Key Changes to the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa
From 1 October 2025, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa will split its S$1,110 monthly bonus cap into two S$600 caps for mobile contactless and online transactions. Find out what changes, what stays the same, and how to manage your spending.
Starting from 1 October 2025, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa will no longer have a single monthly bonus cap of S$1,110.
Instead, the card will split the cap into two categories:
- S$600 for mobile contactless transactions
- S$600 for selected online transactions
This is not the first time UOB has done this. The same changes were seen on the UOB Lady’s Solitaire and the UOB Visa Signature. Now, the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa is following the same path.
While the total amount eligible for 4 mpd goes up slightly from S$1,110 to S$1,200, this change makes it harder to spend efficiently. Unless you carefully plan how you use the card, you may earn fewer miles each month.
SimplyGo Transactions Now Earn 4 mpd
From 28 August 2025, SimplyGo bus and MRT rides will earn 4 miles per dollar when you pay with mobile contactless.
Before this change, SimplyGo rides earned only 0.4 mpd because they were not counted as contactless spend.
Now, as long as you tap your phone and not the physical card, your public transport rides will count for 4 mpd.
How SimplyGo Transactions Are Counted
SimplyGo transactions are calculated differently. For Visa and AMEX, fares are combined daily but miles are awarded monthly. For Mastercard, fares are posted every five days or after reaching S$15.
This means most cardholders will still earn miles, even if their rides are less than S$5 each.
Understanding the Bonus Cap Split
At present, the card gives 10X UNI$ per S$5 (equal to 4 mpd) for two types of spend:
- Selected online transactions
- Mobile contactless transactions
With a combined cap of 2,000 UNI$, you could spend up to S$1,110 and earn the full bonus miles.
From 1 October 2025, this single cap will be replaced with two separate sub-caps:
| Category | Monthly Bonus Cap (UNI$) | Monthly Bonus Cap (S$) |
|---|---|---|
| Selected Online Transactions | 1,080 UNI$ | S$600 |
| Mobile Contactless | 1,080 UNI$ | S$600 |
This means the maximum miles you can earn in a month will rise from 4,440 to 4,800, but only if you spend carefully across both categories.
If you only use the card for mobile contactless and spend S$1,110, you will earn fewer miles than before. Instead of 4,440 miles, you will now earn about 2,604 miles, because only S$600 qualifies for the bonus rate.
Tracking Spending Becomes More Difficult
Managing the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa was simple with one combined bonus cap.
With two separate sub-caps, tracking gets harder. UOB does not show a breakdown of how much you have spent in each category. You will need to keep your own records and check each transaction to see where it fits.
Tips to Manage the New Caps
One way to make tracking easier is to get a supplementary card. Use the principal card for online spending and the supplementary card for mobile contactless. This way, you can easily see spending totals in online banking.
Another method is to buy S$600 worth of vouchers for selected online transactions at the start of each month. Then, any spending after that can go to the mobile contactless category.
Be Careful With Posting Dates
UOB tracks spending by posting date, not the date you make the purchase.
If you make a transaction at the end of September 2025 and it posts in October, the new split caps will apply.
To avoid problems, avoid making transactions in the last few days of the month.
Final Thoughts
The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa now counts SimplyGo rides for 4 mpd, which is a positive change.
But starting in October 2025, the bonus structure changes. The total spend eligible for 4 mpd goes up from S$1,110 to S$1,200, but that amount will now be split into two S$600 caps for online and contactless payments.
If you can manage spending across both categories, you may earn slightly more miles. But for most cardholders, the split will make it harder to maximise rewards.
