Better Alternatives to get Miles (vs the KrisFlyer UOB Account)
In my last post, I wrote about how I was misled by the influencers who worked on the #KrisFlyerUOB campaign to believe it was a good account, when it really wasn't.
Now that we've seen how lifestyle influencers are capable of royally screwing up reviews related to financial products, how about brands start giving the sponsored posts to the financial bloggers instead?
A few folks have asked for my opinion of the KrisFlyer UOB account, so here it is : No, I will not be signing up for the KrisFlyer UOB account, simply because the maximum miles per dollar (mpd) I can realistically earn is only 1.4. There are so much more better alternatives, which I'll show you in a bit.
What you need to know about the KrisFlyer UOB account
Now that we've seen how lifestyle influencers are capable of royally screwing up reviews related to financial products, how about brands start giving the sponsored posts to the financial bloggers instead?
A few folks have asked for my opinion of the KrisFlyer UOB account, so here it is : No, I will not be signing up for the KrisFlyer UOB account, simply because the maximum miles per dollar (mpd) I can realistically earn is only 1.4. There are so much more better alternatives, which I'll show you in a bit.
What you need to know about the KrisFlyer UOB account
Firstly, you should know that the KrisFlyer UOB account does not pay you any interest on your deposits. None of the 4 influencers told you that, but I will.
Secondly, their debit card doesn't have the cashback / other rewards of a credit card. This is worse than my UOB One which at least gives me cc perks AND helps me get a higher interest rate on my saving deposits.
#KrisFlyerUOB : Spend $36,000 in a year i.e. $3,000 a month.
UOB One: For the same spend, this will give me $1,800 in cold, hard cash back. How many Japan trips can you buy with that?
$3,000 a month is too unrealistic? Okay, let's try to go to Bangkok like Bellywellyjelly did instead. If I swipe this on my UOB One card, that'll give me $594 in rebates.
The last I checked, it'll only cost me $171 for a Bangkok trip in December. I can use the rest of the money to shop at Platinum, whereas the KrisFlyer UOB will only get me the return flight.
Don't like UOB after this whole saga? Hey, some of their other products are actually pretty good. But no worries because Budget Babe has "got you covered" (like bellywellyjelly)!
Here are some better ways you can get your flights
Instead of putting your savings into an account that doesn't even pay you any interest, how about investing your deposit instead? I can actually earn enough interest to afford my Bangkok return flight in just 7 months if I park my $30,000 in the Singapore Saving Bonds (SSBs), which doesn't require me to spend a single cent extra either.
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| Assumptions: *Based on a trailing dividend yield of 8.63% 1st year dividends: $2,589 2nd year dividends: $2,812 3rd year dividends : $3,055 Excluding possible capital gains, which are impossible to foresee accurately. Given that the company recently said they’re positive of their long-term outlook, I’m assuming dividends do not get cut. |
Here are FIVE (better) alternatives to play the miles game
The below section is contributed courtesy of www.milelion.com and written exclusively for you Budget Babe readers. I take no credit for this piece of genius; I merely rewrote it.
Assuming $30,000 sits in your account + you spend $1,000 on your credit cards each month, you'll earn just 16,800 miles from your KrisFlyer UOB account after one year.
Put that $30k in a high-yield savings account like the UOB One, OCBC 360 or CIMB StarSaver. (CIMB gives you 0.8% p.a. interest credit - or $240 - without you having to do anything.)
Option 1: Sign up for the CitiBank PremierMiles card
If you're a new Citibank credit card holder | If you're an existing Citibank credit card holder | |
Total miles from sign up bonus + base | 42,000 miles | 15,000 miles |
First 3 month spending requirements | S$10K + payment of annual fee (S$192.60) | S$10K + payment of annual fee (S$192.60) |
- HSBC Advance / UOB Pref Platinum AMEX (UOB only applicable for existing cardholders) = 4 miles per dollar (mpd) for dining
- DBS Woman's World Card / Citibank Rewards / HSBC Advance = 4 mpd for online
- UOB PRVI Miles AMEX = 1.4 mpd on general
- Maybank Horizon Visa Signature = 3.2 mpd on dining
- Citibank rewards = 4 mpd on online
- DBS Altitude = 1.2 mpd on general
The weighted average MPD here = 2.64, so to get the 16,800 miles, you'll only need to spend $6,363 (we just helped you to save $5,637!)
Option 4: If you're a sucker for just ONE card, sign up for the DBS Altitude Visa Signature by 30 June 2017.
- Get 10k miles when you spend at least $1k each for the first 2 months.
- Get the remaining 6,800 miles by doing ANY of the following:
- Spend $5,667 locally = 1.2 mpd or
- Spend $3,400 overseas = 2 mpd or
- Spend $2,267 on online flight and hotels = 3 mpd (how about flying your family of 4 to London for this amount?)
Option 5: Here's the BEST deal. Enjoy 46.7 MPD when you sign up for the Citibank Prestige card, pay the annual fee of $535 and get 25,000 miles! The only catch? You gotta be earning $120k per annum.
Now beat that, #KrisFlyerUOB!
Who gave the better tips?
With love,Budget Babe
