Credit Cards Spending

Citi Rewards vs UOB Preferred Platinum – What’s The Difference?

Citi Rewards vs UOB Preferred Platinum

Choosing a rewards credit card is a great way to maximize the value of your credit card as you can earn reward points for your purchases which you can convert to rebates, airline miles, or vouchers.

Two credit cards that offer great reward points are Citi Rewards and UOB Preferred Platinum. Both cards offer rewards for any type of transaction and increased reward points for certain transaction categories.

Below are the benefits that you can get from each card.

The difference between Citi Rewards and UOB Preferred Platinum

While both Citi Rewards and UOB Preferred Platinum offer 10x reward points for select transactions, they have different eligible transaction categories as well as reward points per dollar.

Here are the transactions eligible for the 10X reward points for each card.

Rewards Points

For all general transactions, Citi offers 1 ThankYou Point/$1 spent using your Citi Rewards credit card. On the other hand, UOB offers UNI$1/$5 spent using your UOB Preferred Platinum credit card.

While both Citi and UOB do not have a minimum spend amount, you may want to note that UOB offers rewards in increments of $5 only.

Citi offers 10X reward points for online and in-store transactions and ride-hailing services

The following transaction categories are eligible for 10X ThankYou Points from Citi:

Online Retail
Transactions
Transactions made over the internet,
excluding travel-related and
mobile wallet transactions
In-Store
Shopping
Transactions made in-store for merchants
that sell shoes, bags, and clothes
as the main business activity
Ride-Hailing
Services
Transactions made for rides
booked in Grab and Gojek

Transactions such as airline/cruise bookings, hotel accommodations, car rental agencies, travel agencies, and other travel-related transactions are excluded from Citi’s 10X ThankYou Points offer.

For a complete list of travel-related transactions excluded from Citi’s 10X rewards offer, you may view Citi’s Terms & Conditions.

Citi is a great option if you use ride-hailing apps in the metro as it offers 10X reward points for Grab and Gojek rides!

UOB offers 10X reward points for online and mobile contactless transactions

For UOB, the following transactions are eligible for 10X reward points equivalent to UNI$10:

Online
Transactions
Transactions made over the internet
for the purchase of goods or services
Mobile Contactless
Transactions
Transactions made via Visa payWave Readers
using Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, Google Pay, and Android Pay

Whereas Citi offers 10X reward points for retail purchases online and in-store, UOB only offers 10X reward points if you purchase them online. However, UOB offers 10X reward points for travel-related transactions while Citi does not.

If you frequently use your mobile wallets in-store, UOB is a great option as it offers 10X reward points for mobile contactless transactions!

Here is a summary of the transactions where you can earn 10X reward points for either card:

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
Online Transactions (excluding travel-
related and mobile wallets)
Online Transactions
In-store
Shopping
Mobile Contactless
Transactions
Ride-Hailing
Services

Rewards per Dollar

For eligible transactions, Citi Rewards offers 10 ThankYou Points/$1 spent while UOB Preferred Platinum offers UNI$10/$5 spent. 

For all other transactions, Citi offers 1 ThankYou Point/$1 while UOB offers UNI$1/$5.

Here is a summary of the rewards per dollar that you can earn for either card:

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
Online Retail Transactions10 ThankYou Points/$1UNI$10/$5
Online Travel-Related
Transactions
1 ThankYou Point/$1UNI$10/$5
Mobile Contactless
Transactions
1 ThankYou Point/$1UNI$10/$5
In-Store Shopping10 ThankYou Points/$1UNI$1/$5
Ride-Haling Services10 ThankYou Points/$1UNI$1/$5
All Other Transactions1 ThankYou Point/$1UNI$1/$5

Minimum Spend

Both Citi Rewards and UOB Preferred Platinum have no minimum spend amount. However, UOB Preferred Platinum offers rewards only in increments of $5.

Maximum Reward Cap

Both Citi and UOB have the same points system:

  • For transactions eligible to receive 10X rewards, you will earn 1 base point and 9 bonus points, totalling to 10 points per each card’s increment ($1 for Citi and $5 for UOB)
  • For all other transactions, you will earn 1 base point for every increment

Both Citi and UOB do not have a cap on their base points. However, Citi offers a higher cap for bonus points per month compared to UOB:

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
9,000 bonus points2,000 bonus points

If you’ve exceeded the cap for bonus points for the month, you will only earn base points for the exceeding amount.

Reward Points Expiry

Citi offers a significantly longer redemption period for its ThankYou Points than that of UOB’s UNI$:

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
60 months24 months

Reward Points Redemption

With either Citi Rewards or UOB Preferred Platinum, you can use your points to pay for your transactions and redeem vouchers.

You can redeem your Citi ThankYou Points as miles or rebates

Your Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to miles of Citi’s partner mileage programs. 25,000 ThankYou Points can be converted to 10,000 miles of any of the following:

Citi’s Partner Mileage Programs
Asia Miles
British Airways Executive Club
Etihad Guest
Eva Air Infinity MileageLands
Flying Blue
IHG Rewards Club
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Citi also offers ThankYou Points redemption in the form of cash rebates. You can redeem $10 cash rebate for 4,400 ThankYou points.

You can redeem your UOB UNI$ as KrisPay miles, eCapitaVoucher, and payments to partner stores

For UOB, you can transfer a minimum of 10,000 UNI$ to KrisPay miles or convert 1,100 UNI$ to $10 eCapitaVoucher.

You can also use your UNI$ to offset your payments to their partners:

PartnerUNI$ per dollar
SP UtilitiesUNI$500/$5
Apple Rewards StoreUNI$100/$1

Eligibility

Citi and UOB have the same age eligibility and minimum annual income requirement for Singaporeans. However, UOB has a higher minimum annual income requirement for foreigners.

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
Age21 years old21 years old
Minimum Annual Income (Singaporeans)$30,000$30,000
Minimum Annual Income (Foreign Nationals)$42,000$80,000

Other Rewards

Citi is currently offering 27,000 bonus ThankYou Points if you get approved for a Citi Rewards card and spend $3,000 within the first three months of your card approval. That’s a total of 30,000 points (3,000 base points + 27,000 bonus points)! You may view the Terms & Conditions for more details on this promotion.

UOB, on the other hand, is offering $100 cash credit if you are one of the first 100 per month who successfully applies for a UOB credit card and spends a minimum of $1,500 within 30 days from the approval date. However, this promotion is only valid until March 31, 2022.

UOB also has the UOB$ Rebate Programme wherein you can earn instant cashback for your card transactions in participating stores.

If you love shopping online, UOB also offers exclusive Shopee vouchers for new customers!

Fees

Citi and UOB have the same annual credit card fees and annual fee waivers.

Annual Fee – Principal Card$192.60
Annual Fee – Supplementary Card$96.30
Waived Annual Fee1 year

While Citi and UOB have the same interest rates for credit card transactions, Citi offers a lower interest rate for cash advances.

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
Interest – Card Transactions26.90% p.a.26.90% p.a.
Interest – Cash Advances26.90% p.a.28% p.a.

Final Verdict

Both Citi Rewards and UOB Preferred Platinum offer rewards for all general transactions, with 10X reward points for select transaction categories. Which one is the card for you?

Here is a comparison of what each card offers:

Citi RewardsUOB Preferred Platinum
Rewards per Dollar –
General Transactions
1 ThankYou Point/$1UNI$1/$5
Rewards per Dollar –
Eligible Transactions
10 ThankYou Points/$1UNI$10/$5
Eligible
Transactions
Online Transactions
(excluding travel-related
and mobile wallets)
In-store Shopping
Ride-Hailing Services
Online Transactions
Mobile Contactless
Transactions
Monthly
Rewards Cap
No cap for base points 
9,000 for bonus points
No cap for base points
2,000 for bonus points
Reward Points
Expiry
60 months24 months
Reward
Redemption
Miles of Partner
Mileage Programs
Cash Rebates
KrisPay Miles
eCapitaVouchers
Offset to SP Utilities
Offset to Apple Rewards Store
Annual
Fee
$192.60 – Principal

$96.30 – Supplementary
$192.60 – Principal

$96.30 – Supplementary
Annual Fee Waiver1 year1 year
Interest Rate –
Card Transactions
26.90% p.a.26.90% p.a.
Interest Rate –
Cash Advances
26.90% p.a.28% p.a.

For the same annual fees, Citi Rewards provides more rewards per dollar as they offer 10 points/$1 vs UOB’s 2 points/$1 (rewarded in increments of $5). It also has a higher cap for bonus points and longer rewards expiry.

If you are a frequent credit card user, Citi may be a better option since it offers 10X rewards for online transactions and in-store shopping.

It’s also a good option if you frequently ride Grab or Gojek for its 10X rewards for these ride-hailing services.

You may want to consider UOB Preferred Platinum if you love travelling as online travel-related transactions are eligible for 10X rewards from UOB. However, do note that there is a monthly cap of 2,000 bonus points which is significantly lower than that of Citi’s.

👉🏻 Credit Card Deals

Are you interested in signing up for a credit card? Check out some of the deals below!

Citi Rewards Card

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