Good only for the 24,000 points welcome bonus (15,000 miles).

Comparable or slightly better for local spending in the first 3 months. After that, Citi Premier and DBS Altitude are better. It's now set aside in my drawer as it doesn't give much in miles anywhere.

At the base earning rate you get 1 point/$, but you need 1.6 points to get 1 KF point. That works out to be 0.625 KF points/$. You're relying on the bonus earning rates to get something decent.

By comparison, PremierMiles and Altitude are 1.2 KF points / $1 (at the base rate, and 1.6 KF points / $1 for Altitude for spend > $2000/month)

With the Amex Rewards card, if you spend more than $5k per year, and at the 5 favourite places, it gets you 1.25 mile per $1. There is also the xtraordinary weekend offer, with one of the most useful ones being 5x points in Cold Storage - i.e. total of 3.125 miles per $1.

And the DBS Altitude AMEX also takes part in this offer. :) ^

Thanks yosithezet!

After reading through the replies so far, it would make sense for me to stick to my current strategy of DBS Altitude (Primary), Citi Premiermiles (Secondary), Amex Platinum (whenever the merchant gives 5x or 10x points) & Maybank Horizon (all overseas currency transactions).. Am I right?

Sounds about right, although you'll need to spend quite a bit a the Amex 10x shops to make the card worth while, as traditionally, it is one of the more difficult cards to have annual fees waived (and it's $300, iirc - someone corrects me if I'm wrong).

And when you say Citi PM as the secondary card, I think you mean that it'll only be used when the merchant does not accept Amex.

I should also add that, if you have the DBS Altitude already, then the Amex Rewards card is completely pointless apart from the sign-up bonus.

Amex invited me to sign up for their Platinum card for free and gave me 3 months of 10x points for all spending, regardless of merchants so I managed to clock up quite a bit of points already..

Ya, you're right.. I'll use Citi PM whenever the DBS Altitude is not accepted..

I think I might just sign up for the Amex Rewards card to give a "final boost" to my KF miles with all the sign up bonus points.. :p

Hi Linkster,

How did you manage to get that offer? Did you call up the sales rep directly? I was also deciding between a dbs altitude, treasures black and amex plat but when i spoke to the rep for amex she didn't make me such an offer..

So far all the direct offers from Amex that I've seen have been good at the very beginning, and then pretty much useless from then onwards. Even if you get a free card from them, how does the cancellation process look like so that you can get rid of that card after a couple of months?

Amex/Citi here and there
 

Forgive me if it has been already asked. Does Amex/Citi check and take into consideration if you have any cards issued in US? Any pointers will be helpful before I take a plunge;).
Thanks,

My suspicion is that for Plat credit card users, Amex keeps an eye on how often you use their privileges.

I rarely do and for the last 2 years have had no trouble getting them to waive my membership fee. (I'm not a massive spender on the Amex)

In HK we are told explicitly (by Amex CS) that rebate on annual fee is only contingent on spending.

For Amex Plat Credit (we do not have Edge or Reserve here) HK$80,000 spending in the previous year will get you either $800 supermarket coupons or 160,000 MR points (annual fee $1,600)

For Amex Plat Charge, the above also applies, or HK$200,000 spending will get you $1,000 coupons or 200,000 MR points (annual fee $5,500).

Use of dining discounts, concession golf fee etc not considered.

Hi pogreen,

I didn't call up any sales rep.. they just sent me the application form and put on the form that the fees are waived.. then there is another brochure which says that they will give me 10x points for all my spending in the first three months..

Do you mean the plat credit card, reserve or charge card?