how customers typically handle their cards when they tap to pay or dip the card into a chip reader).

And while we’re talking design, it would be remiss not to mention the so-unnecessary-yet-really-cool LED light embedded in the °, that lights up upon making a contactless transaction.

How much must I earn to qualify for an OCBC 90°N Card?

The OCBC 90°N Card has an annual income requirement of S$30,000 p.a., the MAS-mandated minimum to hold a credit card in Singapore.

If you don’t meet the income requirement, it may be possible to get a secured version of the card with a S$10,000 fixed deposit. Contact OCBC customer service for further details.

How much is the OCBC 90°N Card’s annual fee?

The OCBC 90°N Card has an annual fee of S$196.20 for the principal cardholder, and a S$98.10 fee per supplementary card.

The first year’s fee is waived. Subsequent years’ fees are automatically waived if you spend at least S$10,000 in a 12-month membership year, though based on personal experience, the requirement is not strictly enforced.

Cardholders will receive 10,000 miles for paying the principal card’s annual fee, which means buying miles at 1.96 cents per mile.

What welcome offers are available?

Apply (Mastercard)

Apply (Visa)

New-to-bank customers who apply for an OCBC 90°N Visa or Mastercard through the SingSaver links in this article can choose one of the following welcome gifts:

• Dyson Airstrait (worth S$799)
• 25,000 Max Miles
• Dyson V8 Cyclone cordless vacuum
• S$440 Grab voucher
• S$400 cash

A minimum spend of S$400 within 30 days of approval is required. These gifts rotate often, so always refer to the T&Cs for the latest offers.  

How many miles do I earn?

SGD/FCY Spend

The OCBC 90°N Card earns: 

• 6.5 90°N Miles for every S$5 spent in SGD (1.3 mpd)
• 10.5 90°N Miles for every S$5 spent in FCY (2.1 mpd)

There is no minimum spend, and no cap on the maximum number of miles you can earn. 

This places the OCBC 90°N Card roughly mid-table. The local earn rates are competitive enough, but it lags badly behind on overseas spending. Moreover, OCBC’s annoying S$5 earning blocks mean you might be earning less than expected on smaller transactions (more on that below).

💳 Earn Rates for General Spending Cards (Income Req: S$30K)
Cards	Local Spend	FCY Spend
UOB PRVI Miles Card AMEX Mastercard Visa	1.4 mpd	3 mpd IDR, MYR, THB, VND 2.4 mpd All Others
BOC Elite Miles Card Apply	1.4 mpd	2.8 mpd
HSBC TravelOne Card Apply	1.2 mpd	2.4 mpd
DBS Altitude Card AMEX Visa	1.3 mpd	2.2 mpd
OCBC 90°N Card Mastercard Visa	1.3 mpd	2.1 mpd
Citi PremierMiles Card Apply	1.2 mpd	2.2 mpd
StanChart Journey Card Apply	1.2 mpd	2 mpd
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Apply	1.2 mpd	1.2 mpd
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	1.2 mpd	1.2 mpd
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card Apply	1.1 mpd	1.1 mpd

Bonus Spend

Agoda x OCBC

The OCBC 90°N Card earns 6 mpd (local) or 7 mpd (FCY) for Agoda hotel bookings made by 10 October 2026 and completed (i.e. check-out) by 31 December 2026.

Cardholders will earn the regular 1.3 mpd (SGD) or 2.1 mpd (FCY) upon payment. The bonus 4.7 mpd (SGD) or 4.9 mpd (FCY) will be credited within two months of check-out from the hotel.

All bookings must be prepaid, and the offer cannot be stacked with cashback portals like ShopBack. You will not earn the bonus if you only provide your 90°N Card to secure the booking, and pay in person at the hotel.

Do note that bookings made through bank x OTA tie-ups such as this can sometimes be more expensive than bookings made through the OTA site directly. Therefore, I would strongly urge you to do comparison shopping to make sure you’re not paying over the odds.

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

What is the FCY fee?

All FCY transactions are subject to a 3.25% fee, which is on par with the rest of the market.

This means that using your OCBC 90°N Card overseas represents buying miles at 1.55 cents each (3.25%/2.1 mpd). That’s acceptable enough, but remember — other general spending cards like the UOB PRVI Miles or BOC Elite Miles earn more for the same or lower fees.

You could pair this card with Amaze for a lower FCY fee, though Amaze converts all transactions into SGD, so you’ll only earn miles at the local rate of 1.3 mpd.

It’s ever-so-slightly cheaper to pair it with Amaze, but since the difference is so marginal, you might prefer to earn more miles by using the card “naked”.

Transaction date or posting date?

The OCBC 90°N Card tracks spending based on the posting date, not transaction date.

If you’re accumulating spend towards your welcome bonus, be careful about making transactions towards the end of the qualifying period — anything that posts beyond the deadline will not be included, even if the transaction was made during the qualifying period!

Transaction date vs posting date: Which cards use what?

When are 90°N Miles credited?

90°N Miles are credited when the transaction posts, which generally takes 1-3 working days. 

How are 90°N Miles calculated?

Here’s how you can work out the 90°N Miles earned on your OCBC 90°N Card.

Unfortunately, OCBC — along with Maybank and UOB — has a punitive rounding policy that sees all transactions rounded down to the nearest S$5 before points are awarded. That means a S$14.90 transaction earns the same number of miles as a S$10 transaction, and a S$4.99 transaction earns no miles at all! 

You basically need to spend at least S$5 to earn any points at all on the OCBC 90°N Card, and because of this, the OCBC 90°N Card can be outperformed by competitor cards with lower headline earn rates. Consider the following:

	OCBC 90°N Card 1.3 mpd	Citi PremierMiles 1.2 mpd
S$5	7 miles  ✅1.4 mpd	6 miles 1.2 mpd
S$9.99	7 miles 0.7 mpd	11 miles ✅1.1 mpd
S$15	20 miles ✅1.33 mpd	18 miles 1.2 mpd
S$19.99	20 miles 1 mpd	23 miles ✅1.15 mpd
S$25	33 miles ✅1.32 mpd	30 miles 1.2 mpd
S$29.99	33 miles 1.1 mpd	35 miles ✅1.17 mpd
S$35	46 miles ✅1.31 mpd	42 miles 1.2 mpd
S$39.99	46 miles 1.15 mpd	47 miles ✅1.18 mpd
Headline Earn Rate    Actual Earn Rate

The effect of rounding is more severe on smaller-sized transactions, and less noticeable on larger ones. 

If you’re an Excel geek, here are the formulas you need to calculate points: 

For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:

• General Spending Cards
• Specialised Spending Cards

To learn more about the minimum spend required to earn miles on different cards, refer to the article below.

What’s the minimum spend required to earn miles?

What transactions aren’t eligible for 90°N Miles?

A full list of transactions that do not earn 90°N Miles can be found in the T&Cs at points 1.4-1.6.

I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:

• Charitable donations (MCC 8398, 8661)
• Education (MCC 8211-8299)
• Government services  (MCC 9399)
• Hospitals (MCC 8062)
• Insurance premiums (MCC 5960, 6300)
• Prepaid account top-ups e.g. GrabPay, YouTrip (MCC 6540)
• Real estate agents & managers (MCC 6513)
• Utility bills (MCC 4900)

In addition to this, OCBC has an unusual clause that excludes MCC 4111 (Public Transport), 4121 (Taxis and Limousines), and 4131 (Bus Lines).

This means that you won’t earn points for SimplyGo bus and MRT rides, or overseas public transport rides where credit cards are accepted.

You will also not earn points for any ride-hailing platform or taxi company, though OCBC has explicitly whitelisted all the local taxi companies, as well as Grab and Gojek, so these will still earn points as per normal.

What about CardUp?

Enjoy a 2.3% fee on your first payment of up to S$5,00 on a Visa card, with the promo code MILELION

90°N Miles will be awarded for CardUp transactions at a rate of 1.3 mpd. However, CardUp has discontinued its special fee promotions for OCBC cards, so you’ll be paying the public fees— which recently increased).

Fees for Visa cards range from 2.25% to 2.45%, depending on payment, while fees for Mastercard are fixed at 2.59%. Given the 1.3 mpd earn rate, this is equivalent to buying miles at:

• OCBC 90°N Visa: 1.69 to 1.84 cents
• OCBC 90°N Mastercard: 1.94 cents

This is definitely on the high side, and anyway, the rule with CardUp is to use the highest-earning general spending card you can get (which at the S$30,000 income bracket would be the UOB PRVI Miles at 1.4 mpd).

What do I need to know about 90°N Miles?

Expiry

90°N Miles earned on the OCBC 90°N Card do not expire, so long as the card remains valid.

Pooling

OCBC is rather unusual when it comes to rewards, because it uses three different rewards currencies:

• 90°N Miles (previously known as Travel$ until 2023)
• OCBC$
• VOYAGE Miles

Rewards of the same currency pool together. For example, if you have 15,000 90°N Miles on the OCBC 90°N Visa and 20,000 90°N Miles on the OCBC 90°N Mastercard, you could redeem a total of 35,000 90°N Miles in a single transaction.

However, different rewards currencies cannot be combined. For instance, you cannot redeem OCBC$ together with 90°N Miles or VOYAGE Miles in a single transfer.

Transfer Partners

OCBC has a total of nine airline and hotel transfer partners.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (90°N Miles : Miles)
	1,000 : 1,000
	1,000 : 1,000
	1,000 : 1,000
	1,000 : 1,000
	1,000 : 900
	1,000 : 900
	1,000 : 750
	1,000 : 700
	1,000 : 500

Unfortunately, the conversion ratios for most partners eliminate them as viable options.

Transfers to Asia Miles receive 25% fewer miles than KrisFlyer, while transfers to British Airways and Etihad Guest receive 10% fewer miles than KrisFlyer. 

The Asia Miles haircut is particularly annoying, because no other bank does the same. With every other credit card, you can move points to Asia Miles at the same rate as KrisFlyer (or even better, in the case of HSBC). 

As for hotel partners, IHG and Marriott Bonvoy aren’t that appealing when you factor in the opportunity cost — you’re forgoing 1 KrisFlyer mile (worth ~1.5 cents) for every IHG (worth ~0.64 cents) or Bonvoy (worth ~0.90 cents) point.

The only non-KrisFlyer programmes I might consider would be Flying Blue and Accor Live Limitless (ALL). Flying Blue has transfer parity with KrisFlyer, and Business Class awards from Singapore to Europe start at 85,000 miles. With ALL, 2,000 points = €40, so there is an opportunity cost of 1.5 cents per KrisFlyer mile, roughly what I’d deem acceptable.

OCBC used to offer periodic transfer bonuses, but we haven’t seen one for some time now — the last bonus came in November 2024.

• November 2024: ~20% transfer bonus to Asia Miles
• July 2024: 70% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy
• June 2024: 15% transfer bonus to British Airways Executive Club
• November 2023: 15% transfer bonus to Asia Miles
• October 2023: 20% transfer bonus to Flying Blue
• October 2023: 50% transfer bonus to IHG One Rewards

Even so, all these bonuses did were make poor rates slightly less poor. 

Transfer Fee

When the OCBC 90°N Card first launched, points transfers were free.

Unfortunately, this was nerfed in February 2023 and a S$25 fee now applies. This fee is currently waived for all partners except KrisFlyer until further notice.

Transfer Blocks

 Regarding minimum conversion blocks:

• Transfers to KrisFlyer must be in blocks of 1,000 90°N Miles
• Transfers for all other programmes must be a minimum of 1,000 90°N Miles, but subsequent conversions can be in blocks of 100 90°N Miles

The ability to transfer miles in blocks of just 1,000 is a big advantage. Remember, 90°N Miles do not expire so long as on the bank side, but once they’re converted to KrisFlyer miles, they’re valid for three years. In other words, you should keep them on the OCBC side until you actually need to make a redemption.

1,000-mile blocks allow for more surgical redemptions, compared to the 10,000-mile blocks that most other banks require. For example, if you just need 3,000 more miles to redeem your flight, OCBC lets you transfer that on the dot. With Citi, DBS, Standard Chartered and UOB, you’ll need to transfer at least 7,000 more miles than required, starting the expiry countdown earlier than necessary. 

Which credit cards have the smallest miles conversion blocks?

In practice, however, you’re more likely to be making lump sum conversions anyway given the flat S$25 transfer fee.

Transfer Times

Transfers to KrisFlyer are usually processed within 24 hours, while transfers to all other airline and hotel programmes should be more or less instant.

How to transfer

Points transfers must be made through the OCBC app, under Rewards > Points Exchange.

Do note that the former STACK Rewards portal was decommissioned in late 2025. 

Cashback option

OCBC also allows cardholders to redeem 90°N Miles for cash rebates at a rate of 1,000 90°N Miles = S$10, or 1 cent per mile.

While OCBC markets this as up to 2.1% cashback, this is somewhat misleading. The 2.1% rate is based on overseas spending, and with a 3.25% FCY fee, you actually end up 1.15% worse off by choosing the cashback option.

For local spend, the rate is 1.3% cashback, which is also poor. There are plenty of cashback cards offering 1.5-2% cashback with no minimum spend requirement, and if you trade your 90°N Miles for cash rebates, you might as well not spend with this card in the first place!

Other card perks

Bonus interest with OCBC 360 account

OCBC 90°N Cardholders who spend at least S$500 per calendar month on their card are eligible to earn bonus interest of 0.25% p.a. on the first S$100,000 in their OCBC 360 account.

Assuming you keep the full S$100,000 inside, that works out to an extra S$250 interest per year, though you will need to consider the opportunity cost of the miles foregone by spending on the 90°N instead of on higher earning cards. 

GigSky data roaming (Visa only)

GigSky x Visa

The OCBC 90°N Visa offers a complimentary GigSky 3-day unlimited data plan, valid for the following countries:

• 🇨🇦 Canada
• 🇫🇷 France
• 🇲🇽 Mexico
• 🇹🇭 Thailand
• 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
• 🇺🇸 United States

For the avoidance of doubt, you don’t have to choose just one. You will receive all the plans above, once per card. While data is technically unlimited, your connection will be throttled after 3.5GB of data per day. 

To learn more about this benefit, refer to the guide below.

Free GigSky eSIM data roaming now available to Visa cardholders worldwide

Travelgoogoo data roaming (Visa only)

Travelgoogoo x Visa

The OCBC 90°N Visa offers a complimentary Travelgoogoo 365 Annual Plan, and 1 GB of global roaming data once per calendar year. 

1GB isn’t a lot of data, but the Travelgoogoo 365 Annual Plan offers unlimited messaging on the following platforms:

• iMessage
• LINE
• Telegram
• Viber
• WeChat
• WhatsApp
• Zalo

Unlike those “free messaging” plans you might have used onboard airplanes, which support text-only messaging, this also includes data calling and photos.

With coverage for 123 countries, it should be a useful fallback option in emergencies where you’ve run out of data on all your other plans, and don’t have Wi-Fi handy. 

For more on this benefit, refer to the guide below.

Visa offering free Travelgoogoo eSIM data and messaging plans

FlexiRoam data roaming (Mastercard only)

FlexiRoam x Mastercard

The OCBC 90°N Mastercard offers 3x complimentary 1GB 5-day FlexiRoam data plans once per calendar year. This provides mobile data in more than 120 countries.

For more on this benefit, refer to the guide below.

Guide: Mastercard’s free FlexiRoam global data roaming benefit

Where’s the lounge access?

Nowhere. While other general spending miles cards offer lounge visits, you won’t find such a perk with the OCBC 90°N Card.

Don’t be deceived — while the OCBC website mentions “exclusive DragonPass Access”, all this means is that you can pay to access lounges (yay?).

OCBC has run sign up offers in the past which included four complimentary DragonPass visits for new OCBC 90°N Visa cardholders, but these were a one-time benefit rather than a recurring one — and in any case there’s nothing on offer at the moment.

If lounge access is what you need, you’ll want to consider one of the following cards instead.

💳 Credit Cards with Airport Lounge Access (Income Req.: S$30K p.a.)
Card	Network	Free Lounge Visits (per year)
HSBC TravelOne Card Apply	DragonPass	4 CY Share
UOB PRVI Miles Card AMEX Mastercard Visa	Priority Pass	4 CY No Share
Citi PremierMiles Card Apply	Priority Pass	2 CY Share
DBS Altitude Visa Apply	Priority Pass	2 MY Share
SC Journey Card Apply	Priority Pass	2 MY Share
Legend
Whether visits are tracked by calendar year CY or membership year MY Whether lounge visits can or can’t be shared with guests Share No Share

Refer to the article below for the full rundown of credit cards with lounge access. 

2026 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Airport Lounge Access

Terms and Conditions

• OCBC 90°N Card
• OCBC Credit Cardmembers Agreement

Summary Review: OCBC 90°N Card

Apply (Mastercard)

Apply (Visa)

🦁 MileLion Verdict

☐ Take It ☑Take It Or Leave It ☐ Leave It

The OCBC 90°N Card started with a bang, but feels a lot more mediocre these days.

Gone are the crazy bonuses and free points conversions, replaced with middling earn rates and S$5 earning blocks. More transfer partners have been added — but many with poor conversion ratio, there’s no airport lounge access, and OCBC’s insistence on having three different rewards currencies means you can’t pool 90°N Miles with the OCBC$ earned by the OCBC Rewards Card.

If you’re in the market for a general spending card, I reckon the Citi PremierMiles Card or HSBC TravelOne Card have a lot more to give, with better welcome offers, lounge access, and more transfer partners.

So it’s just very hard to make the case for the 90°N Card, unless you really love the light-up gimmick.