Back in May 2023, Standard Chartered put the hapless X Card out of its misery by relaunching it as the entry-level StanChart Journey Card. The metal card with a “strictly non-waivable” S$702 annual fee was replaced by a plastic card with a S$194.40 first-year-free option. How the mighty have fallen!
But it’s not all bad news. As part of the rebrand, StanChart launched an excellent welcome offer of up to 45,000 bonus miles for new-to-bank customers, with a minimum spend of just S$3,000 in two months.
That offer, which was originally set to lapse on 31 December 2023 has now been extended till 15 January 2024.
What’s more, customers who apply via SingSaver by 7 January 2024 can enjoy up 4x Apple AirTags or S$80 cash on top of the welcome miles. An extra S$20 cash can be earned when you make a transaction of at least S$20 with selected merchants including Shopee, Lazada and Qoo10.
StanChart Journey Card 45,000 miles welcome offer
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| Apply (Fee Waiver) | |||
| Apply (Fee Paying) |
The StanChart Journey Card’s welcome offer is valid for applications submitted from 7 August to 15 January 2024 by new-to-bank cardholders, defined as those who:
- Do not currently hold a principal StanChart credit card, and
- Have not cancelled a principal StanChart credit card in the past 12 months
The 45,000 bonus miles are broken down as follows:
| Rewards Points | KrisFlyer Miles | |
| Pay S$194.40 annual fee (optional) |
25,000 | 10,000 |
| Spend S$3,000 in first 60 days of approval | 87,500 | 35,000 |
| Total | 112,500 | 45,000 |
Cardholders have the option of paying the first year’s S$194.40 annual fee to receive 10,000 bonus miles. This works out to a cost of 1.94 cents per mile, which is on the high side given cheaper alternatives for buying miles like CardUp and Citi PayAll.
Regardless of whether they pay the first year’s annual fee, cardholders will receive 35,000 bonus miles for spending at least S$3,000 in the first 60 days of approval. That’s the real headline here, as it represents an excellent return on your spend.
Bonus miles are on top of the StanChart Journey Card’s regular earn rates of 1.2-3 mpd, so assuming you spend the full S$3,000 on local, non-bonused transactions, you’re looking at an additional 3,600 miles (S$3,000 @ 1.2 mpd), for an overall haul of up to 48,600 miles.
What counts as qualifying spend?
Cardholders must incur at least S$3,000 in qualifying spend within 60 days of approval.
Qualifying spend excludes:
- Charitable donations
- Education expenses
- Government transactions
- Insurance premiums
- Prepaid account top-ups (e.g. GrabPay and YouTrip)
The full list of qualifying spend exclusions can be found in the T&Cs, under Point 9.
CardUp, hospital and utilities transactions are all counted towards eligible spend.
When will the bonus miles be credited?
The 10,000 miles for paying the first year’s annual fee of S$194.40 will be credited within 60 working days of your card activation date, in the form of 25,000 Rewards Points.
The 35,000 miles for spending S$3,000 in the first 60 days of approval will be credited according to the following table, in the form of 87,500 Rewards Points:
| Card Approval Month | Bonus Miles Credited By |
| August 2023 | 30 November 2023 |
| September 2023 | 31 December 2023 |
| October 2023 | 31 January 2024 |
| November 2023 | 29 February 2024 |
| December 2023 | 31 March 2024 |
| January 2024 | 30 April 2024 |
Extra SingSaver gifts
New-to-bank customers who apply for a StanChart Journey Card via SingSaver by 7 January 2024 can choose from the following gifts:
- 4x Apple AirTags, or
- S$80 cash
A minimum spend of S$250 within 30 days of approval is required.
An additional S$20 cashback will be awarded by Standard Chartered for cardholders who spend at least S$20 with Shopee, Lazada, Taobao, ezbuy, Qoo10, Carousell or Netflix within 30 days of approval.
This offer is available regardless of whether you apply for the fee paying or fee waiver option.
Term and Conditions
What can you do with SC Rewards Points?
Standard Chartered has 10 different airline and hotel transfer partners, one of the widest ranges in Singapore.
| Frequent Flyer Programme |
Conversion Ratio (SC Points: Partner) |
|
| Visa Infinite & Journey | Non-Visa Infinite | |
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25,000 : 10,000 | 34,500 : 10,000 |
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2,500 : 1,000 |
|
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2,500 : 1,000 |
|
 |
2,500 : 1,000 |
|
 |
2,500 : 1,000 |
|
 |
3,000 : 1,000 |
|
 |
3,500 : 1,000 |
|
 |
3,500 : 1,000 |
|
 |
3,500 : 1,000 |
|
 |
5,000 : 1,000 |
|
Transfers cost S$27 each, regardless of the number of points transferred.
Unfortunately, StanChart has one of the most confusing rewards redemption systems of any bank in Singapore. I’m not going to go into the details here, but you can read all about it in the post below.
Standard Chartered’s 360° Rewards & EasyRewards: A hot steaming mess
Overview: StanChart Journey Card
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| Apply (Fee Waiver) | |||
| Apply (Fee Paying) | |||
| Income Req. | S$30,000 p.a. | Points Validity | No expiry |
| Annual Fee (Including GST) |
S$194.40 (FYF) |
Min. Transfer |
25,000 points (10,000 miles)* |
| Miles with Annual Fee | 10,000 | Transfer Partners |
|
| FCY Fee | 3.5% | Transfer Fee | S$27 |
| Local Earn | 1.2 mpd | Points Pool? | Yes |
| FCY Earn | 2 mpd | Lounge Access? | Yes: 2x Priority Pass |
| Special Earn | 3 mpd on online groceries, food delivery, transport (SGD) | Airport Limo? | No |
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
| *For KrisFlyer; for other programmes 1,000 miles/points | |||
StanChart Journey Cardholders earn 1.2 mpd on SGD spend, and 2 mpd on FCY spend, with no minimum spend or caps.
A bonus rate of 3 mpd will be awarded for online transactions in SGD with the following MCCs:
- Grocery/food-stores with MCCs 5411, 5462, 5499 and 5921
(E.g. NTUC FairPrice Online, NTUC FairPrice app, Lazada Redmart and Nespresso Singapore) - Food deliveries with MCCs 5811, 5812 and 5814
(E.g. Foodpanda, Deliveroo, McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza, Chilli Api Catering and Qi Ji Catering) - Transport merchants with MCCs 4111, 4121, 4411 and 4789
(E.g. Grab, Gojek, Cabcharge Asia, Tada, Ryde Technologies, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Easybook.com)
This is capped at S$1,000 per statement month. You could, of course, do much better with 4-6 mpd on other cards, but if you’ve maxed out those caps then this would be a potential fall-back option.
Cardholders will also enjoy a rebate of the usual 3.5% FCY transaction fee for the months of June, July, November and December 2023. It’s obviously too late to take advantage of this now, but I’ve been enjoying the rebate on my travels and must say it’s quite handy.
For a full review of the Journey card, refer to the article below.
Conclusion
StanChart has extended its improved welcome offer for the Journey Card, with up to 45,000 bonus miles and 4x Apple AirTags or S$80 cash.
While you must be new-to-bank, there’s no need to pay the first year’s annual fee if you don’t want to- and perhaps you shouldn’t, since there are cheaper ways of acquiring 10,000 miles than spending S$194.40.
If i apply late Sep, the spend for Oct will be eligible for the FCY fee rebate as the billing is in Nov?
you must spend in nov/dec to get the fcy rebate
Is owning a TRUST bank credit card considered existing standard chartered bank card customer?
nope. scb and trust are two separate legal entities
If I apply today, how soon can the application be approved and receive the card?
Hi. I emailed singsaver to check if it stacks and they replied with a screenshot of their t&c point 14. An eligible participant will only be entitled to receive one reward as an eligible new customer.
I assume they are trying to tell me that it doesn’t stack so its only the $80 sign up bonus.
Would you be able to share confirmation that both sign up stacks? Would be a disaster to not get the miles and just get $80 cashback after signing up and spending.
https://t.me/milelion/817668
says in black and white on SS website
Hi! Can I check if Cardup spend will be counted towards the $3000? Thanks!
Would like to know too!
cardup has confirmed it will in the milelion telegram chat
Is it known what the MCC that Card Up is categorised as? For the avoidance of doubt.
Usually 7399
Thanks Aaron. Is this a question that most providers call centers are happy to answer?
Hey Aaron,
Would you consider changing the headline “What counts as qualifying spend?” to “What’s excluded from qualifying spend?” (or some equivalent). In that section, only the first and last sentence are related to qualifying spend.
Thanks for all your articles!
Hi.I checked T&C from Singsaver. There is no minimum $500 spending requirement for Journey Credit Card.$20 is enough.
you are probably correct. however, because the footnote attached to journey card says this: **Card on file cash reward: For New SCB Cardholders who on top of spending a minimum of S$500, also register their new SCB Credit Card as a payment method and have at least S$20 transaction on selected merchants (Shopee, Lazada, Taobao, ezbuy, Qoo10, Carousell, Netflix) within the first 30 days after credit card approval I figured it would be safer to just put it there in case. in all likelihood it is a poorly-worded term that was copied from the other 2 cards which do have… Read more »
Thanks for reply. Singsaver’s terms and conditions are sometimes quite confusing.
Compare the new-to-bank offer of the Simply Cash card with this one. Which one do you think is more worthwhile to apply for?
have a look at this: https://t.me/milelionroars/4271
Hi! Does spending at hotel (MCC 3543) meet the $3000 qualifying spend?
Hi Aaron, you mentioned that Cardup spend is counted towards the $3000 qualifying spend criteria, how about using SC’s own EasyBill to pay for insurance premiums, will it also count as qualifying spend then? As you also highlighted that their T&Cs mentioned qualifying spends excludes insurance premiums.
Done
as some one who owns the UOB solitaire card, does spending the 3k amount on the Journey card make more sense than continuing with the 3k spend on the UOB card? thanks
I would try to spent on journey where we do not get UOB bonus . Like cardup
If I use the virtual credit card which Standard Chartered allows us to activate first while waiting for the physical card to arrive, will the expenditure still count to the $3000 required to receive all the sign-up rewards stated in this article?
Hi, thanks for this useful article. I just checked SC portal and chat their CSO, Krisflyer is the only transfer partner now? SC EasyRewards link no longer appear in the SC portal as well. Holder of Journey, Priority Banking VI here.
hi aaron,
does contactless spending also qualify for the $3000 minimum spending in order to get the 45k miles? or does it only apply to online spend? thanks so much!