Last updated on 6 December 2024
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
| SC Smart | 4% cashback • Till 31 Mar 2025, then 0.5% |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 mpd |
💡 Click on the + Card Summary buttons below to view the key details of each card.
Standard Chartered Smart
Get 4% cashback on public transport, fast food, streaming services
More information on the
This card gives you an uncapped earn rate of 4% cashback on public transport (via SimplyGo) and at selected merchants like:
- Public Transport (Bus and MRT via SimplyGo)
- McDonald’s
- KFC
- Burger King
- Ya Kun Kaya Toast
- Toast Box
- Netflix
- Spotify
- YouTube
- Disney+
Cardholders can enjoy this uncapped earn rate with no minimum spending requirement until 31 Mar 2025. From 1 Apr 2025, all transactions earn just 0.5% cashback when spending under $800 per month.
💸 Annual fee
No annual fee
(till 6 Dec 2025, then $99.19/year)
💼 Income requirement
$30,000/year
🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.5%
⏰ Points expiry
Every 3 years from card opening date
🫱🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer only
💯 Transfer ratio
3.45 points = 1 mile
🧮 Transfer block
34,500 points (10,000 miles)
💲 Transfer fee
$27.25 per transfer
🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Standard Chartered cards and transferred out together at once.
❓ How points are credited
Earn 1.6 base points and 17.6 bonus points at selected merchants.
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 and 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).
KrisFlyer UOB
Earn 3 mpd on dining, online shopping and 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. For this reason, I recommend using this card over other General Spending cards with similar earn rates.
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 to 38 months to be exact)
🫱🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, 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 (till 31 jan 2025)
🤗 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.
UOB PRVI Miles
Earn 6 mpd on selected airlines, 1.4 mpd on local spend
More information on the
This card gives you a strong earn rate of 6 miles per dollar on air tickets on selected airlines (e.g. Turkish Airlines, Finnair, Thai Airways and more) booked via the dedicated Expedia link.
Transactions made in the following currencies earn 3 miles per dollar, uncapped, with no minimum spend:
- Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
- Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)
- Thai Baht (THB)
- Vietnamese Dong (VND)
All other local transactions earn 1.4 miles per dollar, while foreign currency transactions earn 2.4 miles per dollar.
Cardholders can also receive 4 free airport lounge visits per calendar year, regardless of the number of PRVI Miles card (Mastercard/Visa/AMEX) that you hold. Take note that this lounge entitlement can only be used for the main cardholder (guests chargeable at US$35 per visit). One-time enrollment is required at least 12 hours before first lounge entry.
As this card only has 2 transfer partners, expiring points and $5 earning blocks, it is barely useful for Singapore-based travellers, considering the other options that we have.
On top of that, this entry-level card has a higher annual fee that other General Spending miles cards, and, unlike those cards, cardholders who pay the annual fee of this card from the second year onwards will not receive any miles.
Additional note: UOB tends to quietly deduct points (UNI$) from your account every card anniversary, as “annual fee payments”. Set a reminder to always ask for an annual fee waiver, as this card is not worth its annual fee.
💸 Annual fee
$261.60
(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
Base UNI$ are credited immediately when the transaction is posted; bonus UNI$ within 3 months.