Updated 20 Aug 2020: Here are the updated offers for credit card signups for the month of Aug:
- Citibank cards: a pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds Live (worth $288) or $30 cash for existing cardholders
- Standard Chartered cards: a pair of Jabra Elite Active 75t True Wireless Earbuds (worth $318) for new cardholders or $30 Grab food vouchers for existing cardholders
- Maybank cards: $30 cash for new cardholders. Earn additional $100 cashback if you spend a minimum of $250 per month for two consecutive months upon card approval
The world will never be the same again after COVID-19. Things have become strangely normal – working from home; home-based learning; no option to eat out; online shopping and food delivery. As our lives move online, we find ourselves using our credit card more.
With so many cashback cards out there, it is difficult to choose one that suits your needs. In this article, I will review and find the best cashback credit cards in Singapore. You will stand to receive attractive prizes if you sign up for these credit cards via SingSaver – I have linked them here in this post.
Before you apply for a new credit card
There are two kinds of credit card users:
- Those who use credit cards for the perks and rewards
- Those who use credit cards to borrow money
For those in the latter group, please focus instead on paying down your credit card debts because the interest charges are insanely high.
Review Criteria
I will be reviewing each cashback credit card with the following criteria:
- Cashback eligibility criteria – how easy is it to get cashback?
- How broad is the eligibility criteria?
- Any minimum spend?
- Any restrictions on foreign vs local currency?
- Cashback rate – how much cashback can you get?
- Cashback rate
- Any cap on cashback?
Different Types Of Cashback Cards
With so many different options to choose, I have broken the cards into three main categories:
- Fuss-free cashback cards
- Reward cards used for cashback
- Complicated cashback cards
Here is a comparison of each type of cashback cards
I have created a content page for you to skip and jump straight into each section.
Fuss-free cashback cards – no category, no min spend but offers lower cashback rates
- Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card – best overall cashback.Jump straight to the review
- Citi Cash Back Mastercard® – best retail cashback. Jump straight to the review
- Maybank FC Barcelona – best local currency cashback.Jump straight to the review
Reward cards – most flexible. points can be converted into cash or other kinds of rewards, e.g. vouchers, miles, loyalty points etc:
- Citi Rewards Card – best overall rewards card for cashback. Jump straight to the review
- OCBC Titanium – great for cashback. Jump straight to the review
- Standard Chartered Rewards+ – for overseas spending. Jump straight to the review.
Complicated cashback cards – complicated criteria but potentially offers a higher cash rebate
- Maybank Family & Friends – best complicated cashback for local spend. Jump straight to the review
- OCBC 365 – good if you spend a lot on petrol. Jump straight to the review
- Citi Cash Back Card – great if you can optimize spending. Jump straight to the review
Niche cashback cards – the more interesting ones
- Maybank Manchester United – football betting?Jump straight to the review
- Standard Chartered Spree – online shopping, overseas and local.Jump straight to the review
Fuss-Free Cashback Comparison Summary
Fuss-free cashbacks are literary fuss-free. Just spend and forget and you will qualify for a flat rebate. You do not need to monitor your minimum spend or spend category. There are also no maximum cap on your cashback.
So, just spend and earn rebates. That’s it.
Here is an overview of three fuss-free cashback cards.
#1 Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card – Overall Best
Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card offers the broadest transaction categories which qualifies for cashback. It offers a slightly lower cashback rate of 1.5% (compared to 1.6% offered by the others). The difference of 0.1% is only $1 for every $1,000 spent.
- Broad spend transactions eligibility criteria – valid for all overseas and local spend.
- 1.5% cashback on all spend(almost all)
- No minimum spend
- No maximum cap
SingSaver is having a limited time only promotion for Standard Chartered credit cards. Receive a Jabra Elite Active 75T Wireless Earbuds. I have a Jabra Elite 75T, which I paid myself because I was unaware of this promotion, and it was pretty good. You can look at the reviews.
Apply for the Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card and receive a pair of Jabra Elite Active 75t True Wireless Earbuds (worth $318)
- New Standard Chartered Bank cardholders: Receive a pair of Jabra Elite Active 75t True Wireless Earbuds (worth $318)
- Existing Standard Chartered cardholders to receive $30 worth of Grab Food vouchers
- Card activation required.
- No minimum spend required.
#2 Maybank FC Barcelona – Best Cashback Card For Local Spend
Maybank FC Barcelona offers 1.6% cashback for a broad range of expenses, very similar to the Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback card. However, the cashback is only awarded for transactions in local currency. However, if you only spend in local currency, this card would be an obvious choice, unless you hate FC Barcelona.
- Broad eligibility criteria for cashback for transactions in local currency only
- 1.6% cashback for all local spend (almost all)
- For every $1 foreign transaction, 2 Maybank points will be awarded. The value of each point is worth $0.0029. Hence the cashback rate for overseas spend is only 0.59%
- No minimum spend required.
- No maximum cashback cap
- You stand a chance to win a trip for two to catch FC Barcelona LIVE (which is probably not happening during this period)
- You also get 5% discount at the FCBotiga official store in Camp Nou (Again, unlikely that you will travel there anytime soon)
Apply for the Maybank FC Barcelona via SingSaver and receive up to $130
- All new Maybank cardholders will receive $30 cash via PayNow
- Earn additional $100 cashback if you spend a minimum of $250 per month for two consecutive months upon card approval
- Promotion period is valid till 31 Aug 2020
#3 Citibank Cash Back+ Mastercard®- Best Cashback Card For Retail Spend
Citibank Cashback+ offers 1.6% cashback for all retail expenses, overseas and local. Fortunately, the retail expenses include dining, groceries and food delivery. Although the cashback eligibility is a bit narrower than the Standard Chartered unlimited cashback card, the Citi Cash Back Mastercard® is still pretty decent.
- Retail transactions are only eligible for 1.6% cashback. Unfortunately, transit or utilities are not eligible for cashback.
- No minimum spend required.
- No maximum cashback cap
Apply for the Citibank Cash Back+ Mastercard® via SingSaver and receive Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
- Get Samsung Galaxy Buds Live worth S$288 New Citibank cardholders. This is only applicable for the first 1,000 new Citibank cardholders. Subsequent customers will get S$200 cash
- Existing cardholders will receive $30 via PayNow
- You will need to activate your card and perform at least one transaction (of any amount) to qualify
- Sign up via the link below
Rewards Card Comparison Summary
I evaluated the three reward cards based purely on the cashback value and ignored the other benefits of the various programs, e.g. miles redemption, perks, etc.
The advantage of reward cards over fuss-free cashback cards is that they offer potentially high rebates. There is also no minimum spend to qualify for bonus points which makes it easier to obtain compared to complicated cashback cards which have a minimum monthly spend amount to qualify for bonus cashback.
So, it is the in-between choice for those wanting more than 1.6% rebate and do not want to spend a minimum amount each month.
The cashback value of the reward programs for the three cards are summarized below:
| OCBC Titanium | Citibank Rewards | Standchart Rewards+ | |
| Name | OCBC$ | CITI rewards | 360o Rewards |
| Points to cash conversion rate | 3600 points = S$10 | 440 points = S$1 | 32,000 points = $100 |
| Value of 1 point in SGD | $0.0028 | $0.0023 | $0.0031 |
#4 Citi Rewards Card – Best Overall For Reward Points Cashback
The Citi Rewards card is the best overall for this category because it awards 10x points for all retail spend, which is easy to get if you use this for shopping. The points are calculated from blocks of $1 from each transaction as opposed to OCBC Titanium which is in blocks of $5. This means, you can spend lower and get points. It also allows you to pay with points or get cash rebates easily. However, it also offers the lowest cashback rate.
- Although Citi rewards offers the lowest potential cashback rate (2.27%) among the three, it is the easiest to meet the 10x bonus rewards
- 10x points for retail spend.
- OCBC Titanium has the widest criteria for 10x bonus rewards (same as Citi and includes an additional electronics and computer, peripherals and software).
- Flexible and simple cash redemption. You can either pay for purchase with points or get rebates via sms.
- It has a maximum monthly cap of 10,000 points.
Apply for the Citi Rewards card via SingSaver and receive Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
- Get Samsung Galaxy Buds Live worth S$288 New Citibank cardholders. This is only applicable for the first 1,000 new Citibank cardholders. Subsequent customers will get S$200 cash
- Existing Citibank cardholders will get $30 cash via PayNow
- You will need to activate your card and perform at least one transaction (of any amount) to qualify
- Sign up via the link below
#5 OCBC Titanium – Great For Cashback
The OCBC Titanium is a close runner up. It offers higher potential cash rebate of 2.78%. All retail spend, including electronics, computers, peripherals and software, are eligible for bonus points. The cashback however is calculated on blocks of $5 per transaction which makes me feel like I am not getting the full amount of cashback.
- Bonus points of 50 OCBC$ are awarded for every $5 spent in electronic, computer, peripherals and software purchases. This is the widest bonus criteria compared to the other two cards.
- However, the minimum block eligible for points is $5. What this means is that for every transaction you make, it will be rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5, e.g. when you spend $14.99, the eligible amount for points is $10. Whether you spend $14.99 or $10, you will receive the same amount of points.
- It has a yearly points cap of 120,000
Apply for OCBC Titanium via SingSaver and receive up to $100 worth of Grab Food vouchers
- New OCBC cardholders will received $100 Grab Food vouchers
- Card activation within 30 days of card approval is required
- Promo is valid until 31 Aug 2020
#6 Standard Chartered Rewards+ – For Overseas Spending
Standard Chartered Rewards+ offers the highest potential cashback rate of 3.13% but only if you spend on overseas retail, dinning or travel, which is unlikely to happen in this post COVID situation. Also, your net cashback might be lower after taking into account foreign exchange spreads and fees.
- Highest cashback rate: 10x Points for overseas dining, retail and travel.
- 5x Points for local dining which translates to a cashback rate of 1.56%. Very close with Standard Chartered Unlimited.
- It is easier to accumulate points if you have other banking services with Standard Chartered bank
- The maximum cap of 20,000 points per year is low.
- The redemption option for cashback is limited to $100, which means you have to accumulate 32,000 points before you could even redeem. And the yearly cap is 20,000 which means you need to wait two years to redeem your first cash rebate.
SingSaver is having a limited time only promotion for Standard Chartered credit cards. Receive a Jabra Elite Active 75T Wireless Earbuds (reviews).
Apply for Standard Chartered Rewards+ and receive a pair of Jabra Elite Active 75t True Wireless Earbuds (worth $318)
- New Standard Chartered cardholders will receivea pair of Jabra Elite Active 75t True Wireless Earbuds (worth $318)
- Existing Standard Chartered cardholders will receive $30 worth of Grab Food vouchers
- Card activation is required
- No minimum spend required
Complicated Cashback Cards Comparison Summary
This category of cashback cards are very complicated and very difficult qualifying criteria for bonus cashbacks (like high yield savings accounts). They also usually have a minimum monthly spending criteria and a maximum cap which limits the amount of rebates you can get. But once you have optimized for them, you will reap higher cash rebates.
Here is an overview of the cashback bonus spend catgories:
Here is a comparison of three cashback cards in this category.
#7 Maybank Family & Friends: Best Complicated Cashback Card for Local Spend
The Maybank Family & Friends is the easiest to earn bonus cashback for this category. The bonus cashback is decent at 8% and capped at $80 monthly. The downsides are that it is limited to spending in Singapore and Malaysia and no extra rebates on petrol spend, which is not really an issue for me because I don’t drive.
- You get a 8% in this categories if you hit a minimum of $800:
- Groceries
- Fast food, deliveroo, food panda
- Transport and petrol
- Data Communication & Online TV Streaming (your telcos, netflix, singtel tv etc)
- Learning & Retail (Popular, Toys R Us and Yamaha)
- You will get 5% in the specified categories if you spend a minimum of $500-$799
- Other categories will earn 0.30% cashback
- Cashback cap is $80 (That is about $1333 spent on groceries). 0.30% cash rebates apply on any further spending that month after reaching $80 cashback.
Apply for the Maybank Family & Friends via SingSaver and receive up to $130
- All new Maybank cardholders will receive $30 cash via PayNow
- Earn additional $100 cashback if you spend a minimum of $250 per month for two consecutive months upon card approval
- Promotion period is valid till 31 Aug 2020
#8 OCBC 365 – Good If You Spend A Lot On Petrol
Compared to the Maybank Family & Friends, OCBC 365 6% rebate for dining is not that great. For the same monthly spend of $800, Maybank Family & Friends offers 8% cash rebate. Where OCBC 365 shines is if you spend a lot on petrol – 5% for petrol and 22.1% if you pump at Caltex and 20.8% if you pump at Esso.
- If you spend a minimum of $800 per month, you will get the following rebates:
- Dining & food deliveries – 6%
- Groceries, transportation, taxi, utilities, online travel – 3%
- Petrol – 5% and 22.1% for Caltex and 20.85 for Esso
- Other categories will earn 0.30% cash rebates
- Cashback cap is $80 per month. But once you hit it, you will no longer get additional cashback unlike Maybank Family & Friends which allows you to get base cashback rates.
Apply for OCBC 365 via SingSaver and receive up to $100 worth of Grab Food vouchers
- New OCBC cardholders will received $100 Grab Food vouchers
- Card activation within 30 days of card approval is required
- Promo is valid until 31 Aug 2020
#9 Citi Cash Back Card – Great If You Can Optimize The Cashback Requirements
Citi Cash Back Card (not to be confused with Citi Cash Back+ Mastercard ®), offers 8% cashback and up to 20.88% for petrol. So, what is the catch? It is the maximum cap of $25 cashback per category that makes it very difficult to get the full amount of cashback.
- If you spend a minimum of $888 per month, you will get the 8% rebates for the following categories:
- Dining
- Groceries
- Petrol, additional 20.88% if you pump with Esso or Shell
- Other categories will earn 0.25% cash rebates
- Cashback cap is $25 per category. Any additional spend in that category will only get you the base cashback rate of 0.25%.
- To get the 8% cash rebate, you will have to spend exactly $312.50 in dining, $312.50 in groceries, and $312.50 in petrol. You will have to spend equally on each category to maximize your cashback
- I will illustrate the optimal cashback rate below:
Apply for the Citi Cash Back card via SingSaver and receive Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
- Get Samsung Galaxy Buds Live worth S$288 New Citibank cardholders. This is only applicable for the first 1,000 new Citibank cardholders. Subsequent customers will get S$200 cash
- Existing Citibank cardholders will get $30 cash via PayNow
- You will need to activate your card and perform at least one transaction (of any amount) to qualify
- Sign up via the link below
#10 Standard Chartered Spree – Online Shopping Overseas And Local
Standard Chartered Spree offers high cash rebates of 3% for online spending in foreign currencies, and 2% for online spending in local currencies. With no minimum spend required, this is one of the better niche credit cards for online shopping.
- 3% cashback for online spending in foreign currencies
- 2% cashback for online spending in local currency
- Mobile or contactless payments also counts for 2% cashback. You could dine at a fast food restaurant and use contactless payment to get 2% rebate
- Other retail is 1%, e.g. if you shop at Takashimaya without using contactless payment or mobile payment.
- Maximum cap is $60 per month.
SingSaver is having a limited time only promotion for Standard Chartered credit cards. Receive a Jabra Elite Active 75T Wireless Earbuds(review).
Apply for Standard Chartered Spree via SingSaver
- 3% cashback on all online spend in foreign currency and all vPost spends
- 2% cashback on all online spend in local currency, all contactless and mobile payments
- 1% cashback on all other retail spends
#11 Maybank Manchester United VISA Platinum Card – Football Betting?
Maybank Manchester United VISA Platinum Card is certainly an interesting card. When Manchester United wins a league game, you stand to earn 3% cashback and 5x Maybank points. Otherwise, you will just earn 1% and 1 Maybank point. Given that the English Premier League had postponed matches until further notice, you will realistically hope to get 1% cashback for the year 2020.
- Whenever Manchester United wins an English Premier League match, you earn 3% cashback and 5x points which translates to $0.0147 per $1 spent.
- If Manchester United loses, you earn 1% cashback and 1x point.
- Like the Maybank FC Barcelona Card, you get to win a chance to fly to England to watch a live Manchester United match. So great for fans.
- You also get 10% discount at United Direct Online Megastore
Apply for the Maybank Manchester United VISA Platinum card via SingSaver and receive up to $130
- All new Maybank cardholders will receive $30 cash via PayNow
- Earn additional $100 cashback if you spend a minimum of $250 per month for two consecutive months upon card approval
- Promotion period is valid till 31 Aug 2020
Conclusion
My personal preference is any of the three fuss-free cashback cards: Standchart Unlimited Cashback, Citibank Cashback+ or Maybank FC Barcelona. I personally have been using the Standchart unlimited cashback since ages ago.
The Standchart Spree card also looks attractive to me since I am only shopping online nowadays.
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