I'm not so sure about the Amex Platinum issued directly by Amex.

I checked out their list of "10+10 partners" and found that I spend absolutely zero $$$ with them. So first off I'd recommend checking whether you visit the stores they list on a regular basis.

I agree. Their 10+10 partners are mainly high end merchants and located in town area in Singapore. Unlikely to frequent them regularly in the housing towns' shopping malls.

Excellent strategy! Same as mine!:D

Please stop using the card asap, only get the 5000 Bonus KrisFlyer miles upon first transaction and keep it away.
Reasons:
1. It is an AMEX Card.
2. Earn 1 mile for every $1.60 spent.
3. Need to spend $5000 to get 50% bonus. Lower down to $1.067/mile. You can find better mileage earning cards else where.
4. Need to spend another $7000 to get another 50% to bring the rate down to $0.80/mile. No good at all.
5. This is the most important: You need to wait until February of the following year to get the bonus miles!! What if you need to use the bonus miles urgently??
6. This card transfer miles to KrisFlyer monthly. Meaning create deadline of 3 years automatically. What if you do not wish to fly and have no plans to use them? You waste them!! Eg: You have expiring miles every month in 2011 because the miles were transferred 3 years ago from KrisFlyer AMEX. You do a redemption and only manage to use up the miles expiring up to Oct 2011. Hence the miles in Nov & Dec 2011 are wasted because you did not manage to use them. Think along this line and you can find similar situations because there are miles expiring every month of the year and you are unable to use them for some reasons.
7. Annual fee of $50 can be waived, but admin transfer fee of $60 per annum AMEX cannot waive for you. Either you cancel or pay.

No need regular usage for loads of miles.

Buy 10 iPads at various Harvey Norman stores for various family members and get 80,000 miles in one day. :D

Wirelessly posted (Palm850/V0100 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11))

While we're on the subject of iPads, DBS HK recently closed down the Black Card of a guy who earned 6 million DBS points (500,000 KF or Asia Miles) from iPad scalping, presumably accusing him of money laundering (can't ignore the profit DBS HK made from writing off the points/miles though).

http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/forum_show.php?id=5307

I have found Harvey Norman a great place to use the Amex for their 10+10 rewards, and do most of my electronic shopping there. Do note they have a great and reasonably priced extended warranty program for all electronics ( also good in Australia if you live or move there). Also, the sales people are the old Pertamina sales folk, and are open to further discounting the quoted prices. The cashiers at times use the "Oh my Amex machine is not working" excuse to force you to another card, but a gentle "why dont you call Amex and do manual authorisation" gets the Amex machine working again quite quickly

Yup you are right. Corrected it in my post. Still pretty good. BTW, my spending is usually easily in the 2.5-4k SGD range monthly split over Citi Plat and KF Amex.

I know vespr despises the AMEX card :D but I have accpeted the downsides like spending needed to qualify for the decent mileage earning rate which I have no issue making, the monthly mileage transfers (with the 3 year validity in KF) and the bonus miles only arriving in Feb of the next year (well it was Mar in 2011 due to some issues).

My reason, our corp credit card is a SIN issued AMEX and I'm supposed to use it for all hotel stays and rental cars and basically all travel expenses. Using the KF AMEX means I do not need to use the corp card but my receipts still show AMEX on them. So no issue with the bean counters. I get my annual fees waived every year automatically by AMEX so it's okay. Not optimal, but I can live with it (for now ;))

AMEX saved me a few thousand $$$ in merchant disputes on messed up overseas & internet purchases. A similar experience with Visa got me nowhere and they said I could go to court but they can't do anything even though it was a clear cut case of an overcharge.

Ohh and yes I really despise DBS so no Altitude AMEX for me - sorry - for now my principle is still stronger :)

For AMEX, the plat reserve used to be included in the 10+10 but got quietly removed recently.

Harvey Norman was the only place I gotten the 10+10 back then using plat reserve, oh maybe epicentre too.

It is only for plat charge and cent right now.

Boohoo

I actually find my ANZ switch credit card a great accrual tool though it has none of the fancy accelerated mileage schemes like the DBS Altitude. First off, there is no annual fee on this card EVER. Secondly, they often have promos during say the GSS or Christmas sale period where one can get rewards at half the usual point price - though they limit you to a max 6,000 krisflyer miles (ie by converting 1,500 points) during each promotional period. All in, I believe I have accumulated about 18,000 miles to date and they only require you to spend about $2,000 minimum over the promo period of about 2 and a half months. Not too bad I'd say.

Most cards would have their annual fees waived after a phone call anyway, so that's not really a major thing unless you absolutely hate phone calls. You only earn 1 point for every $5 spend (correct me though, if I'm mistaken), so even at the discounted rate, the earn rate is $1.25 per mile, or 0.8 mile for every $1.

Apparently HSBC has a card that gives lots of points for supermarket spend, but unlike the Citi card they don't include Meidi-Ya, my favourite Singapore supermarket. :)

Agree - I never paid a single cent for any fees unless paying a fee gives back cheap 10,000 bonus miles such as DBS Altitude's, or Citi PM's.

[QUOTE=vsepr;16325077]I'm just wondering where will these codes appear on the receipt or credit card charge slip?

Citi Platinum VISA (Discontinued) awards 5x Citidollars at Meidi-Ya Supermarket too. Info here: https://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/cred...erCode=SGCPCWA

Citibank 5X Rewards Merchants

Department Stores
TANGS . Isetan . John Little . Marks & Spencer . Metro . OG . Robinsons . BHG . Takashimaya Department Store.

Supermarkets/Hypermarkets
Carrefour . Cold Storage . Giant . Market Place . NTUC Fair Price . Shop N Save . Singapore Meidi-Ya (Applicable only at outlets accepting credit card payment)


You made a mistake, HSBC does not have a card that gives a lot of points for supermarket spend. HSBC VISA Platinum gives 5% rebate at Cold Storage, Giant, Marketplace & Jasons instead. Info here: http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/2/personal/...-platinum-card

[QUOTE=adamantine;16706766]They do not appear on the credit card charge slip. You have to call up the card centre to ask the merchant code for the charge.

Bad news!!!

In the DBS Rewards Catalogue 2011/2012, effective 01 July 2011,
Each mile transferred by the Principal Cardholder to his designated airline's frequent flyer programme ("Transfer") must be to an account bearing his own name and subject to a minimum of 2000 DBS Points (= 4000 miles) for each transfer.

Last year was in blocks of 1000 DBS points.

https://rewards.dbs.com/index.aspx

Will DBS Altitude Card holders still support DBS Altitude Card?

Probably. The earn rate is unchanged, and the excess miles will have a 3-year life span so they'll get used up next time. It's not very nice, but definitely not a deal breaker, IMO.

:td:So this is how DBS Altitude Card values your loyalty. Every 2 years or so increase the blocks of miles. From initally 250 DBS Points = 500 miles to 1000 DBS Points = 2000 miles to now 2000 DBS Points = 4000 miles. I guess by July 2013 they will go up even higher, so that you transfer less number of times in a year for the S$42.80 you paid (This fee has not increased ever since it started).

I suggest once the annual transfer fee of S$42.80 is due for renewal after a year, think seriously hard before renewing or continuing to use DBS Altitude Card. If you think it's worth it, then go ahead, if not, switch to Citibank cards.

And how does Citi treat your loyalty? :td:

Let me see, DBS raised their mileage ratio to 1.6/$ towards the end of last year and has kept it for this year. ^

Citi tried to compete and raised its ratio last year, but THIS YEAR they LOWERED it back down to 1.2/$. :td:

I strongly suggest you "think seriously hard before renewing or continuing to use" Citi PM. ;)

im having a dispute with citi rewards card on their 10x merchant.

Bought a sneakers at a famous sport apparel brand and was not given the 10x points, reason being that merchant was not a 10x merchant. bullocks I think...

CSO hasn't replied my latest email since...

Oh. mind if you share which merchant is this?

You can call up the CSO, ask what is the merchant code for the charge. It must be one of the following for 10x points:

The eligible merchant code for 10x Rewards are:
5621 – women ready to wear
5699 – accessories & apparel store, miscellaneous
5691 – men’s, women’s clothing store
5631 – women accessories & specialty store
5651 – family clothing store
5611 – men and boy’s clothing and accessories store
5655 – sports apparel & riding apparel store
5641 – children & infant wear store
5661 – shoe store
5948 – leather goods & luggage
5311 – departmental store

I didn't enjoy the promo last year where they increased the earning rate for spending >$1000 a month to 1.60 mile for every $1 spent because I don't charge > $1000 a month to Citi PM. I spread my expenses over the 4 must have Citibank cards instead of charging it to 1 card to earn the most miles.

Seems like you are not very concerned about the raising of the transfer blocks requirement to 2000 DBS Points = 4000 miles. If you are ok with it, then continue to support DBS Altitude Card. I'm quite sure in 2 years time, in July 2013, they will raise the requirement again. This time to transfer in blocks of 3000 or 4000 DBS points.

So far I am happy using my Citibank card. My worry is will the rest of the banks follow?

The Citi Plat has been discontinued?

There's supposed to be one card good for supermarket spend and another one even better for department store spend. Which are those and have they been discontinued or are they still available?

Citi Platinum Card is no longer available for application. If you have it, the 5x Citidollars promo at supermarkets is still on. Citi Rewards card is still available for application. Use it at department stores and whenever you shop for shoes, bags or clothing or at department stores, locally & overseas for 10x Citidollars.

http://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/credi...ferCode=SGTNCC

There is no more "apply now" under Citi Platinum VISA/Mastecard. Called the call centre many weeks ago and they confirmed it. Think its because the Citi Rewards card overlaps with the Citi Platinum VISA for departmental stores bonus Citidollars.

Puma, the outlet at Marina Square

U called Citibank card centre to ask what is the merchant code? It should be: 5655 – sports apparel & riding apparel store.

Does merchant category appear on the sales slip? If yes, your recourse is pretty obvious.

If not, write Citi a letter anyway, attaching the sales slip and asking for the MCC code for this transaction if not 5655.

You are right. I hope they won't try to switch customers over to the rewards card. My key thing with the Platinum card is supermarket purchases (mostly Cold Storage & Carrefour) getting 5x Citi dollars.

With the Citi Rewards card I understand that the 10x bonus only applies for clothing, shoes, bags etc. Great for shopaholic women but not groceries would only get 1 Citi Dollar which would be a no go.

Hmmm ....

Dear Mr xxx

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please accept our
sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.

We wish to inform you that as the Marketing Unit complied and reverted
that we have credited 10x rewards 234c$ into your respective account,
PUMA MARINA SQUARE is tagged to MCC5941, sporting goods stores.

The 10x rewards was not credited previously as merchant have been
categorized by the point of sales terminal acquiring bank as a sporting
goods store and hence does not fit into our 10x merchant category, which
we have set up to give 10x rewards to.

Hence we look forward to your continued patronage.


From the reply it seems that they have given a new code for 10x rewards, which is 5941 for sporting goods store. Well I'm just happy I got my extra 9x points :D

It sounds to me that they are just giving you the points to keep you quiet, and that "sporting goods store" will not earn points apart from this one-off credit.

I doubt it? Since they have emailed it, it will mean something when next dispute of sporting goods comes along with similar merchant code.

This was the only Citi card I would consider getting and now they have discountinued it? :o :td: Jeez, forget about Citi then... they've just put up the white flag of surrender...

I've tried backreading as far back as possible, but don't think I've seen this question yet, so here goes --

"What's the best card for KF miles accrual, assuming majority of your purchases are SQ tickets?"

I work in Singapore, and fly SQ somewhere practically every week (usually Shanghai, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, and Bangkok). I estimate around 70-80% of my regular credit card spending goes towards SQ flights (for which I'm reimbursed, of course).

Given this background (and the fact that I don't qualify for a DBS Altitude), is the KF Amex the most suitable for mileage accrual?

It will be Maybank Horizon Platinum giving you 2 miles / dollar spent.

Are there any cards for SQ gold that are not based in SIN? Am based in LAX and am loooking for such a card

I just got that from a HK local restaurant chain (Spaghetti House), though for HK$65 (just a bit over S$10) I feel it's overkill to demand manual authorisation and forked over my HK$4/mile Shacom Visa.

I don't see why staff-operated places try to discourage Amex transactions. Owner-operated is a different story.

Also, with Citibank Premier Miles Visa you get two entries to Priority Club (lounge) and often get discounts on the spot when buying things.