The Maybank XL Rewards and XL Cashback Cards, targeted at those under 40 years old, were launched on 29 July 2025, just one day before I turned 40 (sorry guys, you’ll never hear the end of how I barely made it 😝).
Let’s look at why they are Suitesmile’s cards of the year for 2025 and listed in my guides of the best Miles and Cashback credit cards in Singapore.
💳 Card Of The Year 2024: Trust Cashback Card
Strong earn rates on key spending categories
The ironic thing about Singapore’s “Miles” or “Travel” credit cards is that all of them offer poor earn rates on flight and hotel bookings. For years, miles chasers (in the know) had to rely on just 2 or 3 “Rewards” credit cards to earn 4 miles per dollar when booking flights or hotels online.
Even if you were only into cashback credit cards, there were no good options for these travel categories.
Aside from travel spending, both cards offer strong earn rates (4 mpd and 5% cashback) on useful daily spending categories like Shopping (online and in-person), Dining, Food Delivery, Entertainment, plus, a generous Foreign Currency category that covers almost any kind of online or overseas spending.
✍️ Read my complete review of the Maybank XL Rewards Card
With insane credit card nerfs and award devaluations in the past couple of years, the new Maybank XL Rewards and XL Cashback Cards filled the gap nicely and were much welcomed by credit card min-maxers optimizers and frequent travellers. In fact, these rewards and cashback cards are more rewarding for travel spending than any “Miles” or “Travel” cards out there, let that sink in.
Here’s a quick summary of the earn rates on both cards:
| Card | Bonus Spending Categories | Bonus Earn Rate | Min. Spend | Max. Spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maybank XL Rewards | Dining, Shopping, Travel, Play, Foreign Currency | 4 mpd | S$500 (per cal. month) | S$1,000 (per cal. month) |
| Maybank XL Cashback | 5% cashback | S$500 (per cal. month) | S$1,600 (per cal. month) |
Key drawbacks of these cards
Maybank did great by introducing these useful credit cards into the market. However, the XL Rewards and XL Cashback cards are by no means perfect.
Here are the key negative points of both cards:
❌ Only available to those aged 21-39 years
❌ Points validity of only 1 year (but there’s a workaround)
❌ 3.25% foreign currency junk fee
❌ Min. spend of S$500 per calendar month required for bonus earn rates
❌ Max. spend of S$1,000 or S$1,600 per calendar month required for bonus earn rates
Quick summaries of Maybank XL Rewards & XL Cashback Cards
💡 Click on + Card Summary below to view key details like pros & cons, miles/cashback details, annual fee, income requirement, and more.
Maybank XL Rewards
4 mpd on flights, hotels, dining, shopping, foreign currencies
Maybank XL Cashback
5% cashback on flights, hotels, dining, shopping, foreign currencies
