UOB EVOL vs OCBC FRANK vs DBS Live Fresh

[cassowary18]

Three cards with very similar earn mechanics, let's compare!

UOB EVOL

• 8% on mobile contactless spending (excludes Visa PayWave) - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $250 spending)
• 8% on online spending - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $250 spending)
• 0.3% on all other spend - capped at $20
• Minimum spend of $600

OCBC FRANK

• 6% on mobile contactless spending (excludes Visa PayWave) and in-store foreign currency spending (we'll ignore this one - very difficult during this time anyway) - capped at $25 (i.e. maxed out at $416.66 spending)
• 6% on online spending - capped at $25 (i.e. maxed out at $416.66 spending)
• 0.3% on all other spend - capped at $25
• Minimum spend of $600

DBS Live Fresh

• 5% on contactless spending (includes Visa PayWave) - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $400 spending)
• 5% on online spending - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $400 spending)
• 0.3% on all other spend - capped at $20
• Minimum spend of $600

Analysis:
For the sake of this analysis, we'll assume that your spending is split roughly equally between contactless and online spending, and we'll ignore the "all other spend" category.

UOB EVOL has the highest headline earn rate but once you look closely at the earn cap you'll realise that it is impossible to get an effective cashback rate of 8%, since you'll max out at $500 total spending. For all the other cards, you can hit the minimum spend without hitting the cashback cap if you split your spending roughly equally between contactless and online spending.

Assuming you clock just enough to get over the minimum spend of $600, your effective cashback rate is (40/600 = 6.67%). Not too shabby but certainly not 8%. Your effective cashback rate for the UOB EVOL drops to less than 6% when you spend more than $666.67 per month. In this case, you should just use OCBC FRANK from the beginning.

So here's which card I think you should choose.
If your monthly spending is:

• $600-$666.67: UOB EVOL
• $666.67-$833.32: OCBC FRANK

 

[Trazora]

dbs live fresh also min $600, not $500
For UOB EVOL, assuming some spending is made in the others category, the rebate can be higher than $40, and ppl using the card will likely spend some in others category (e.g. physical card paywave/swipe) once they met the mobile contactless rebate cap.

 

[silverbomb]

Three cards with very similar earn mechanics, let's compare!

UOB EVOL

• 8% on mobile contactless spending (excludes Visa PayWave) - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $250 spending)
• 8% on online spending - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $250 spending)
• 0.3% on all other spend - capped at $20
• Minimum spend of $600

OCBC FRANK

• 6% on mobile contactless spending (excludes Visa PayWave) and in-store foreign currency spending (we'll ignore this one - very difficult during this time anyway) - capped at $25 (i.e. maxed out at $416.66 spending)
• 6% on online spending - capped at $25 (i.e. maxed out at $416.66 spending)
• 0.3% on all other spend - capped at $25
• Minimum spend of $600

DBS Live Fresh

• 5% on contactless spending (includes Visa PayWave) - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $400 spending)
• 5% on online spending - capped at $20 (i.e. maxed out at $400 spending)
• 0.3% on all other spend - capped at $20
• Minimum spend of $500

Analysis:
For the sake of this analysis, we'll assume that your spending is split roughly equally between contactless and online spending, and we'll ignore the "all other spend" category.

UOB EVOL has the highest headline earn rate but once you look closely at the earn cap you'll realise that it is impossible to get an effective cashback rate of 8%, since you'll max out at $500 total spending. For all the other cards, you can hit the minimum spend without hitting the cashback cap if you split your spending roughly equally between contactless and online spending.

Assuming you clock just enough to get over the minimum spend of $600, your effective cashback rate is (40/600 = 6.67%). Not too shabby but certainly not 8%. Your effective cashback rate for the UOB EVOL drops to less than 6% when you spend more than $666.67 per month. In this case, you should just use OCBC FRANK from the beginning.

So here's which card I think you should choose.
If your monthly spending is:

• $500-$600: DBS Live Fresh
• $600-$666.67: UOB EVOL
• $666.67-$833.32: OCBC FRANK

Live fresh min spending has been $600 for a while.

 

[cassowary18]

dbs live fresh also min $600, not $500
For UOB EVOL, assuming some spending is made in the others category, the rebate can be higher than $40

Live fresh min spending has been $600 for a while.

Thanks for the correction, I'll edit accordingly.

 

[hyperbole]

if spending is exactly 600, i would go with uob evol and use something like scb spree card for additional spending. but i'm sticking with ocbc frank for more flexibility and more cash back.

uob evol has a paypal exclusion, so may not work for those that regularly have online transactions using paypal.

 

[oceanicmanta]

thanks for the quick review !

for me, I only occasionally hit $200 on online spend but can max out on groceries

so now I know, for those months that I can meet online, I would use OCBC for Groceries

 

[cassowary18]

if spending is exactly 600, i would go with uob evol and use something like scb spree card for additional spending. but i'm sticking with ocbc frank for more flexibility and more cash back.

uob evol has a paypal exclusion, so may not work for those that regularly have online transactions using paypal.

Can also. I'm keeping this analysis simple for a one card strategy, but definitely if you're trying to max out your cashback, trying to hit $600 exactly with the UOB EVOL card and putting your other spending elsewhere is a good idea. And yes, OCBC FRANK is more flexible.

The PayPal exclusion might just be for P2P payments - let's see.

 

[silverbomb]

if spending is exactly 600, i would go with uob evol and use something like scb spree card for additional spending. but i'm sticking with ocbc frank for more flexibility and more cash back.

uob evol has a paypal exclusion, so may not work for those that regularly have online transactions using paypal.

PayPal retail transaction should be included, except those stated in the exclusion list. PayPal b2b and money transfers transactions are excluded.

 

[Crimsom]

Am using the DBS livefresh for more than a year now.

Seems like the frank will be a great alternative.

 

[cassowary18]

Am using the DBS livefresh for more than a year now.

Seems like the frank will be a great alternative.

All these banks only know how to copy one another.

Side note, does anyone know why all these cards appear to be marketed to the hipster/millennial user? These are great cards for anyone to use regardless of age!

 

[Crimsom]

Probably millennial users tend to be more savvy on using phone contactless payment like apple/Samsung/google pay and also tend to shop online more.

Anyway saw in the frank thread that someone mentioned ocbc refused to waive annual fees for spending almost $9000 (which is less than 10,000 per year). To max the benefit of this card is about $800 x 12 = $9600 which is still less than 10k.

 

[twosix]

ocbc frank minimum spent is more restrictive than dbs live fresh.

 

[highsulphur]

ocbc frank minimum spent is more restrictive than dbs live fresh.

Why so?

 

[gnooliew]

DBS NTB sign up is more generous than OCBC and fee waivers much more customer friendly.

 

[oneplusoneistwo]

All these banks only know how to copy one another.

Side note, does anyone know why all these cards appear to be marketed to the hipster/millennial user? These are great cards for anyone to use regardless of age!

I currently hold all 3 cards [will cancel FRANK first if anything instead of EVOL because DBS is user friendly and UOB changed T&C], helps a fair bit in cashback since I am purchasing items for new house, but definitely the min-spend for all 3 is difficult to hit simultaneously and optimize in the long run.

I think its targeted at hipster/millennial user for 2 reasons (1) because they are perceived by bank as less likely to calculate optimally and the bank gains (2) Online purchase perceived as less associated with consumers as age increases and banks don't want to appear to "target to the wrong stereotype".

Not that either reason is necessarily true since I am millennial, but perhaps true for statistically significant cc-holding population. The various cashback and promos honestly did make me spend more initially as a fresh grad (but within cashback limits) because you feel you are getting a "good deal", but that feeling wears off quickly when reality strikes~

Also, I would foresee that when I have kids or more responsibilities, I will give up on all 3 since I am using Excel to manually optimize category cap, its ain't much but its honest work [for cashback].

 

[hyperbole]

PayPal retail transaction should be included, except those stated in the exclusion list. PayPal b2b and money transfers transactions are excluded.

the exclusion is "PAYPAL* "

 

[silverbomb]

the exclusion is "PAYPAL* "

oh i saw it now. it's kinda new. not in the other card's tnc. weird general exclusion.

 

[cassowary18]

Probably millennial users tend to be more savvy on using phone contactless payment like apple/Samsung/google pay and also tend to shop online more.

Anyway saw in the frank thread that someone mentioned ocbc refused to waive annual fees for spending almost $9000 (which is less than 10,000 per year). To max the benefit of this card is about $800 x 12 = $9600 which is still less than 10k.

OCBC very kiam siap with waiver. If you don't hit the minimum spending they'll refuse to grant. But if you do hit they will auto waive. Which is why I've never kept an OCBC card for longer than a year.

 

[CrashWire]

PayPal retail transaction should be included, except those stated in the exclusion list. PayPal b2b and money transfers transactions are excluded.

There have been no PayPal "money transfer" transactions since Feb 2013: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/paypal-stops-personal-payments-singapore-034949362.html

It's very bad that UOB EVOL is excluding all PayPal transactions since that's still one of the easiest ways for a business to accept payments online.

 

[Smokey.B]

Exclusions to evol min spend ? Just to hit the $600