UOB announced changes to the benefits of the UOB EVOL card.
When will the new benefits kick in?
UOB has split the roll-out into 2 phases:
- New EVOL cardholders (approved from 19 Jun 2025):
New benefits kick in immediately - Existing EVOL cardholders (approved on 18 Jun 2025 or earlier):
New benefits kick in from the next statement on or after 19 Aug 2025
0% foreign currency fees
The >3% junk fee on foreign currency spending has become the norm for Singapore credit cards, especially among traditional (non-digital) banks. This is finally changing, and I’m grateful for the competition that digital banks like Trust Bank and MariBank brought to the market.
✍️ Card of the Year 2024: Trust Cashback Card
Moving forward, UOB EVOL cardholders will enjoy 0% foreign currency fees as an evergreen card benefit; uncapped, with no minimum spending requirement.
Take note that the 1% DCC fee, for SGD transactions processed overseas by a merchant, will remain. For comparison, the Trust Cashback card doesn’t charge this fee.
1% cashback on foreign currency spending
From now till 31 Dec 2025, cardholders can receive 1% cashback on foreign currency spending, with following conditions:
- Accumulate at least S$800 worth of spending per statement month
- Capped at $20 per month (S$2,000 worth of spending)
⚠️ As a reminder, this is a new benefit and will only kick in from August onwards if you are an existing UOB EVOL cardholder.
Also as a reminder, the Trust Cashback card offers unlimited 1% cashback as an evergreen benefit, as long as the spending is not from a preferred category.
Misleading “10% cashback” benefit now even worse
First, let’s get this out of the way: Why misleading? Well, there’s absolutely no way to get a true 10% cashback on this card due to the cashback caps and the tiny 0.3% cashback that cardholders would earn on other categories while chasing the minimum spending requirement.
As a refresher, let’s look at the key UOB EVOL card’s bonus cashback benefits before this change:
| Spending Category | Cashback | Cashback Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Online and Mobile Contactless | 10% | $30 ($300 spend) |
| Overseas (in-person) | 10% | $20 ($200 spend) |
| Others | 0.3% | $30 ($10,000 spend) |
With the previous benefits, cardholders can spend exactly $300 on Online and Mobile Contactless, exactly $200 overseas and $200 on others to meet the minimum spending of $800 per month. In this best-case scenario, cardholders can earn about 6.4% cashback max.
Now, let’s look at the new bonus cashback benefits:
| Spending Category | Cashback | Cashback Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Local Online and Mobile Contactless | 10% | $30 ($300 spend) |
| Selected Gym, Telco and Streaming | 10% | $20 ($200 spend) |
| Others | 0.3% | $30 ($10,000 spend) |
The bank has replaced the Overseas category with “Selected Gym, Telco and Streaming” and in a best-case scenario, cardholders can also earn about 6.4% cashback max. If the new category is not useful to you, you can earn a maximum of ~3.9% cashback through the Local Online and Mobile Contactless categories.
Annual fee
This card will continue to carry a S$196.20 annual fee (first year waived). However, cardholders can get it automatically waived by making at least 3 transactions (any amount) per month for 12 consecutive months.
Should you get the UOB EVOL card?
In my opinion, no. While it’s nice to finally see a traditional bank remove the FX junk fee, this is nothing more than a step in the right direction, in the eyes of consumers like myself.
If you want a credit card for foreign currency spending, the Trust Cashback card also offers zero FX fee PLUS additional benefits like:
- Unlimited 1% cashback
- No annual fee, ever (without conditions)
- Free unlimited overseas ATM withdrawals
- No DCC fee
What about the “10% cashback” benefit? Well, it’s just sad that Singapore banks continue to be allowed to advertise credit card benefits in that manner; even the Trust Cashback card is guilty of it. With the Online and Mobile Contactless category being the only useful one, you’d earn about 4% cashback realistically, when the $800 per month minimum spending requirement is met.
There are better miles and cashback cards for Online and In-Person spending and this card is nowhere near the best cashback card in Singapore. The refreshed UOB EVOL card should be a hard pass to most.
Terms and conditions
UOB shared the following terms and conditions of the revamped UOB EVOL card:
uob-evol-terms-and-conditions