Understanding UOB’s Points Rounding Policy: What You Need to Know

​If you’re using a UOB credit card, you might want to pay close attention to how the bank handles its points rounding policy, as it can lead to missed opportunities for earning rewards. Essentially, UOB rounds down every transaction to the nearest S$5 before calculating the points you earn. For example, a S$9.99 purchase will be treated the same as a S$5 purchase, while a S$4.99 transaction earns you nothing at all in terms of points. This policy can significantly impact your rewards, but its effect varies depending on the type of UOB card you hold. Some cards are hit harder by this rule than others, so it’s worth understanding the details to maximize your earnings.

For general spending cards, UOB’s rounding policy can be particularly harsh. Take the UOB PRVI Miles Card as an example: it offers 3.5 UNI$ per S$5 for local spending and 6 UNI$ per S$5 for foreign currency (FCY) transactions. However, the advertised rates of 1.4 miles per dollar (mpd) for local spend and 2.4 mpd for FCY spend can be misleading due to rounding. A S$9.99 local transaction, for instance, gets rounded down to S$5, earning 3.5 UNI$, which is then rounded down again to 3 UNI$ (6 miles), resulting in an effective rate of just 0.6 mpd. The impact of rounding diminishes with larger transactions—say, a S$218.90 purchase earns 300 miles (1.4 mpd)—but for smaller amounts, you might be better off using a card like the Citi PremierMiles, which has a more lenient rounding policy and can outperform the UOB PRVI Miles Card on transactions under S$40.

When it comes to specialised spending cards, the effect of UOB’s rounding policy depends on how the card awards its points. Cards like the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa award base and bonus points together, making them more vulnerable to rounding losses—for a S$9.99 transaction, you’d earn just 20 miles (2 mpd), losing up to 20 miles per transaction. On the other hand, cards like the UOB Visa Signature and UOB Lady’s Card award bonus points separately at the start of the next period, meaning rounding only applies once to the total eligible spend, not per transaction. This reduces the overall loss to a maximum of 20 miles per bonus period, making these cards a better choice for smaller, frequent transactions. Ultimately, while UOB’s rounding can hurt, its impact lessens with larger transactions or with specialised cards that handle bonus points separately, so choosing the right card for your spending habits is key.