Reasons to Cancel your OCBC Frank Credit Card
Last month, I wrote about the benefits of having the OCBC Frank Credit Card since it offers 6% rebates for most online purchases and at the same time, the S$500 minimum spending also triggers the 0.5% interest bonus on the OCBC 360 account. Starting 01 October 2015, this card will have a revised earning rate (across different categories) and the minimum spending required will change as well. In other words (and most definitely in gaming terms), this card's been nerfed! Here are some reasons to cancel your OCBC Frank Credit Card come next month and OCBC has conveniently put together a list of changes (old vs new) that I thought was pretty honourable but it is not going to change my decision to cancel this card:
Click HERE to find out more about the OCBC Frank Credit Card!
Summary of OCBC Frank Credit Card Changes | Photo Credit: OCBC Singapore
1. Minimum Spend Excludes Online Transactions
Initially all you had to do was to spend S$500 eligible spend online and you will be able to receive a S$30 rebate (and trigger your OCBC 360 0.5% bonus interest rate). Assuming you have S$60,000 in your account, spending just S$500 on FRANK will trigger a grand total of S$55 (S$30 from FRANK + S$25 from OCBC 360) - 11% cashback is not bad at all! Come 01 October 2015 however, you will have to accumulate S$400 on offline retail spend before you can receive 6% on your online spend. Even though it is not particularly difficult to clock up S$400 on offline retail spend, other cards out there will definitely serve you better in your quest to become the next miles/cashback warrior.
2. FlashPay ATUs Exclusions
FlashPay ATUs (which you can use to take the public transport in Singapore) used to be awarded 6% cashback while qualifying for the S$500 minimum spending each month (up to S$100). However, FlashPay ATUs will now "enjoy" a 3% cash back reduction instead. Additionally, these FlashPay ATUs will not count towards the S$400 minimum spending each month required to trigger the 6% rebates.
Frank Credit Card | Photo Credit: OCBC Singapore
3. Annual Fees and Rebate Caps
Sure, no one pays for annual fees anymore (with some exceptions to the super elite credit cards of course) so increasing the annual fee from S$32.10 to S$80 may not be a big deal (since most of us are able to get successful waiver anyway) but still not a cool move when you are clawing back on benefits. Cashback rebates also used to be capped at S$60 per month for online spend and no limit on the rest (at a pathetic 0.5%). With the new terms and conditions in place however, cashback rebates will be capped at S$60, period. This means that if you spend S$400 on your OCBC Frank Credit Card on the rather vague category of Cinemas, Bars, Clubs, KTVs and Selected Cafes on Weekends (Friday to Sunday) only, you will only receive 6% rebate on all online purchases up to S$666.67 each month only. Every other cent you spend online after this amount will give you a grand total of ZERO cents rebate.
So thanks but no thanks OCBC, I'm taking my business with this OCBC Frank Credit Card elsewhere.
Probably the best sign-up offer for Citi Credit Cards - get S$400 cash reward with minimum spend of S$500 within 30 days for new customers.