HSBC Revolution Card Review | What You Need To Know

Best for Selected Online and Contactless + Travel Spends

• You can earn 4 miles per dollar bonus on selected online and contactless spend categories. Spending is capped at S$1,000 (10,000 Reward points) per calendar month. And the good news is, these will be permanent bonus categories

1. Department Stores

2. Dining Category (Exclude 5814)

Note: 5814 – Fast Food Restaurants is excluded. 5814 isn’t just a merchant category code for fast food restaurants. Grab dine out deals is also under 5814. So contactless spending in this category could be a hit or miss.

3. Transport & Membership Clubs

4. Travel-Related Spends

Optimising the 8 Miles Per Dollar HSBC EGA Strategy

• To unlock 8 miles per dollar, you’ll need to maintain S$50,000 in your HSBC EGA — but with a base interest of only 0.05% p.a., you’re essentially trading interest income for extra miles. The additional miles you earn (from 4 → 8 miles per dollar) are capped each month, while the opportunity cost on that S$50K depends on what you could earn elsewhere

So the real question is: Are the extra miles worth more than the lost interest?

• This strategy becomes more attractive during EGA promotional periods (typically around ~1.6%–1.8% p.a. on incremental balances), where you can still earn decent interest while enjoying 8 miles per dollar. Outside of these promos, however, returns are minimal — so unless you highly value miles, you’re likely overpaying for them.

Best To Pool Points Together with other HSBC Reward Points Earning Credit Cards

• If you own the HSBC TravelOne, you can pool the points from both cards in one transfer, saving you transfer fees. HSBC just announced that the transfer fees will be waived indefinitely!

Best for Redeeming Miles with Airlines Other Than Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer

• With 20 transfer partners (including 8 new ones), HSBC now has the most options in Singapore for using points. See “Transfer Partners” below.
  • For example, you can use just 25K miles to redeem a one-way business class ticket with Infinity Mileagelands on Eva Air to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea, instead of 35K to 40K miles on Singapore Airlines for the same flight class and destination.

Utilise Complimentary Travel Insurance

• Use as back up, not as your main insurance for those using the card for flights and travel bookings.

Maximise Visa Signature Perks

• With the HSBC Revolution now upgraded to Visa Signature from Visa Platinum, the best way to optimise it is to pair its core 4 miles per dollar earning categories with the added travel perks — use the card for flights, hotels, and contactless spend to earn miles while simultaneously qualifying for complimentary travel insurance, then maximise trips by booking eligible stays through the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection for perks like breakfast and room upgrades; on top of that, take advantage of Visa offers and concierge services for additional savings and convenience, essentially turning the card into not just a miles earner, but a more well-rounded travel companion.

Exclusion List:

With the many updates of this card, here’s the timeline of changes:

• 1 April 2026
  • 4 mpd on contactless payments and travel-related spending are made permanent, cap changed to S$1,000
  • Introduction of 8 mpd on bonus spendings as long as the cardholder is maintaing an ADB of S$50,000 on HSBC EGA
  • Card upgraded from Visa Platinum to Visa Signature
  • Complimentary Travel Insurance is reinstated
• 31 March 2026 (extended from 28 February 2026)
  • Continued extension of:
    • 4 mpd on contactless payments and travel-related spending
    • S$1,500 monthly spending cap
• 1 October 2025
  • Minimum income requirement revised
  • Now depends on total relationship balance with HSBC
  • Existing cardholders not affected
• 1 July 2025
  • Reintroduction of bonus features:
    • 4 mpd on contactless payments and travel-related spending
    • Spending cap increased to S$1,500
• 31 January 2025 → extended indefinitely
  • Rewards points conversion fee waived permanently
  • Points transfers are now free
• 16 January 2025
  • KrisFlyer transfer rate devalued:
    • From 25,000 → 10,000 miles
    • To 30,000 → 10,000 miles
  • Effective earn rate reduced (no longer 4 mpd equivalent)
• 1 January 2025
  • Reduced earn rate to 0.4 mpd (1x points) for:
    • Airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruises
• 31 December 2024
  • Reduced earn rate to 0.4 mpd for:
    • Travel-related merchants (e.g. airlines like Singapore Airlines)
• 1 May 2024
  • Reduced earn rate to 0.4 mpd for:
    • Fast food (e.g. McDonald’s, Starbucks)
    • Grocery stores (e.g. NTUC, Giant)
    • Misc food stores & delivery (e.g. GrabFood, foodpanda)
• 1 January 2024
  • Reduced earn rate to 0.4 mpd for:
    • Hotels, motels, resorts (e.g. Airbnb, Marina Bay Sands)
    • Travel agencies & tour operators (e.g. Agoda, Expedia, Klook)

Advantages:

• After so many changes, Online & Contactless + Travel Spend categories are made permanent
• Big buff for HSBC EGA customers
• No annual fee forever; saves you the hassle of calling for an annual fee waiver
• Transfer Fee is waived indefinitely
• Offers complimentary Travel Insurance

Disadvantages:

• May not be a great card to spend in foreign currency even with a 4 miles per dollar earn rate

Here is the list of their current transfer partners:

• You should choose the ones with conversion rate of 25:000 to 10:000 for the best value. Since I find that conversion to hotel partners isn’t always worthwhile, so I’m sticking to airline partners.

Airline Partner	Conversion Ratio
	50,000:10,000
	35,000:10,000
	35,000:10,000
	35,000:10,000
	35,000:10,000
	35,000:10,000
	30,000:10,000
	30,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000

Hotel Partners	Conversion Ratio
	30,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:10,000
	25,000:5,000

• When will my points be credited: Usually after 1-3 working days of the transaction posting, 1X base HSBC Points are credited. Bonus 9X HSBC Points will appear on the cardholder’s statement at the end of the second calendar month, and they will be credited by the end of the subsequent calendar month from the date of transaction.
• How long are my points valid for: 37 months. Just before it expires, you can transfer it to Krisflyer, and once the points are correctly credited into Krisflyer, you’ll receive an additional 36 months. This provides you with a considerable amount of runway—roughly six years—to burn through the miles.
• How do I claim miles for HSBC revolution: I covered it in a TikTok video here.
• Will my points still remain in my HSBC account if i carry other HSBC credit cards: Points will be pooled across all credit cards for redemption purposes, but if you’re planning to cancel a credit card, make sure to redeem all points you’ve earned on that card. If not, it will be gone.

Terms and Conditions (1 April 2026)