We all like to rack up those credit card rewards and points, don’t we? So, whether you like to order in those convenient deliveries a lot from Foodpanda/Deliveroo, take mad Grab/Gojeks around town, or simply head to the movies, the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card could be an ideal credit card for you.
Now, before we get into all the details I should make it clear that this is the sister card of the UOB Lady’s Card. The difference? It’s a tad more premium.
Think a S$120,000 per annum (p.a.) income requirement for the UOB Lady’s Solitaire versus just S$30,000 p.a. for the UOB Lady’s Card.
Also, you get a higher monthly spending cap for those 10X UNI$ and two bonus categories. That stacks up quite nicely when compared to the UOB Lady’s Card’s lower monthly spending cap and just one bonus category.
The 2 big things it has going for it are the ability to earn 10x UNI$ reward points (equal to 4 miles) per dollar of spend and its relatively high 10x spending cap of S$2,000 per calendar month.
You can earn 10x UNI$ on this card in two of seven specific categories that UOB offers up. The great thing is you can pick the two categories that you see yourself spending most to maximise your rewards.
Before you ask yourself “But can men apply?”, the answer is “yes”. UOB probably figured out that it wouldn’t be great business for them to limit the card’s use to one gender. So, it’s not a card that is exclusive to just women…despite the name!
But what else should readers know about the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card? Let’s dive in and find out.
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card Review—Is it MoneySmart? |
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Overall: ★★★★☆
Best for: Anyone (both the ladies and gents) who spends a lot in any 2 of 7 categories (Beauty & Wellness, Dining, Entertainment, Family, Fashion, Transport and Travel). They can also enjoy the flexibility of a rewards system that allows them to change bonus categories every quarter. |
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Category | Our rating | Before 1 April 2024 | From 1 April 2024 |
Earn rates: UNI$ | ★★★★☆ | S$5 = 1X UNI$ (or 2 miles)
S$5 = 15X UNI$ (or 30 miles) on a preferred category of your choice with no min. spend: Beauty & Wellness, Dining, Entertainment, Family, Fashion, Transport and Travel. Capped at 5,600 UNI$/month (S$2,000 monthly spend). You can change your preferred category every quarter. Convert your UNI$ into air miles at the conversion rate of UNI$1 = 2 miles |
S$5 = 10X UNI$ (or 4 miles per S$1) when you spend on a preferred category of your choice with no min. spend: Beauty & Wellness, Dining, Entertainment, Family, Fashion, Transport and Travel. Capped at 3,600 UNI$ per month (S$2,000 spent). You can change your preferred category every quarter. Earn up to 25X UNI$ per S$5 spend (or 10 miles per S$1) when you save with UOB Lady’s Savings Account. Convert your UNI$ into air miles at the conversion rate of UNI$1 = 2 miles. |
Earn categories | ★★★★☆ | ||
Annual fees and charges | ★★★★☆ | S$414.20 annual fee (first year waived)
First 2 Supplementary Cards free, $196.20 for subsequent Supplementary Cards. |
S$414.20 annual fee (first year waived)
First 2 Supplementary Cards free, $196.20 for subsequent Supplementary Cards. |
Accessibility | ★★★★☆ | Minimum income requirement: $120,000 (Singaporeans and PRs, Foreigners) | Minimum income requirement: $120,000 (Singaporeans and PRs, Foreigners) |
Extras/periphery rewards | ★★★★☆ | UOB Lady’s LuxePay Plan 6 or 12-month installment plan with no interest or processing fees.
Free e-Commerce protection for online purchases up to USD$200 High female cancer coverage of up to S$200,000 sum assured with UOB Lady’s Savings Account |
Earn up to 25X UNI$ per S$5 spend (up to S$2,000 monthly) when you combine UOB Lady’s Savings Account + UOB Lady’s Solitaire Credit Card
Enjoy specially curated dental treatments. Get free coverage of up to S$200,000 for 6 female cancers from the first dollar you save. No medical assessment required. Receive complimentary travel insurance coverage of up to US$100,000 |
Sign-up bonus | ★★★☆☆ | Get up to S$350 Grab Vouchers from UOB when you are the first 200 new-to-UOB customers who successfully apply and spend a min. of S$1,000 per month, for 2 consecutive months from the card approval date. Valid till 31 Oct 2023. | Dining experience for 2 at Michelin-starred restaurants (UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card) and up to S$210 cash credit if you’re among first 100 customers to open UOB Lady’s Savings Account per promotion week (up to 31 July 2024) |
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card – Summary
The UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card is the premium version of the UOB Lady’s Card. What does that mean?
Key differences | |
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card | UOB Lady’s Card |
10x bonus spending cap of S$2,000 | 10x bonus spending cap of S$1,000 |
Option to choose 2 bonus categories | Option to choose only 1 bonus category |
Income requirement of S$120,000 | Income requirement of S$30,000 |
Beyond that, the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card serves as a reliable rewards card for particular discretionary categories of spending.
You can earn 10x UNI$—which is UOB’s rewards currency that can be exchanged for either air miles or a variety of vouchers—whenever you spend at a merchant that is within one of your two bonus categories.
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card—How Does it Work?
So, how does this so-called “bonus spending” work? It’s relatively straightforward. These bonus categories fall into seven buckets that UOB defines as:
- Beauty & Wellness (health and beauty spa, cosmetic stores, massage parlours)
- Dining (restaurants, fast food, and GrabFood/FoodPanda/Deliveroo)
- Entertainment (bars, taverns, lounges and nightclubs, theatres)
- Family (grocery stores, children’s wear)
- Fashion (department stores, men & women’s clothing stores)
- Transport (Grab/GoJek, taxis, service stations)
- Travel (airlines, hotels, online travel agencies)
For example, if you regularly shop for groceries at FairPrice, picking “Family” as one of your bonus categories would make sense. That’s because supermarkets like FairPrice, Cold Storage, and Meidi-Ya fall into the Family bucket of spending.
Another positive of the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card is that there’s no minimum spend to trigger this bonus rate. All you have to worry about is exceeding the bonus cap so that one less thing to worry about—phew!
We tend to forget this but if you do want to use this card for overseas spending (and are willing to suck up that hefty 3.25% foreign currency transaction fee charge) then you can still earn those bonus UNI$ so long as the merchant falls under your selected bonus category.
In other words, the bonus categories aren’t limited to just Singapore but apply globally. How does the actual spending on the card get broken down? The UNI$ are credited in 2 tranches:
- 1X base UNI$ for every S$5 spent
- 9X bonus UNI$ that is the total sum of all eligible transactions over the calendar month (rounded down to the nearest $5)
How Are Bonus UNI$ Calculated?
UOB is special (or not so special!) in the sense that they only award the base UNI$ for every S$5 of spend. You’ll receive the same base 1X UNI$ whether you spend exactly S$5 or S$9.90.
So, while users of the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card may not receive the optimal 1X base UNI$ (say if you spend S$9.90), it should matter less as the 9X bonus UNI$ are credited based on all eligible transactions added together over the calendar month.
You should keep in mind that the 9X bonus UNI$ will only be posted to your account in the first few days following the end of the calendar month.
Below is an example of monthly spending on the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card across 2 dedicated bonus categories, with 1 UNI$ equal to 2 air miles (and assuming you spend in perfect S$5 increments for base UNI$).
Bonus category | Calendar month spend (S$) | Base UNI$ earned | Bonus UNI$ earned |
Family | 733 | 146 | 1,319 |
Dining | 857 | 171 | 1,542 |
Total | 1590 | 317 | 2,861 |
So, while you would have only earned 317 base UNI$ on Family and Dining spending, your grand total would have been boosted to 3,178 UNI$ (634 base UNI$ + 2,861 bonus UNI$).
Do remember that bonus spending is capped at S$2,000 of spending (across both your selected bonus categories) per calendar month. So, you’ll max out your monthly bonus UNI$ at 3,600 UNI$.
In terms of actually picking your 2 bonus categories, you pick when you first sign up for the card. After that, if you do wish to change your bonus categories, you can do that before the end of every quarter.
That provides a level of flexibility, in that if you know that you have a big ticket item (say in Travel) to splurge on in six months’ time then you can switch your bonus category to take advantage of the bonus points.
However, you should be aware that you must submit your category change before the end of the calendar quarter (so before 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, and 31 December) for it to be effective for the upcoming quarter.
If you don’t wish to make any changes to your bonus categories once a new quarter comes around, then you don’t need to do anything as the previous selection you’ve made will apply.
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card | |
Annual fee & waiver | $414.20 (waived for 1st year) |
Supplementary annual fee | First 2 supp cards free, subsequently $196.20 |
Interest-free period | 21 days |
Annual interest rate | 27.8% |
Late payment fee | $100 |
Minimum monthly repayment | 3% or $50, whichever is higher |
Foreign currency transaction fee | 3.25% |
Cash advance transaction fee | 8% |
Overlimit fee | $40 |
Card association | MasterCard |
Wireless payment | MasterCard PayPass, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay, UOB Mighty Pay |
Anything Else To Know About the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card?
The UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card ran a truly crazy 15X UNI$ bonus campaign for cardholders from February 2023 to March 2024.
Now that that’s been put to bed, UOB has come up with a replacement way for UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card holders to earn those extra 5X UNI$. It requires you to open a UOB Lady’s Savings Account and deposit money in it.
ALSO READ: Best Credit Card Promotions in Singapore (Jun – Jul 2024): Citibank, DBS, HSBC, UOB, and More
If you do, you can actually potentially bag yourself an extra 15X UNI$ on top of the usual 10X UNI$ for a grand total of 25X UNI$! As of 1 May 2024, men are also allowed to apply for a UOB Lady’s Savings Account.
Do note that the interest rate on funds in the UOB Lady’s Savings Account is just 0.05% per annum so there is a level of opportunity cost involved – depending on how much you deposit into the account.
You can see the various deposit brackets required and the corresponding bonus UNI$ you would accumulate below.
Spend of up to S$2,000
on UOB Lady’s Solitaire Credit Card |
Saving with UOB Lady’s Savings Account | Total bonus UNI$ | |
Monthly Average Balance | Bonus UNI$ | ||
Base + Bonus UNI$: 10X | <$10,000 | – | 10X UNI$
(4 miles per $1) |
$10,000 to $49,999 | 5X | 15X UNI$
(6 miles per $1) |
|
$50,000 to $99,999 | 10X | 20X UNI$
(8 miles per $1) |
|
$100,000 & above | 15X | 25X UNI$
(10 miles per $1) |
Source: UOB
Of course, we should always be aware that for credit cards that offer us bonus points, they typically exclude a whole host of spending types. The most relevant ones are probably utilities, hospital fees, and insurance premiums.
However, if you want the long (and very comprehensive) list of charges that don’t earn UNI$, you can check it out here.
- Bill payment (where applicable)
- NETS and NETS-related transactions
- 0% Instalment Payment Plans
- SmartPay
- Personal loans
- Online money transfers
- Balance/funds transfers
- Cash advances
- Fees
- Interests
- Finance charges
- Late payment charges
- Annual fee charges
- Reversals
- Void card transactions
- Chargebacks
- Payment of funds to prepaid accounts, including top-ups for any pre-paid card
- Transactions relating to brokerage / securities
- Any gambling related transactions, any trading transactions (including but not limited to websites for trading of shares and cryptocurrency)
- UOB$ transactions
- UOB Lady’s LuxePay Plans (if applicable)
- Amounts approved under the UOB Payment Facility and any associated fees or chargers (w.e.f. 19 June 2023)
- Other financial charges and any other transactions we may exclude from time to time without prior notice.
Alternatives to UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card?
So, if you’re into the rewards game and crave 4 miles per dollar, there are a host of other cards you could consider as alternatives.
HSBC Revolution Card – This card gives you 10X points (again, equal to 4 miles) per dollar of spend on dining, online shopping, and transportation – up to S$1,000 per calendar month. You can spend online but if you do spend in-person (i.e. offline) then you need use contactless methods of payments. So, that’s either tapping your card or using Apple Pay/Google Pay.
UOB Visa Signature – It’s all about the 10X points and the UOB Visa Signature is no exception. This gives you 10X UNI$ on all contactless spending, up to S$2,000 per statement month. It’s similar to the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card, with the exception being that you can use it in any merchant category but you must tap your card/phone in person to earn the 10X UNI$.
DBS Woman’s World Mastercard – Don’t worry all the boys out there, this one isn’t confined to just women either! Again, the 10X DBS points on offer with this card are rewarded on all eligible online spending. DBS has a generous range when it comes to what it consider online spend so the ability to earn 10X points on up to S$1,500 of spend per calendar month is something we can all celebrate.
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