OCBC 90N Card
Earn 1.3 miles per dollar on local spend and 2.1 miles per dollar on foreign currency spend
OCBC 90N Card Overview:
The OCBC 90°N Card is a pretty great miles card! You can earn 1.3 Miles for every dollar spent in SGD and 2.1 Miles for every dollar spent in foreign currency. Not only that, you can redeem air miles, cash rebates, and more! With over 9 hotel and airline partners, you can choose where to use this card. Here’s the best part: it never expires so you can earn unlimited miles and redeem it whenever you want!
Local Earn Rate | 1.3 miles per dollar |
Foreign Currency Earn Rate | 2.1 miles per dollar |
Foreign Currency Fees | 3.25% |
Min. Miles Transfer | 1,000 90°N Miles (1,000 miles) |
Transfer Fee | S$25 |
Points Pooling | Yes |
Lounge Access | No |
Airport Limo | No |
Points Expiry | No Expiry |
Eligibility & Fees:
- Minimum Age: 21 years old
- Minimum Annual Income: S$30,000 (locals/PRs); S$45,000 (foreigners)
- Don’t worry if you income is below this threshold, there is a more secured version of this card? where you can do a S$10,000 fixed deposit
- Annual Fee:
- Paying the annual fee on the second year earns you 10,000 miles (although it is not really worth it to pay the annual fee for the 10,000 miles, I can personally suggest to call the bank and have the annual fee waived)
Key Benefits:
- Earn 1.3 miles per dollar on local spend (6.5 miles per S$5)
- Earn 2.1 miles per dollar on overseas spend (10.5 miles per S$5)
- No minimum monthly spending required
- Miles never expire
- No expiry on Travel$ earned
How to Best Optimise it:
Best used on Agoda Bookings
- Earn up to 7 miles per dollars on bookings made exclusively through the designated website, www.agoda.com/90n. To ensure accurate tracking of the transaction, you should avoid visiting any other Agoda landing pages after accessing this site on any browser.
- Bonus miles will be credited to your credit card within two months after hotel check-out. Also, the promotion applies only to prepaid bookings and will not be applicable to bookings paid directly at the hotel.
- However, you should still check the prices via incognito mode or via shopback as it is known to mark up prices.
Take advantage of the Complimentary Global Data Roaming by Flexiroam
- Enjoy complimentary 3X 1GB 5-Day Flexiroam Data Plan per calendar year in over 200 countries and regions with a one-time setup, exclusively for OCBC 90N Mastercard cardmembers. Plus, enjoy 15% discount on all subsequent Flexiroam data plans.
Best Used with Cardup
- CardUp allows you to earn miles on your credit cards when you make payments for items on exclusion list such as rent, taxes, or insurance premiums.
- You can also check my posts “How to Pay Insurance with Credit Card & Earn Cashback or Miles with Cardup” and “How to Pay for Mortgage, MCST, Helper’s Salary, Misc Payments with Credit Card & Earn Cashback or Miles with Cardup” for more information.
Any Hacks/Promos:
- You can pair your OCBC 90N Mastercard with Amaze for lower-cost overseas transactions
- You can use your 90°N Miles to redeem vouchers or cash rebates in addition to KrisFlyer miles. Although limited, you can still check this list for spending categories.
What to Avoid:
Exclusion List:
MCC | Description |
4784 | Tolls and Bridge Fees |
4829 | Wire Transfer Money Orders (WTMOs) |
4900 | Utilities–Electric, Gas, Heating Oil, Sanitary, Water |
5047 | Medical, Dental, Ophthalmic and Hospital Equipment and Supplies |
5199 | Nondurable Goods (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
5960 | Direct Marketing Insurance Services |
5993 | Cigars, Stores and Stands |
6010 | Member Financial Institution–Manual Cash Disbursements |
6012 | Member Financial Institution–Merchandise and Services |
6051 | Quasi Cash–Merchant (Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, NonFiat Currency, Cryptocurrency) |
6211 | Securities–Brokers and Dealers |
6300 | Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums |
6513 | Real Estate Agents and Managers–Rentals |
6540 | Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load |
7349 | Cleaning, Maintenance and Janitorial Services |
7523 | Automobile Parking Lots and Garages |
7995 | Gambling – Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, OffTrack Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks |
8062 | Hospitals |
8211 | Schools, Elementary and Secondary |
8220 | Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools and Junior Colleges |
8241 | Schools, Correspondence |
8244 | Schools, Business and Secretarial |
8249 | Schools, Trade and Vocational |
8299 | Schools and Educational Services–Not Elsewhere Classified |
8398 | Organizations, Charitable and Social Service |
8651 | Organizations, Political |
8661 | Organizations, Religious |
8675 | Automobile Associations |
8699 | Organizations, Membership–Not Elsewhere Classified (Labor Union) |
9211 | Court Costs Including Alimony and Child Support |
9222 | Fines |
9223 | Bail and Bond Payments |
9311 | Tax Payments |
9399 | Government Services–Not Elsewhere Classified |
9402 | Postal Services–Government Only |
9405 | Intra-Government Purchases–Government Only |
Transfer Partners:
Here is the list of their current transfer partners:
Airline | Hotels |
Krisflyer | Accor Live Limitless |
Air France-KLM Flying Blue | IHG One Rewards |
British Airways Executive Club | Marriott Bonvoy |
Cathay Pacific | Etihad Guest |
United MileagePlus |
Is it Worth it:
Advantages:
- No spending cap on travels earned for local and overseas spend
- For KrisFlyer members, the conversion ratio is 1:1, therefore 1,000 travel$ is equivalent to 1,000 KrisFlyer miles. This is a great conversion rate since it could prevent orphan miles— these are the miles stuck in your account. Let’s say you earned a total of 27,000 miles, but the bank has a conversion block of 25,000, hence, you’ll be left with 2,000 orphan miles. Although, in some banks, you can use these orphan miles to redeem other rewards like a cashback or voucher.
- 90°N Miles earned on the Mastercard and Visa versions of the OCBC 90°N Card can be pooled together
Disadvantages:
- No complimentary lounge access; most of the competitive miles card already has lounge access comparing it to Citi Premiermiles and DBS altitude who has up to 2x priority passes.
- Limited categories on rewards catalogue when you decided to spend points other than miles
Frequently Asked Questions:
- When is the miles credited: This usually credits when the transaction posted, usually takes 24 hrs or in some, it could take 2-3 days
- How is my miles calculated?: For every S$5, you can get 1.3 miles per dollar on local spend, and 2.1 miles per dollar on overseas spend.
- Let’s say you spent S$50 locally (S$50 x 1.3mpd = 65 miles earned). But here’s the catch: you can only earn points in increments of S$5, therefore, if you have S$54.99, you still get the same miles as S$50 which is 65 miles.
- How much is the conversion rate when I want to use my 90N into cash rebates?: For every 1,000 miles, you can get S$10
- How do I redeem my miles for rewards: you can visit OCBC’s rewards page to redeem from the below transfer partners:
Comparison table with other non-expiring cards with similar earn rates:
Cards | OCBC 90N | Citi PremierMiles | DBS Altitude |
Local Earn Rate | 1.3 miles per dollar | 1.2 miles per dollar | 1.3 miles per dollar |
Foreign Earn Rate | 2.1 miles per dollar | 2 miles per dollar | 2.2 miles per dollar |
Lounge Access | No | 2x Priority Pass | Yes (on VISA) |
Transfer Partners | SIA, Air France, British Airways, Cathay, Etihad, KLM, United, Accor, IHG, Marriott | SIA, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, EVA Air, Flying Blue, Qantas, Qatar Airways, THAI, Turkish Airlines, IHG | SIA, Air Asia, Cathay Pacific, Qantas |
Transfer Fee | S$25 | S$27 | S$27 |
Min. Transfer Block | 1,000 90°N Miles (1,000 miles) | 10,000 Citi Miles (10,000 miles) | 5,000 DBS Points (10,000 miles) |
Final Thoughts:
- Points earned on this card do not expire, which is a really great benefit because it allows you to gradually build up your points and redeem them for a major holiday. This is especially handy if you’re not a frequent traveller, and don’t earn bucket loads of points regularly.
- OCBC 90N Visa and Mastercard have different benefits, but both cards can pool points together. I have the Visa version, and might apply the Mastercard version too.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
