The Stay-Home Credit Card Guide

With schools and workplaces set to close, the prevailing wisdom now is that everyone should stay home as much as possible.

That said, there’ll still be groceries to buy, subscriptions to pay for, and food to order. Given that the vast majority of your transactions will soon be done online, it just makes sense to ensure you get the biggest return on that spending.

Here’s how to do it.

tl;dr version

If you have a Citi Rewards, DBS Woman’s World Card, OCBC Titanium Rewards or UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, you’re more or less set to earn 4 mpd on all your online transactions.

I say “more or less”, because certain exceptions apply (e.g  the OCBC Titanium Rewards does not give bonus points for supermarket spending, RedMart aside). In a pinch, however, the cards below should suit most of your online expenditure needs. I’m calling this the “standard loadout”, and have arranged them from least strict (fewest category restrictions) to most strict.

Standard Loadout
	Income Req.	Annual Fee^	4 mpd cap*
DBS Woman’s World Card	S$80K (not strict)	S$192.60 (FYF)	S$2K per c. month
Citi Rewards#	S$30K	S$192.60 (FYF)	S$1K per s. month
UOB Pref. Plat Visa	S$30K	S$192.60 (FYF)	S$1.1K per c. month
OCBC Titanium Rewards	S$30K	S$192.60 (F2YF)	S$12K per m. year
^FYF= First Year Free | F2YF= First 2 Years Free *C. Month= Calendar Month | S. Month= Statement Month | M. Year= Membership Year #Exercise caution with the Mastercard version of the Citi Rewards; some people have reported not earning 10X on transactions which ought to

	Eligible Online Transactions*
DBS Woman’s World Card	All online spending (T&C)
Citi Rewards	All online spending except travel (T&C)
UOB Pref. Plat Visa	MCC 4816, 5306, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732-5735, 5912, 5942, 5944-5949, 5964-5970, 5992, 5999, 5811, 5812, 5814, 5333, 5411, 5441, 5462, 5499, 8012, 9751, 7278, 7832, 7841, 7922, 7991, 7996, 7998-7999 (T&C)
OCBC Titanium Rewards	MCC 5311, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5661, 5691, 5045, 5732, 5699 (T&C)
*General exclusions for categories like insurance, mobile wallet, government, education and charities apply. To look up what individual MCCs mean, refer to this guide

All of the above cards will earn 4 mpd on your usual e-commerce merchants like Amazon, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, and Taobao.

Do take note of the caps, however, and how they’re applied. Some caps are based on the calendar month, others on the statement month (check your online banking to see what your statement period is).

If you’re close to exhausting your cap, you can always get another online spending card, or a different version of the same card (e.g Citi Rewards Visa cardholders can apply for a Citi Rewards Mastercard, OCBC Titanium Rewards Blue cardholders can apply for an OCBC Titanium Rewards Pink).

Read on if you want to get a bit more detailed…

Online Groceries

For online grocery purchases, you can use any of the Standard Loadout, with the exception of the OCBC Titanium Rewards card (it works for RedMart only).

Alternatively, you could use the UOB Lady’s Card or Lady’s Solitaire, provided you’ve declared “Family” as your quarterly 10X category.

The UOB PRVI Miles AMEX is also offering a temporary bonus on online grocery transactions, but only up to 3 mpd. This is subject to a minimum spend of S$2,500, and capped at S$5,000.

	Annual Fee	Earn Rate	Conditions*
DBS Woman’s World Card	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$2K per c. month
Citi Rewards	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1K per s. month
UOB Pref. Plat Visa	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1.1K per c. month
UOB Lady’s Card	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1K per c. month
UOB Lady’s Solitaire	S$406.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$3K per c. month
OCBC Titanium Rewards	S$192.60 (F2YF)	8 mpd	≤S$500 of eligible trxns from 15/4-31/5. Reg required. Deliveroo & Foodpanda
UOB PRVI Miles AMEX	S$256.80 (FYF)	3 mpd	≥ S$2.5K on eligible trxns from 1/4-30/6, capped at S$5K
UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard & Visa	S$256.80 (FYF)	3 mpd	≥S$2K on eligible trxns from 17/4-31/7, capped at S$3.5K. Reg required
DBS Altitude AMEX & Visa	S$192.60 (FYF)	2.4 mpd	Min spend & cap varies by user. From 3/3-30/6. Reg required
^FYF= First Year Free | F2YF= First 2 Years Free *C. Month= Calendar Month | S. Month= Statement Month | M. Year= Membership Year

Food Delivery (Deliveroo, foodpanda, GrabFood etc)

For food delivery, the Standard Loadout works again, with the exception of the OCBC Titanium Rewards card.

Alternatively, you could use the UOB Lady’s Card or Lady’s Solitaire, provided you’ve declared “Dining” as your quarterly 10X category.

The UOB PRVI Miles AMEX is also offering a temporary bonus on food delivery transactions, but only up to 3 mpd. This is subject to a minimum spend of S$2,500, and capped at S$5,000.

Finally, a shout out to the KrisFlyer UOB credit card, which gives 3 mpd provided you spend at least S$500 on SIA-related transactions (which may be a bit tough, given the current climate). Moreover, you’ll need to wait up to 14 months for the bonus miles to be credited.

	Annual Fee	Earn Rate	Conditions*
DBS Woman’s World Card	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$2K per c. month
Citi Rewards	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1K per s. month
UOB Pref. Plat Visa	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1.1K per c. month
UOB Lady’s Card	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1K per c. month
UOB Lady’s Solitaire	S$406.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$3K per c. month
KrisFlyer UOB	S$192.60 (FYF)	3 mpd	≥S$500 on SIA-group trxns in a m. year
UOB PRVI AMEX	S$256.80 (FYF)	3 mpd	≥ S$2.5K on eligible trxns from 1/4-30/6, capped at S$5K
^FYF= First Year Free | F2YF= First 2 Years Free *C. Month= Calendar Month | S. Month= Statement Month | M. Year= Membership Year

Online subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify etc.)

For online subscriptions, I know for sure the OCBC Titanium Rewards card won’t get you 4 mpd. I’ve taken out the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa because I’m not 100% sure whether Netflix & Spotify’s MCCs fall within its permitted range.

The following cards are safe bets:

	Annual Fee	Earn Rate	Conditions*
DBS Woman’s World Card	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$2K per c. month
Citi Rewards	S$192.60 (FYF)	4 mpd	≤S$1K per s. month
UOB PRVI AMEX	S$256.80 (FYF)	3 mpd	Netflix & Spotify only. ≥ S$2.5K on eligible trxns from 1/4-30/6, capped at S$5K
^FYF= First Year Free | F2YF= First 2 Years Free *C. Month= Calendar Month | S. Month= Statement Month | M. Year= Membership Year

Note: Some online subscriptions may be billed in foreign currency (e.g Zoom). If so, you can also use the following cards.

	Annual Fee^	Earn Rate	Conditions*
UOB Visa Signature	S$214 (FYF)	4 mpd	Spend S$1-2K per s. month
BOC Elite Miles	S$190 (FYF)	3 mpd
SCB Visa Infinite	S$588.50	3 mpd	≥S$2K per s. month
SCB X Card	S$695.50	3 mpd	Until 30/6, ≥S$2K per c. month
^FYF= First Year Free | F2YF= First 2 Years Free *C. Month= Calendar Month | S. Month= Statement Month | M. Year= Membership Year

Conclusion

The good news is that online spending is a relatively more straightforward affair, and you could just settle for a one-and-done strategy here (e.g with the DBS Woman’s World Card).

When doing your online shopping, be sure to stack it with a rebates portal like ShopBack or RebateMango for maximum value.

Be safe, everyone!