What’s changed for 2026?
Here are the new considerations for my 2026 miles and credit card strategy update:
- Changes to Mari Credit Card
- KrisFlyer devaluation
- New Maybank XL Rewards Card
- New Maybank XL Cashback Card
- Changes to UOB Visa Signature Card
- Changes to DBS yuu Card
- Nerfed UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card
- Nerfed DBS Woman’s World Card
- Nerfed Chocolate Card
- Nerfed Citi Prestige Card
- Nerfed Amaze Card
During the pandemic years (2020-2022), I made a major shift in my miles and credit card strategy.
Instead of focusing only on credit card earn rates (miles-per-dollar value), I started putting more weight on miles/points flexibility, when choosing the best cards to use for each spending category.
This lack of reliance on KrisFlyer has paid off handsomely, as I’ve had little trouble finding award availability since then, even for last-minute trips!
📄 Compare the best Miles credit cards (with a 4 mpd earn rate)
Additionally, I am not a miles-at-all-cost kinda guy and I’m perfectly comfortable using great cashback cards when it clearly makes more sense, as I’m very much aware of other methods to acquire miles at a fair price (more about this later) and understand that miles are not priceless.
At a Glance: My Miles & Credit Card Strategy for 2026
My strategy prioritizes earning flexible, high-value miles that transfer to multiple airline partners, giving me the best chance to find Business and First Class award seats. This avoids getting my miles locked into a single program with limited award availability and/or a fixed expiry term.
- For Online Spending & Overseas Dining, Groceries, Shopping (4 mpd):
Citi Rewards Cards (+ Amaze for offline overseas use) are my primary cards. It covers the widest range of spending categories in any currency, with flexible miles earned. - For In-Person Shopping, Flight & Hotel bookings, Foreign Currencies (4 mpd or 5% cashback):
Maybank XL Rewards and XL Cashback Cards handle my in-person shopping, flight and hotel bookings, as well as all foreign currency spending (overseas or online). - For Groceries & Public Transport (4 mpd):
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card is my choice for in-person groceries and public transportation. - For Foreign Currency Spending (No Fees + 1.5% Cashback):
Mari Credit Card for foreign currency spending, if/when the limits of 4 mpd cards are reached. - For Overseas ATM Withdrawals (No Fees):
Trust Cashback Card is essential for FREE overseas ATM cash withdrawals, and a catch-all for foreign currency spending, if/when the limits of 4 mpd and Mari credit cards are reached. - For Utilities Bills, Insurance & Petrol (1.5% Cashback):
AMEX True Cashback Card covers petrol spending and payments that don’t usually earn miles, like utilities, insurance and hospital bills. - For Airport Lounge Access:
Citi Prestige Card provides 12 visits to airport lounges, restaurants & spas per year for me and my partner. - For Larger Online Spending (5% Cashback):
Citi SMRT Card is perfect for the occasional big-ticket online spending like buying miles, laptop, mobile phone or home appliances. - For Everything Else (1.5% Cashback):
Mari Credit Card is my catch-all card for in-person SGD transactions under S$5 and when the limits on the above cards are reached.
What’s my Travel Pattern?
Obviously, your best miles and credit card strategy depends on your travel pattern (i.e. where, when and with how many people you usually travel with). There is no “standard” strategy that works for every one.
I fully understand what type of traveller I am:
- Travel mostly as a couple
- Very flexible with travel dates
- Prefer redeeming miles for Business/First Class, on flights over 4 hours
- Enjoy trying out Business/First Class products from different airlines
- Perfectly fine travelling with low-cost carriers on flights under 4 hours
- Okay with travelling on non-direct flights (max. 1 layover, up to 5 hours)
- Okay with repositioning to a neighbouring city, where there is award availability
- Okay with paying for fuel surcharges, if the amount of miles saved is justified
- Don’t enjoy staycations, all hotel stays are in foreign currencies
Related: What Type of Traveller are you? Is your Travel Pattern a Good Fit for the Miles Game?
Why did I change my Miles strategy?
Prior to the year 2020, the “standard” Miles strategy was pretty straightforward: First, you’d pick the credit cards offering the highest earn rates for each spending category. Then, you’d transfer them to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, before redeeming them for a Singapore Airlines Business or First Class flight to a preferred destination.
So, why did I move away from this “cookie-cutter” miles strategy? The reason was actually really simple: Business and First Class seats were never meant for mainstream travel.
Over the past 4 to 5 years, we saw a massive increase in interest on award travel, and travel-hacking in general. As such, there are many more people “fighting” for the same number of Business/First Class seats, leading to shortage of award availability.
Besides, as compared to KrisFlyer, other FFPs require substantially fewer miles to/from popular regions like Europe, Japan and South Korea.
It’s unfair to expect airlines to accommodate to the increase in demand for premium award seats, as they want to sell them for as much as possible; these are for-profit businesses after all!
Furthermore, unlike larger countries like the US, the UK and Australia, there is only one major commercial airport in Singapore, where all Singapore-based mile-chasers fly to and from.
Unfortunately, it is impossible for everyone in Singapore to “win” the Miles Game. The reality is that a lot of us who are still “stuck” with the old strategy will end up making poor-value redemptions and/or end up with expired miles.
Related: Beginner’s Guide to the Miles Game and How to Get Started
My credit card strategy
My workaround? Start accumulating miles that improve my flexibility when trying to make an award redemption, and avoid micro-managing common traps hoops like MCCs and minimum spending requirements.
Instead of trying to earn as many miles as possible for every single transaction, and face the following issues:
❌ Expiring credit card miles, forcing me to transfer to a frequent flyer program (FFP) speculatively
❌ Expiring FFP miles, forcing me to make low-value redemptions
❌ Trouble finding award availability on my preferred dates/destinations
❌ Worry about the Merchant Category Code (MCC) for every single transaction
❌ Worry about meeting minimum spending to achieve higher earn rates
…I am perfectly okay with earning slightly fewer (but flexible) miles, and gaining the following advantages:
✅ On cards where miles do not expire, I can hold them in my card for as long as I want, and only transfer them to an FFP when I’m ready to make an award booking (if there is award availability)
✅ Have the freedom to search multiple FFPs for award availability (MUCH higher chance of finding one)
✅ Redeem fewer miles for the same routes, on certain FFPs/airlines
✅ No worries about MCCs
✅ No worries about meeting minimum spending
Here’s a breakdown of how I am currently using my credit cards every month.
Note: As some spending categories overlap, cards listed higher are always prioritized, until the monthly/annual limits are reached.
1) Citi Rewards Card (Mastercard)
I use this card for the following spending categories (in any currency):
- Online Shopping*
- Ride-Hailing*
- Food Delivery*
- Phone Bill
- Dining (via Amaze, foreign currency only)**
- Groceries (via Amaze, foreign currency only)**
- In-Person Shopping (via Amaze, foreign currency only)**
*Via Amaze if foreign currency (to save ~1% FX fee).
**Foreign currency only, as Amaze charges a 1% fee (min. 50 cents) on SGD transactions.
📄 Complete Review of the Citi Rewards Card
✅ Earn 4 mpd (max. S$1,000/month)
✅ 5-year points expiry term from card opening date
✅ Many useful transfer partners
✅ No worries about MCCs
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee (~2.1% via Amaze)
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Will not be as good without Amaze linkage
❌ Bad for flight and hotel spending
2) Citi Rewards Card (Visa)
Note: This Visa version of the Citi Rewards Card is no longer open for application since 2020, but Citibank is still sending it out to customers when their card expires. If/When this card is fully discontinued, I’d pick the next best card in this list for that particular spending category.
I use this card for the following spending categories (in any currency):
Citi Rewards Visa
(no longer open for application)
✅ Earn 4 mpd (Online only, max. S$1,000/month)
✅ 5-year points expiry term from card opening date
✅ Many useful transfer partners
✅ No worries about MCCs
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Bad for flight and hotel spending
3) Maybank XL Rewards Card
I use this card for the following spending categories (in any currency):
- Online shopping*
- In-Person shopping*
- Dining*
- Flights*
- Hotels*
- Food delivery*
- Miles/Points purchases
- Foreign Currency (online or overseas, any merchant category*)
*Via Amaze if foreign currency (to save ~1% FX fee).
**Broad foreign currency coverage including Utilities, Hospitals and School Fees.
📄 Complete Review of the Maybank XL Rewards Card
✅ Earn 4 mpd (Dining, Shopping, Travel, Foreign Currencies only, min. S$500/month, max. S$1,000/month)
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee (~2.1% via Amaze)
❌ 1-year point expiry term from transaction quarter
❌ Only 3 useful transfer partners
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Bad for groceries spending
4) UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card
I use this card for the following spending categories (in any currency, using the mobile contactless payment method like Google Pay or Apple Pay):
❗ Note: I only use this card for transactions of S$5 and above (as UOB rounds down your transactions to the nearest S$5 before awarding points).
✅ Earn 4 mpd (Mobile Contactless, selected Online spending only, max. S$600/month)
❌ Bad for small transactions due to S$5 earning block
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ 2-year points expiry term from transaction month
❌ Only 2 transfer partners
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Bad for online flight and hotel spending
5) Maybank XL Cashback Card
I use this card for the following spending categories (in any currency):
- Online shopping*
- In-Person shopping*
- Dining*
- Flights*
- Hotels*
- Food delivery*
- Miles/Points purchases
- Foreign Currency (online or overseas, any merchant category*)
*Via Amaze if foreign currency (to save ~1% FX fee).
**Broad foreign currency coverage including Utilities, Hospitals and School Fees.
✅ Get 5% cashback (Dining, Shopping, Travel, Foreign Currencies only, min. S$500/month, max. S$1,600/month)
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee (~2.1% via Amaze)
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Bad for groceries spending
6) Mari Credit Card
I use this card for the following purposes:
- Foreign Currency (online or in-person)
- In-person SGD transactions under S$5
- All other spending if/when the limits on other cards above are reached
✅ No foreign currency fee (save >3% vs other credit cards)
✅ Unlimited 1.5% cashback on SGD spending
✅ 1.5% cashback on foreign currency spending (max. S$1,500/month)
✅ No annual fee, ever
7) Trust Cashback Card
I use this card for the following categories:
- Overseas ATM Cash Withdrawals (free, no limits)
- Foreign Currency (online or in-person)
📄 Complete Review of the Trust Cashback Card
✅ No foreign currency fee (save >3% vs other credit cards)
✅ Unlimited 1% cashback
✅ Unlimited free overseas ATM cash withdrawals
✅ No annual fee, ever
❌ Bad for SGD spending
8) UOB Lady’s Card
I use this card for the following spending categories (in any currency):
✅ Earn 4 mpd (Travel category selected, max. S$1,000/month)
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ 2-year points expiry term from transaction
❌ Only 2 transfer partners
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
9) AMEX True Cashback Card
I use this card for the following spending categories (in SGD only):
- Utilities
- Insurance
- Hospital/Clinic
- Petrol (SPC only)
10) Citi Prestige Card
I use this card for the following purposes:
- Airport lounge, restaurant & spa access (capped at 12 visits per calendar year)
- 4th night free on hotel bookings (chain hotels only)
✅ Airport lounge, restaurant & spa access +1 guest
✅ 4th night free on hotel bookings
✅ S$651.82 annual fee always come with 32k miles
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ Poor earn rates
❌ S$120k annual income requirement
11) Citi SMRT Card
I use this card for the following purpose:
- Large Online Spending (e.g. buy miles, electronics, furniture)
✅ 5% cashback (min. S$500/month, max. S$12,000/year)
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Not good for online flight and hotel spending
⚠️ Good credit cards that I DON’T use
1) HSBC Revolution Card: HSBC almost-completely obliterated this card in 2024. I’d pick this card over other online shopping cards like DBS Woman’s World and OCBC Rewards, but I don’t regularly shop online enough (cards listed above already cover this card’s bonus categories very well).
🤗 *Patiently waits for an attractive HSBC sign-up bonus in the next few months*
📄 Complete Review of the HSBC Revolution Card
✅ Earn 4 mpd (online shopping, max. S$1,000/month)
✅ 3-year points expiry term from transaction month
✅ Many useful transfer partners
✅ No annual fee, ever
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ Bad for flight and hotel spending
❌ Bad for transfers to KrisFlyer
2) DBS Woman’s World Card: This card served me well in the past. But with only 2 useful transfer partners and a short expiry term of just 1 year, it is hardly useful to me these days, thanks to more-versatile cards listed above.
🤗 *Patiently waits for an attractive DBS/POSB sign-up bonus next year*
✅ Earn 4 mpd (online spending, max. S$1,000/month)
✅ Good for DBS Rewards voucher promos
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ 1-year points expiry term from transaction month
❌ Only 3 transfer partners
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ S$80k annual income requirement
3) DBS yuu Card: This is a fantastic card if you spend at least S$800/month (collectively) at specific merchants like Giant, Cold Storage, Gojek and Foodpanda. I don’t, especially because I perform the majority of my grocery shopping online (Shopee, Lazada etc.), a category covered by plenty of great miles and cashback cards.
But if I do, I won’t be that guy who chooses 10 mpd over 18% cash rebate. That’s like using this card to pay 1.8 cents per mile (which you can often do by purchasing miles outright).
✅ Earn 18% cash rebate or 10 mpd (specific merchants, min./max. S$800/month)
❌ Poor miles earn rate when compared to cash rebate alternative
❌ Miles only transferrable to KrisFlyer
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
4) UOB Visa Signature Card: This card is good, if I am 100% sure about meeting the minimum spending requirement. I don’t use it much as I don’t want to lose the opportunity to earn higher-quality miles from Citibank cards, while chasing the S$1,000 minimum spending requirement every month.
✅ Earn 4 mpd (foreign currency spending, min. S$1,000/month, max. S$1,200/month)
✅ Earn 4 mpd (contactless spending, min. S$1,000/month, max. S$1,200/month)
❌ 3.25% foreign currency fee
❌ S$1,000 minimum spending per month
❌ 2-year points expiry term from transaction month
❌ Only 2 transfer partners
❌ Have to request for annual fee waiver every year
❌ Miles credit cards that I AVOID
Understanding the above list makes it really easy to eliminate the usage of other miles-earning cards, especially general spending ones with low earn rates, poor flexibility and over 3% FX fees.
✍️ Read more about the best and worst Miles credit cards in Singapore
| Card | Earn Rate | Transfer Partners (with good transfer ratio) | Miles Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 mpd (SGD) 2.4 – 3 mpd (FCY) | 2 | 2 years |
| DBS Altitude | 1.3 mpd (SGD) 2 mpd (FCY) | 3 | Never expire |
| DBS Vantage | 1.5 mpd (SGD) 2.2 mpd (FCY) | 3 | 3 years |
| AMEX KrisFlyer | 1.1 mpd (SGD) 1.1 mpd (FCY) | 1 | Transferred automatically to KrisFlyer |
| AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | 1.2 mpd (SGD) 1.2 mpd (FCY) | 1 | Transferred automatically to KrisFlyer |
| OCBC 90°N | 1.3 mpd (SGD) 2.1 mpd (FCY) | 2 | Never expire |
| Chocolate Card | 1 mpd (SGD) 1 mpd (FCY) | 27 | Never expire |
Another popular card that I don’t use because of poor miles flexibility, is the KrisFlyer UOB card (read more about it here).
However, I can imagine it being useful to someone who spends a lot on Singapore Airlines or Scoot flights, or over S$5,000/month on dining and online shopping. If you don’t, there are plenty of better cards out there for those spending categories.
What if I don’t have enough miles for a trip?
If I need more miles for an award goal, here’s the game plan:
1) “Buy” miles through Citi PayAll
Because of its flexibility, I value Citi miles/points more than those from other banks.
For payments that can’t get me decent miles or cashback (e.g. taxes, bills, insurance), I use the Citi PayAll payment facility, which allows me to pay a small fee for my expenses, and receive miles in return; allowing me to “buy” miles for cheap when there is a promotion.
Note: This is not a no-questions-asked method of buying miles. You need to be paying for something legitimate.
2) Buy miles through good offers
Great FFPs like Aeroplan and the Avios family have good miles/points sales throughout the year. I’d aim for prices under 2 cents (SGD) per mile.
3) Boost Avios after transferring from credit cards
British Airways Executive Club allows members to boost Avios that were earned, or transferred from credit cards.
Members can boost their newly-earned Avios by 1x, 2x or 3x, at a rate of around 1.6 cents (SGD). This great rate is available to all members, capped at 300,000 boosted Avios per calendar year.
4) Buy Avios through a subscription
British Airways Executive Club also allows members to subscribe and buy Avios and a good rate of around 1.8 cents (SGD).
The catch is that only the top-tier plan, Adventurer, offers this rate. This plan requires you to prepay US$2,575 for an annual subscription, to receive 16,667 Avios per month, for 12 months. This works out to around 1.8 cents (SGD).
And yes, as 16.7k Avios is hardly enough for award redemptions, you should be planning ahead with this method.
5) Buy miles through UOB Payment Facility
UOB cardholders can usually buy unlimited miles at 1.8 – 2 cents each, no questions asked. This price is not bad, but it’s on the high side, and keep in mind of the limitations of UOB UNI$:
- Miles expire after 2 years
- Only KrisFlyer and Asia Miles are transfer partners
Where do I credit paid flights?
With sufficient miles and no award availability issues, I only pay for two types of flight:
- Error fares (some shared exclusively on Telegram)
- Outstanding fares
- Short haul on budget airlines (under 4 hours)
Generally, these are not big spendings, and as airline statuses are not useful to me, I credit these paid flights to FFPs that fit my award goals, at that time.
Award Redemption Goals: Which Frequent Flyer Program should you transfer your credit card Miles/Points to?
Summary
Business and First Class travel were never meant for the masses. If you haven’t already, it’s time to rethink your Miles strategy to stay on the winning side.
Have a look at Suitesmile’s sweet spot articles to compare the award rates across multiple FFPs to each region, and stay subscribed on Telegram or WhatsApp to be the first to know about the latest news, deals and hacks.
Hi Fai
Which card would you recommend for flight & hotel booking, ride hailing, food delivery, dining & offline shopping?
Thanks!
Hi, I’ve listed the top miles and cashback cards for each category in the following pages. Pick 1 from those listed near the top:
Flights: https://suitesmile.com/best-credit-card-for-air-tickets-singapore/
Hotels: https://suitesmile.com/best-credit-card-for-hotel-booking-singapore/
Ride-hailing: https://suitesmile.com/best-credit-card-for-grab-ride-hailing-singapore/
Dining: https://suitesmile.com/best-dining-credit-card-singapore/
Offline Shopping: https://suitesmile.com/best-credit-cards-for-in-person-shopping-singapore/
For a local sgd 50 spend on dining in person, would u choose to use the amaze+Citi or the uob ppv?
I’m okay with both, depending on my award redemption goal at that time: https://suitesmile.com/blog/2024/08/12/award-redemption-goals-which-frequent-flyer-program-should-you-transfer-your-credit-card-miles-points-to/
I used to use chocolate for public transport
After the choc nerf which card would u recommend for public transport?
Thanks!
The best miles and cashback cards for public transport are shared here: https://suitesmile.com/best-miles-cashback-cards-for-public-transport-in-singapore/
The UOB Absolute AMEX card is an easy choice, if you’re looking for a single-purpose card for this category. Remember to enroll to receive up to 50% cashback on SimplyGo transactions in Jul 2025: https://suitesmile.com/blog/2025/07/03/amex-cards-offering-up-to-50-cashback-on-public-transportation/
Why 20 SGD using Chocolate though. i would argue even 6 dollars spend with uob Preferred can earn 5*4=20 miles, VS chocolate only 6*2=12 miles?
On hindsight, you’re right. Using UOB PPV for anything above $5 (instead of $20) is a simple, yet more efficient approach. Thanks, I’ve updated the article.
Hi Fai,
I am very interested to see how the introduction of the Chocolate x Heymax collaboration will influence your selection of cards. For me, I am using the Citi Prestige + CardUp to pay for insurance premium and the Citi PayAll for (SP) utilities, and wonder if this card will take over those bills.
Definitely rethinking my credit card strategy now! Will share an update to the post in the coming weeks. 🙂
Hello Fai. You no longer list HSBC Revolution as must have card?
Hey, yeah, still a good card, but I no longer see it as a must-have due to the KrisFlyer devaluation.
hello Fai, just a note that recurring telco bill (e.g. GOMO, GIGA) for CR will not give the bonus pts. The workaround is to pair with Amaze to get the points. Just using CRV or CRM on its own will not get the points.
Hey, I’ve mentioned this in the dedicated Telco page. Thanks for the reminder!
https://suitesmile.com/best-telco-miles-cashback-credit-cards-in-singapore/