Best order for using Singapore air miles credit cards and avoiding orphan miles?

[londonbowler]

Is there any blog post on 1) optimizing the best order for using Singapore air miles credit cards and 2) avoiding orphan miles?

I think anyone who spends at least S$2-3,000/month will have 2-3 of:

UOB Platinum Preferred - mobile contactless + some online shopping/entertainment

UOB Visa Signature - contactless/petrol + foreign (S$1,000/month minimum spend)

DBS Woman's World - online

Citi Rewards - online (except travel) + some retail / access to Citi PayAll

HSBC Revolution - specific MCC - dining, retail, supermarket, travel

Maybe Lady's Solitaire and/or OCBC Titanium

Then one general spend card like UOB PRVI Miles or a paid card like DBS Vantage

So is there an ideal order for using these cards? For example, if you are in a mall or about to make a transaction on your phone, is there a short set of rules you can memorize so you know which card to use unless that card's monthly limit is already hit? For example, if in a department store, which one do you use first? If paying contactless in a restaurant, do you always use the Revolution for dining first?

Also, any helpful rules on avoiding orphan miles, including for not getting too many cards and for making sure each card has a spend level that justifies it?

Do many people with at least S$2-3,000/month spend have a core UOB credit card portfolio of UOB Visa Signature + UOB Platinum Preferred + UOB PRVI Miles, which pools the UOB points and minimizes orphan miles (subject to UOB rounding rules)?

Or is the DBS Woman's World worth making a primary card (for online spend) even if you add a second bank?

There are small points to think about if you're doing this regularly.

A UOB-focused credit card portfolio hilariously means you should avoid Cold Storage as you won't get any rewards for groceries there (without the UOB ONE card, which means committing to cashback).

The HSBC Revolution is handy (and you get free Entertainer, for whatever that's still worth) but you wonder if you end up with a lot of orphaned points. On the other hand, you get Citi PayAll with Citi Rewards.

 

[Rong626]

https://milelion.com/2023/04/26/10-noob-mistakes-to-avoid-when-starting-the-miles-game/
You're no. 7

 

[londonbowler]

https://milelion.com/2023/04/26/10-noob-mistakes-to-avoid-when-starting-the-miles-game/
You're no. 7

how so?

 

[reddevil0728]

how so?

spreading too thinly?

 

[londonbowler]

spreading too thinly?

how can you be spread too thinly if you can readily spend S$1,000 on each card?

 

[reddevil0728]

how can you be spread too thinly if you can readily spend S$1,000 on each card?

so you need to do the math, to see if you can accumulate enough before expiry date.

and also to take note the transfer fees involved

 

[londonbowler]

so you need to do the math, to see if you can accumulate enough before expiry date.

and also to take note the transfer fees involved

bro, many of your comments make no sense. can you stop trolling please?

if you regularly spend S$1,000/month on each of these cards, you can easily redeem a business class round trip ticket per card per year.

 

[Ark Law]

if you regularly spend S$1,000/month on each of these cards, you can easily redeem a business class round trip ticket per card per year.

Round trip to where? Japan? Or Europe? Or 'MURICA? And since you mentioned "easily", these quoted rates are SQ Adv prices because it's near impossible to get J Saver with current load factor.

SQ J round to Japan = 140k KF
SQ J round to Europe = 246k KF
SQ J round to US East Coast = 287k KF
SQ J round to US West Coast = 257k KF

Assuming you earn 4x $1k/month 4mpd cards;
4000 points x4 = 16k points earned per month = 192k points earned per year

 

[londonbowler]

Round trip to where? Japan? Or Europe? Or 'MURICA? And since you mentioned "easily", these quoted rates are SQ Adv prices because it's near impossible to get J Saver with current load factor.

SQ J round to Japan = 140k KF
SQ J round to Europe = 246k KF
SQ J round to US East Coast = 287k KF
SQ J round to US West Coast = 257k KF

Assuming you earn 4x $1k/month 4mpd cards;
4000 points x4 = 16k points earned per month = 192k points earned per year

Point taken, thanks for that. Still, don't think any of the usual suspects has less than a 2 year expiry except for DBS Woman's World Mastercard, and Citi PayAll and CardUp options have improved to offset points depreciation. So I'd prefer not to sidetrack this discussion with this point.

I'd rather discuss which 2-3 air miles cards you'd focus on filling up first each month, plus a general spend or other card as overflow for big one time purchases. This plus Citi PayAll and CardUp should give you some decent redemptions at least every 1-2 years, but you need to fine tune the plan.

 

[Ark Law]

A UOB-focused credit card portfolio hilariously means you should avoid Cold Storage as you won't get any rewards for groceries there (without the UOB ONE card, which means committing to cashback).

Inaccurate. You can still clock 4mpd capped with PPV and 3mpd uncapped with UOB KF if you wanna shop at CS.

https://www.amazon.sg/dp/B09K3DDJMW/

 

[londonbowler]

I'd love to optimize, but I'll pass on using gift cards for regular groceries.

 

[londonbowler]

@Ark Law also, any tips on pooling points from good cards from the same bank? DBS and UOB both have pooled points, so less of a concern to focus on these two banks.