The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa has got to be one of the most versatile cards on the market. So long as the merchant accepts contactless payments (and doesn’t participate in the SMART$ scheme), you’ll earn 10X points (4 mpd) on the first S$1,110 of spending each month.
| The cap is officially S$1,000, but because of the way UOB calculates the bonus points, the actual cap in practice is S$1,110 |
The ubiquity of contactless terminals means you can earn 10X pretty much anywhere (subject to UOB’s general rewards exclusions)- at the dentist, at NTUC FairPrice, at restaurants, at hotels, in department stores, you name it.
No more 10X for tapping the physical UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card
If you’re a UOB Preferred Platinum Visa cardholder, do note that UOB is making a small but important tweak to the T&Cs of the card.
From 22 May 2020, you’ll no longer earn 10X for tapping the physical card at contactless terminals. However, you’ll continue to earn 10X if you use mobile contactless transactions, defined as:
- Apple Pay
- Fitbit Pay
- Google Pay
- Android Pay (the same as Google Pay, really, but UOB lists them separately)
- UOB Mighty
This does not include transactions made through Samsung’s Magnetic Secure Transmission technology, or SimplyGo transactions performed at bus and train readers. The T&Cs are silent about whether NFC payments using Samsung Pay qualify, but in any case, Samsung phones support Google Pay, and past data points on HWZ state that 10X is also awarded.
| Update: A new version of the T&Cs explicitly includes Samsung Pay transactions (made via NFC) |
There isn’t a whole lot to be worried about here, really. Adding your UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card to your mobile wallet takes less than a minute, and it saves some space in your actual wallet.
Continue to earn 10X on selected online transactions with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa
Most people know that the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa earns 10X on in-store contactless transactions, but fewer remember that you can also earn 10X points on selected online transactions:
| Category | MCCs |
| Department Stores and Retail Stores | 4816, 5306, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732-5735, 5912, 5942, 5944-5949, 5964-5970, 5992, 5999 |
| Supermarkets, Dining and Food Delivery | 5811,5812,5814, 5333, 5411, 5441, 5462, 5499, 8012, 9751 |
| Entertainment and Ticketing | 7278, 7832, 7841, 7922, 7991, 7996, 7998-7999 |
This includes merchants like Deliveroo, Food Panda, Golden Village, Cold Storage (online transactions don’t earn SMART$, so it’s safe to use the card here), Qoo10, Lazada and more.
However, the 10X cap is shared with in-store contactless transactions, so it’s better to put cards like the DBS Woman’s World Card, Citi Rewards and OCBC Titanium Rewards on online spending duty, and save the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa’s 10X cap for in-store transactions.
No changes to the UOB Visa Signature
The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa isn’t the only UOB card to earn 10X on contactless payments- the UOB Visa Signature does so too.
The terms are a bit more complicated, however. To earn 10X, you’ll have to spend at least S$1,000 on contactless and/or petrol in a statement month (versus calendar month for the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa). The 10X points are capped at S$2,000 of spending per statement month.
As of the time of writing, there are no changes to the T&Cs of the UOB Visa Signature. You’ll continue to earn 10X on contactless transactions made with the physical card, subject to the minimum spending requirement.
Conclusion
If you’re still using the physical UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card, be sure to digitize it before 22 May 2020. The good news is that everything else is unchanged- this still remains one of the must-have cards for any miles collector.
(HT: Sam)
unfortunately UOB does not extend annual fee waiver for this card after so many years, saying that I have too many cards with them even though the credit limit is shared among all cards. Have already cancelled the card and maybe will reapply some time in the future.
Might be just you, I’ve never had any issues getting a fee waiver for any of my UOB cards.
fwiw, i’ve always managed to get a fee waiver.
Yes, I was turned down for PPV fee waiver for first time this year too.
Same here
At which stage were you both denied your waivers?
I found in previous years, sometimes the IVR approves my waiver instantly (50% of the time) or I’d receive a text message several days later saying waiver is approved (25%) or the text message would say waiver’s denied in which case I’d speak to a CSO who’d then approve the waiver manually (25%).
I just got turned down too
Guess you just got to spend more smackeroonies
Hi Aaron, thanks for the article. Any idea how I can figure out whether my Samsung Pay transactions are via MST or NFC? Would prefer to use Samsung Pay vs Google Pay (get Samsung Pay points too) but not sure how the transactions are classified. Thanks!
MST= hold phone to the side of the terminal to simulate a swipe
NFC= tap phone to front of terminal.
i imagine you can select in the options. I don’t know, I’m a blackberry man.
Thanks Aaron and E S!
Been long time since i used Samsung pay but if i dont remember wrong, when i used MST, i don’t enable NFC on my phone and it will still go through.
Samsung Pay is eligible. Just confirmed with their chat agents. They’ll update their TnCs accordingly for avoidance of doubt
thanks for the update!
Damn! PPV doesn’t work with Samsung Pay? 🙁
Don’t understand why UOB need to do this now even though the impact for most is negligible. But it’s just unwelcomed cos sometimes, you tap physical card when the goes wrong with internet connectivity or whatever reason I can’t figure out
yes the reward earning ability is negligible. But banks are doing all things to cultivate digital behaviour, moble payment , e statement, mobile banking etc. The more digital you are the less costly for the bank to have you as a customer, thus more profit from you. I wish one day people can just leave the house with their phone, contactless mobile payment / QR payment at all merchants including hawker. Singapore needs to stop the cash society nonsense.
My main problem with using digitized cards in Apple Pay is FaceID doesn’t work when you have a face mask on!!
Is there a pin alternative? Extra step…but what to do? I switched to the dark side in 2018, so my knowledge of Apple’s new phones is right about ZERO.
Does PPV also earn 4mpd on Shopee purchases?
Yes it does
Thanks for letting me know! I appreciate it. It was surprisingly hard to find a straightforward answer
Hi,
I just check the TNC and is update on the 28 April 2020.
Category Merchant Category Codes (MCC)
Department Stores and Retail
Stores
4816, 5262, 5306, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399,
5611, 5621, 5631,5641, 5651, 5661, 5669, 5732-
5735, 5912, 5942, 5964-5970, 5992, 5999
Supermarkets, Dining and
Food Delivery
5811,5812,5814, 5333, 5411, 5441, 5462, 5499,
8012, 9751
Entertainment and Ticketing 7278, 7832, 7841, 7922, 7991, 7996, 7998-7999
Qoo10 is 5699 and is not listed in the list.
So it will not earn the x 10 reward?
Tks
A large % of online transactions can be settled using Apple Pay. If doing this in a category not in the list above, does anyone know will the transaction be awarded 10x still?
Hi Aaron and team. Does 10x points on this card apply to Grab Rides and/or Grab Food? THANKS
Is the spend cap still $1,110 or now changed to $1,000?
c) The total UNI$ awarded to you from qualifying spend on Selected Online Transactions,
Contactless Transactions and/or Mobile Contactless Transactions is capped at UNI$2,000
for each calendar month.