DBS Vantage Card

[fr33d0m]

this quarter amex hf gave 228 spend off 6k that stacks with the 300 credit on the welcome bonus. that's a 10% cashback on what is essentially cash with a grabpay top-up. and on top of that it gives 1.8mpd. and if you buy flight tickets with it you get 8.5mpd.

next quarter you can choose not to get the statement credit and get 9.8mpd on general spend.

9.8 mpd for how much? unlimited spending?

I can earn infinite mpd for some spending, it does not help me on the rest of my spending.

 

[plustwo]

9.8 mpd for how much? unlimited spending?

I can earn infinite mpd for some spending, it does not help me on the rest of my spending.

what is your point? first 5k 9.8, after that 1.8. dbs only 3.3 for first 8k then 1.5 after with a billion exclusions. who wins? up to you. starting to feel like you are the product manager that launched the card

 

[IceShelterX]

does your non-mcc exclusion spending always earn more than 3+ mpd. If not, you are leaving money on the table.

i guessed we in different frequency... but neverless... amex give more than 3+ mpd on spending bonus... on top of that... 1.8 mpd with no mcc exclusion... i hope that level our frequency...

 

[IceShelterX]

this quarter amex hf gave 228 spend off 6k that stacks with the 300 credit on the welcome bonus. that's a 10% cashback on what is essentially cash with a grabpay top-up. and on top of that it gives 1.8mpd. and if you buy flight tickets with it you get 8.5mpd.

next quarter you can choose not to get the statement credit and get 9.8mpd on general spend.

love this surprise promo from AMEX... other card dont have this so far...

 

[fr33d0m]

what is your point? first 5k 9.8, after that 1.8. dbs only 3.3 for first 8k then 1.5 after with a billion exclusions. who wins? up to you. starting to feel like you are the product manager that launched the card

I will take 5k at 9.8 and 3.3 for another 8k and 1.8 for MCC exclusion.

there is no reason to give up any

 

[AlvinDj]

lolol... To each his own..

 

[CrashWire]

Lots of simping for amex card here

I don't know about the HighFlyer card, but Amex somehow manages to get quite a bit of brand loyalty among its customers with its good marketing and customer service

Milelion review says competitive enough leh

Maybe because Million earn commission when people apply thru the links? LOL

We shouldn't forget that ML has a vested interest in inflating the value of miles and of "luxury" travel, like The Points Guy in the US, so that people chase miles instead of cashback.

 

[reddevil0728]

We shouldn't forget that ML has a vested interest in inflating the value of miles and of "luxury" travel, like The Points Guy in the US, so that people chase miles instead of cashback.

How does he benefit from this vested interest of his which might translate to him cooking up the value of miles to others????

 

[someusername]

He has already run advertorial for banks before (to which he added a disclaimer) and obviously has a vested interest in pushing products through his site - having said that he isn't overtly biased and is a good reference for lots of things.

Back to this card - I was tempted but spending $588 on annual fees isn't for me. I cancel cards whenever annual fees are charged. There are better ways to earn miles for much less cost. If buying miles is your thing, then currently spending $588 in Citi Payall fees gets 73,500 miles on spend which is excluded by nearly every other card.

For those with the Amex HF how do you get around the 30K annual transfer limit? I am tempted to get it but that limit is a bit of a show stopper for me.

 

[reddevil0728]

https://milelion.com/2022/06/30/review-dbs-vantage-card/
His full review.

decide for yourself if he has editorial independence or not

 

[Suleyman]

All the unfavourable comparisons to the Amex HF card still ignores a couple of facts.
- Visa (at least in most parts of the world) is still more widely accepted than Amex
- Amex HF card has an annual 30K transfer limit per person
- You still need to own a company to have this card (yes, it's cheap to set up, yes, you can wind it up afterwards, but this is still not an option for many people because of various reasons).

For those 'savvy' Amex HF cardholders, you're probably already putting 30k of annual spending into your GrabPay, earning you 54k HF points. Transferring 30k HF to KF every year, means you are still 'stuck' with 24k HF points accumulating every year. I guess you could use that to offset the cost of tickets (at a measly 0.95c per mile), but that's no longer 1.8 mpd, is it?

So, the reality is that you are still going to need a general spend card & for people in this income bracket, this has the highest earn rate; even if the marginally higher earn rate comes with some cons compared to CP & UOB PRVI cards. Each person has to decide based on their circumstances which would work best for him & pick the card accordingly. In this sense, I tend to agree with Milelion that the card is adequate, not great.

How does he benefit from this vested interest of his which might translate to him cooking up the value of miles to others????

Well, he needs people to be convinced that there is value in miles earning & premium flying, so they will continue reading his site, because that drives traffic & advertising revenue for him.

 

[reddevil0728]

All the unfavourable comparisons to the Amex HF card still ignores a couple of facts.
- Visa (at least in most parts of the world) is still more widely accepted than Amex
- Amex HF card has an annual 30K transfer limit per person
- You still need to own a company to have this card (yes, it's cheap to set up, yes, you can wind it up afterwards, but this is still not an option for many people because of various reasons).

For those 'savvy' Amex HF cardholders, you're probably already putting 30k of annual spending into your GrabPay, earning you 54k HF points. Transferring 30k HF to KF every year, means you are still 'stuck' with 24k HF points accumulating every year. I guess you could use that to offset the cost of tickets (at a measly 0.95c per mile), but that's no longer 1.8 mpd, is it?

So, the reality is that you are still going to need a general spend card & for people in this income bracket, this has the highest earn rate; even if the marginally higher earn rate comes with some cons compared to CP & UOB PRVI cards. Each person has to decide based on their circumstances which would work best for him & pick the card accordingly. In this sense, I tend to agree with Milelion that the card is adequate, not great.


Well, he needs people to be convinced that there is value in miles earning & premium flying, so they will continue reading his site, because that drives traffic & advertising revenue for him.

Fair point, though I don’t think he ever suggests he’s comparing miles to cash back.

he’s just dabbling in the miles space, so is a different sort of audience

 

[plustwo]

All the unfavourable comparisons to the Amex HF card still ignores a couple of facts.
- Visa (at least in most parts of the world) is still more widely accepted than Amex
- Amex HF card has an annual 30K transfer limit per person
- You still need to own a company to have this card (yes, it's cheap to set up, yes, you can wind it up afterwards, but this is still not an option for many people because of various reasons).

For those 'savvy' Amex HF cardholders, you're probably already putting 30k of annual spending into your GrabPay, earning you 54k HF points. Transferring 30k HF to KF every year, means you are still 'stuck' with 24k HF points accumulating every year. I guess you could use that to offset the cost of tickets (at a measly 0.95c per mile), but that's no longer 1.8 mpd, is it?

So, the reality is that you are still going to need a general spend card & for people in this income bracket, this has the highest earn rate; even if the marginally higher earn rate comes with some cons compared to CP & UOB PRVI cards. Each person has to decide based on their circumstances which would work best for him & pick the card accordingly. In this sense, I tend to agree with Milelion that the card is adequate, not great.


Well, he needs people to be convinced that there is value in miles earning & premium flying, so they will continue reading his site, because that drives traffic & advertising revenue for him.

send to two different kf accounts and use nominee redemptions

 

[Leaden]

For me, the 3 year expiry of dbs points is a big no.
At least altitude and treasures black elite don't expire.

 

[Rong626]

3 years not long enough? Some more got airline loyalty program expiry to consider once transferred. Better not to hold onto points too long before they get devalued

 

[Suleyman]

send to two different kf accounts and use nominee redemptions

If you can manage 2 different KF accounts (assuming a spouse or parent), you logically would have 2 different GrabPay accounts too. So now, you have 48K HF points that cannot be transferred a year.

Even if for some reason the 2nd person does not want to let you top up their GrabPay account, that means you essentially have about $3,334 of spend on the HF card (on top of your GrabPay top up), before you hit the 60k (30k x2) transfer limit. I'll be surprised if you do not have more general spend than that in a year.

For me, the 3 year expiry of dbs points is a big no.
At least altitude and treasures black elite don't expire.

It's 3 years + 3 years in the KF program. It's generally held that it's not a good idea to accumulate that long anyhow, with the risk of devaluation, etc.

 

[plustwo]

If you can manage 2 different KF accounts (assuming a spouse or parent), you logically would have 2 different GrabPay accounts too. So now, you have 48K HF points that cannot be transferred a year.

Even if for some reason the 2nd person does not want to let you top up their GrabPay account, that means you essentially have about $3,334 of spend on the HF card (on top of your GrabPay top up), before you hit the 60k (30k x2) transfer limit. I'll be surprised if you do not have more general spend than that in a year.


It's 3 years + 3 years in the KF program. It's generally held that it's not a good idea to accumulate that long anyhow, with the risk of devaluation, etc.

top up the balance with cashback card and buy miles with payall. anyway, there are more than enough 4mpd options out there to channel spending

 

[IceShelterX]

Any HWZer apply for this card? is there any hidden benefit not published?

 

[reddevil0728]

Any HWZer apply for this card? is there any hidden benefit not published?

Have you checked out milelion review?

 

[IceShelterX]

Read the review liao. Really CMI card. So stick with Master card for awhile till better offer VI card