OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card Review: Is It Your New Gateway To "Infinite" Cashback?

Although the OCBC 365 Credit Card has been a perennial favourite among young adults and homemakers all this while, the OCBC credit card line-up was still surprisingly missing an unlimited cashback card on its roster... which is what prompted their latest launch – the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card, offering 1.6% unlimited cashback with no minimum spend or cap!

If you've read our credit card guide (or any of our other credit card articles), you'll be familiar with the longstanding debate between cashback, miles, and rewards credit cards. And out of the three types, if you're familiar with how cashback credit cards work, you'll also be well aware of the difference between cashback cards with minimum spend, and those without – AKA unlimited cashback cards.  

But in an already saturated market, can the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card outshine its other competitors? [Spoiler: You might not need to jump (space)ship.] 👽🚀 

OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card product summary:

• 1.6% unlimited cashback, with no minimum spend and no cashback cap
• Bonus 0.2% cashback for eligible in-store and online purchases worldwide, bringing your total cashback up to 1.8%
  • Applicable to first S$3,000 qualifying spend per month
  • For first 2,000 new-to-OCBC card applicants only
  • Valid till 31 December 2023
• Cashback is automatically credited back to your card account
• Earn bonus 0.06% p.a. interest on the first S$100,000 in your OCBC 360 Account with a minimum card spend of S$500 per month
• Annual income requirement: S$30,000 (Singaporeans/PRs), S$45,000 and above (Foreigners)
• Annual fee: S$196.20 (First year waived)
  • Spend a min. S$10,000 per year for subsequent years to waive annual fee

Pros ✅

Similar to the Citi Cash Back+ Card, the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card nets you a fuss-free, 1.6% unlimited cashback from the moment you start spending – with no minimum spend and no cashback cap.

That's right, it doesn't matter whether you spend a dime or drop a couple hundred, the 1.6% unlimited cashback is all yours. So if you spend S$1, that's S$0.016 cashback; or if you spend S$100, that's S$1.60 back into your bank account. And since there's no cap on cashback earned, this positions the card as an ideal option for big-ticket items.

Although the 1.6% unlimited cashback is great, want to know how to level it up to a total of 1.8% cashback? Well, you'll need to satisfy two criteria.

Firstly, you'll need to be a new-to-OCBC cardmember when applying for the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card. Secondly, you'll need to be among the first 2,000 of these card applicants to have your card approved within the month. 

Once you qualify, you'll immediately unlock your bonus 0.2% cashback on the first S$3,000 eligible in-store and online transactions for the first 6 months from your card approval date. Thus, that brings up your total cashback to 1.8% for half a year as a proud OCBC INFINITY cardholder. 😄

Unfortunately, this is not a permanent bonus cashback but is in fact, promotional. It will only be valid until 31 December 2023 (unless they choose to extend it).

To put things into perspective:

Card approval period: November 2023

Bonus 0.2% cashback validity: From approval date till 30 April 2024

Note: To earn the bonus 0.2% cashback, the S$3,000 spend must consist of qualifying transactions. If you're spending with an ineligible merchant, you won't earn any cashback, not even the base 1.6% rate.

To check merchant code category (MCC) eligibility, refer to the card's T&Cs here.

💡Pro-tip: On top of this bonus cashback, enjoy these other standard OCBC acquisition gifts for new-to-OCBC cardmembers too:

- De'Longhi Icona Vintage Breakfast set with S$500 spend in 30 days, or
- Samsonite Polygon Spinner 28" luggage with S$500 spend in 30 days, or
- S$200 cashback with S$2,000 spent in 60 days (S$1,000 spend in each 30-day period)

Unlike the Citi Cash Back+ Card, any cashback earned on the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card will be automatically credited to your card account by the end of the following calendar month. You don't have to redeem or retrieve your cashback via any banking app, SMS, or other methods.

Suppose you spend S$100 in November 2023, you'll receive your S$1.60 cashback by the end of December 2023. All cashback is also rounded to the nearest two decimal places.

This makes tracking cashback very fuss-free and straightforward.

If you happen to have an OCBC 360 Account, your spend on the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card can pair nicely with your bank balance. By spending at least S$500 per calendar month with your card, you'll stand to earn a bonus 0.6% p.a. interest on the first S$100,000 balance in your OCBC 360 Account.

This is on top of if you credit a minimum of S$1,800 salary (2.5% EIR) and/or increase your average daily balance by at least S$500 per month (1.5% EIR). Combining all these conditions together, you'll effectively earn up to 4.65% p.a. EIR on the first S$100,000 in your account.

Salary + Save + Spend = Up to 4.65% p.a. EIR

Compared to other savings accounts in Singapore, this bonus interest rate fares better than examples like the DBS Multiplier Account (4.10% p.a.) and the HSBC Everyday Global Account (4.50% p.a.).

Cons ❌

Although this rate is on par with Citi Cash Back+, there's a reason why other unlimited cashback cards outperform them in cashback rate alone. 

From this table, you can see that the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card ranks squarely in the mid-tier. It's not the worst, but neither is it the best. However, thanks to its "extra 0.2% cashback" promotion currently running, it ranks slightly above the Citi Cash Back+ Card – at least until 31 December 2023. 🙊

According to OCBC INFINITY's product page, here's what the card promises:

"No fuss. No complicated conditions. Just cashback – to infinity – on everything you need, want and love."

Unfortunately for them, the "everything you need, want and love" comes with terms & conditions... aka spend exclusions; so it's more like "almost everything" at best. 😅 But what are these spend exclusions exactly?

Apart from the obvious cashback omission for card fees, charges, annual fees, balance transfers and the like, the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card is also excluded from earning cashback on e-wallet top-ups (e.g. GrabPay wallet).

Although once widely accepted, this exclusion has become commonly prevalent among almost all credit cards, including AMEX True Cashback last year. Thus, we won't really peg this as a major disadvantage, but it's still pertinent to note.

However, perhaps what's more regrettable is that OCBC INFINITY does not reward cashback on insurance premiums, hospital bills, schooling fees, government entities, and utilities as seen from this MCC list above.

At first, you might be wondering, "Aren't these categories commonly excluded from earning rebates for most credit cards"? Well, yes, that's true. But when you look at the likes of UOB Absolute Cashback Card that does permit cashback on these categories, then you see where the disappointment comes in. 😔 (Unless OCBC decides to amend these spend exclusions in the near future.)

• Annual fee: S$196.20 (First year waived)
  • S$10,000 per card membership year for subsequent fee waivers
• Late payment fee: S$100
• Minimum monthly payment: S$50 or 3% of total balance, whichever is higher, and any overdue amount within credit limit 
• Overlimit fee: S$40
• Cash advance fee: S$15 or 8% of withdrawal amount, whichever is higher
• Interest on cash advance: 28.92% p.a.
• Interest on purchases: 27.78% p.a.
• Foreign transaction fee: 3.25%
• Dynamic currency conversion fee: 1%

• At least 21 years old
• Minimum annual income: S$30,000 (Singaporeans/PRs), S$45,000 and above (Foreigners)

Find the OCBC INFINITY card section on the SingSaver site and complete the application form.

Otherwise, you can also apply directly on OCBC's site using SingPass to retrieve your details; or if you don't have access to SingPass as a foreigner, fill up the manual application form and OCBC will contact you to inform you of what documents are required. 

So what's the verdict? Is the OCBC INFINITY Cashback Card really worth getting?

Beyond its sleek and alluring exterior, it doesn't offer many stellar (pun unintended) features to boast about. In general, for each good feature it has, it's overshadowed by other cards.

Just take its bonus 1.8% welcome cashback promotion for example. It pales in comparison to AMEX True Cashback Card's 3% welcome cashback. Meanwhile, it hasn't escaped the troublesome clutches of spend exclusions either, unlike the UOB Absolute Cashback Card.

Now, don't get us wrong, we don't think the OCBC INFINITY is a bad card by any means, but it's definitely not the best. It doesn't have any distinguishable feature or function that truly sets it apart from its peers.

TL;DR, there are better options for unlimited cashback cards out there.