DBS Vantage Card cuts local earn rates to 1.4 mpd, adds free limo rides and annual fee waiver

DBS has announced some upcoming changes to the DBS Vantage Card, which will take effect from 2 November 2026.

Let’s start with the bad news: the local earn rate will be cut to 1.4 mpd, a 7% reduction from the current 1.5 mpd. There is no change to the overseas earn rate, which remains at 2.2 mpd. 

However, there’s good news for DBS Treasures customers, who will soon enjoy four complimentary airport limo rides, with no minimum spend required. If you’re a DBS Treasures customer with Accredited Investor (AI) status, you will also enjoy a waiver of the S$599.50 annual fee, again with no minimum spend necessary.

DBS Vantage cuts local earn rate to 1.4 mpd

Here’s how the DBS Vantage’s earn rates will change, with effect from 2 November 2026. 

A 0.1 mpd reduction is small in absolute terms, though obviously the impact will be amplified the more you spend.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that this is only the latest in a string of nerfs to the card:

• Annual fee waiver: On 1 August 2026, DBS removed the ability to get an annual fee waiver with a minimum spend of S$60,000 in a membership year
• No sign-up bonus: The DBS Vantage Card has historically offered sign-up bonuses as large as 85,000 miles, but has not offered anything since June 2025 
• ALL Accor+ Explorer nerf: While this obviously isn’t DBS’s fault, the value of an Accor Plus membership took a hit during the transition to ALL Accor+ Explorer, with the dining discount slashed to 30%, and Stay Plus now requiring a minimum of one paid night

To put things into context, a cardholder who spent S$60,000 in a membership year now earns 6,000 fewer miles and gets no annual fee waiver. For a card with a nearly S$600 annual fee, that’s tough to swallow. 

Going from 1.5 mpd to 1.4 mpd will also make a material difference with bill payment platforms like CardUp. Here’s an illustration of how the cost per mile will change, depending on the type of payment you’re making.

A DBS Vantage cardholder with a S$10,000 income tax bill would now receive 1,023 fewer miles, with the cost per mile now above the 1.5 cents threshold that serves as my personal cutoff for whether or not to buy miles.

How does this compare to other S$120K cards?

The DBS Vantage currently offers the highest local earn rate among S$120K cards.

Following the November change, it will now be joint first alongside the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card (which has a superior FCY earn rate) and the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite (ditto, though only if you spend at least S$2,000 in a month). 

💳 Earn Rates for S$120K Cards (Sorted by Local Earn Rate)
Card	↓ Local	FCY
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card Apply	1.4 mpd	2.4 mpd
DBS Vantage Card Apply	1.4 mpd	2.2 mpd
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	1.4 mpd#	3 mpd#
OCBC VOYAGE Apply	1.3 mpd	2.2 mpd
Citi Prestige Card Apply	1.3 mpd^	2 mpd^
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	1.2 mpd	3.2 mpd@
HSBC Visa Infinite	1 mpd	2 mpd
AMEX Platinum Reserve Apply	0.57 mpd	0.57 mpd
#With minimum S$2K spend per statement month. Otherwise 1 mpd @With minimum S$4K spend per calendar month. Otherwise 2 mpd ^Additional 0.02 to 0.12 mpd awarded based on tenure with bank

I’ve long said that a S$120K card shouldn’t be your primary spending option, given the abundance of 4 mpd opportunities. However, if you’re spending at such a volume that the 4 mpd caps are exhausted, or if you insist on using one card for everything, then one of the DBS Vantage’s key advantages has just been removed.

Enhancements for DBS Treasures customers

It’s not all bad news though, especially if you’re a DBS Treasures customer.

Banks are increasingly tying credit card benefits to assets under management (AUM), whether it’s the Standard Chartered Beyond Card and its enhanced perks for Priority Private and Priority Banking, or the HSBC Revolution and its bonus miles for HSBC Everyday Global Account customers. 

The DBS Vantage is now doing something similar, by offering additional privileges to DBS Treasures customers. Treasures status normally requires a minimum AUM of S$350,000, but DBS has been aggressively courting new customers by waiving this requirement for selected individuals (more on this later).

Four free limo rides

From 2 November 2026, DBS Vantage cardholders with DBS Treasures status will enjoy four complimentary airport limo rides per membership year.

I’ve confirmed with DBS that these limo rides will require no minimum spend, nor any minimum investment or insurance commitment. So long as you have DBS Treasures status, the rides are yours.

There’s actually a very interesting comparison to be drawn if we look at DBS Treasures Private Client (min. AUM S$1.5M), the segment above DBS Treasures. Following a round of belt-tightening in 2025, customers with an AUM of S$1.5 to S$2.5M now receive two complimentary limo rides per year under the DBS Private Access programme. 

Surely that will need to change, now that “mere” DBS Treasures customers enjoy four free limo rides — and may not even have to pay the Vantage’s annual fee (see below). 

Annual fee waiver

If you’re a DBS Treasures customer with Accredited Investor status, you will receive a waiver of the DBS Vantage’s S$599.50 annual fee, with all the standard benefits still included — except for the 25,000 miles, which are only available if the annual fee is paid.

To be an AI, you must satisfy at least one of the following requirements:

• Personal income of at least S$300,000 in the past 12 months
• Net personal assets of at least S$2M (of which the value of your primary place of residence can only contribute up to S$1M)
• Net financial assets of at least S$1M

If you’re qualifying through the second or third criteria, there is no requirement that these assets be placed with DBS. For example, if you’re already a Standard Chartered Priority Private customer (min. AUM S$1.5M), showing your DBS Treasures RM a printout of your account balance would suffice to qualify you for AI status with DBS. 

It should be mentioned that AIs forgo the benefit of certain regulatory safeguards, as it’s assumed that you have a better understanding of the risks of investing. That said, if your only goal is to get a free Vantage card…

What about DBS Treasures customers with waived AUM requirements?

If you’re a DBS customer, you may have received an invitation to experience Treasures with the AUM requirement waived for a certain period.

Here’s an excerpt from one such invitation, which not only waives the requirement completely until 31 December 2027, but also reduces it to S$200,000 (instead of S$350,000) subsequently.

I’m in the midst of confirming with DBS whether the enhanced Vantage privileges will also be extended to customers who receive a waiver of the AUM, or whether you’ll need to be fully funded with S$350,000.

If it’s the former, then this could be a great opportunity for those who were targeted.

What should DBS Vantage cardholders do now?

DBS Vantage Card
	Regular	DBS Treasures Non-AI	DBS Treasures AI
25,000 annual miles	✅	✅
10x Priority Pass	✅	✅	✅
ALL Accor+ Explorer	✅	✅	✅
4x Limo Rides		✅	✅
Annual Fee Waiver			✅

While no one likes an earn rate nerf, 1.5 mpd shouldn’t have been a primary consideration for getting a DBS Vantage in the first place.

Instead, what justifies the annual fee are its core benefits, namely 25,000 miles, 10 Priority Pass visits and an ALL Accor+ Explorer membership. As I begrudgingly conceded in my recent DBS Vantage review (updated version coming in November!), there’s enough there to come out ahead on the S$599.50 fee — though the Citi Prestige still feels like a better deal.

However, the picture improves significantly if you’re a DBS Treasures customer, and the annual fee waiver makes it almost a no-brainer to opt in to AI status, assuming you have the assets to back it up.

I’ll share more thoughts later this week with a Keep or Cancel article.

Conclusion

The DBS Vantage Card will cut its local earn rate from 1.5 mpd to 1.4 mpd from 2 November 2026, though its overseas earn rate and other benefits remain untouched.

DBS Treasures customers will see more upside, with four annual airport rides and a waiver of the annual fee, if they have Accredited Investor status. I’m keen to know whether these privileges will also apply to newly onboarded customers with waived AUM requirements, because that could be very lucrative indeed.

What do you make of the changes to the DBS Vantage?