Here’s The MileLion’s review of the OCBC 90°N Mastercard, the card that makes you wonder whether the standard QWERTY keyboard needs a dedicated ° key.
OCBC was a relatively late entrant into the miles space, and when they finally unveiled a miles card in 2015, it was the premium-focused OCBC VOYAGE. It took a further four years before the mass-market OCBC 90°N Mastercard launched in August 2019.
To their credit, it certainly launched with a bang: 4 mpd on overseas spending and Singapore Airlines tickets, and 8 mpd on hotel transactions, all with no cap. It was an amazing opportunity to make hay, even if it only lasted for six months.
Sadly, after that launch blitz the OCBC 90°N Mastercard sort of faded into the background. While it still has some solid features like non-expiring points and free miles conversions, it’s not exactly setting the world on fire.
 OCBC 90°N Mastercard | |
| ★★★ | |
| The OCBC 90°N Mastercard offers non-expiring points and free conversions, but is held back by the lack of a bonus category and S$5 earning blocks. | |
| 👍 The good | 👎 The bad |
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| 💳 Full List of Credit Card Reviews | |
Overview: OCBC 90°N Mastercard
Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the OCBC 90°N Mastercard.
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| Apply | |||
| Income Req. | S$30,000 p.a. | Points Validity | No expiry |
| Annual Fee | S$53.50 (FYF) | Min. Transfer | 1,000 Travel$ (1,000 miles) |
| Miles with Annual Fee | N/A* | Transfer Partners |
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| FCY Fee | 3.25% | Transfer Fee | None |
| Local Earn | 1.2 mpd | Points Pool? | Yes |
| FCY Earn | 2.1 mpd | Lounge Access? | No |
| Special Earn | N/A | Airport Limo? | No |
| *Top up S$139 to the annual fee (i.e. S$192.50 total) for 10,000 Travel$ | |||
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
Don’t get confused- the OCBC 90°N Card comes in two different flavours: Mastercard and Visa. Since the Visa is a notably different product from the Mastercard, I’ll cover it in a separate article.
How much must I earn to qualify for an OCBC 90°N Mastercard?
The OCBC 90°N Mastercard has an annual income requirement of S$30,000 p.a., the MAS-mandated minimum to hold a credit card in Singapore.
If you earn below this threshold, it may be possible to get a secured version of the card with a S$10,000 fixed deposit. Contact OCBC customer service for further details.
How much is the OCBC 90°N Mastercard’s annual fee?
| Principal Card | Supp. Card | |
| First Year | Free | Free |
| Subsequent | S$53.50 | S$53.50 |
The OCBC 90°N Mastercard’s annual fee works a little differently from other banks.
While other entry-level miles cards like the Citi PremierMiles and DBS Altitude charge a S$192.60 annual fee that comes with 10,000 free miles, the OCBC 90°N Mastercard charges a S$53.50 annual fee. Cardholders can top-up a further S$139 (i.e. S$192.50 total) to receive 10,000 Travel$ (equivalent to 10,000 miles). The net effect is pretty much the same.
Annual fee waivers are possible, and in my experience, fairly easy to obtain even with minimal card spend.
How many miles do I earn?
| 🇸🇬 SGD Spend | 🌎 FCY Spend | ➕ Bonus Spend |
| 1.2 mpd | 2.1 mpd | N/A |
SGD/FCY Spend
OCBC 90°N Mastercard Cardholders earn:
- 6 Travel$ for every S$5 spent in Singapore Dollars
- 10.5 Travel$ for every S$5 spent in foreign currency (FCY)
1 Travel$ is worth 1 KrisFlyer mile, so that’s an equivalent earn rate of 1.2 mpd for local spend, and 2.1 mpd for FCY spend.
| 💵 Cash rebate option |
| You also have the option of converting Travel$ into cash rebates at a rate of 1,000 Travel$= S$10, but really, if you opt for this you’d be better off spending with a UOB Absolute Cashback Card for 1.7% cashback everywhere. |
While this is marginally better than most general spending cards at the S$30,000 income level, OCBC’s nasty rounding policy means you might be earning less than you think on smaller transactions (more on that below).
| Cards | Local MPD | FCY MPD |
 UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 | 2.4 |
 OCBC 90°N Mastercard | 1.2 | 2.1 |
 Citi PremierMiles | 1.2 | 2.0 |
 DBS Altitude | 1.2 | 2.0 |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | 1.2 | 2.0* |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card | 1.1 | 2.0* |
 OCBC 90°N Visa | 1.0 | 2.0 |
 BOC Elite Miles | 1.0 | 2.0 |
 KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| *June and Dec only, otherwise 1.1 mpd | ||
All overseas transactions are subject to a 3.25% fee, so using your OCBC 90°N Mastercard overseas represents buying miles at 1.55 cents each.
Bonus Spend
The OCBC 90°N Mastercard previously offered up to 7 mpd for Agoda bookings, but this offer lapsed on 30 November 2022. There is currently no bonus category for this card.
When are Travel$ credited?
Travel$ are credited when your transaction posts, which generally takes 1-3 working days.
How are Travel$ calculated?
Here’s how you can work out the Travel$ earned on your OCBC 90°N Mastercard.
| Local Spend | Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 6. Round to the nearest whole number |
| FCY Spend | Round down trxn. to nearest S$5, divide by 5, multiply by 10.5. Round to the nearest whole number |
Unfortunately, OCBC has joined UOB in adopting a punitive rounding policy that sees all transactions rounded down to the nearest S$5 before points are awarded. That means a S$14.90 transaction earns the same number of miles as a S$10 transaction, and a S$4.99 transaction earns no miles at all!
You basically need to spend at least S$5 to earn any points at all on the OCBC 90°N Mastercard.
Because of this policy, the OCBC 90°N Mastercard can be outperformed by a competitor card with the same headline earn rate. Consider the following:
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| OCBC 90°N MC Earn rate: 1.2 mpd | Citi PremierMiles Earn rate: 1.2 mpd | |
| S$5 | 6 miles | 6 miles |
| S$9.99 | 6 miles | 11 miles |
| S$15 | 18 miles | 18 miles |
| S$19.99 | 18 miles | 23 miles |
| S$25 | 30 miles | 30 miles |
| S$29.99 | 30 miles | 35 miles |
| S$35 | 42 miles | 42 miles |
| S$39.99 | 42 miles | 47 miles |
If you’re an Excel geek, here’s the formulas you need to calculate points:
| Local Spend | =ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*6,0) |
| FCY Spend | =ROUND (ROUNDDOWN(X/5,0)*10.5,0) |
| Where X= Amount Spent | |
For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:
What transactions aren’t eligible for Travel$?
A full list of transactions that do not earn Travel$ can be found in the T&Cs.
I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:
- Charitable Donations
- Education
- Government Services
- Hospitals
- Insurance Premiums
- Prepaid account top-ups (e.g. GrabPay, YouTrip)
- Real Estate Agents & Managers
- SimplyGo (Bus/MRT transactions)
- Utilities
For avoidance of doubt, Travel$ will be awarded for CardUp transactions as per normal.
What do I need to know about Travel$?
| ❌ Expiry | ↔️ Pooling | ✈️ Transfer Fee |
| No expiry | Yes | None |
Expiry
Travel$ earned on the OCBC 90°N Mastercard do not expire, so long as the card remains valid.
Pooling
Travel$ earned on the OCBC 90°N Mastercard can be pooled with Travel$ earned on the OCBC 90°N Visa.
Transfer Fees & Partners
The OCBC 90°N Mastercard only has a single transfer partner: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
| Frequent Flyer Programme | Conversion Ratio (Travel$: Partner) |
 | 1,000:1,000 |
Travel$ transfer at a 1:1 ratio, with transfer blocks of 1,000 Travel$. All conversions are free of charge, and generally post within 24 hours.
While the lack of transfer partners has been a key weakness of the OCBC 90°N Mastercard, the situation will improve by the end of 2022 when OCBC adds seven new airline and hotel transfer partners. It remains to be seen just who these partners are, although Accor Hotels and Asia Miles are likely bets.
Other card perks
Bonus interest on OCBC 360 account
OCBC 90°N Mastercard Cardholders who spend at least S$500 in a calendar month will be eligible for bonus interest on the OCBC 360 Account under the “Spend” category.
| 🏦 OCBC 360 Interest (p.a.) | ||
| First S$75K | Next S$25K | |
| Salary | 2.0% | 4.0% |
| Save | 1.2% | 2.4% |
| Spend | 0.6% | 0.6% |
| Wealth (Insure) | 1.2% | 2.4% |
| Wealth (Invest) | 1.2% | 2.4% |
| Base Interest | 0.05% | |
| Max EIR | 7.65% | |
| Additional Grow bonus of 2.4% p.a. available if minimum ADB at least S$200,000 | ||
An additional 0.6% p.a. will be earned on the first S$100,000 in the account, which works out to an extra S$600 per year.
Travel with OCBC portal
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| Travel with OCBC |
OCBC 90°N Mastercard Cardholders can use their Travel$ to pay for airfare and hotel bookings on the Travel with OCBC portal at the following rates:
| Value per Travel$ on Travel via OCBC | ||
| Airfares | Hotels | |
| Economy | 0.87 | 0.87 |
| Premium Economy | 1.09 | |
| Business | 1.45 | |
| First | 1.49 | |
| Valuations are accurate as of date of publishing and may be subject to change in the future | ||
This used to be much better in the past, where you could get up to 2.88 cents per Travel$ on First Class fares. Unfortunately, that valuation was nerfed, and while 1.49 cents per Travel$ might make sense in certain circumstances, it’s not something I’d heartily endorse at the moment.
Burpple Beyond membership
OCBC is offering all new OCBC 90°N Mastercard Cardholders a complimentary 12-month Burpple Beyond Premium membership worth S$99.
This gives 1-for-1 deals at more than 600 restaurants, cafes and bars islandwide. To enjoy this membership, you will need to be approved by 31 December 2022 and make a minimum of five qualifying transactions within 30 days of approval.
The full T&Cs of this offer can be found here.
Summary Review: OCBC 90°N Mastercard
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| Apply |
The OCBC 90°N Mastercard strikes me as a classic example of “good while it lasted”. The launch offer of an uncapped 4 mpd on overseas spend and Singapore Airlines tickets was fantastic, as was the ability to buy Business Class tickets to Europe from just S$1,000 before Travel$ got nerfed.
Sadly, the card’s gone rather quiet ever since. Its 1.2/2.1 mpd earn rates are slightly better than the competition, but the annoying S$5 earning blocks offset the advantage especially on smaller transactions. Likewise, non-expiring points and free conversions are great, but the lack of transfer partner variety is a major drawback (a problem that will hopefully be resolved by the end of 2022).
All in all, not what I’d call an essential card.
| Overall Score | |
| ★★★ | |
| Ratings Guide | |
| 5 Stars ★★★★★ | An essential card for miles chasers, with few viable alternatives |
| 4 Stars ★★★★ | A very good card, although other equally good alternatives may exist |
| 3 Stars ★★★ | A decent card to round out your collection, but not absolutely essential |
| 2 Stars ★★ | Very limited use cases, and outperformed by most other cards |
| 1 Star ★ | Paperweight. Use for picking teeth or ninja stars |
What a stingy sign up bonus…
Don’t sign up then
Good for use until 29 Feb 2020. After that, switch back to the BOC Elite Miles card.
The best looking card at entry level from OCBC ever, basically the OCBC card design is so lame, their designer deserve to be fired..
Not a compelling proposition overall. Better miles earning rates during the promo period, and then back to average-ness after that. The promos are key to this card – give them a longer lifespan and OCBC may have a winner on its hands. Otherwise meh as a gen spend card.
Edit for clarity.
The way I see it, this card is on par with dbs altitude and Citi PM visa. Very similar mpd rates (after promo ends), but each has tis own usp. Dbs altitude- 3mpd on flights + hotels. Citi pm- 12 xfer partners. Ocbc 90n- no xfer fees. Which one you prefer depends on what you value- if you’re a krisflyer or bust person, you won’t value the additional xfer partners on Citi. If you hardly ever book revenue tickets or hotels, you won’t value the 3 mph on altitude. If you want something other than krisflyer, Ocbc 90n won’t appeal.
Some ppl are funny right? Some brands go on sale, do ppl say “don’t buy, not worth to buy on sale. I will only buy if this brand have sale whole year long. If it’s promo for a certain period, I won’t buy. “
LOL!!!
Promo is meant to be used there and then. Don’t complain when got lobang!
this has come just in time for my overseas trip. 4 mpd with no cap ftw
Since OCBC last year said I don’t qualify for Titanium in writing, I won’t get this card unless I go apply at their branch. Wonder why I am banned by OCBC from getting even their low level cards when after that letter, I can get AMEX charge and X-Card. Must have done something wrong decades ago and blacklisted.
can use this card to buy lifemiles/alaskan miles?
Sure, 4 mpd
isn’t prvi fx rate at 3.25%?
thanks! updated it.
Does buying air tickets from Expedia qualify for 8mpd too?
Yes only with participating airlines
And you must go through their dedicated landing page link http://www.expedia.com.sg/ocbc90n – guessing OCBC gets a referral fee which offsets cost of miles?
Remember … airlines exclusion, AND hotel exclusions!! Be careful. Hotel are heavily restricted! Basically non chain / branded are ok. Chain and branded hotels are excluded.
so grab top ups will be counted in as gen spend right? not excluded right?
Did you test it out?
Hi,
Can we get points if we use services such as renthero to pay the rent with this card ?
Could such services be used to reach the $5000 expense threshold in 3 months ?
I can’t find the information online; appreciate if you can circulate the information 🙂
Just to be clear: even all online foreign currency spend qualify for 4mpd? It appears so to me in the T&C
yes
Anyone applied and already received the card? I used MyInfo to apply when this article came out but til now no word 😐
I only tried to apply for one online just now using MyInfo, and as soon as I enter the first page worth of information on the OCBC website and click “next”, I get a “system error” message, even after using different browsers. After calling OCBC to check on this, all they say is “Can you try again later, pls?”. Doesn’t inspire much confidence in their IT set-up…
Update: After unsuccessfully trying for three consecutive days to apply for this card using MyInfo across multiple browsers and devices, today I decided to use the traditional method of filling in my information myself instead. And voila, the system accepted my application – though I do not know yet whether I have been successful or not. So it appears that at least for some people, OCBC cannot use MyInfo as a method to apply for cards yet.
My application was approved in the same day.
I applied through MyInfo yesterday and no word as well – no email notification, nothing. (I had my expectations set high from the “same day approvals” remarks I guess)
I clicked to OCBC via the referal link in this article
Does this count as one of the OCBC Credit Cards for OCBC 360 account bonus?
Yes
Applied for the card through “my info” and received the electronic card within a few hours for online usage. By evening there was a courier at my door delivering the physical card-absolutely amazed with the service. I have been using the BOC elite Card for all my general foreign spends since Nov 2018 but this one definitely is a fantastic promo. The only critique I have is that they award 4mpd for Shilla & [email protected] Changi but not for online changi portal: ishop changi! Also while other OCBC credit cards offer fuel discount, there is no promo for fuel on… Read more »
What does FCY 4.0 mean?
Ocbc is now saying that SQ website ticket purchases will only get the 4mpd if cardholders go to ocbc website first and click through to SQ. Otherwise, if purchases are made directly, only 1.2mpd. This doesn’t seem to be stated anywhere on the T&Cs.
Where are they saying that? Checked with ocbc- only expedia and agoda need to go via special link. Singapore Airlines can just book as per normal
I just got my statement and didn’t get the bonus points for SQ bookings. Called up and the call centre lady said it’s because I didn’t click through from ocbc’s website and cited Agoda as an example of the requirement. Will call again tonight and try.
I thought as long as you pay using OCBC 90N Card to pay SQ bookings on line, one is eligible for the mpd. Can you share the link from OCBC website. I could not find the link from ocbc website.
as long as you pay via the SQ website, you will get 4 mpd. there is no special link for SIA. fyi, there was a coding error that resulted in people not getting the proper bonus for SIA purchases. it has since been fixed and missing miles have been credited.
Curios if only the Airbnb bonus only applies to accommodations? Or experiences/tours bought on Airbnb counts toward this too?
as long as merchant of record is airbnb, it will earn 4 mpd
Does Grab top up qualify for miles?
any current welcome bonus / link to apply