Last updated on 3 April 2025
Pick a category below to view the best cards
What are the Best Cards in Singapore for MRT & Public Buses?
1) Earn rates (miles/cashback)
2) Ease of use (spending/income requirements)
3) Miles/Points flexibility (total transfer partners)
4) Miles/Points expiry term
5) Annual fee
6) Other additional benefits
| UOB One | Up to 8.33% or 10% cashback • Min. spend $500/$1,000 per statement month for up to 8.33% cashback • Min. spend $2,000 per statement month for up to 10% cashback • Up to $500/$1,000/$2,000 per statement month • Maintain spending tier monthly, in a qualifying quarter |
| Maybank Family & Friends | 8% cashback • Transport category must be pre-selected • Min. spend $800 per calendar month • Up to $312.50 per calendar month |
| Chocolate Card | 2 mpd • Up to $1,000 per calendar month • No annual fee, ever |
| UOB Lady’s | 4 mpd • Transport category must be pre-selected • Up to $1,000 per calendar month |
| Citi SMRT | 5% cashback • Min. spend $500 per statement month • Up to $12,000 per card membership year |
| Maybank Platinum Visa | Up to 3.33% cashback • Min. spend $300/$1,000/$2,000 per calendar month • Up to $300/$1,000/$2,000 per calendar month • Maintain spending tier monthly, in a calendar quarter |
| KrisFlyer UOB | 3 mpd • Min. spend $800 per card membership year with Singapore Airlines Group |
| Maybank FC Barcelona | 1.6% cashback |
| HSBC Advance | 1.5% cashback +1% when min. spend $2,000, up to $2,800 per calendar month |
| HSBC TravelOne | 1.2 mpd |
| DBS Altitude | 1.3 mpd |
💡 Click on the + Card Summary buttons below to view the key details of each card.
UOB One
Earn up to 3.33% cashback on almost everything
More information on the
Most specialized cashback cards (offering over 1.7% cashback) require cardholders to meet multiple conditions. The conditions to receive up to 3.33% cashback on the UOB One card, in my opinion, are a little less complicated.
Cardholders can earn up to 3.33% cashback on a wide range of spending categories like online shopping, in-person shopping, dining, groceries, ride-hailing, food delivery, utilities and even phone/internet bills.
Why “up to” 3.33%? Upon meeting certain conditions, cardholders get a fixed cashback amount of $50, $100 or $200 at the end of each quarter.
How to receive up to 3.33% cashback:
- Mandatory: Make at least 5 transactions per statement month
- Get $50 cashback when you spend at least $500 per month, for 3 consecutive statement months in a qualifying quarter
- Get $100 cashback when you spend at least $1,000 per month, for 3 consecutive statement months in a qualifying quarter
- Get $200 cashback when you spend at least $2,000 per month, for 3 consecutive statement months in a qualifying quarter
In other words, you will only receive exactly 3.33% cashback when you spend exactly $500, $1,000 or $2,000 for 3 consecutive months in a qualifying quarter. For that reason, cardholders who spend $900/month in that same period would fall under the $500 band, and be rewarded with just $50 cashback (equivalent to 1.85%).
Cardholders who meet the conditions for up to 3.33% cashback described above can earn up to 6.67% additional cashback for spendings at selected merchants like Cold Storage, Giant, Grab, SimplyGo and Shopee.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First year waived)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
❓ When cashback is credited
Receive your cashback in the card by the following statement date after the completion of your qualifying quarter.
Maybank Family & Friends
Get 8% cashback on chosen categories
More information on the
This card gives you a strong 8% cashback on chosen spending categories, if you spend at least $800 (in SGD or foreign currency) on the card in a calendar month. Cashback is capped at $25 per category ($312.50 worth of spending) and $150 in total ($1,875 worth of spending).
Cardholders can choose 5 bonus categories (via Maybank’s TREATS SG app) from a list of 10:
- Groceries (default)
- Transport (default)
- Dining & Food Delivery (default)
- Retail & Pets (default)
- Data Communication & Online TV Streaming (default)
- Online Shopping
- Entertainment
- Pharmacy
- Sports & Sports Apparels
- Beauty & Wellness
Additional Bonus Category
Cardholders can also earn an additional 8% cashback on eligible purchases made in Malaysian Ringgit or Indonesian Rupiah, but not if they fall under the cardholder’s default/selected spending categories. If a transaction overlaps with these categories and exceeds the limit of S$312.50 per month, only the amount spent beyond that limit will qualify for the bonus. Cashback earned in this category is also capped at $25 per calendar month.
Pro tip: Can’t meet the $800 monthly spending requirement? You can purchase supermarket vouchers in store to make up the difference. These voucher purchases will be eligible for 8% cashback and can be used for grocery shopping in future.
Get just 0.3% cashback for other spending categories.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First 3 years waived)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
❓When cashback is credited
Cashback amount is credited into the card at the end of the statement month.
Chocolate Card
Earn 2 mpd on almost everything, no FX fees
🎁 Sign-up bonusNo sign-up bonus for the Chocolate Card at the moment, but get up to 250 miles when you sign up for a HeyMax account using the link below.
More information on the
In collaboration with HeyMax, this card gives you an earn rate of 2 miles per dollar on almost everything, up to $1,000 per calendar month. Cardholders also enjoy great foreign exchange rates and no foreign currency fees. Transactions beyond $1,000 per month earn 0.4 mpd.
As a Debit card, it has no income requirement, making it perfect for students (above 18 yrs) and retirees who are looking to accumulate miles. This card also does not have an annual fee.
This is a great card for all foreign currency spending, as well as transactions that are commonly-excluded from earning miles/cashback on other cards. This includes:
- Insurance
- Hospitals
- Utilities
- Road Tax, Season Parking, Traffic Fines
- Public Transport
- School Fees
Link to HeyMax: To earn miles on the Chocolate Card, you need to sign up for a free HeyMax account and link your card to your HeyMax account (in the HeyMax app or website).
Limitations of the Chocolate Card: As this is a Debit card, all spending on the card will be deducted directly from your Chocolate Account balance. Yes, you need to have sufficient money in your account before spending on the card. There are transaction limits of S$5k per transaction, S$20k per day. The Chocolate Card is protected by Visa’s Zero Liability Policy, which guarantees that you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or card details. For better peace of mind, you may freeze the Chocolate Card in the app when not using.
Having no annual fee, no income requirement, no foreign currency fee, no transfer fee and miles that never expire makes this a great card for miles chasers in Singapore; but only those who are aware of the benefits of Frequent Flyer Programs other than KrisFlyer.
Due to the low earn rate, this is not a good card for SGD spending on common categories like dining, groceries, online shopping, food delivery etc.
Read our detailed article on the Chocolate Card.
💸 Annual fee
No annual fee, ever
💼 Income requirement
No income requirement
🤑 Foreign currency fee
No foreign currency fee
⏰ Miles expiry
Max miles don’t expire
🫱🫲 Transfer partners
Executive Club, Aeroplan, Accor, Hyatt and more!
(Note: Max miles cannot be transferred to KrisFlyer)
💯 Transfer ratio
1 Max mile = 1 mile/point
🧮 Transfer block
1,000 miles or 10,000 miles
💲Transfer fee
Free
❓How/When miles are credited
Miles are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.
UOB Lady’s
Earn 4 mpd on chosen bonus category
More information on the
This card, which is also available to men, gives you a great earn rate of 4 miles per dollar on your pre-selected bonus category, up to $1,000 per calendar month.
Take note that cardholders will only earn 0.4 mpd on other categories and spending above $1,000 per calendar month.
Cardholders can choose/change a preferred bonus category every quarter.
The 7 bonus categories available are:
- Beauty & Wellness (e.g. cosmetic stores, hair salons, spas)
- Fashion (e.g. clothing, shoes stores)
- Dining (e.g. restaurants, food delivery)
- Family (e.g. supermarkets, children clothing stores)
- Travel (e.g. flights, hotels, duty-free stores)
- Transport (e.g. public transport, taxi, petrol)
- Entertainment (e.g. bars, night clubs, cinemas)
Cardholders may check existing selected bonus category by calling UOB.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First year waived)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
⏰ Points expiry
2 years from transaction
🫱🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer and Asia Miles
💯 Transfer ratio
1 UNI$ = 2 miles
🧮 Transfer block
5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles)
💲Transfer fee
$25 per transfer
🤗 Points pooling
UNI$ from this card can be combined with those from other UOB cards and transferred out together at once.
❓How/When points are credited
Earn 1 base UNI$ per $5 dollar spent, plus 9 bonus UNI$ for eligible transactions on the bonus category (equivalent to 4 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.
Citi SMRT
Get 5% cashback on online spending, groceries, transportation
More information on the
This card gives you 5% cashback on Online (except travel-related), Groceries, Ride-hailing and Public Transport spending upon meeting the minimum spend of $500 per statement month.
Cashback is capped at $600 per card membership year. This annual limit gives you the opportunity to get 5% cashback on $12,000 worth of eligible spending, making this card fantastic for large purchases!
Get just 0.3% cashback for all other spending categories.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First 2 years waived)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
❓How cashback is credited
Cash rebates are credited in the form of SMRT$. Cardholders are required to redeem them via SMS (min. $10).
Maybank Platinum Visa
Earn up to 3.33% cashback on almost everything
More information on the
Most specialized cashback cards (over 2% cashback) require cardholders to meet multiple conditions. The conditions to receive up to 3.33% cashback on the Maybank Platinum Visa card, in my opinion, are a little less complicated.
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, utilities, phone bills, and even insurance.
Why “up to” 3.33%? Upon meeting certain conditions, cardholders get a fixed cashback amount of $30, $100 or $200 at the end of each quarter.
How to receive up to 3.33% cashback:
- Get $30 cashback when you spend at least $300 per month, for 3 consecutive calendar months in a calendar quarter
- Get $100 cashback when you spend at least $1,000 per month, for 3 consecutive calendar months in a calendar quarter
- Get $200 cashback when you spend at least $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 $300, $1,000 or $2,000 for 3 consecutive months in a calendar quarter. For that reason, cardholders who spend $900/month in that same period would fall under the $300 band, and be rewarded with just $30 cashback from $2,700 worth of spending (equivalent to 1.1%).
💸 Quarterly fee
$21.80
(First 3 years waived, subsequent quarters waived if card is charged at least once every 3 months)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 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.
KrisFlyer UOB
Earn 3 mpd on dining, online shopping, selected travel spending
More information on the
This card gives you an uncapped 3 mpd earn rate on Singapore Airlines, Scoot, KrisShop and Kris+, as well as travel spending made on selected websites like airbnb.com, booking.com and expedia.com.
Cardholders can also receive the same uncapped 3 mpd earn rate (1.2 base + 1.8 bonus) on everyday spending categories like dining, online shopping, online food delivery, ride-hailing and public transport, when they spend at least S$800 on Singapore Airlines, Scoot or KrisShop collectively in a card membership year.
All other transactions earn 1.2 mpd, including foreign currency spending (very poor!).
On top of that, cardholders can also get priority check-in and boarding, free standard seat selection and one-time booking flexibility waiver on Scoot bookings made through flyscoot.com/KrisFlyerUOB.
While this card makes all the right headlines, cardholders should know that bonus miles (1.8 mpd) are only credited within 2 months, at the end of the card membership year. This can be a dealbreaker for many who do not want to wait up to 14 months to receive the bonus miles! The delayed miles crediting can also force you into paying the annual fee (instead of cancelling the card), if a waiver is not granted.
Another obvious point to note is that the miles earned on this card can only be transferred to KrisFlyer, albeit with no transfer fee.
Flexibility is very important in the Miles Game and unfortunately, this card offers very little of that. I recommend maximizing the limits of other 4 mpd cards first, before using this one.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First year waived, get 10,000 miles with subsequent annual fee payments)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
⏰ Miles expiry
3 years from the time they are credited into KrisFlyer account.
🫱🫲 Transfer partner
KrisFlyer only
🧮 Transfer block
N/A
💲 Transfer fee
No transfer fee
🤗 Miles/Points pooling
Miles earned from this card cannot be combined with those from other UOB cards and can only be transferred out separately.
❓ How/When miles are credited
Earn 6 base miles per $5 dollar spent, plus 9 bonus miles for eligible transactions (equivalent to 3 mpd in total). Base miles are credited into your KrisFlyer account at the end of each calendar month; bonus miles up to 2 months after the end of card membership year (up to 14 months).
Maybank FC Barcelona
Get unlimited 1.6% cashback, incl. Utilities, Hospital, School Fees
More information on the
This card gives you unlimited 1.6% cashback on almost everything, including spending categories that are commonly excluded by most credit cards in Singapore.
This includes Utilities, Hospital Bills and School Fees.
💸 Annual fee
$130.80
(First 2 years waived)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
❓How/When cashback is credited
Cashback amount is credited into the card at the end of the following month, after the spending is posted in the card account.
HSBC Advance
Get up to 3.5% cashback on almost everything
More information on the
This card gives you 1.5% cashback on almost everything, with no minimum spending required. Cardholders can receive an additional 1% cashback when they spend at least $2,000 in a calendar month. Monthly cashback amount is capped at $70 ($2,800 worth of spending).
Cardholders can also get an additional 1% cashback (total 3.5%) with HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme. To qualify, cardholders will need to credit their salary or deposit at least $2,000 into the bank account and perform at least 5 transactions on the card. Additional 1% cashback is capped at $300 per calendar month.
Cardholders also get complimentary access to the ENTERTAINER with HSBC app, where there are over a thousand 1-for-1 deals on dining, entertainment and hotels.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First year waived)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
❓How/When cashback is credited
Cashback amount is credited into the card at the end of next calendar month.
HSBC TravelOne
Earn 1.2 mpd on local spend, 2.4 mpd on foreign currency
More information on the
This card gives you an uncapped earn rate of 1.2 miles per dollar on SGD spending and 2.4 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending.
This is a great backup card, if you have exhausted all your specialized cards with better earn rates.
Having many transfer partners gives you fantastic flexibility. However, this card has a poor transfer ratio to KrisFlyer, a great frequent flyer program for travels to regions like Australia, New Zealand, Mainland China, India and Istanbul.
Cardholders are also entitled to 4 free airport lounge visits (via DragonPass) per calendar year! For example, if you apply for the card in March 2023, you will get 4 free visits for the current year, plus 4 more free visits from 1 January the following year.
Cardholders also get complimentary access to the ENTERTAINER with HSBC app, where there are over a thousand 1-for-1 deals on dining, entertainment and hotels.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(Get 25k points (10k miles) when you pay the annual fee from the 2nd year onwards. Get first-year waiver, if you don’t want the sign-up bonus.)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%
⏰ Points expiry
3 years from transaction
(37 months to be exact)
🫱🫲 Transfer partners
Asia Miles, Infinity MileageLands, Executive Club and more!
💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile
🧮 Transfer block
25,000 points
(10,000 miles)
💲Transfer fee
Free
🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other HSBC cards and transferred out together at once.
❓How/When points are credited
Base points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.
DBS Altitude
Earn 1.3 mpd on local spend, 2.2 mpd on foreign currency
More information on the
This card gives you an earn rate of 1.3 miles per dollar on SGD spending, and 2.2 miles per dollar on foreign currency transactions.
Other great features include 2 free airport lounge visits per year (Visa version only) and that the miles/points earned on this card do not expire.
💸 Annual fee
$196.20
(First year waived, get 10,000 miles with subsequent annual fee payments)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
AMEX: 3%
Visa: 3.25%
🛋️ Airport lounge access
2 free visits per calendar year via Priority Pass
⏰ Points expiry
Points earned from this card do not expire!
🫱🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, Qantas Frequent Flyer
💯 Transfer ratio
1 point = 2 miles
🧮 Transfer block
5,000 point (10,000 miles)
💲Transfer fee
$27.25 per transfer
🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other DBS cards and transferred out together at once.
❓How/When points are credited
Base points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted, while bonus points are credited around the middle of the following calendar month.