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UOB PRVI Miles Credit Card

Refined Points Metric (RPM): 14.00

Recommendation: Extremely Poor

Annual Fee

  • RM198

Airport Lounge Access

  • No Lounge Access

Annual Income

  • RM60,000 per annum

Airline Miles Earn Rate

Local: 1 Airline Mile = RM15.00

Travel: 1 Airline Mile = RM3.00

Overseas: 1 Airline Mile = RM3.00

Payment Network

VISA

Review | UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum Credit Card

UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum Airline Miles Overview

The UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card is a mid-tier "travel" focused credit card by UOB Malaysia.

Despite the naming scheme, this credit card is vastly different from UOB's more premium counterpart, the UOB PRVI Miles Elite which uses the Mastercard payment network. It's unfortunate that despite sharing similar naming schemes, the benefits that entail both credit cards are significantly different.

Air Miles Conversion

UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum UNIRM and Capping

The UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card is the perfect example of where reading the fine print will usually save you more trouble earlier rather than later.

While the credit card doesn't boast the worst airline miles accumulation in the market, there are certain caveats to be aware of if you intend to consider this credit card. Likewise, with the UOB World Card (which replaces the Citi Rewards Credit Card) also coming in at an annual income of RM60,000 per annum, those with an annual income around this range will likely be comparing these two closely.

UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum Local Airline Miles earn Rate

The UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum grants you 1X UNIRM points for every ringgit spent locally. This means that if you purchase a Starbucks Grande Iced Americano at RM10.00, you'll obtain 10 UNIRM points. 

These calculations bring us to 1 Airline Mile = RM15.00 for Enrich Miles, KrisFlyer and Asia Miles. As always, I do not recommend even considering redeem your credit card points for AirAsia Rewards, as it is by far one of the worst conversions in loyalty history.

With that being said, this essentially means at the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card is one of the worst credit cards in Malaysia for earning airline miles for local spend.

In fact, it sits right at the very bottom of my Ultimate Comparison Guide.

UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum Travel Miles Earn Rate

Moving on, UOB grants you a generous 5X UNIRM points for every ringgit spent on the categories above. This means that if you swipe your UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum to purchase airline tickets, reserve hotels and purchase tour packages, you'll essentially earn 5X UNIRM points.

Given that you essentially earn a worthless amount of UNIRM for local spend, this means that the bulk of your UNIRM points are likely going to be coming from this special spend category, so let's further break it down:

Assuming you and your family of four are looking to spend the December holidays in Japan. You come across this amazing tour package that costs RM7000 per pax. With four pax, you're looking at a total spend of RM28,000.

Naturally, all flights, hotels and meals are covered within this tour package. Given that the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum grants you 5X UNIRM on tour packages with a cap of RM5000 per month, you will essentially earn 25,000 UNIRM for this total transaction, and NOT 140,000 UNIRM. 

Now, UOB states at every subsequent RM1.00 spent after hitting the cap will net you 1X UNIRM points, meaning that in the example above, you'll essentially earn a total of 48,000 UNIRM.

48,000 UNIRM sounds like a good amount of UNIRM points, until you realize that you can't even purchase a One-Way economy class ticket to Singapore, let alone Japan!!

Of course, perhaps you can split your payment to the tour agency with a total of 6 months, so that you can fully utilize the RM5,000 cap each month and earn the maximum amount of UNIRM points for your travel. Good luck telling the salesperson that your intent is to earn enough airline miles!

So why am I illustrating the above for you? 

It's to inform you in the simplest possible way that there are two kinds of airline miles connoisseurs in the world:

  • The airline miles connoisseur that spends RM28,000 annually, but cannot even redeem a one-way ticket.

  • The airline miles connoisseur that spends RM28,000 annually but can redeem 1-2 airline tickets to save overall costs.

If you wish to be the latter above, perhaps it's better to consider other credit cards. Here's a hint, there are plenty of other credit cards within the RM60,000 annual income range that offers much better airline miles earning rates without ridiculous capping like what you've seen above.

UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum
Despite all the headache above with the capping, you'll be pleased to know that the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card earns you 5X UNIRM on Overseas Spending with NO CAPPING. 

This essentially means that you earn 1 Airline Mile for every RM3.00 spent. This sounds like a great benefit, until you realize that an RM24,000 annual income credit card in Malaysia has a better airline miles earning rate than this RM60,000 annual income UOB credit card!
UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum Overseas Airline Miles earn Rate

In addition to the table above, the HSBC TravelOne Mastercard also grants you 1 Airline Mile = RM2.60 for overseas spend, but this is capped at RM2600+ monthly.

The CIMB Travel Platinum Mastercard also has a capping, but it is capped by the Merchant Category Code and has a cap of around RM10,000 per month for each MCC, which is well past the logical amount anyone would spend anyways for a RM24,000 annual income credit card.

Hence, as you can see from above, while the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card does grant you unlimited UNIRM for overseas spending, the airline miles accrual rate is not even as good as the RM24,000 annual income CIMB Travel Platinum credit card!

And of course, if you're stubborn enough to obtain this credit card just because of the uncapped overseas spend, then you're probably a high spender who would probably get more value by pledging FD and opting for the RM100,000 UOB PRVI Miles Elite credit card instead.

Airport Lounge Access

Ah yes! The good old airport lounge access! With more and more credit cards granting access to airport lounges these days, it is no longer a luxury but rather, a bare minimum for a credit card, let alone a travel credit card with an annual income requirement of RM60,000 to have lounge access.

Guess what ladies and gentlemen? 

The UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card grants you ZERO lounge access! 

At the annual income range of RM60,000, the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card is the only credit card in my Ultimate Guide segment that does not grant you lounge access.

This means that no matter how much you swipe your credit card, whether it's RM10 or RM100,000 each year, when you're at the doorsteps of the amazing Plaza Premium Lounges at KLIA, you'll be embarrassingly denied entry. 

Comparison of UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum, Alliance Bank Visa Infinite, Maybank AMEX KrisFlyer Platinum and CIMB Travel Plat

In case you're walking around 1 Utama, Exchange TRX or The Gardens Midvalley and you're stopped by some UOB salesperson trying to promote you the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum credit card, I've gracefully included a comparison of credit cards for lounge access for you to show him/her in person!

Final Thoughts

Navigating the intricate world of travel credit cards, particularly with options like the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum, can be a formidable task.

 

Despite its appealing name and the promise of miles accumulation, the card presents a perplexing mix of restrictions, caps, and earning rates that might not suit the aspirations of a savvy airline miles connoisseur.

 

Particularly glaring is its comparison with other cards in the same income bracket, which offer superior miles earning potential without the stringent limitations seen with the UOB card. Moreover, the lack of lounge access, a staple benefit in many travel cards, further diminishes its appeal for frequent travelers.

 

As we delve into the specifics, it becomes clear that the UOB PRVI Miles Visa Platinum might be more suited for those focused on overseas spending without capping, yet even in this domain, it struggles to outshine its competitors.

 

For those seeking to maximize their travel benefits and earn meaningful rewards, exploring other credit card options within the RM60,000 annual income range could prove more fruitful and satisfying.

Check out our Credit Cards page to view other credit card review, or check out our comparison Ultimate Guide to compare the airline miles accrual rates for different credit cards based on annual income. If you're a fan of KrisFlyer miles, check out our KrisFlyer Ultimate Guide instead.

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