CardUp payment promos extended till 2025; buy miles from 1.1 cents

From now till 31 January 2025, pay bills with CardUp and buy miles from as little as 1.1 cents each.

CardUp is a bill payment platform that allows users to earn credit card rewards on insurance premiums, tuition fees, income tax, rental, utilities, and other categories of spend which are usually excluded by banks.

If you’re looking to make such payments, here’s some good news: CardUp has just extended its ongoing promotions for rent, recurring, international and all other payments till January 2025, allowing cardholders to buy miles from as little as 1.1 cents each. 

Unfortunately, these promotions are for Mastercard or Visa cardholders only. American Express cardholders will need to wait till another promotion gets launched, with the most recent offer lapsing on 11 February 2024 without renewal.

As a reminder, first-time CardUp users can use the promo code MILELION to save S$30 off their first payment, with no minimum payment required. This means free miles on a payment of up to S$1,154, which is none too shabby indeed. 

โ“ What is CardUp?

CardUp is a bill payment platform that allows users to pay rent, income tax, insurance premiums, MCST fees, season parking, mortgage installments and more with their credit card, earning miles in exchange for a small fee. 

The standard CardUp fee is 2.6%, but is frequently lowered through various promotions.

Rental (1.79%)

Code SAVERENT179
Limit No cap on individual or overall redemptions
Admin Fee 1.79%
Min. Spend None
Cap None
Schedule By 31 January 2025
Due Date By 5 February 2025
Validity Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay
SAVERENT179 T&Cs

CardUp users paying rent can use the promo code SAVERENT179 to enjoy a 1.79% fee, for payments scheduled by 31 January 2025 with due dates on or before 5 February 2025.

This code is valid for all locally-issued Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay cards.

With a 1.79% fee, you’ll be paying between 1.1 to 1.76 cents per mile, depending on card.

Earn Rate Cost Per Mile
(1.79% fee)
1.6 mpd 1.10 cents
1.5 mpd 1.17 cents
1.4 mpd 1.26 cents
1.3 mpd 1.35 cents
1.2 mpd 1.47 cents
1.1 mpd 1.60 cents
1.0 mpd 1.76 cents

Recurring Payments (1.85%)

Code RECURRING185
Limit No cap on individual or overall redemptions
Admin Fee 1.85%
Min. Spend None
Cap S$20,000 per month
Schedule By 31 January 2025
Due Date By 5 February 2025
Validity Visa
RECURRING185 T&Cs

CardUp users making recurring payments can use the promo code RECURRING185 to enjoy a 1.85% fee, for payments scheduled by 31 January 2025 with due dates on or before 5 February 2025. 

The code is only valid for locally-issued Visa cards, and applies to the first S$20,000 of payments per calendar month. CardUp’s regular fee of 2.6% will apply to the portion of the payment that exceeds S$20,000. 

Payments can be set up with weekly, monthly or quarterly frequencies. Remember, CardUp supports mortgage payments for both bank and HDB loans, so this could be useful for anyone looking to repay a housing loan. 

With a 1.85% fee, you’ll be paying between 1.14 to 1.82 cents per mile, depending on card. 

Earn Rate Cost Per Mile
(1.85% fee)
1.6 mpd 1.14 cents
1.5 mpd 1.21 cents
1.4 mpd 1.30 cents
1.3 mpd 1.40 cents
1.2 mpd 1.51 cents
1.1 mpd 1.65 cents
1.0 mpd 1.82 cents

International Payments (1.85%)

Code GLOBE185
Limit No cap on individual or overall redemptions
Admin Fee 1.85%
Min. Spend None
Cap None
Schedule By 31 January 2025
Due Date By 5 February 2025
Validity Visa
GLOBE185 T&Cs

CardUp users making international payments can use the promo code GLOBE185 to enjoy a 1.85% fee, for payments scheduled by 31 January 2025 with due dates on or before 5 February 2025. 

The code is only valid for locally-issued Visa cards. 

With a 1.85% fee, you’ll be paying between 1.14 to 1.82 cents per mile, depending on card. 

Earn Rate Cost Per Mile
(1.85% fee)
1.6 mpd 1.14 cents
1.5 mpd 1.21 cents
1.4 mpd 1.30 cents
1.3 mpd 1.40 cents
1.2 mpd 1.51 cents
1.1 mpd 1.65 cents
1.0 mpd 1.82 cents

Given that this is an international transfer, you should also check whether the rate CardUp is offering is competitive compared to the alternatives, because otherwise that implicitly increases your cost per mile. 

All other payments (2.25%)

Code GET225
Limit No cap on individual or overall redemptions
Admin Fee 2.25%
Min. Spend S$130
Cap None
Schedule By 31 January 2025
Due Date By 5 February 2025
Validity Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay
GET225 T&Cs

For all other payments, CardUp users can use the promo code GET225 to enjoy a 2.25% fee, for payments scheduled by 31 January 2025 with due dates on or before 5 February 2025. 

This code is valid for all locally-issued Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay cards. 

With a 2.25% fee, you’ll be paying between 1.38 to 2.2 cents per mile, depending on card.

Earn Rate Cost Per Mile
(2.25% fee)
1.6 mpd 1.38 cents
1.5 mpd 1.47 cents
1.4 mpd 1.57 cents
1.3 mpd 1.69 cents
1.2 mpd 1.83 cents
1.1 mpd 2.00 cents
1.0 mpd 2.20 cents

OCBC cards have their own offers too

OCBC cardholders can enjoy admin fees of 1.5-2% with CardUp, depending on card and whether they’re a new or existing CardUp user. This allows the purchasing of miles from as little as 0.92 cents each. 

Refer to the article below for the full details. 

CardUp offering discounted 1.5-2% fee for OCBC credit cards

Citi PayAll alternative

While CardUp’s offers aren’t bad, Citi cardholders may want to wait for another Citi PayAll offer to come along. Citi runs a few of these each year, and no doubt has one brewing for the upcoming income tax season.

The most recent promotion (which ended in February 2024) brought the cost per mile down to 1.22 cents, and historically it’s been as low as 0.8 cents. 

We usually see a Citi PayAll promotion launching in April, so if you don’t need to make your payments just yet, it could be worth waiting for.

CardUp FAQ

I’m attaching the usual CardUp FAQ below. Be sure to have a read, because it answers commonly asked questions like whether CardUp payments count towards sign up bonuses (they mostly do) and whether there are any 10X opportunities (there aren’t).

โ“ CardUp FAQ

Q: What cards earn miles with CardUp? 
A: CardUp keeps a running list of all the cards which earn points with CardUp here. Broadly speaking, any general spending card will earn points with CardUp (except HSBC):

  • American Expressยฎ Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card
  • American Expressยฎ Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card
  • American Expressยฎ Singapore Airlines PPS Club Credit Card
  • American Expressยฎ Singapore Airlines Solitaire PPS Club Credit Card
  • Bank of China Elite Miles World Mastercard
  • Citi PremierMiles Visa Card
  • Citi PremierMiles American Express Card
  • Citi PremierMiles Mastercard
  • Citi Prestige Card
  • Citi ULTIMA Card
  • DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card
  • DBS Altitude American Express Card
  • DBS Insignia Visa Infinite Card
  • DBS Treasures Black Elite American Express Card
  • DBS Vantage Card
  • OCBC Voyage Card
  • OCBC Voyage Premier / PPC / BOS Card
  • OCBC 90ยบN Card
  • Standard Chartered Priority Banking Visa Infinite Credit Card
  • Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Credit Card
  • Standard Chartered Journey Credit Card
  • UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard
  • UOB PRVI Miles Visa Card
  • UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card
  • UOB Reserve Card
  • UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card
  • UOB Visa Signature Card
  • KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card

Q: Do any specialised spending cards earn bonuses with CardUp?
A: No. CardUp will not be eligible for any specialised spending card bonuses

Q: Does CardUp spending count towards welcome offers/promotional bonuses?
A: For most cards, CardUp spending is treated the same way as any other retail spend. However, you’ll need to refer to the welcome offer’s T&Cs carefully for specific exclusions.

Q: Do I earn miles on the CardUp fee too?
A: Yes. Suppose you make a payment of $100 with a promotional fee of 1.99%. The total amount charged to your card is $101.99, and you’ll earn miles based on $101.99 of spending

Conclusion

CardUp has extended its offers for rental, recurring, international and all other payments till January 2025, allowing cardholders to buy miles from as little as 1.1 cents each.

Whether it’s worth buying miles through CardUp boils down to how much you value a mile, but on the whole there’s certainly situations where it can make sense. The higher your mpd, the lower your cost per mile, so try and use a higher-earning general spending card as much as possible.

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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KT87

Nothing specific for income tax payments? should I expect something tax related soon based on their historical promos? Or GET225 is the best we’d get?

Anon

Typo for admin rate under get225.

Thomas

Is it safe to use like 100-200k for a single transaction with card up?

KYH

I was going to use Amex Business SIA Highflyer for a CardUp business account to take advantage of their 1.8 Highflyer points for $1 spend. Then I realise that this may not make sense since Highflyer points are capped at 30k per year for conversion to Krisflyer miles. Correct me if I am wrong. Any suggestion for other business credit cards that may be an alternative?