OCBC 90°N Card to Award Travel$ in S$5 Blocks From 01 June 2020 - No Travel$ for Transactions Below S$5!
The OCBC 90°N Card was a fantastic card at launch - 4 mpd on all foreign-currency transactions (no minimum and no cap) and 8 mpd on selected travel expenses. In fact, OCBC Bank was so generous that the promotion lasted slightly over six months (end-August 2019 to February 2020). Starting from 01 June 2020, the OCBC 90°N Card will only award Travel$ (which can be converted into miles at a 1:1 rate) per S$5 block of spend.
While the general earn rate for the OCBC 90°N Card is not fantastic (1.2/2.1 mpd for local/foreign spend), it is still slightly ahead of the Citi PremierMiles Card in terms of earn rate even though the latter product usually features spend promotions (i.e. ability to purchase miles at a very cheap rate after meeting certain spend thresholds) throughout the year. However, the move to award Travel$ in S$5 blocks is definitely a negative move for consumers - this means that you will not earn any Travel$ even if you charge a S$4.99 transaction to it.
With this change, you might just be better off with the UOB PRVI Miles Card since that card too, awards UNI$ per S$5 at a more favourable rate of 1.4/2.4 mpd for eligible local/foreign transactions. At the time of writing, a 3.25% foreign currency fee is charged for both UOB and OCBC cards so you are really not better off with the OCBC 90°N Card unless you need the flexibility in converting Travel$ into miles - the OCBC 90°N Card allows you to convert your Travel$ into miles at no charge and in smaller blocks of 1,000 (as opposed to 10,000). The OCBC VOYAGE Card will also only award VOYAGE Miles (VMs) in S$5 blocks from 01 June 2020.
The new Go with Amex campaign has arrived in Singapore, offering up to S$790 in statement credits for hotel spending.