DBS Altitude card review: what 1.3 miles per $1 really adds up to

The DBS Altitude is a simple card. One rate on almost everything, no minimum spend, no cap, and points that never expire. The catch is in two places: small purchases round down hard, and the annual fee can no longer be waived by spending.

Here's what it earns, what it costs, and a worked year you can redo with your own numbers.

The DBS Altitude at a glance

Figures from the DBS Altitude terms (last updated September 2026) and the DBS product page, checked 1 Nov 2026. There's also an American Express version with the same earn rates. It doesn't come with the lounge visits.

How many miles does the DBS Altitude earn?

You earn DBS Points, not miles. Each DBS Point converts to 2 miles with KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines) or Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific).

• Local spend, anything charged in Singapore dollars: 3.25 DBS Points per $5, or 1.3 miles per $1.
• Overseas spend, anything charged in a foreign currency: 5.5 DBS Points per $5, or 2.2 miles per $1.

A $100 dinner: $100 ÷ $5 = 20, then 20 × 3.25 = 65 DBS Points, which is 130 miles.

No bonus category, no minimum spend, no monthly cap. Spend $300 or $8,000 in a month, same rate.

Bottom line: the selling point is that there are no rules, not that the rate is big.

Why a $12 lunch earns 14 miles, not 15.6

Clause 13 of the terms works out points per purchase: the amount ÷ $5 × 3.25, rounded down to a whole number. Most people never notice this.

A $12 lunch is $12 ÷ $5 = 2.4, then 2.4 × 3.25 = 7.8, which rounds down to 7 DBS Points, or 14 miles. At a straight 1.3 miles per $1 you'd expect 15.6.

Each purchase is rounded on its own, not the monthly total. A month of kopi on this card earns nothing.

Bottom line: 1.3 is the rate on bigger purchases. If much of your spending is under $10, your real rate is lower. Your last statement will show you.

Paying overseas: foreign currency or SGD?

The 2.2 rate is for transactions posted in a foreign currency. Clause 15: a purchase made overseas but converted to Singapore dollars at the till counts as local spend. That's dynamic currency conversion, when the terminal asks "SGD or local currency?".

A $2,000 hotel stay in Tokyo: - Paid in yen: $2,000 ÷ $5 = 400, then 400 × 5.5 = 2,200 DBS Points, which is 4,400 miles. DBS's foreign currency fee of 3.25% adds $2,000 × 3.25% = $65. - Paid in SGD at the till: 400 × 3.25 = 1,300 DBS Points, which is 2,600 miles. The hotel or its bank sets the exchange rate, and DBS still lists a 1% card network fee on SGD transactions processed overseas (checked 19 Oct 2026).

Picking SGD costs you 1,800 miles on one hotel bill. The miles cards post covers why the shop's exchange rate is rarely the better deal.

Bottom line: the $65 isn't free. It's $65 for 4,400 miles, roughly 1.5 cents a mile. Worth it or not is your call.

The annual fee, and the 10,000 miles that come with it

The principal card's fee is $196.20 including GST. When it's charged, DBS credits 5,000 DBS Points, which is 10,000 miles. That's $196.20 ÷ 10,000 = about 2 cents a mile.

Until 1 August 2026, spending $25,000 in the previous card year waived the fee automatically from the second year. That ended on 1 August 2026 (clause 20). If a fee is waived some other way, the 5,000 points are taken back within 3 working days (clause 21).

Bottom line: "spend $25,000 and the fee goes away" no longer applies here. Check when your card year renews.

Turning DBS Points into miles

Each conversion costs $27.25 including GST, charged to the card, and takes about 1 to 2 weeks (clause 18). The product page lists conversions in blocks of 5,000 DBS Points (10,000 miles) for KrisFlyer and Asia Miles.

Points on this card never expire (clause 17), so there's no rush. Three conversions a year cost 3 × $27.25 = $81.75. One conversion costs $27.25.

Once points become KrisFlyer or Asia Miles, the airline's expiry rules apply, set by Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific, not DBS. DBS Points that never expire are only safe while they're still DBS Points.

Bottom line: points left where they are cost nothing. Converting when you have a flight in mind means one fee, and the airline's clock starts only then.

Priority Pass lounge visits

The Visa version comes with Priority Pass: 2 free lounge visits every 12 months for the principal cardholder (clause 27). Two visits alone, or one visit with one guest. Extra visits cost US$35 per person, charged to the card.

Supplementary cardholders don't get their own, and the membership can only be registered and used by the principal cardholder (clause 31). The American Express version doesn't include it.

Bottom line: one round trip alone, or one way with a travel partner. A nice extra, not a reason on its own.

What doesn't earn miles

As at 24 Oct 2026, the DBS Rewards terms list these as earning no points: insurance premiums, tax, school and education fees, utilities, rent, cash advances and loan payments, plus top-ups to stored-value wallets such as GrabPay, YouTrip and EZ-Link.

Bottom line: leave those out when you estimate what the card earns you.

How it compares on miles per $1

Ranked by miles per $1 with no minimum spend, as at 24 Oct 2026, from each bank's terms:

These are the "one rate on everything" cards. Specialised cards pay up to 4 miles per $1 in certain categories, usually with a cap of about $1,000 a month. The miles cards post lays those out. Fees, renewal miles, rounding and lounge visits also differ by card, so read each one's terms.

A worked year

Say Darren is 31 and puts $1,500 a month on the card in Singapore dollars, mostly purchases of $20 and up, plus one $3,000 holiday a year paid in foreign currency. Made-up example.

What he pays for the card itself: the $196.20 annual fee, $3,000 × 3.25% = $97.50 in foreign currency fees, and one $27.25 conversion. That's $320.95 in the year.

If his local spending were mostly $4 to $5 purchases, rounding alone would take his local rate from 1.3 to roughly 0.95, and the 23,400 would be closer to 17,000.

Bottom line: swap in your own numbers. The calculator page does the same sums for a few typical months: DBS Altitude on the card rewards calculator.

Three things to remember

1. 1.3 miles per $1 in SGD, 2.2 in foreign currency, no cap, no minimum, points never expire. That simplicity is the card.
2. Points round down on every purchase. Small purchases earn less than the headline rate, and a $1.40 kopi earns nothing.
3. The annual fee is no longer waived by spending $25,000 (from 1 Aug 2026). Paying it brings 10,000 miles, about 2 cents a mile.

Ethan's rating

5.5out of 10

Earn rate

• Very low
• Low
• Moderate
• High
• Very high

Effort to earn

• Effortless
• Easy
• Some effort
• Shiong
• Very shiong

Value for the fee

• Way overpriced
• Overpriced
• Fair
• Good value
• Great value

Against other miles cards

1.18 miles per $1 on averageMiles cards: average miles per $1 on the same $1,500 month of everyday spending, worked out by Sum's card calculator.

• Bottom
• Below average
• Average
• Above average
• Top

Where it earns

• DiningFair
• GroceriesFair
• TransportFair
• OnlineFair
• TravelFair
• OverseasGood
• Everything elseFair

One person's opinion, from the terms in this review. Your own spending decides what a card is worth to you.

Track it in Sum

Import your card statements. The card optimiser reads each purchase the way the bank's terms do, rounding included, and shows what each card earned. The trackers show where you stand against any minimum or cap.

Ethan

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