I realise the April Fools’ jokes are inevitable, but UOB has just launched an uncapped 45,200 miles sign-up offer for its UOB PRVI Miles Cards that runs from now till 30 April 2023.
Yes, uncapped. As in: if you get approved during the promotion period, meet the minimum spend and pay the annual fee, you’ll get the miles promised in the advertisement. No Faustian deals, no animal sacrifices to your preferred deity required.
Isn’t that a novel idea?
UOB PRVI Miles offering 45,200 miles sign-up bonus
 |
| Details |
New-to-bank UOB PRVI Miles Cardmembers who apply and get approved from 1-30 April 2023 will enjoy up to 45,200 bonus miles, split into:
- 20,000 miles for paying the S$259.20 annual fee
- 25,200 miles for spending S$1,000 per month for two consecutive months
| ❓ New-to-bank |
New-to-bank customers are defined as those who:
Update: UOB has quietly updated the T&Cs to tighten the eligibility criteria. Instead of excluding customers who cancelled a UOB PRVI Miles Card within the past 6 months, the T&Cs now exclude customers who cancelled any principal UOB credit card within the past 6 months! |
There is no cap on the maximum customers eligible for either component. Repeat: there is no cap. However, do note that you must be approved by 30 April 2023, so don’t leave your application till the last minute.
Assuming the S$2,000 minimum spend is clocked locally, a further 2,800 base miles (@ 1.4 mpd) will be earned. If the minimum spend is clocked overseas, a further 4,800 (@ 2.4 mpd) base miles will be earned. UOB assumes the latter scenario in its marketing, which is why you’ll see claims of a 50,000 miles sign-up bonus (45,200 bonus + 4,800 base) on its website.
This offer applies to all three versions of the UOB PRVI Miles Card, namely:
Annual fee bonus
Cardholders who pay the first year’s S$259.20 annual fee will receive UNI$10,000 (20,000 miles).
Since the first-year annual fee is waived by default, cardholders must opt in by sending the following SMS to 77862 by 31 May 2023.
| 📱 SMS to 77862 |
| PMAF<space>Last 4 alphanumeric digits of NRIC/Passport (Example: If your NRIC is S1234567A, send “PMAF 567A”) |
S$259.20 for 20,000 miles works out to 1.30 cents per mile, which is one of the cheapest opportunities to buy miles on the market right now.
Spending bonus
Cardholders who spend S$1,000 in eligible transactions per month for two consecutive months following approval will receive UNI$12,600 (25,200 miles)
For example, if your card is approved on 10 April 2023, you will need to fulfil the minimum spend criteria as follows:
| Min. Spend | Qualifying Spend Period |
| At least S$1,000 | 10 April to 10 May 2023 |
| At least S$1,000 | 11 May to 10 June 2023 |
For avoidance of doubt, you cannot simply spend S$2,000 in the first month of approval and say to yourself “job done”. The minimum spend of S$1,000 needs to be clocked in each of the two spending periods.
What counts as qualifying spend?
Eligible transactions include all retail transactions in local or foreign currency, and a full list of exclusions can be found here.
The key exclusions to highlight are:
- Charitable donations
- Education
- Government payments
- Hospitals
- Insurance
- Prepaid account top-ups (e.g. GrabPay or YouTrip)
- Utilities
For avoidance of doubt, CardUp transactions are eligible to earn miles, and will count towards minimum spend. Don’t forget that CardUp has just launched a 1.75% promotional fee for income tax payments with Visa cards, so a UOB PRVI Miles Visa cardholder could buy miles from as little as 1.23 cents each, while clocking spend towards the sign-up bonus requirement.
Supplementary cardholder spending will be pooled with the principal cardholder’s in determining if the minimum spend has been met. And before you say “isn’t that obvious?”, remember that UOB is not above such shenanigans.
When will the bonus miles be credited?
Annual fee bonus
The S$259.20 annual fee will be posted to your account by 22 June 2023, and the UNI$10,000 will be credited by 30 June 2023.
Spending bonus
The UNI$12,600 from meeting the 2x S$1,000 minimum spend will be credited by 31 July 2023.
Terms and Conditions
The full T&Cs for this offer can be found here. I would recommend saving a copy of the document for your own reference, since the link may be replaced with a newer promotion after the current one ends.
Overview: UOB PRVI Miles Card
| Apply (AMEX) | |||
| Apply (MC) | |||
| Apply (Visa) | |||
| Income Req. | S$30,000 p.a. | Points Validity | 2 years |
| Annual Fee | S$259.20 (FYF) | Min. Transfer | 5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles) |
| Miles with Annual Fee | N/A | Transfer Partners |
|
| FCY Fee | 3.25% | Transfer Fee | S$25 |
| Local Earn | 1.4 mpd | Points Pool? | Yes |
| FCY Earn | 2.4 mpd | Lounge Access? | No |
| Special Earn | 6 mpd on Agoda, Expedia, UOB Travel | Airport Limo? | Yes (AMEX only) |
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
UOB PRVI Miles Cards are issued across all three networks: American Express, Mastercard, and Visa. Earn rates are the same for all (1.4 mpd local, 2.4 mpd overseas), though the American Express version has two unique features:
- 20,000 bonus miles for spending at least S$50,000 in a membership year
- Complimentary airport limo transfers with a minimum spend of S$1,000 in foreign currency per calendar quarter
UOB UNI$ can be converted to either KrisFlyer, or Asia Miles at a 1 UNI$= 2 miles ratio, with a S$25 conversion fee.
Be sure to check out my full review of the UOB PRVI Miles Card below.
Conclusion
UOB has surprised us all by launching a rare uncapped sign-up bonus for April, with all applicants able to get 45,200 miles for paying the S$259.20 annual fee and spending S$1,000 per month for two consecutive months.
If you’re a new-to-bank customer, this is pretty much as good as it gets for UOB.
I applied for UOB PRVI two weeks ago but yet to get approval. If my card gets approved this month, does that mean I can qualify for this month’s promo?
UOB takes forever to process an application. I emailed the Cs and told them if you can’t get the card approved this week then don’t bother to issue
Hi Aaron! The T&Cs say you must satisfy both (a) qualifying spend and (b) annual card fee, in order to receive the promo miles. The annual fee for the 20,000 isn’t optional, is it?
that’s right. i have removed the part about them being either/or.
Thank you Aaron! Do you happen to know if cardup payments on tax would count towards qualifying spend? Esp since “tax payments” is specifically excluded.
Feel the UOB KrisFlyer card signup offer is still better.
25K miles for 2K spend within 60 days, without any annual fee or cap.
It’s arguably a better card too, quite easy to get 3mpd on the 2K minimum spend.
Question: While UOB Payment Facility does not count towards this promo as qualifying spending, but does it count towards the 50K annual spend for AMEX type? I’m deciding between the Visa or AMEX one. Thanks!
Maybe this promotion is April Fools’ after all. Submitted application on 3 April, not yet approved after 20 days. Customer support says application takes a month, which basically means no one can qualify under this promotion.
I emailed the CS and told them to cancel the application if they can’t issue by 30 Apr. what a joke… UOB sucks
The promotion page is still there to let everyone to apply until 30 apr, but the tnc says application must be approved within promotion period..really doubt is UOB can approve an application if submitted on 30 Apr? Tricky way to kill applicant’s new-to-bank benefit!! ( I submitted on 4 apr and still no respond yet!)