UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

With 4 mpd on mobile contactless in-store payment, online shopping and entertainment, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (UOB PPV) is one of the most beginner friendly cards to ease you into the miles game.

Key Features:
*Insert an infographic of UOB Preferred Platinum Visa*

+Salary Requirements

The UOB PPV is an entry level card which has an MAS mandated minimum annual income requirement of S$30,000 for Singaporeans & S$40,000 for foreigners.

Alternatively, for those who do not meet the minimum annual income requirement, you may place a S$10,000 fixed deposit with UOB to be pledged as collateral for the secured version of the UOB PPV. However, do note that you may have to go down to your nearest UOB branch based on my experience but your mileage may vary.

Author’s Notes: Going through the fixed deposit route, I had issues with applying for the UOB PPV as my first UOB credit card as it was not available as an option on the physical application form. However, I could subsequently apply for the UOB PPV as my second credit card through the UOB app once my application was successful.

+Annual Fee

	1st Year	Subsequent years
Principal Card	Free	S$196.20
1st Supplementary Card	Free	Free
Subsequent Supplementary Card	Free	S$98.10

The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card has an annual fee of S$196.20. Similar to most entry level cards, the annual fee is waived for the first year and can be waived off in subsequent years. For supplementary cards, the fee for the first card is waived in perpetuity. However, the second card will be charged at S$98.10 from the second year onwards.

Waiver of Annual Fee

While annual fees can be waived off & are relatively easy to get, UOB has been notorious with deducting UNI$ to cover the annual fee.

The annual fee can be charged in 3 ways:

1. UNI$6,500 for a full waiver (UNI$ > 6,500)
2. UNI$3,250 & S$98.10 for a half waiver (3,250 < UNI$ < 6,500)
3. S$196.20 (UNI$ < 3,250)

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.

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.

+Reward Programs

-> Mobile Contactless Spend (4 mpd)

The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card allows cardholders to earn UNI$10 per S$5 (4 mpd) of mobile contactless spend. While there is no minimum spending, the bonus UNI$ is capped at UNI$2,000 per calendar month which means a cap of S$1,110 a month. Any excess spending would not be eligible for bonus UNI$ but are still eligible for the base UNI$1 per S$5 spent. This bonus UNI$ capped is shared with the other bonus category “Selected Online Transactions”.

UOB Definition of Mobile Contactless Transaction

Card Transactions made via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Android Pay (or such other mobile payment or mobile wallet services as UOB may from time to time approve at its sole discretion), that is effected at any Visa payWave Readers by waving the mobile device against the Visa payWave Readers. For the avoidance of doubt, Mobile Contactless Transactions exclude any Magnetic Secure Transmission Transactions, all transactions at SPC Service Stations and Shell Service Stations, UOB$ participating merchants and SimplyGo (ABT) transactions performed on public bus and train readers.

For simplicity, as long as there is a contactless payment terminal in the store & the transaction is not part of the UOB rewards exclusion list (refer to the Appendix), you can Apple pay, Google pay or Andriod pay your way to 4 mpd. Do note that tapping the physical UOB PPV card at the contactless terminal will only earn 0.4 mpd so there is no reason for you to be carrying around the physical UOB PPV card. Once you receive the card, you should add it to your mobile wallet and store the card in a secured location at home to gather dust.

While you could Apple pay, Google pay or Andriod pay for your bus/MRT trips, these SimplyGo transactions are not classified as mobile contactless transaction and hence, they will only earn the base rate of 0.4 mpd.

Before 1 Nov 2024, UNI$ is not awarded on all transactions made at UOB$ participating merchants. However, it has since changed which allows cardholders to double dip into both the UOB$ & UNI$ rewards program, changing the program from being a bane to your miles journey to a boon.

-> Selected Online Transactions (4 mpd)

The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card also allows cardholders to earn UNI$10 per S$5 (4 mpd) on selected online transactions. This is capped at UNI$2,000 per calendar month which is a spending of S$1,110 and the cap is shared with the other bonus category “Mobile Contactless Spend”. Similarly, any excess spending over the cap is not eligible for the bonus UNI$ but will still earn the base UNI$1 per S$5 spent.

Based on the terms & conditions of the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card, the “Selected Online Transactions” category covers the following Merchant Category Code (MCC)

Category	Merchant Category Code (MCC)
Department Stores and Retail Stores	4816, 5262, 5306, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732-5735, 5912, 5942, 5944-5949, 5964, 5966-5970, 5992, 5999
Supermarkets, Dining and Food Delivery	5811, 5812, 5814, 5333, 5411, 5441, 5462, 5499, 8012, 9751
Entertainment and Ticketing	7278, 7832, 7841, 7922, 7991, 7996, 7998-7999

While it states “Selected Online Transaction”, both in-app & online transactions are eligible for the bonus UNI$. However, do note that for some merchants, the MCC of offline purchases may differ from online purchases so it is advisable for you to only use the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card for in-app & online transactions when you are 100% sure of the MCC.

For online & in-app transactions, my preference is still sticking with DBS Woman’s World Mastercard or Citi Rewards Card due to the below 2 reasons:

1. Saving the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card’s 4 mpd cap for Mobile Contactless Spend
2. Ease of mind of not having to worry that the transaction falls under the correct MCC
   Author’s Notes: Despite Ticketmaster being a ticketing agency, I had experiences where transactions were coded as MCC 7929 instead of 7922, resulting in the transaction not being eligible for bonus UNI$. Hence, I would be wary of using UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card on online transactions unless I am very sure of the MCC.

-> Other SGD Transaction

For all other SGD transactions, they earn a base amount of UNI$1 per S$5 (0.4 mpd) spent as long as the transaction is not found in the list of transactions that are excluded from UNI$. A detailed list can be found below.

However, with an earn rate of just 0.4 mpd, it is not recommended to use the UOB Preferred Platinum Card for transactions which do not qualify for the bonus UNI$ as there are other general spending cards which offer multiples of this base earn rate.

+Foreign Currency Spending

For bonus UNI$ when it comes to foreign currency spending, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card does not differ from that of local currency spending.

However, do note that foreign currency transactions are subjected to a 3.25% administrative fee on the amount converted. This is on top of the FX spread that you are subjected to as the transaction will first be converted to USD, before being converted to SGD. Therefore, it is not recommended to use the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa for foreign currency spending.

+Uni$ Information

UNI$ Calculation

UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card credits the UNI$ in two tranches once the transaction is posted: 

Base UNI$	Round down transaction to the nearest S$5 & divide by 5
Bonus UNI$	Round down transaction to the nearest S$5, divide by 5 & multiply by 9

As you can see from the calculation, UOB rounds down your transaction to the nearest S$5 before awarding the UNI$. Hence, a S$5 transaction will earn as much UNI$ as a S$9 transaction and any transaction below S$5 will not earn you any UNI$ at all.

To illustrate the effect of rounding, the below graph showcases the amount of miles you will get with the different dollar spending on the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa against another card which has S$1 spending block such as the nearest competitor, the Citi Rewards card when paired with Amaze.

*Insert graph of UOB PPV vs Citi Rewards mile vs dollar*

On the same note, the below graph provides a visual representation of the effective mpd for different dollar spending.

*Insert graph of effective mpd for each dollar spend*

You will notice that as the transaction size increases, the effect of rounding has a smaller effect on the effective mpd. Hence, it is recommended to use the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card on larger purchases whenever possible or when the transaction amount will get rounded down the least.

One of the benefits of UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card is the ability to view transaction level points breakdown on the UOB iBanking application. For more details, please refer to the section in the Appendix.

->Validity of UNI$

The UNI$ earned by the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa 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 before you get too excited, 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.

1. Transfer UNI$ to Krispay miles
2. 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

In summary, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa card is one of the best cards for new and seasoned mile chasers alike.

New mile chasers will find themselves being eased into the miles accumulation journey as all they need to think about is whether the physical transaction falls under the exclusion list (which can be found below). The learning curve is steep but without having to think about which card to use where, this card is suitable for you to recommend to your friends or relatives who have been bugging you about teaching them to get “free” business class flights. (“Free” given taxes still have to be paid and there are opportunity cost involved)

For seasoned mile chasers, the flexibility and blacklist approach of this card truly makes this card a gem among the other miles cards. No matter how many cards you have, you will always have a reason to use this card, making this card a must-have in your arsenal.

With UNI$ being pooled across all UOB cards, there is no worry about having orphan miles and together with the other 4 mpd UOB miles cards (UOB Lady’s Card & UOB Visa Signature), you can get yourself a large number of Krisflyer miles every 2 years with a transfer fee of just S$25.

+Author’s Notes

Appendix:

+Checking of points

+Exclusions

The full list of transactions that are not eligible for earning UNI$ can be found in the Terms and Conditions Governing UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card. Aside from the usual charity, utilities & quasi-cash transactions, an important point to note is that UNI$ is not awarded on SPC Service Stations and Shell Service Stations. Hence, if you are a car owner, you might want to leave your UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card at home when making your petrol run.