2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Insurance Premiums

While it was once possible to earn as much as 4 mpd on insurance premiums, banks have been steadily tightening the noose by closing loopholes and nerfing rewards.

What, you’re waiting for the good news?

Well, it’s technically not impossible to earn miles here. The scope is just very limited, and you may need to pay a fee. 

What MCC does insurance code as?

Insurance transactions code under two main MCCs: 

• 5960: Direct Marketing Insurance Services
• 6300: Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums

In case you’re uncertain about the MCC, there’s three ways of looking it up before making a transaction:

Merchants assigned insurance-related MCCs typically pay a below-average processing fee, and banks are therefore less inclined to offer rewards on such transactions. 

Which credit cards earn rewards for insurance?

Sadly, the vast majority of banks exclude insurance transactions from earning points. Here’s a snapshot of each bank’s policy:

Bank	Awards Points for Insurance?
	✕1
	✕
	✕
	✕
	✕
	✓2
	✕
	✓3
	✕
1. Except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorised channels (e.g Chubb) 2. Visa Infinite and Horizon only 3. Prudential Platinum & Prudential Visa Signature only

There’s only a handful of scenarios where you can earn miles when paying insurance premiums with your credit card. 

Maybank Visa Infinite & Horizon Visa Signature

While the Maybank TREATS programme T&Cs exclude insurance transactions, an explicit exception is carved out for the Maybank Visa Infinite and Maybank Horizon Visa Signature.

2.2 (d) Payments to insurance companies (does not apply to Maybank Visa Infinite for payments up to S$3,000 per calendar month and Maybank Horizon Visa Signature);

The problem is that the Maybank Visa Infinite has a hefty minimum income requirement of S$150,000. The Maybank Horizon Visa Signature has a much lower income requirement of just S$30,000, but insurance transactions earn just 0.24 mpd (better than nothing, I suppose).

Card	Earn Rate for Insurance
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	1.2 mpd (capped at S$3,000 per calendar month)
Maybank Horizon Apply	0.24 mpd

If, for whatever reason, your insurance premium happens to be in foreign currency, then the earn rates increase to 2 mpd for the Maybank Visa Infinite and 2.8 mpd for the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature. 

Standard Chartered Prudential Cards

The little-known Standard Chartered Prudential Platinum and Standard Chartered Prudential Visa Signature explicitly state that rewards points are awarded on insurance premiums- even if they’re not from Prudential.

The earn rate is 1X points per S$1 for Prudential Platinum Cardholders, and 1.5X points per S$1 for Prudential Visa Signature Cardholders. This works out to 0.29 and 0.44 mpd respectively.

Card	Earn Rate for Insurance
SC Prudential Platinum Apply	0.29 mpd
SC Prudential Visa Signature Apply	0.44 mpd

Do note that the Prudential Visa Signature is only available to members of Ascend by Prudential.

KrisFlyer UOB Debit Card

The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card does not earn miles on insurance, but its debit card brethren does. Cardholders can earn at least 0.4 mpd on their premiums. 

Card	Earn Rate for Insurance
KrisFlyer UOB Debit Card Apply	≥0.4 mpd

Why “at least”? Because accountholders can earn bonus miles for putting money in the account and spending on their debit card. The current structure gives a bonus 5 or 6 mpd to anyone who keeps a minimum monthly average balance (MAB) of S$1,000 in the account. 

The catch is that you earn a puny 0.05% p.a. interest, and the bonus miles are capped at 5% of the MAB. In other words, someone who put the bare minimum S$1,000 in the account would be limited to earning just 50 bonus miles per month.

So don’t think too much about the bonus miles; just take this as 0.4 mpd. 

Bill payment services

If you’re willing to pay a fee in exchange for earning miles on insurance premiums, then bill payment platforms like CardUp, Citi PayAll and SC EasyBill are all options.

Provider	Fee	Cost Per Mile
	2.25% (code: GET225) S$30 off first payment with code: MILELION	From 1.38 cents
	2.2%	1.22 cents (till 29 Feb 24)
	1.9%	From 1.36 cents

Whether it’s “worth it” to buy miles at this price all boils down to how much you value a mile. The gold standard is of course to earn miles for free, though if banks keep cracking down, this may be the only option left.

Workarounds

Banks may not be fond of rewarding insurance purchases, but there’s still ways we can “disguise” the transactions.

The key is to find an insurance premium sold by a company whose main line of business is not insurance.

A good example is Klook. Klook usually sells tours and attraction tickets, but they also sell a travel insurance product known as Klook Protect. These policies are underwritten by companies like AIG, AXA, FWD and Zurich, so it’s basically a white label kind of product.

Buying Klook Protect codes the same as any other Klook transaction- MCC 4722 Travel Agencies and Tour Operators. You’d earn 4 mpd with the DBS Woman’s World Card, or 6 mpd with the UOB Lady’s Cards (with Travel selected as your quarterly bonus category). 

Likewise, when you’re booking a Singapore Airlines or Scoot air ticket, you’ll typically be offered the opportunity to include travel insurance. If you opt in, the transaction will code under the airlines’ MCC, allowing you to use the same cards mentioned in the previous paragraph. 

Now, I can’t vouch that these policies will always offers the lowest possible rates and the best possible coverage. You’ll need to do your comparison shopping for that. However, to the extent that the rates are competitive, it’s a simple workaround to get your miles. 

Conclusion

The landscape for earning miles on insurance premiums has grown progressively bleak over the past few years, and I wouldn’t count on the existing avenues lasting very long either- you’ll just have to make hay as long as you can. 

Are there any other ways you know of earning points on insurance premiums?