EDIT: Please use the corrected table here. The first version had some errors in it (v1.2)
EDIT EDIT: I’m going to start version tagging this so you know if you have the latest (v1.5)
I know this is long overdue, but here’s a small pictoral guideย you can save to your phone if you need reminding which card to use in what situation.
To save this, simply right click and save as picture. You can then keep this on your smartphone and call it up as and when it’s needed.
Does this guide tell you what the absolute best card to use in each situation is? Yes and no- you can use your Prepaid Imagine AMEX to get 4 miles on general spend of up to $2,000 per month, but I’ve not reflected that here. Or, if you spend very little on shopping in general it may not be worth it to get the Citibank Rewards card just for shopping- you might want to put that on your general spending card.ย What you decide in the end is based on your own unique circumstances and how much you value the tradeoff between miles and rewards.
Note that certain categories like groceries, petrol etc can be captured under headers like Paywave (if available and if it’s not one of the excluded merchants). If your category isn’t mentioned here, it goes under general spend.
Happy earning!
Hi Aaron. For online paypal – wouldn’t DBS women’s card work too? Also, DBS Altitude 3 miles for the above? I reckon it will be 2 miles / dollar. Might be missing something here/
nope you’re not. you just spotted a very bad mistake i made. i’ve fixed that, sorry for the confusion and thanks for pointing it out.
no worries! Thanks for sharing the great work! we’ll help one another ๐
As mentioned by Mark, DBS Women’s card should be an option for (most) PayPal payments. Believe there are some exclusions. Citi Rewards gets 4x miles, too – I’ve been using it successfully for things like Straits Times subscriptions.
Might be best to clarify that the UOB Visa Signature 2k cap is per statement month. Easily misinterpreted as calendar month when you just say “per month” ๐
good point, will edit
Great summary!
If I am not mistaken, UOB visa signature $1 for 4 miles should also be applicable for online transactions in foreign currency.
I took this from their terms & conditions:
“Overseas Spend Cardmember will earn UNI$10 for every S$5 spent overseas or online in foreign currencies (including card-not-present transactions in foreign currencies like ecommerce/mail/phone order transactions) successfully carried out on and charged to the Card (the โOverseas Spendโ)…”
I might be wrong. Great work though!
you’re right. weird, i could have sworn it said “excluding”. I don’t know how I ended up thinking that. Will fix it, many thanks. This actually changes some of the calculus in my head because I had been assuming it excluded card not present transactions.
Great post!
Where do I find info on the Prepaid Imagine AMEX air miles details? I searched their website but the search function is not working.
Thank you!
hey- you can get a site directory here
https://milelion.com/start-here/making-the-most-out-of-the-milelion/
control-f imagine- the link is there
hi toothpick- i’ve been following the FT thread on flyertalk. thanks for speaking up for the site! We don’t get everything right here but we try. One clarification- you mentioned that UOB PPV gets 4 miles per $1 for topping up fevo/imagine. that’s incorrect, only DBS woman’s card does. the UOB T&C specifically exclude topping up of prepaid cards. i’ve updated the article to state that explicitly and avoid any confusion
[…] https://milelion.com/2016/03/12/milel…rd-guide-2016/ A perfect summary of what card to use. […]
Great work again. Appreciate the categorisation based on spend.
As a help to the SG Miles and points community, please remove row #3. We don’t want the banks to kill this one.
i’m certain the banks know the more favourable terms, its not useful to hide info from others.
@ Bleah agree with bento on this one, the banks aren’t stupid, they know what they are and aren’t awarding points for. DBS is probably more than aware that they’re awarding 10X on categories that UOB doesn’t, like parking fines, membership fees, prepaid topups etc. The reason they continue doing it might be to give them a leg up on UOB. i think this is conceptually different from revealing some loophole in a program (like the mysterious lifemiles codewords they use to identify throwaway ticketing opportunities), so I’m going to keep this in with the aim of helping other people… Read more »
Too much publicity = benefit gone.
Case-study = Serve card in USA
I did not get the rewards bonus for DBS Woman on Paypal transaction. Also you can link ur DBS woman with Nets Flash Pay. Each ATU will qualify for 4 miles per dollar. I had used flash pay at areas that do not accept credit cards.
Hey Aaron, one big expenditure I’ve been grappling with to optimize into miles is petrol. What’s your take on the best way to accrue miles for fuel spend? I believe that it differs according to petrol companies (which is a highly subjective choice) and across various banks/cards. I know its a big topic, perhaps a good topic for a future post? ๐
All UOB cards award their points/miles for every block of $5 spent. Citibank awards points/ miles to nearest dollar. ANZ Travel goes down to the cents. This should be taken into consideration during the spending.
Thanks for this useful guide but I don’t see the card that the 4. clause is referring to, are my eyes playing tricks on me?
Also, shouldn’t the DBS Altitude be included under the travel section of local spend?
clause 4 refers to dbs altitude. right most column second from bottom
i’m not sure i understand your second qn, but the second row from the bottom refers to online travel transactions, like buying airtickets or hotels online. doesnt matter if this is foreign currency or SGD, you should use altitude (you can use uob prvi miles if it’s SQ/MI, but dbs altitude gives 3 miles per dollar regardless of airline).
let me know if i didnt understand you properly!
Citibank rewards card 4miles/$1 is capped at 12k a year
thanks added
Does Citibank allow for Citi miles and Citi$ to be transferred together? Wondering if there is any difference between taking Citi Clear Platinum or HSBC Revolution if I already have two Citi cards (Premiermiles and Rewards) ?
I think clear platinum was removed for application.
phone applications are still accepted, as per hearsay.com. I’ve yet to hear of anyone applying for one through phone though….
i believe you can call in and ask, but i’ve never tried before
Tried calling for clear platinum earlier this year. Was informed by CSO no longer applicable for signup.
thanks for confirming
Hi
Just curious if you know whether or not you get 4 miles per $ on the UOB PP Visa for overseas paywave? I was using in for paywave in Australia.
i think you don’t, given that UOB is one of the implementing partners of paywave tech in singapore and they’re trying to steer more people to the platform through this offer. outside there are other banks pushing the initiative so it doesn’t make sense for uob to incentivise that
I have used the card for paywave overseas and been awarded the 4 miles/$.
I dont know where to write this, but apparently DBS altitude just reduced its min income to 30k per annum. Should be good news for many people.
thanks! have covered that
Thanks! Will be trying for it now. Finally a general spending card.
amex and visa variant has changed their signup bonus. No more free bonus for signing up the amex. Need to spend a certain amount now. Need to plan for it.
Would the UOB PPVisa work for paypal?
no. see here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ffbzrIlK7iTO_IAT7nzk8ULWf1zsRX9F-rniLbRwwR4/edit#gid=1
Thanks for the link. Super helpful. What about booking.com?
not for uob pref platinum visa. see here
* Online retail transactions are transactions for purchases of goods or services via the internet using the Card. Online merchants include merchants that fall within the categories of bookstores, cinemas, entertainment, electronics, fast food, music and retail shopping, but excludes all merchants that fall within the categories of airline, travel, transport,top-ups for any pre-paid card, government, utilities, telecommunications, brokerage/securities, insurance, education/tuition, online money transfers and online gambling websites and such other categories of online merchants as UOB may exclude from time to time.
Hi! Thanks for the great work there Aaron!
I’ve tried to apply for a Citibank Clear Platinum card recently, only to find that the card would be discontinued in April 2016, and they have stopped all new applications. *sadface ๐
have you tried calling in? got mixed reports on this but apparently this is a uob pref plat amex situation where they’ve only demarketed the card on the site but still take sign ups by phone. haven’t tried it personally though
I was at a M1 store today for some admin and chanced upon a Citibank representative. He called his superiors to ask about it, got back to me saying that it would be discontinued soon. I’ll give them a call tomorrow, keep you posted.
thanks. it figures really. if ezlink didn’t find fevo profitable, given AMEX’s higher merchant fees, how much more a visa/mastercard prepaid? assuming the commercial arrangement is similar, there’s less pie to go around.
Gave their sales team a call a couple of minutes ago, they confirmed that they are no longer issuing Clear Platinum Cards ๐
Has anyone confirmed if the dbs world woman’s card works for axs online?
Didn’t for me. Need to proxy through Fevo (not tested yet).
Hi Phil,
Did you make the payment through Masterpass or Mastercard credit card option on the E-AXS website?
I have an impression seeing from another site that as long as payment is made through Masterpass, it is treated as an online transaction through DBS world woman’s card. Could you verify this?
I imagine I used Masterpass, but cannot remember for sure and my bill just lists as “AXS PAYMENT” which is excluded from points in DBS’s TnCs.
To be honest I do not think it matters. Masterpass is not like Paypal, it does not proxy transactions. Its just passing through your CC details to the vendor.
Yes it works, base on the data I had in Jan.
I had receive a total of 1429 DBS points with a total spending of 724.23 dollar. Seems like paypal payment of 10.30 is only counted as 1 point.
Doing the maths. 724.23 dollar โ 10.30 give me 713.93 dollar. Divided this value by 5 give me 142.786, which is equivalent to 1427 points; include two points from the paypal transaction adds up to 1429 points.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3YFxjWKiGZcU1NwbVR6SGxtN3M/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3YFxjWKiGZcd3J6NnYxQVQ4ZU0/view?usp=sharing
Thanks! I have been paying using fevo on AXS online. From carpark to S&C and Telco bills – it is a lot of money. If it is treated as an online transaction then I need not use fevo which saves me that 1% fee. It is not a lot but still….
I ask because people reported paypal does not give 4 miles per $ which is strange. Aaron said his works but he uses paypal to pay another person which can be different from using paypal to pay a merchant. Can’t comprehend why it should be different…
Hi Guys,
Do you have any new cards that could earn miles both locally and overseas you would recommend.
I just found out that Citi Clear Plat no longer accepts new application =(
Thank you!
Sorry correction here:
Do you have any new cards that could earn miles both locally and overseas for DINING you would recommend.
the dining cards have been summarised here. hsbc advance, hsbc revolution and ocbc voyage may be your best bet now that citi clear plat and uob pp amex are dead (pp amex- people still reporting successful sign ups…)
Just saw the dining cards article. For HSBC Advance Visa Platinum at a potential 4 miles / $ for online spend (minus paypal?) and local dining, this seems like a good card to list as well.
might work for wedding dinner spends on non-hotel establishments.
thanks mark- the issue with HSBC advance is that it’s not easily available to most people, you have to be willing to lock away a certain amount of money with HSBC in an advance account…
I see. sorry bout that. When i read the conditions listed i was under the impression that it was quite easy to fulfill one or more requirements. didn’t know one needs to park some money with them.
Although it will be nice to have 1) Premier card that does cashback + points for all petrol (~20% rebate, inline with all cards), 5% on groceries, in addition to 1 point per dollar + at a lower redeemtion rate (10% lesser) + weekday food where you get around 2%. 1a) extra point here, if you were to redeem the car wash voucher (~1200points for 10 bucks at caltex) this is an additional 0.8% 2) OCBC 365 on weekends, just for food @ 6% rebate 2a) bonus is you get additional 0.5% on your 360 account. 3) Advance Credit card… Read more »
Any current credit card that is good for miles when I pay for my insurance annual premium? Have a prudential premium coming up
Using Apple Pay linked to the uob pp visa should also net us 4mpd right?
Hi aron,
i am applying for Australia Permanent Residency for my family .. So i will have to make a transaction of about 8K AUD at one shot.
I have CITI Rewards Card / DBS MasterCard World/DBS Altitude Visa cards
I dont know what transaction it will be . Its for immigration.
can you guide what would be best card for me to use it.
Hi Aaron, thanks for the awesome summary!
Between DBS Altitude Visa and CitiBank PM – which would you advise? I’m an average spender with a tendency to spend more on dining and groceries and online shopping. Thanks!
what Zack said- hsbc advance, but the 10x promotion expires at the end of march and it remains to be seen if it get extended. if the choice set is only altitude and citibank pm, neither really gets a bonus on those 2 categories you have mentioned so it depends what are the other cards you have. if you’re using more dbs (dbs womans etc) then go with the altitude. do note that citibank will not pool the points from your various cards.
Hi MH, if you dine out often, the HSBC advance visa is the way to go. It covers your online shopping for 4 mpd too. Incidentally, the value of miles/cents has dropped significantly for economy redemptions with all the airlines competing and slashing prices. SG to LON for a thousand bucks, unheard of last time.
That’s a moot point. Redeeming for economy tickets was always a poor value proposition. Business class fares have also come down slightly but are in no way affordable yet.
yup. there is very little point redeeming miles for economy to london in particular, given that the APD is so high.
Hi Aaron,
Your site is a godsend. Thanks very much.
I was told by a friend that the OCBC Titanium Rewards card is as good as the Citibank Rewards card in your table.
Any thoughts?
glad you’re finding it useful! try not to refer to this, it’s a bit outdated. you should look here instead. OCBC titanium rewards can indeed be useful for online and offline shopping (plus has electronics as a category, which citibank rewards does not). question is where the rest of your miles are being earned?
One more thing on ocbc rewards.. you can transfer Miles at $25 per 100k Miles or something (in 10k denominations).. So this is a steal imo compared to others.