Hehe! I've already programmed that as a permanent reminder on her iPhone! :D

Absolutely, and here comes UOB that starts dishing out 20,000 bonus miles upon $50K spend, at the very same time that Citi - incomprehensibly - decides to pull the plug on the 10,000 bonus!

Shot off a PRVI online application yesterday without problems. I used Chrome.

Get new wife http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...on-47.html#702

Not a concern for me as I don't spend that much in a year.

Anyway, If I'm not wrong, DBS does do some rounding up even though it awards points for every S$5 spent.

Eg: If you charge S$8, you get 8/5= 1.6 x 3 = 4 DBS points and not 3 DBS points. Or you charge S$3, you get 3/5 = 0.6 x 3 = 1 DBS points. DBS round down the final figure after multiplying by 3, but not the first dividing part.

There aren't really many merchants that accept AMEX in Singapore such as Polyclinics, Thai Express, Din Tai Fung, vpost.com.sg, AXS machines (can pay road tax => Citibank and DBS/POSB cards only except AMEX, IRAS income & property tax => DBS/POSB cards only except AMEX), town council fees, NTUC Fairprice supermarkets (the normal ones, not Xtra/Finest), some Shop n Save supermarkets, Burger King (some outlets), McDonalds and the list goes on & on...how to support the new UOB PRVI Miles card like this?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

True, but very useful whilst travelling overseas - larger international hotel chains, airlines.

DCC free too - very useful.

I also think an AE card can sustain a high mile earn rate scheme longer for higher interchange. If Visa, the mile earn rate has to be watered down (as DBS altitude is now).

I dunno about u but I prefer the differentiation - if I'm going to a high end merchant who is going to charge me off anyway, I like to get some miles back even tho I can't do anything about the price. If mum and dad merchant who watches their costs closely, I'm happy to use visa or no card at all.

I think you forgot to add the word "don't" to your sentence: There aren't really many merchants that don't accept AMEX.

At least as far as Singapore is concerned.

I too am thinking of appying for the UOB PRIVI Miles Amex. :)

And for a Visa card the DBS Altitude Visa will replace my current Altitude Amex card...

Let me rephrase: There are still many merchants that do not accept AMEX for payment in Singapore, at least for my lifestyle.

Yeah, but you mention stuff like road tax, town council fees, singpost's v-post, polyclinics, a handful of eateries, etc. For most people it is only on the rare occasion that they go to a place that won't accept AMEX. For me this happens like once a fortnight...

The first post of this thread has been updated:

- added UOB PRIVI Miles AMEX card with all info
- added URL links below each card (sometimes two if there is also a micro-site concerning the card)
- random information updates (DBS Altitude $2k threshold, dates for KrisFlyer AMEX bonus points transfer, etc.)

Is you see anything that needs updating/changing/adding then PLEASE post about this and I'll get right on it. ^

Yes, I agree with you totally. I have been highlighting this FACT since the begining.

Just this morning, I went to McDonald's and they DO NOT accept Amex!

Some items strangely similar to the Visa-only list in HK - medical clinics, Hongkong Post, McDonalds (few).

Salaries tax, rates: must be done over internet banking, will not earn same miles as retail transaction.

Our supermarket chains are too monopolistic (e.g. Wellcome (another Dairy Farm chain like Cold Storage), Park 'N' Shop (Hutchison Whampoa) and China Resources supermarket), they're all overpriced. They take all cards you can throw at them. We don't have any value chain of supermarkets - it's either the supermarket chains or the community drug store and fresh food markets - both cash only.

Ding Tai Fung HK takes AE http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=21002 (I called down to check)
Burger King HK is cash only (not even Octopus!)

I think the underlying theme is the same tho - high margin business, more miles. If you are a value consumer then you have no reason to have an AE like Altitude or UOB PRIVI.

Yeah, I did mention "for my lifestyle", which maybe different from yours.

Funny you mentioned about eateries.

One of the things that HK is still ahead on (now that the overseas AE is matched) is miles on dining. Specifically, MCCs 5812, 5813 and 5814.

At least three banks do long-standing on those: HSBC (also issues cards in Singapore) 1.72 miles/S$ (HK$3.6/mile), Shanghai Commercial (local bank) 1.55 mile/S$ (HK$4/mile) and DBS's HK subsidiary at $1.24/mile (HK$5/mile). HSBC HK and DBS HK allow conversion to KF miles as well as Asia Miles.

I suppose running promos on MCC 5812, 5813 and 5814 must be good business for the banks - HKers (well, at least mine) most frequent need to use a card is to pay for a meal, and hopefully if the card stays in the wallet for dining it will be used for other stuff like big ticket item purchases, ticket purchases etc.

The promos only apply on the three banks' Visa or MC cards, not AE (even tho DBS issues Black here). There's no place for AE in local dining, about 2/3rds of the Chinese restaurants here are Visa/MC only and a majority of the other cuisines.

I've earned at least 80K miles on dining alone in the last year helped by those offers. No I did not get wed. Or throw a big banquet (in fact, throwing a banquet in a hotel might void those offers cos hotel restaurants are not necessarily coded 5812/5813/5814). However I get to pay for a lot of small meals - colleagues, relatives.

Wonder will Singapore banks follow suit? Or has it happened before.

UOB called me and said they've had "overwhelming" response to the PRVI AMEX launch and they can't cope... And there's a week delay before I'd receive my card...