A bare bones basic miles card with nothing much to cheer for except DBS points that do not expire.
StakRewards Verdict
Go get it! / It depends / Leave it
Unless you’re going to cruise on your points collection.
Card profile
- Rewards system: Points (DBS points)
- Rewards rate:
- Local: Every $5 spent = 3.25 DBS points = 6.5 Krisflyer miles
- Overseas: Every $5 spent = 5.5 DBS points = 11 Krisflyer miles
- Best for: Those who want to have a straightforward, no frills rewards accumulating experience without tracking the points expiry date
- Annual fee: Principal card $192.60, each supplementary card $98.10
- Points validity: DBS points do not expire
But first, let’s have a look at the general criteria to earn DBS points.
Rewards Mechanics
The reward mechanics for Altitude Card is straightforward.
What is the points rate?
DBS offers a paltry 1.3 MPD. Definitely not the best if you are looking to speed up your miles collection.
While you can spend overseas to earn more points, I do not recommend due to the high overseas charges and FX fees involved.
When do the points expire?
DBS points do not expire.
Where can I redeem my DBS points?
DBS has a catalogue of rewards which you can browse and redeem rewards.
Each conversion to miles costs $27.25 (including GST) and are converted in blocks of 5000 DBS points.
How I would optimize the card to earn max points?
Personally, I don’t think this is the card to use if you’re looking to chalk up points. Rather, it is a basic points card that if anyone is not interested in credit cards, they should at least have this in their wallet.
Final thoughts
I almost wanted to stop writing about this card as soon as I found out DBS ended partnerships with Kaligo and Expedia. It was only though those merchants that card users can accelerate their points accumulation with up to 10 MPD.
That aside, it’s still a fairly decent card for those who don’t want to get into the itty gritty details of its features and points expiry.
