If you are a miles chaser who is currently using the UOB one account as your high yield savings account, the UOB Lady’s Card is your only option to clock 4 mpd while accumulating spending to unlock your bonus interest.
Key Features:
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+Introduction
Before we jump into the review of the UOB Lady’s Card, there are some facts that we have to clear up. Under the UOB Lady’s Card branding, there are actually 4 different cards.
UOB Lady’s Debit Card
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The UOB Lady’s Debit card is the debit card version of the UOB Lady’s card. Given this is a debit card and there is honestly nothing going for it in terms of perks, this card would not be covered in this article.
UOB Lady’s Card
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The UOB Lady’s Card is the one everyone is most familiar with and is positioned as a card for the mass market. The card has a standard annual fee of S$196.20, and allows you to have one preferred rewards category with a cap of S$1,000 per month.
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card
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The UOB Lady’s Solitaire card is the more premium version of the UOB Lady’s Card which is targeted at affluent professionals. The difference between the Solitaire version is the higher annual fee of S$414.20, option to have two preferred rewards categories and a cap of S$2,000 per month
UOB Lady’s Metal Solitaire Card
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The UOB Lady’s Metal Solitaire Card is an invite only card that is a tier higher than the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card. To the average mile chaser, the rewards are exactly the same as the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card as cardholders have the option to have two preferred rewards categories with a cap of S$2,000.
The difference comes in the annual fee as the UOB Lady’s Metal Solitaire Card has an annual fee of S$598.99. The higher annual fees also come with perks such as 6 complimentary lounge visits and 1 complimentary airport limousine ride. Given there are substantial differences between UOB Lady’s Metal Solitaire Card and the UOB Lady’s Card & UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card, we have created a separate article which you can find here.
+Eligibility Requirements
-Qualification by Salary
| Minimum Salary Requirements | UOB Lady’s Card | UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card |
| Singapore Citizens and PR | S$30,000 | S$120,000 |
| Foreigners | S$40,000 | S$120,000 |
Before we jump into salary requirements, there is one clarification that we have to make. Other than the UOB Lady’s Debit Card, all other UOB Lady’s Card variants are open to both genders. Given the perks of the card, there should be no shame in holding the UOB Lady’s Card even if you are a male. Some sacrifices are bound to be made and not to worry, many of your male counterparts are on the same boat.
The UOB Lady’s Card is the entry level card of the series. The minimum salary requirements of S$30,000 for Singapore citizens and PR and S$40,000 for foreigners are no different from the minimum set by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card is the middle tier of the series and is targeted towards affluent professionals with an annual income of S$120,000 or more. While it is a known fact that any salary requirements above S$120,000 is arbitrary, UOB is rather strict on the salary requirement for the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card. UOB requires cardholders to show proof of income although if you are a priority banking customer, they may choose to exercise some flexibility. There is no harm in trying, especially since even if you get rejected, you will be offered the UOB Lady’s Card.
-Qualification through collateral
If you are unable to meet the salary requirements, UOB provides individuals with the option to get a secured card by placing a fixed deposit collateral with them and the required amount can be found in the table below.
| Fixed Deposit Collateral Requirements | |
| UOB Lady’s Card | S$10,000 |
| UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card | S$30,000 |
+Fees
+Annual Fees
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| 1st Year | Subsequent years | |
| Principal Card | Free | S$196.20 |
| 1st Supplementary Card | Free | Free |
| Subsequent Supplementary Card | S$98.10 | S$98.10 |
*Insert picture of UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card*
| 1st Year | Subsequent years | |
| Principal Card | Free | S$414.20 |
| 1st & 2nd Supplementary Card | Free | Free |
| Subsequent Supplementary Card | S$196.20 | S$196.20 |
The UOB Lady’s Card has an annual fee of S$196.20 which is waived in the first year. The first supplementary card comes at no additional cost but the subsequent supplementary card will set you back S$98.10 per year.
The UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card has an annual fee of S$414.20 which is waived in the first year. The first 2 supplementary cards come with no additional cost but any subsequent supplementary card beyond the 2 will set you back S$196.20 per year.
-Waiver of Annual Fee
While annual fees can be waived off & are relatively easy to get for both UOB Lady’s Card and UOB Lady’s Solitaire card, UOB has been notorious with deducting UNI$ to cover the annual fee.
The annual fee can present itself in 3 different ways:
- If you have sufficient UNI$ (Full Waiver)
-> Fully in UNI$ - If you have more than half the sufficient UNI$ (Half Waiver)
-> Half in UNI$ & Half in cash - If you have less than half the sufficient UNI$ (No Waiver)
-> Fully in cash
The exact amount can be found in the table below.
| Type of Waiver | UOB Lady’s Card | UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card |
| Full Waiver | UNI$6,500 | UNI$10,000 |
| Half Waiver | UNI$3,250 & S$98.10 | UNI$5,000 & S$207.10 |
| No Waiver | S$196.20 | S$414.20 |
When the annual fee is charged, it is on you to request a fee waiver so it would be good to keep a lookout for your points history during each anniversary of your credit card. If you are unsure of when the anniversary of your card is, a good gauge would be to refer to the expiry month of your credit card.
If you are granted the fee waiver, the UNI$ will be reinstated with a new 2 year validity which is beneficial for those who are looking to accumulate an even bigger UNI$ balance before converting.
-> Ways to apply for fee waiver
Recently, there have been documented experiences where UNI$ was not reinstated despite the annual fee getting waived. Hence, it would be advisable to keep a look out for the next few days after the approval of the fee waiver to ensure you get your UNI$ reinstated.
If you are one of the unfortunate customers who did not receive the reinstated UNI$ after the fee waiver, you should reach out to the customer support who will likely be able to advise you further.
-Foreign Currency Transaction fees
A fee of 3.25% on the amount converted will be charged on the UOB Visa Signature for all foreign currency transactions. This is on top of the spread earned by the credit card company (Visa).
*Insert comparison picture of different issuers*
Compared to other cards on the market, the 3.25% is in line with other major credit card issuers in Singapore.
-International Processing Fee
A lesser known fact about SGD transactions processed outside Singapore is that it attracts a 1% international processing fee. This is a charge imposed by the credit card company (Visa) and is applicable on all transactions, including refunds. Hence, purchasing and refunding a transaction would attract a total of 2% of fees.
This lesser known charge usually appears when transacting at international corporations and some examples include Agoda and Casetify who both process their payments in Hong Kong.
To illustrate the fees, a S$100 transaction on Agoda would lead to your card being charged S$101. If you utilise the free cancellation perk of refundable bookings, you will be refunded only S$99. You are still on the hook for the S$2 of transaction fees in such a situation and this is not waivable as it is charged by the credit card company and not the bank.
+Rewards Program
| All spending (except those in exclusion list) | Bonus Categories |
| UNI$1 per S$5 spent (0.4 mpd) | UNI$10 per S$5 spent (4 mpd) |
-> Basic Earn Rate
The UOB Lady’s Card rewards cardholders with UNI$1 per S$5 spent on the card. Given the exchange rate is UNI$1 = 2 airline miles, the basic earn rate of the UOB Lady’s Card is 0.4 mpd.
-> Bonus Categories
The UOB Lady’s card allows cardholders to earn UNI$10 per S$5 spent on bonus categories which is equivalent to a rate of 4 mpd.
While both the cards offer the same earn rate, there are significant differences between the UOB Lady’s Card and the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card which can be found in the table below.
| UOB Lady’s Card | UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card | |
| Bonus category cap(per calendar month) | S$1,000 | S$2,000 (shared between both bonus categories) |
| Number of bonus categories | 1 | 2 |
There are 7 bonus categories which can be chosen and the MCCs which are considered for each bonus category are provided by UOB in the terms and conditions of the card.
| Categories | Merchant Category Codes (MCC) | Description |
| Beauty & Wellness | 5912, 5977, 7230, 7231, 7298, 7297 | Discount, Mass and Drug Stores, Cosmetics Stores, Barber and Beauty Shops, Health and Beauty Spa, Massage Parlors |
| Dining | 5811, 5812, 5814, 5499 | Caterers, Eating places and Restaurants, Fast food restaurants and food deliveries |
| Entertainment | 5813, 7832, 7922 | Bars, Taverns, Lounges and Nightclubs, Motion Picture Theaters, Theatrical, Producers and Ticket Agencies |
| Family | 5411, 5461 | Grocery stores, Children and Infants wear store |
| Fashion | 5311, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5651, 5655, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5948 | Department Stores, Mens and Boys Clothing and Accessories Store, Womens Ready-To Wear Stores, Womens Access and Specialty, Family Clothing Stores, Sports and Riding Apparel Stores, Shoes Stores, Mens and Womens Clothing Stores, Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessories Shops, Luggage and Leather Stores |
| Transport | 4111, 4121, 4789, 5541, 5542 | Local Commuter Transport, Taxi, Cabs, Limousines and Travel Service, Service Stations and Automatic Gas Dispensers |
| Travel | Credit card retail transaction(s) made at major airlines and/or hotels with their main business activity classified as flights and/or hotels only. (including card not-present transactions like ecommerce/mail/phone order transactions) | |
The only category that did not provide MCC ranges is the “Travel” category. While it seems to suggest that only flight and hotel bookings are included in the category, the list of examples provided by UOB includes travel agencies and cruises which suggest that they are also included.
| Merchants | |||
| Agoda | AirAsia | Airbnb | ANA |
| Cathay Pacific | Chan Brothers Travel | Emirates | EU Holidays |
| EVA Air | Expedia | Hotels.com | Jetstar Airways |
| Korean Air | Royal Caribbean International | Scoot | Singapore Airlines |
| Thai Airways | UOB Travel Planners | Klook | And more! |
Bonus categories can be changed every quarter (UOB Lady’s – Select Rewards). This increases the versatility of the card as you could choose the category for each quarter based on your anticipated spending.
For example, you may be looking to book a trip for your upcoming vacation. You can change your bonus category to “Travel” and book both your flights and hotel bookings in the quarter. In the next quarter, you might be going on a shopping spree for clothes. You can then change the bonus category to “Fashion” in anticipation for the upcoming quarter.
-UOB Lady’s Savings Account
If you own a UOB Lady’s Savings Account, you could also earn up to an additional UNI$15 per S$5 spent on the bonus categories you have chosen. The additional UNI$ that you will get will depend on the account monthly average balance that you have in your UOB Lady’s Savings Account.
| UOB Lady’s Savings Account Monthly Average Balance | Lady’s Savings Bonus UNI$ earned (per S$5 spend) | Total UNI$ for every S$5 spent in a calendar month |
| <S$10,000 | Not applicable | UNI$10 / 4 mpd |
| S$10,000 to S$49,999 | UNI$5 | UNI$15 / 6 mpd |
| S$50,000 to S$99,999 | UNI$10 | UNI$20 / 8 mpd |
| S$100,000 and above | UNI$15 | UNI$25 / 10 mpd |
While the thought of having bonus earn rates sound attractive, the catch is the opportunity cost incurred by having the balance in the UOB Lady’s Savings account instead of a high yield savings account as the interest rate on balances in the UOB Lady’s Savings account is a measly 0.05%.
+Complimentary Travel Insurance
+Reward Program Information
UNI$ Calculation
The UOB Lady’s card credits the UNI$ in two tranches:
- Base UNI$: Credited when transaction posts
- Bonus UNI$: Credited by the end of the following calendar month (In reality, it is usually credited within the first few days of the following calendar month)
Here’s how the UNI$ are calculated when they are credited
| Base UNI$ | Round down transaction to the nearest S$5 & divide by 5 |
| Bonus UNI$ | Round down the sum of all eligible transactions in the statement month to the nearest S$5, divide by 5 and multiply by 9 |
The bonus UNI$ calculation policy makes this card an attractive option for small purchases. This is especially useful for the bonus categories of dining and transport where I could potentially see cardholders using the card for multiple small purchases.
For avoidance of doubt, any transactions below S$5 will not be eligible for any base UNI$ but will see be included in the calculation of bonus UNI$.
->Validity of UNI$
The UNI$ earned by the UOB Visa Signature card has a validity of between 2 years and 2 years 3 months.
| From UOB |
| UNI$ earned shall expire 2 years from the last day of each periodic quarter in which the UNI$ was earned. Each UNI$ period is calculated commencing from January to December of each calendar year. Expired UNI$ cannot be replaced or reinstated. |
If the above doesn’t sound the most intuitive, here are some examples of what it entails:
UNI$ earned period
Jan-Mar25: 31 Mar 27
Apr-Jun25: 30 Jun 27
Jul-Sep25: 30 Sep 27
Oct-Dec25: 31 Dec 27
UNI$ earned on the first day of each quarter will hence have a longer validity period as compared to those earned on the last day of each quarter. However, in the grand scheme of things, it should not matter as the UNI$ validity policy means that you will likely just need to transfer your UNI$ into miles once every 2 years.
->Transfer Partners & Costs
-Airline Frequent Flyer Program
UNI$ can be transferred to Singapore Airlines, Cathay & AirAsia frequent flyer programs with the ratio in the table below.
| Transfer Program | Rate (UNI$ : Partner Programme) |
| Krisflyer (Singapore Airlines) | 5,000 : 10,000 |
| Asia Miles (Cathay) | 5,000 : 10,000 |
| AirAsia | 2,500 : 4,500 |
There is simply no way to justify transferring UNI$ to AirAsia (If you do find a good reason, be sure to let us know). The purpose of being a miles chaser is to enjoy the premium seats of a flight and no matter how many times I refresh the AirAsia page, I cannot find anything premium about the seats.
Disregarding the AirAsia option, you are able to transfer UNI$ in blocks of 5000 UNI$ and at a rate of 1:2. Each transfer will cost the cardholder S$25 irregardless of the amount of UNI$ being transferred. Additionally, one of the best things about UNI$ is the fact that UOB pools the points from all your cards, thereby allowing you to pay a one time transfer fee to transfer all the UNI$ that you amassed from your UOB cards.
But don’t get too excited yet, please read on. Before you make your first UNI$ transfer, you would have to enroll into UOB’s “Frequent Flyer Conversion Program”. Per UOB’s FAQ, you should allow approximately 5 working days for the linkage between your UOB card and the frequent flyer membership to be processed. On the same page, UOB advised that it would take at least 14 working days for any conversion request from UNI$ to frequent flyer miles to be completed. In reality, my experience with the Krisflyer transfer has taken less than 48 hours.
Autoconversion feature
UOB has an auto-conversion option for an annual fee of S$50 where UNI$ above 15,000 will be automatically converted to Krisflyer miles at the end of the month in blocks of 2,500 UNI$ to 5,000 Krisflyer miles.
While an auto-conversion option seems good at first glance, the hefty fee of S$50 & first 15,000 UNI$ not getting converted is a massive deal breaker. With the UNI$ having 2 years validity, there is not much reason to be converting more than twice every year to justify paying the S$50 annual fee. In addition, not converting the first 15,000 UNI$ negates any benefits one may obtain by having the lowered conversion block of 2,500 UNI$. Cardholders may still convert the 15,000 UNI$ but they will still be subject to the same S$25 fee that others are paying. Honestly, I see much more cons than pros to this feature and I cannot fathom any reason that would justify the participation in this feature.
-Krispay
If you ever find yourself needing Krisflyer miles immediately, Krispay allows you to transfer UNI$ to Krisflyer miles in a 2 step process at a rate of 1,000 UNI$ to 1,700 Krisflyer miles.
- Transfer UNI$ to Krispay miles
- Transfer Krispay miles to Krisflyer miles (must be done within 7 days or else they would be stuck as Krispay miles)
While the pros of this method is the instantaneous transfer and lack of fees, the lowered conversion ratio of 1 UNI$ to 1.7 Krisflyer miles compared to the 2 Krisflyer miles you get for the normal rewards program signifies a 15% haircut which is often not worth it. However, the small block of 1,000 UNI$ would be useful for orphan balances if you are looking to cancel your card.
+UOB$ exception
Prior to 1 November 2024, spending at UOB$ merchants will not award any UNI$ (both base and bonus) for the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card. Instead, cardholders will get cashback on their next purchase. As a miles card, this never made sense as one would reasonably expect cardholders to prefer getting miles over cashback.
This all changed from 1 November 2024 as UOB credit cards are now allowed to double dip into both the UOB$ & UNI$ program, allowing cardholders to earn cashback at the same time. Although there were notable names that left the program along with the change, this is considered a major plus point for mile chasers who do not want to spend an extra second figuring out which card to use at the checkout counter as you no longer have to check if the merchant you are at is a UOB$ merchant.
Summary
Life is full of changes and having to plan ahead is never an easy task. The UOB Lady’s Card shines most when you are able to use the ability to tweak bonus categories to the fullest by planning your spending around the card. With 7 bonus categories, one is bound to fit your lifestyle and it should be a card that every mile chaser should consider in their arsenal.
If you are using the UOB One account as your high yield savings account, spending on your UOB Lady’s Card will contribute to your credit card spend requirement. In fact, the UOB Lady’s Card is your only 4 mpd option.
While some may consider being limited to just 1 or 2 categories as a deal breaker, having this card to absorb shocks in that particular category for that quarter is a useful tool to have. Going on a vacation? The UOB Lady’s Card could contribute an additional S$1,000 or S$2,000 of 4 mpd spending.