Here’s How You Can Maximise the Use of the New KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card

This post was written in collaboration with UOB. While we are financially compensated by them, we nonetheless strive to maintain our editorial integrity and review products with the same objective lens. We are committed to providing the best recommendations and advice in order for you to make personal financial decisions with confidence. You can view our Editorial Guidelines here.

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Jet-setters, pay attention. There’s a new frequent flyer credit card in town, and it just might be good enough to convince you to switch over from the one you’re using right now.

The new KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card lets you earn up to a generous 3 KrisFlyer miles per S$1 spend on Singapore Airlines Group and everyday spend categories, which includes dining, food delivery, online shopping and travel, taxi rides, local public transport and car rentals—in short, almost everything you spend on a day-to-day basis.

Unlike many frequent flyer miles credit cards, with the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, you get to enjoy an accelerated miles earn rate on everyday categories when you spend locally and overseas so it’s not just limited to overseas spend. Check out this article elsewhere on MoneySmart for a blow-by-blow summary of the card’s benefits.

With so many ways to earn miles on a day-to-day basis, you could simply use this card on your everyday spend and you’ll end up with a sizeable pot of frequent flyer miles before you know it.

But if you really want to maximise your usage of the card, here’s how. We even made a quick video tutorial for you:

Don’t forget to use the card whenever you spend on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot, or KrisShop purchases

The earn rate for Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot or KrisShop purchases is very straightforward—you just get 3 miles for every S$1 spend the following month.

The only thing you have to do is to remember to use the card when you pay!

 

Make sure you earn the bonus miles on your everyday spend categories

The 3 miles per S$1 conversion rate on everyday spend categories is indeed generous. But when you spend on dining, food delivery, online shopping and travel, taxi rides, transport and car rental, the bonus miles (1.8 bonus miles per dollar to be exact) will be awarded in the form of bonus miles at the end of your card membership year after you have clocked at least S$500 spend with Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot, or KrisShop in your card membership year.

This may seem like a delay but on the contrary, it really helps in the accumulation of miles. KrisFlyer miles have a validity of 3 years. With this arrangement, it gives you time to clock the bulk of your miles in one go instead of risking the expiry of the loose miles which you have painstakingly accumulated.

Now, considering the fact that one return ticket on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and even Scoot can easily cost over S$500, this requirement is super easy to fulfil, so long as you remember to use the card to pay for your tickets.

 

Accelerate your earn rate by opening a KrisFlyer UOB Account

When you open a KrisFlyer UOB Account, you get to supercharge your earn rate by maintaining a deposit and spend on the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card. If you credit your salary of at least S$2,000 to the account, your earn rate rises even further.

So long as your monthly average balance is at least S$1,000, you’ll get up to 6 bonus miles for every S$1 spend. This KrisFlyer UOB Account bonus miles is in addition to the miles that you’ve already earned on Singapore Airlines Group, everyday spend categories and any other spend. So this means that you can potentially earn up to 9 miles per dollar simply by spending and saving.

Just a point to note, the number of KrisFlyer UOB Account bonus miles you receive is capped at 5% of your monthly average balance.

So, if your monthly average balance is S$10,000, you get an extra 6,000 KrisFlyer miles a year, with a monthly card spend of S$100 a month.

As your monthly account balance and monthly eligible card spending rises, the number of bonus miles you earn rises, too. If you have S$100,000 in your account and spend S$1,000 a month in every month in a calendar year, you get 60,000 bonus miles! So the more you save in the account, the more miles you can earn.

 

Take full advantage of the travel perks offered by the card

The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card also gives you the following exclusive airlines perks and travel privileges when you travel, so don’t forget to take full advantage of them:

• Exclusive privileges on Scoot: priority check-in and boarding, S$10 convenience fee waiver, flexible booking change, complimentary 5kg baggage upgrade and seat selection
• 1x S$20 KrisShop rebate with minimum S$100 nett spent per transaction per calendar year
• 2x S$15 off Grab rides to/from Changi Airport per calendar year
• 2x S$15 off ChangiWiFi per calendar year
• 2x free Jetquay access per cardmember plus one guest per calendar year
• 10,000 KrisFlyer miles renewal bonus

 

How much can you earn in a year?

If you really go all out to maximise this card by opening a KrisFlyer UOB Account, maintaining a balance of at least S$10,000 and crediting your salary, how many miles could you potentially earn?

Let’s say you spend S$1,000 a month on eligible everyday spending, as well as S$1,000 a year on Singapore Airlines Group purchases. You also credit your salary of at least S$2,000 a month and maintain an account balance of $10,000.

Here’s what you would earn.

Eligible spend: $13,000 x 3 miles = 39,000 miles
KrisFlyer UOB Account = 6,000 miles

Total miles in a year = 45,000 miles

Not bad at all, considering you are mostly using the card for everyday local spending.

Ready to start earning frequent flyer miles? Apply for the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card here!