The invite does say that it's for specific Asia Miles members only and not transferable, and they actually quoted my Asia Miles number on it. It says to try calling 1800 227 8811 or SMS at 74722 with AMVI < space > NAME < space > NRIC and someone will assist in the inquiries and application... YMMV so good luck!

One thing I don't quite understand...

ANZ Mid Year 2013 promo awards for minimum S$100 spend 260 bonus Rewards Points or 1,050 bonus Travel$, which can be used to redeem S$5 Cash Credit.

ANZ Xmas 2013 promo instead awards 260 bonus Rewards Points or 275 bonus Travel$, which can be used to redeem S$5 Cash Credit.

Implying, S$5 was equivalent to 1,050 miles previously... but now only 275 miles (based on 1 Travel$ = 1 mile)

What's the logic?

but how you check? they have no internet banking. you need to wait for your statement right?

The rate has changed. At this website, it shows you need 275 miles for $5 cash credit. The cash back rate is now: $196.43 x 1.4 = $5 cash credit. Means 2.54543% cashback!!!
https://sg.anz.com/onlineapp/travel_rewards/redeem.jsp

Anyway, don't worry about the first 30,000 quota. All will get even if you SMS on 31 Dec 2013. My last SMS for the mid-year promo was on 29 June 2013 and all my 11 SMSes were awarded 1050 bonus miles each.

So, I was looking through the HSBC Visa Infinite card benefits to try and justify whether to keep it for next year, and came across this one. What's the catch? If one was a whiskey drinker and lived within walking distance, one could drink more than the annual fee's worth of whiskey :D

Quaich Bar
• Present Visa Infinite card at the bar to enjoy the
following privileges:
- One complimentary drink of Bunnahabhain 18 years
old, per day
Waterfront Plaza, #01-09/10

Suppose you need to call. But I can appreciate this can be bothersome (and expensive) to incur roaming charges when calling from abroad. And sometimes say if you make the transaction at the end of the stipulated calendar week (Sunday) and the transaction isn't posted yet and even the FX rate the CSO sees is indicative... Alternative is to succumb to DCC and charge in SGD for your overseas transactions?

I took the plunge and subscribed to the card today. Anyone wants a supplementary card with $0 credit limit and willing to share my annual fee - just to drink a year's worth of whiskey? :p

I don't mind but I don't live nearby to make it worth the annual fee. :D

Regarding the ANZ promo, even if I spend more than $100 per receipt (ie. $300), I will still only get $275 Travel $, and not $275x3?

Yes, $300 in 1 charge slip also get 275 Travel$. So its best to try to split the bill or ask the cashier to charge in multiples of $100 if you buy many items or big ticket items.

Indeed. If you refer to the full terms and conditions:

3.2 Cardmembers will only be entitled to claim one Cash Credit per eligible spend, regardless of amount charged on each receipt.

This will mean cash conversion is the better option for ANZ travel card for this promotion.

$100 = 275 + 140.

Converting to cash ~ $7.50. Which means a 7.5% cash back. Better than 10x anything. :D

The last time they sent me an invitation in the regular mail (about 18 months ago), it was down to S$120,000/yr. The new offer via email does not contain the terms and conditions, and the PDF I found doesn't mention it either:
http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/PA_ES_Conte...sbcvi_tncs.pdf

It does give full details on quarterly minimum spend, and annual minimum spend required for higher point values in the subsequent year.

I suspect that is also subject to the quarterly minimum spend that everything else also is? They're probably also banking on anyone drinking a whiskey a day forgetting to pay their bill during the grace period and making it back in interest charges? :D

Don't think so. The S$5,000 quarterly spend is requirement only for using airport related services tied to the card. Per the email invite:

Unlimited access, Infinite luxury

Infinite Travel and Lifestyle Butlers to take care of your every need
One-way limousine transfer to the airport*
Private check-in service at JetQuay Terminal*
Access to over 600 VIP airport lounges globally, for supplementary cardholders as well
Expedited immigration clearance in major airports within Asia*
Travel accident coverage of up to USD2 million
Emergency travel and medical assistance coverage of up to SGD100,000

*Terms and conditions apply for the International Airport VIP services. Cardholders must charge a minimum of SGD5,000 in eligible purchases during each qualifying quarter.

Received a DBS Altitude Visa mailer today that basically removes the 1.6 miles per $1 for monthly spends > $2K (thus all local spends earn 1.2 miles per $1) but 'enhances' foreign spends with 2 miles per $1. Robbing Peter to pay Paul... and making it identical to Citi Prem Miles Visa. Effective 1 Dec.

Reinforcing again the uselessness of this card... :td:

OP - you may want to revise your first post.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

Is this devaluation effective for all DBS Altitude cards?

Yes, I will be updating the first post in this thread to reflect this shortly.

This really changes the game here and no longer makes the Altitude a must-have piece of plastic in one's wallet.

I think we need to start thinking of a replacement card for this when it comes to a general-use Visa/MC CC to have for everyday, local stuff. I think quite possibly the best choice out there could be the ANZ Travel Visa with its 1.4 miles/$ ratio and no rounding down of transactions (not even to the nearest Dollar). Plus it gives 2.8 miles for airfare purchases (plus some other transactions) which is a welcome addition.

For those here who use this card, are you happy with it? Would you recommend it to others? No issues getting miles posted correctly and on time?

Is this change effective for DBS Altitude Amex cards also (are there still any?)?

DBS HK is also trying to migrate DBS HK Black Amex to World MCs...I wonder will they also conduct a similar devaluation once a substantial amount of old DBS Black Amex customers have been changed over.

ANZ Travel Card is the BEST card!!

1. Earns miles for every S$1 spent, not every S$5 spent. Better if take the cents part into calculation before rounding off the miles.

2. All merchants accepts the card like Polyclinics, SP Services, VBOX, Subway, McDonald's, Popeyes, hence VISA/MasterCard is preferred.

3. No need to create huge blocks of miles to transfer. In blocks of 1000 miles is still acceptable. Blocks of 10000 & 20000 miles is NOT. Takes about 5 working days to transfer to Asia Miles.

4. Earns 5% rebates for EZ-Link and Grocery at Cold Storage & Giant + FREE Limo ride to airport for charging >S$1500 a month, it's a bonus!

5. At least 2 frequent flyer programs to transfer.

6. 5 years validity for the miles earned is acceptable. If no expiry is better but not essential. But if it expires every June or December the same year like for Maybank Horizon VISA if you are not a Rewards Infinite member and every 2 years for UOB PRVI Miles is NOT.

7. FREE conversion to KrisFlyer & Asia Miles. (Offset from cashback earned from EZ-Link & Grocery rebate)

The letter I received made no specific mention to distinguish between Amex and Visa. It simply uses the phrase "DBS Altitude Card." :)

I have both cards so I am assuming they will both be affected. In light of this both supplementary cards will be cancelled and the main ones will be put in a drawer where they will collect cheap miles for their annual renewal fees.

Simply put I do not see the point of holding onto them any more if there are clearly better cards around like the ANZ one.

@:-) There is also another issue I'd like to touch and do a bigger write-up about (though it must have been mentioned already) which I'm sure many of you will find interesting. :-: What would you say about 4 miles/$ for all spend, regardless of whether you tap or sign (no more checking for contactless terminals), with no rounding down (only limitation is single transaction must be <$1000)? Pretty decent for everyday use, right? ^

We used to disagree about the PM card, but now we certainly agree that ANZ might have one of the best cards out there. :)

Do they still multiply the entire charge by 1.4, including cents, or do they now round down to the nearest dollar?

I have been getting 4 miles/$ since recently. Its great! Its the reason why I chose to 'neglect' my anz travel card, and focus on my UOB PPV. I'll only use ANZ now when I make purchase of more than $1k.

What I understand is they will multiply the full amount (including cents) by 1.4 and then subsequently round down to a whole number. So you just need to spend min $0.72 to get 1 travel$.

Is it issued by Aster Bank Limited? If so sign me up immediately! :D

Like ^

Is the annual renewal miles "really" cheap? I value 1 mile to be S$0.02 so 10,000 miles at S$192.60 annual card fee + S$42.80 annual conversion fee = S$235.40 which is larger than my calculated worth of S$200?

Ok, here's the trick to getting 4 miles/$ for all your spend up to $1,000 per transaction, regardless of contactless or signed transactions, and no rounding down whatsoever. ^

1. Step One: you need either (or both) a UOB PPV card and/or a DBS Women's World MC (don't need to be a woman to get one). The former will give you $2,000 spend per month at 4 miles/$, whereas the latter will provide you with unlimited spend at such a high rate.

2. Simple mechanism, the way this all works is very simple:

- purchase a prepaid Imagine AMEX card from your local Transit Link office or a prepaid M1 Mastercard from you nearest M1 centre
- top up your card using the UOB PPV or DBS Women's World MC, presently fee-free, and get 4 miles/$ credited for topping up
- start spending funds using your prepaid card! :) (your miles have already been credited at the full 4 miles/$ rate just for topping up this card - so spend away!)

aster you really aren't worried of tragedy of the commons?

aster - thanks! I've been using both the UOB PPV and DBS WMC, but this might work in 'sweeping up' the small stuff and at places where PPV/WMC dont make sense.

tragedy of commons - could well be, hope it isn't. I've come to believe that nothing's going to last too long and all cards keep a 'devaluation' schedule for all products in any case.

Gonna start applying for both the pre-paid EZ-Link issued IMAGINE and FEVO cards to use locally on the small stuff that the usual cards don't accept.

Nice share aster.

Question: Technically, I don't need the amex imagine card since the M1 mastercard is accepted at all merchants and works as an ezlink card as well right? And I don't need to be an M1 customer as well to use it

Great suggestion aster.

You may need Amex Imagine after all - to qualify for discounts under Amex Xtraordinary Weekends and similar promos that require the use of an Amex card...

Anyone has the Citi PM AMEX? They are so inefficient le...

I am an existing Citi Card member. I indicated my interest online and they called me to complete the application verbally over the phone the next day. Thereafter, I received the card three business days later.

Where is the 2,000 monthly limit stipulated? I haven't found it.
Also, are you sure it works? there are so many exclusions on UOB website (no telecom, transportation, etc.)....

Re the $2,000 limit, I think aster meant "1. Step One: you need either (or both) a UOB PPV card and/or a DBS Women's World MC (don't need to be a woman to get one). The latter will give you $2,000 spend per month at 4 miles/$, whereas the former will provide you with unlimited spend at such a high rate."

But good point regarding the telecom and transportation exclusions... aster have you tried this and successful?

Given that it's now posted here, even if it's working now, it won't be for much longer... :eek:

Is your income >S$80,000? Did they ask you to submit income documents even though you are a current Citibank cardholder?

Yes, my existing income records with them was > $80K. As I did not have any change of company, they do not require me to submit income document. They will just issue the card with no review of credit limit.