As previously shared, the Chocolate Card is cutting base earn rates by a whopping 50% from 1 Jul 2025; from 2 mpd to just 1 mpd.
New Chocolate Card features and limitations
Let’s have a quick look at the key pros and cons of this Chocolate Card x HeyMax collaboration, effective from 1 Jul 2025:
Pros:
✅ No annual fee
✅ No foreign currency fee
✅ Many useful transfer partners
✅ Free miles conversions to frequent flyer programs
✅ Max Miles don’t expire
✅ Earn miles on every dollar spent (no $5 blocks like UOB)
Cons:
❌ Earn only 1 Max Mile per dollar, up to S$1,000 per calendar month (get 2 mpd with S$100k investment)
❌ Earn a maximum of 100 miles per calendar month on bill payments
❌ Debit card directly linked to investment (money deducted immediately)
Why you should consider other cards instead
At launch (in Feb 2025), I listed the Chocolate Card as a must-have Miles card, and the top card for the following spending categories:
As you can see, the key value proposition of the Chocolate Card is in areas where other Miles cards underperform.
From 1 Jul 2025, Chocolate cardholders can still earn miles from these transactions, but with a drastic rate cut and cap. However, given the limited options, one might think “well, at least I can earn some miles”. This is where the bigger picture needs to be considered.
Earning 1 mpd with a S$1,000 monthly cap gives you a maximum of 1,000 Max Miles per month, and only 12,000 per year. This is NOT a meaningful amount of miles to accumulate for flight redemptions, and it’s difficult to plan a miles/card strategy around it. In the Beginner’s Guide to the Miles Game, I encourage readers to not be “blinded” by Miles. Instead of going all-in with “Team Miles”, let common sense prevail, as there are many cashback alternatives in those categories that provide better value than 1 mpd.
Besides, cutting the base earn rate by 50% just 4 months after launch doesn’t sit well with me. I’m just not a fan of HeyMax’s unsustainable promos and “pump and dump” way of doing things, and, looking at the results of our poll on Telegram, it’s likely hurting its reputation. You simply can’t perform stunts like this and expect to be treated seriously.
Chocolate Card’s limited use cases
So, will the Chocolate Card be good for anything at all, come 1st July 2025?
Firstly, there are two commonly-excluded categories that survived the nerf:
- Education
- Charitable Donations
Chocolate cardholders can continue to earn 1 mpd with a 1,000 miles cap (instead of 100). But I’d personally use the AMEX True Cashback card for a straightforward 1.5% cashback.
HeyMax’s primary focus now appears to be its shopping portal, which rewards members with Max Miles for purchases at selected merchants (think of it as a ShopBack for miles). Buying vouchers and gift cards from HeyMax is a pretty good hack as it comes with a fixed MCC 5311 (Department Stores), giving you the opportunity to earn some Max Miles plus up to 4 mpd or 8% cashback at merchants where it’s usually not possible. If you’re earning Max Miles through other methods like this, it can be a reason to continue earning small amounts of Max Miles through the Chocolate Card.
