If you are still confused between miles and rebates card, read this page on Miles vs Rebates first.
What Miles Card you should own to travel better and for less?
While we have long established the fact that a miles card is better than a rebates card, this article aims to help you answer the burning question – “which miles card should I get?”
In order to quickly rake up your miles accumulation, be prepared to hold multiple credit cards in your wallet as we should as far as possible use a card that will yield us 4 miles per SGD spend which is one of the highest miles earning rate that we may get from a credit card in Singapore. The need to hold multiple cards is due to different banks offering 4 miles per SGD reward to encourage a certain consumer spending behaviour.
I will like to share with you the Miles Traveller Credit Card strategy for the month of December 2019 which is something that I have created for my friends and family to follow. This will provide you some guidance as to which cards you should acquire for the different 4 miles per SGD spending category.
There are generally 5 transaction categories out of which 3 will net you 4 miles per SGD.
1. Online Transaction: Making a purchase on the worldwide web
Three credit cards are recommended that will yield you 4 miles per SGD!
OCBC 90°N Mastercard: For purchases relating to airfares purchased on Singapore Airline Group website which includes Singapore Airlines, Silk Air and Scoot, Air Asia website and Jetstar website, you will earn 4 miles per SGD with no earning caps from now till 29 February 2020.
DBS Woman’s World MasterCard: Earn 4 miles per SGD for the first S$2,000 online spend per calendar month.
Citi Rewards Visa Signature: Earn 4 miles per SGD for the first S$1,000 online spend per statement month.
2. Contactless Transaction: Making a purchase by tapping your credit card over a paywave machine or through Apple Pay, Google Pay and Android Pay
My all-time favourite will be the UOB preferred Platinum Visa
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa: Earn 4 miles per SGD for the first S$1,000 Selected Online Transactions and Contactless Transactions per calendar month. For those that are driving, earn 4 miles per SGD at the pumps of SPC!
3. Overseas Transaction: Making a purchase in physical stores overseas or online overseas transactions. (Do note that some cards do not award 4 miles per SGD for the latter if there is a payment gateway in Singapore)
OCBC 90°N Mastercard: Earn 4 miles per SGD for transactions in foreign currency with no cap. Enhanced rate of 4 miles per SGD is available from now till 29 February 2020 after which it will fall back to 2.1 miles per SGD.
UOB Visa Signature: Earn 4 miles per SGD for spending between S$1,000 and S$2000 (inclusive) in foreign currency equivalent per statement month. Merchants must not have payment gateway in Singapore.
4. General Transaction: For any transactions that do not fall in the above 3 categories of 4 miles per SGD, we can use a general spending card which I termed “The Catch All” card
BOC Elite World MasterCard: Earn 1.5 miles per SGD is one of the higher earn rate for general spending that does not require an big pay check or large asset under management with a bank to apply. However, they do not waive annual fees which makes it very unattractive.
UOB PRVI Miles Visa, MasterCard and American Express: Earn 1.4 miles per SGD is the other better alternative to a general spending card.
5. GrabPay: Grab Singapore Transactions (Top up of Grab mobile wallet)
This is a unique category as many credit cards have excluded grab wallet top-ups from earning points though they do allow points earning only for rides.
Krisflyer Ascend American Express Card: Earn 3.3 miles per SGD on Grab Singapore transactions (include Grab Wallet top-up), up to S$200 spend in each calendar month. They are currently running a referral offer where you will get additional 7,500 Krisflyer miles when you spend S$1,000 in the first 3 months of card membership! – Sign up here
What if I only want to carry 1 card in my wallet?
I get this question a lot from friends whom just want to carry one card in their wallet. The most optimal card that I will recommend will be the UOB Krisflyer MasterCard (Credit version, not the debit one).
Earn rate are as follows:
- Earn 3 Krisflyer miles per SGD on dining, online shopping and travel, taxi rides and public transport (Require minimum of S$500 with SIA group per card membership year. Otherwise you will only earn 1.2 Krisflyer miles per SGD.)
- Earn 3 Krisflyer miles per SGD on Singapore Airlines Group related card transactions
- Earn 1.2 Krisflyer miles per SGD on all other spend
This is ideal if you are only intending to travel on Singapore Airlines and that you prioritise the convenience of holding one card rather than effectively maximising the miles accumulation as potentially, you are forsaking:
- 1 mile per SGD for the 4 miles per SGD spending category (3 vs 4 miles per SGD) and
- 0.2 miles per SGD for the general spending category (1.2 vs 1.4 miles per SGD)
New to Miles Card?
If you are new to miles earning, I will highly recommend to get the UOB suite of cards first as they have very good range of 4 miles per SGD cards (UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, UOB Visa Signature) as well as relatively decent general spending card that earns 1.4 miles per SGD. What’s more, points can be combined across the different UOB card accounts.
– END