Review: OCBC Titanium Rewards – Can a Mile Card Give You More Cashback Than Cashback Cards?

Short answer: yes, it depends.

Long answer: yes, it really depends. This is a prime example of why cashback people shouldn’t ignore mile cards (or vice versa). The OCBC Titanium Rewards card is a card that isn’t used often, but when it’s time to use it, it really shines. It is typically known as a 4 mpd card, so why am I comparing it to a cashback card?

Features & Details

Provider	OCBC
Type	Conditional mile card
Earn Rate	– 10 OCBC$ per dollar (4 mpd) for qualifying spend – 1 OCBC$ per dollar (0.4 mpd) for non-qualifying
Conditions	Spend on electronics, departmental stores, various furniture merchants
Limits	$12,000 per statement year
Tracking	Posting date, calendar month

The OCBC Titanium doesn’t seem special at first, but it is a rather unique card. On top of giving 4 mpd on fashion spend, it also does so for electronics and purchases from many popular furniture stores like IKEA, Courts, and even Taobao or Alibaba.

Huge $12,000/$24,000 capacity for large purchases

So far it’s not too special since you can get 4 mpd on such purchases if you buy online and use DBS Woman World Card or CitiRewards. Where this card truly shines is when your purchase gets large. Instead of a monthly cap, the OCBC TR’s annual cap is $12,000. This means that if you have a sizeable bill, the OCBC TR is the only card that gives you high rewards.

Buying a fancy $5,000 OLED TV? No issue there. Gucci bag? As long as it’s under $12,000. Remodelling your home? You can even apply for a second OCBC TR card to double your annual cap to $24,000 and the OCBC$ will be shared between both the Blue and Pink variants. This will come in really handy for me later this year when I move into my new apartment.

You can opt for pretty decent cashback

OCBC TR is considered a mile card by many, but it is technically a rewards card that earns you OCBC$, which is then converted into miles. You could also redeem OCBC$ for a variety of shopping vouchers, or plain old cash rebate off your bill, making this a cashback card too.

At 10 OCBC$ per dollar spent on the qualifying categories, you can either get 4 miles or a 2.77% cashback. This is of course a lot less than the 5% cashback cards that exist right now, but OCBC TR offers a unique value preposition as it does not have a monthly cap. There simply isn’t a cashback card that can give you anywhere near 2.77% cashback if you are spending $5,000 to $24,000 within a single month. (Okay, I can think of something: Unlimited$aver which takes quite a bit of setting up. And $100,000.)

Updated 3rd March 2020

	Cashback	Miles	Winner
1	8%	–	Cashback
2	5%	4 mpd	Draw
3	3%	3 mpd	Miles
4	2%	2 mpd	Miles
5	1.5%	1.2 to 1.5 mpd	Miles

Moreover, shopping at Best Denki with this card gives you an additional 2% cashback, making your total rewards 4 mpd + 2% which is rightfully Tier 1 level. Purely cashback, this represents 4.77% on large purchases which is really good.

Of course, Best Denki’s stuff needs to be price competitive for the 2% discount to make sense, and from my experience checking prices at their store, they have reasonable pricing for their products. From time to time, I’ve even seen them do 6% storewide sales which is pretty insane.

Should you really be picking 2.77% cashback over 4 mpd?

According to my tier list, 4 mpd is one tier above 3% cashback, and it should go without saying that 4 mpd is better than 2.77% cashback for most cases.

If you spent $6,250, you’d get 25,000 miles and pay about $80 tax to go to Bangkok. You could also opt for 2.77% cashback which is almost $174. Pay $80 out of your pocket and that’s $250 which is more or less a Bangkok ticket too. Cashback would make more sense here since you could buy anything besides a ticket to Bangkok. Of course, this is an example of miles being used inefficiently; nobody shrewd would redeem 25,000 miles for a Bangkok flight.

If the amount grows larger to $12,500, you start to gain enough for a trip to Tokyo via SQ Economy, easily $600-$700 value. Going for 2.77% cashback means you’d only have less than $350.

$24,000? Now we’re talking. Business class to Tokyo, or barely $665? The choice is clear.

If you’re a mile person, you would probably think that it’s a little ridiculous to pick cashback. Regardless, I’m sure there’re still people who prefer cashback for whatever reason, and 2.77% cashback is at least better than 1.5% cashback for big purchases.

Keep up to date on the best cashback/mile cards, financial products, attractive deals, and more tips to maximise your financial wellbeing by subscribing to my Telegram channel.

Subscribe to the channel, then join the group chat. You would often benefit from the tips shared exclusively in the group chat!

Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!

Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opnion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).

Conclusion

You’ll feel a dopamine hit when you charge a huge amount to this card. At least I do. Ugh addiction feels so good.

The good:

• No monthly cap! Generous $12,000 annual cap
• Double your annual cap with a second OCBC TR card
• +2% cashback on Best Denki which has decent prices
• Wide range of qualifying categories and merchants

The bad:

• Slow crediting: points are awarded at the end of the following month

The ugly:

• Fun fact: I once used a 1.5% cashback card for $11,000 of electronics when I was new to the game of credit cards. Giving up nearly a return trip to Japan for $165? I still get nightmares.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
9 Stars of Sethisfaction