TransferWise, Revolut and YouTrip May Be Great For Travellers but I'm Sticking with the OCBC 90°N Card for Miles (Until February 2020 Anyway)
There has been a steady influx of prepaid debit cards in the market recently - these cards offer currency (even cryptocurrency!) exchange and it even supports spending as well as ATM withdrawals in various foreign currencies. If you are the kind of traveller who avoids using credit cards abroad due to the fees involved, companies like TransferWise, Revolut and even YouTrip may appeal to you. The multi-currency wallet in each one of these products allow you to purchase foreign currency at a relatively-favourable rate and store it (within the wallet) for use in the future - this may be a good idea when you foresee the currency to appreciate during your intended time of visit (or if it has depreciated to an all-time low). While using these products may save you money, it does have a number of drawbacks but the most glaring one will have to be the lack of miles or points.
Photo Credit: OCBC
While credit cards do charge a foreign currency transaction fee which range from 2.75% to 3.5% (Aaron from The MileLion has a great summary on this), you will typically be able to pick up some additional bonus points and miles along the way. Until recently, there is no one-size-fits-all credit card recommendation for everyone since it depends largely on the magnitude of your spend, the frequency as well as your appetite for annual fee (including your personal income in some situations). To put this into a simple example, the UOB Visa Signature Card is great since it gives you 4 miles per S$1 when you spend between S$1,000 to S$2,000 each statement period in a non-SGD currency but the OCBC VOYAGE Card on the other hand offers 2.4 miles per S$1 with no cap (and you can also pick up a few complimentary limousine rides along the way). Now if you were going to drop S$10,000 worth of foreign currency spend on the aforementioned cards, you will only be getting approximately 11,200 miles with the UOB Visa Signature Card (since 4 miles per S$1 is capped at S$2,000) but you will be getting 24,000 miles with the OCBC VOYAGE Card since it has no cap on the number of bonus miles.
Photo Credit: Singapore Airlines
The good news is this - from now until 29 February 2020, there is only one credit card that you will need for all foreign currency spend since it will gives you 4 miles per S$1 on all eligible non-SGD spend and the Travel$ (which convert into miles at a 1:1 ratio) that you earn on this card will never expire. Additionally, converting the Travel$ earned on this card to miles will cost you absolutely nothing (most banks in Singapore charge S$25 per conversion) and you will also be able to do it in smaller 1,000 blocks (as opposed to 10,000 blocks which is the norm here) which means you will have less 'orphan miles' sitting in your account balance. The OCBC 90°N Card is absolutely free to sign-up in the first year and as part of its launch, it is offering 4 miles per S$1 with no minimum and no cap until 29 February 2020 - you have more than four months to take advantage of this and I seriously do not think an offer like that will surface again anytime soon.
OCBC charges a 3.0% foreign currency transaction fee but honestly, with an earn rate of 4 miles per dollar, this is still an incredibly amazing deal (especially when you have major expenses coming up). The OCBC 90°N Card is currently also offering 8 miles per dollar on certain travel spend and this includes hotel bookings made on popular OTAs like Expedia and Agoda - do refer to my previous article for more information. This is one of the most generous welcome offers that we have seen in a while that does not require you to drop a large spend within the first couple of months.
The OCBC 90°N Card has a welcome bonus of up to 7,000 bonus Travel$ (or miles) when you spend S$5,000 within the first 3 months. While the bonus is not much to shout about, it is still a sweet addition to the already-amazing earn rate on foreign currency spend until 29 February 2020. Following this date, the earn rate for eligible foreign currency spend will revert to 2.1 Travel$ per dollar which is still better than cards like the Citi PremierMiles or the DBS Altitude Visa but I would personally stick to the OCBC VOYAGE Card as I do value those complimentary airport limousine transfers and getting 2.4 miles per dollar is obviously much more superior. While the cards issued by TransferWise, Revolut and YouTrip may be revolutionary to some, I personally do not subscribe to them. I have a TransferWise Card since I do see some value in being able to withdraw cash from overseas ATM when I need them but I am definitely not the kind that will charge every single expense abroad to it.
From 15 May 2025, Singapore commuters can tap their American Express cards for MRT and bus rides. No pre-registration, no added fees - just seamless rewards and convenience.