Review | OCBC 90°N Visa Credit Card
It's certainly becoming a trend lately, with all these travel-focused credit cards hitting the market by storm. We first saw the introduction of the CIMB Travel credit cards, followed by the popular HSBC TravelOne Credit Card, and now, OCBC has decided it wants a piece of the lucrative market by introducing its all-new Visa credit card. Without further adue, let's jump right into the card specifications to see if it's worth a place in your wallet.
Air Miles Conversion
Similar to other banks, OCBC has its own brand name of points which they dub "TravelS", as if that's not confusing enough. You want to know what else is confusing? What is the significance of "90°N"? Did the executives at OCBC enjoy their recent trip to the north pole?
Anyways, with the OCBC 90°N Credit Card, you earn 1 Travel$ for every RM1 spent locally, and 5 Travel$ for every RM5 spent internationally. Interestingly enough, OCBC completely omits any information related to the Travel$ to Air Miles conversion rates on its website, meaning that you will only know the true conversion rate if you have an OCBC account or credit card. Instead, OCBC points out that the Travel$ accumulated is meant to be used for cashback and other promotions. Hence, it's clear to me that this isn't actually a travel-focused credit card, but rather, a general credit card with travel-themed promotions attached to it.
Based on the example, above, with 26925 Travel$, you're redeeming RM53. Assuming Travel$ is earned in local currency, you get RM53 worth of cashback after spending RM26925. What a joke.
Airport Lounge Access
Lounge access is limited to 2X in the first year. What this means for the second year and beyond is questionable. However, there are terms that state your 2X access is renewed every year if you spend more than RM30,000 per annum.
Final Thoughts
This is likely the shortest credit card review I have ever written and rightfully so. I'm not sure what OCBC Malaysia has in mind when launching this card, or who they are trying to target.
I don't think even the aunties and uncles would be satisfied with the kind of disinformation regarding the so-called "Travel" focused theme of this credit card. With an annual income of RM60,000 needed, this isn't exactly an entry-level credit card either, and it sits alongside the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card in the same space, whereby despite the poor conversion rate for HSBC's card, its other benefits certainly overweigh what we see on offer from OCBC here.
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