Best Credit Cards for School Fees (Miles vs Cashback)

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card gives you uncapped earn rates of 1.4 miles per dollar on SGD spending and 2.4 per dollar on foreign currency spending.

Receive unlimited free airport lounge visits until 31 May 2026 and 12 free visits per card membership year from 1 Jun 2026.

This card is marketed as a “premium card”, with higher-than-usual annual fee of S$654 and minimum annual income of S$120,000. However, the benefits are, for the most part, worse than entry-level miles/travel cards.

With low earn rates, only 2 transfer partners, expiring miles and S$5 earning blocks, it is hardly useful for Singapore-based travellers as there are many stronger Miles cards in Singapore for spending. This card should only be treated as a backup, if you have exhausted all your 4 mpd cards with better earn rates and/or if you want free airport lounge access.

Notably, the Citi Prestige Card, which comes with a similar annual fee, offers 32,000 miles every year with annual fee payment, while the UOB Infinite Metal Card offers just 25,000 miles.

Before converting UOB UNI$ to miles for the first time, you’d need to enrol in the UOB Rewards Frequent Flyer Conversion programme. It’s best to do this early to avoid delays on your future miles conversions.

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💸 Annual fee
S$654
(No waiver)

💼 Income requirement
S$120,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

🛋️ Airport lounge access
Unlimited* free lounge visits (via DragonPass)
^{*Dropping to 12 visits per card membership year from 1 Jun 2026.}

⏰ Miles expiry
2 years from transaction

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer and Asia Miles

💯 Transfer ratio
1 UNI$ = 2 miles

🧮 Transfer block
5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles)

💲 Transfer fee
Free

🤗 Points pooling
UNI$ from this card can be combined with those from other UOB cards and transferred out together at once.

❓ How/When points are credited
Base UNI$ are credited immediately when the transactions are posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
Earn uncapped 3.2 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending, when you spend at least S$4,000 per calendar month on the card.

On top of that, receive base miles (1.2 mpd for local, 2 mpd for foreign currency transactions) on commonly-excluded transactions such as insurance, education and medical.

Get 4 complimentary airport lounge visits per card membership year, but note that this lounge entitlement can only be used for the main cardholder (guests chargeable at US$35 per visit).

Cardholders can also receive up to 8 complimentary airport limo rides per calendar year by spending at least S$3,000 on the card in the previous month.

Miles/Points earned on this card are pretty flexible, as they do not expire. Holding other Maybank cards? Having this card will also remove the expiry term of miles/points earned off all your other Maybank cards.

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💸 Annual fee
S$654
(First year waived)

💼 Income requirement
S$150,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Points expiry
Points earned on this card never expire

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Enrich

💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile

🧮 Transfer block
KrisFlyer: 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
Asia Miles & Enrich: 12,500 points (5,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
No transfer fee

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Maybank cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How points are credited
Earn 5 base point per S$5 spent, plus 35 bonus points for foreign currency transactions (equivalent to 3.2 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
Earn uncapped 2.8 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending, when you spend at least S$800 per calendar month on the card.

Earn uncapped 3.2 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending, when you spend at least S$4,000 per calendar month on the card.

Cardholders can also earn uncapped 4 miles per dollar on fuel spending. Given the high amount of cashback (over 20%) that you can get with other cards, this card is best used at Sinopec fuel stations, where all members get between 20% to 23% fuel discounts, regardless of the type of card used.

On top of that cardholders can also receive 4 mpd on non-fuel purchases at the fuel station.

Cardholders also get 4 mpd at selected merchants.

All other transactions earn just 0.4 mpd.

Miles/Points earned on this card are pretty flexible, as they do not expire. Holding other Maybank cards? Having this card will also remove the expiry term of miles/points earned on all your other Maybank cards.

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💸 Annual fee
S$261.60
(First year waived)

💼 Income requirement
S$80,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Points expiry
Points earned on this card never expire

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Enrich

💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile

🧮 Transfer block
KrisFlyer: 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
Asia Miles & Enrich: 12,500 points (5,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
No transfer fee

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Maybank cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How points are credited
Earn 5 base point per S$5 spent, plus 30/35 bonus points for eligible foreign currency spending (equivalent to 2.8/3.2 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary

Cardholders can receive an uncapped earn rate of 2.8 miles per dollar on foreign currency transactions, when spending at least S$800 per calendar month.

On top of that, cardholders can also receive 2.8 miles per dollar on flight bookings, when spending at least S$800 per calendar month. However, this bonus earn rate is capped at S$10,000 per calendar month.

Other whitelisted transactions in SGD earn 1.2 mpd, and non-whitelisted ones just 0.24 mpd.

Miles earned on this card expire after just 1 year, and can only be transferred to 3 Frequent Flyer Programs. Because of its poor flexibility and minimum spending requirement, this card is best used for more-expensive flight bookings in Singapore Dollars and school fees in foreign currencies.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First 3 years waived)

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR),
S$45,000/year (Malaysian),
S$60,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Points expiry
1 year from transaction
(No expiry if you also hold the Maybank World Mastercard)

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Enrich

💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile

🧮 Transfer blocks
KrisFlyer: 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
Asia Miles & Enrich: 12,500 points (5,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27.25 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Maybank cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How points are credited
Earn 5 base point per S$5 spent, plus 30 bonus points for eligible online transactions (equivalent to 2.8 mpd in total).

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card gives you unlimited 1.5% cashback on almost everything! This includes spending categories that are usually excluded from earning cashback/miles on other cards like Utilities, Insurance, Hospital and School fees.

Cardholders can also get a 22% discount at SPC fuel stations per year. The Registration is required via the AMEX mobile app.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how the SPC discount is calculated:

• 10% instant discount as an SPC&U member
• 5% instant discount for using an AMEX card
• 7.1% statement credit from the amount that was charged to card
• 1.5% statement credit from the amount that was charged to card

As compared to Visa and Mastercard, it can be harder to find merchants that accept AMEX cards outside the United States.

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💸 Annual fee
S$174.40
(First year waived)

💼 Income requirement
Not stated (usually S$30,000)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

❓How/When cashback is credited
Cashback amount is credited into the card by the end of the statement month.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary

Cardholders can earn up to 3.33% cashback on a wide range of spending categories like online shopping, in-person shopping, dining, groceries, flights, hotels, ride-hailing, food delivery, phone bills and even insurance* and school fees*.

*3.33% cashback on commonly-excluded categories like Insurance, School Fees and Medical Bills, note that they can only make up a maximum of 30% of your spending tier (e.g. max. S$300 for the S$1,000 tier).

Why “up to” 3.33%? Upon meeting certain conditions, cardholders get a fixed cashback amount of S$30, S$100 or S$200 at the end of each quarter.

How to receive up to 3.33% cashback:

• Tier 1: Get S$30 cashback when you spend at least S$300 per month, for 3 consecutive calendar months in a calendar quarter
• Tier 2: Get S$100 cashback when you spend at least S$1,000 per month, for 3 consecutive calendar months in a calendar quarter
• Tier 3: Get S$200 cashback when you spend at least S$2,000 per month, for 3 consecutive calendar months in a calendar quarter

In other words, you will only receive exactly 3.33% cashback when you spend exactly S$300, S$1,000 or S$2,000 for 3 consecutive months in a calendar quarter. For that reason, a cardholder who spends S$400 to S$900 per month in that same period would unfortunately fall under the S$300 band, and be rewarded with just S$30 cashback from S$2,700 worth of spending (equivalent to 1.1%).

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💸 Quarterly fee
S$21.80
(First 3 years waived, subsequent quarters waived if card is charged at least once every 3 months)

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR),
S$45,000/year (Malaysian),
S$60,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

❓ When cashback is credited
Receive your cashback in the card by the following calendar month after the completion of a calendar quarter.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

This card gives you a strong 5% cashback on selected spending categories like flights, hotels, dining, shopping (in-person & online), food deliveries, entertainment and foreign currencies (overseas & online), when spending at least S$500 and up to S$1,600 per calendar month.

But oldies beware, this card is only available to those aged 21 to 39 years old.

Qualifying transactions:
Only whitelisted Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) for each spending category qualify for the bonus earn rate. Unsure about the MCC? Check before making the payment.

However, if you’re spending in a foreign currency, it doesn’t matter what the MCC is, provided it doesn’t fall under the general exclusions stated in the t&c. What’s great is that typically-excluded spending categories like Utilities, Medical and Education qualify for 5% cashback, when paying in a foreign currency.

All other transactions earn just 0.2% cashback (uncapped).

Cardholders can reduce the foreign currency fee by about 1% by pairing this card to Amaze. IMPORTANT: Only do this for the non-foreign currency bonus categories (flights, hotels, dining etc.) made in foreign currency (not SGD).

If you’re into the Miles, check out the highly-rated Maybank XL Rewards Card.

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💸 Annual fee
S$87.20
(First 2 years waived)

👶 Age requirement
21 to 39 years old

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR),
S$45,000/year (Malaysian),
S$60,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

❓When cashback is credited
Cashback amount will be credited to the card at the end of the next calendar month.

📜 Terms & conditions