The StanChart Smart Card has always been a niche product, offering a generous 6% cashback or 5.57 mpd on fast food, streaming and transport- but only at a select list of merchants like McDonald’s and KFC.
While the whitelist was restrictive, the lack of a minimum spend requirement or annual fee made the card worth a punt, especially if you wanted to earn cashback (choosing miles would very likely result in an orphan balance).
But StanChart has now decided to overhaul the Smart Card with a major series of changes that take effect from 6 December 2024.
 StanChart Smart Card |
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| ย | Till 5 Dec 24 | From 6 Dec 24 |
| Annual Fee | None | S$99.19 (starts from 6 Dec 25) |
| Bonus Category Earn Rate | 6% 5.57 mpd |
4-10% 3.71-9.28 mpd |
| Min. Spend for Bonus | None | S$800/ S$1,500 |
| Bonus Cap | S$818 per statement month | None |
There’s good and bad here, but what really kills off the value of this card, if you ask me, is the introduction of a minimum spend.
This means that unless you really, really like junk food, and I’m talking Donald Trump meets Morgan Spurlock levels of affinity, then you’re going to be worse off with these changes.ย
Recap: How the StanChart Smart Card currently works
First, a brief refresher of how the StanChart Smart Card currently works.ย
Cardholders earn up to 19.2 points per S$1 (6% cashback or 5.57 mpd) on selected bonus categories, split into:
- A base reward of 1.6 points per S$1 (0.5% cashback or 0.46 mpd)
- A bonus reward of 17.6 points per S$1 (5.5% cashback or 5.1 mpd)
There is no minimum spend necessary to trigger the bonus reward, but it’s capped at 14,400 bonus points per statement month, equivalent to S$818 of spending. There is also no annual fee chargeable.ย
However, things will be changing from 6 December 2024.
| โ ๏ธ Important Note |
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To be more precise, the changes take effect from your next statement cycle after 6 December 2024.ย For example, if your statement cycle is on the 19th, your first statement month following the new Smart Card benefits will be from 20 December 2024 to 19 January 2025. |
Good: New bonus categories
From 6 December 2024, the StanChart Smart Card will expand its list of bonus-eligible merchants, adding new names across the Fast Food, Streaming and Transport categories.ย
| Category | Merchants |
| ๐ Fast Food |
|
| ๐บ Streaming |
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| ๐ Transport |
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| *Ends 31 December 2025 | |
As a reminder, all these bonuses (excluding electric vehicle charging) are based on merchant name, not MCC. In other words, this is not a blanket inclusion of all fast food merchants; only the ones you see listed in the table above.
Bad: New minimum spend requirements
The StanChart Smart Card currently does not require any minimum spend to trigger its bonus earn rate, but from 6 December 2024 it will introduce three different tiers of earning, each with their own minimum spends.
| Card Spendย (per statement month) |
Bonus Categories | Non-Bonus Categories |
| Less than S$800 |
6 Dec 24 to 31 Mar 25 12.8 pts/S$1 4% 3.71 mpd |
1.6 pts/S$1 0.5% 0.46 mpd |
| From 1 Apr 25 1.6 pts/S$1 0.5% 0.46 mpd |
||
| S$800 to S$1,499 | 25.6 pts/S$1 8% 7.42 mpd |
1.6 pts/S$1 0.5% 0.46 mpd |
| S$1,500 or more | 32 pts/S$1 10% 9.28 mpd |
3.2 pts/S$1 1% 0.93 mpd |
When spending on bonus categories:
- Cardholders with a minimum spend of less than S$800 per statement month will earn 4% cashback or 3.71 mpd until 31 March 2025, after which the earn rate drops to 0.5% cashback or 0.46 mpd
- Cardholders who spend at least S$800 but less than S$1,500 per statement month will earn 8% cashback or 7.42 mpd
- Cardholders who spend at least S$1,500 per statement month will earn 10% cashback or 9.28 mpd
Good: Bonus cap removed
The StanChart Smart Card currently has a monthly bonus cap of 14,400 points, but from 6 December 2024 the bonus cap will be removed.
In other words, there will be no limit on the maximum base or bonus points cardholders can earn.
Bad: Annual fee introduced
The StanChart Smart Card currently does not have an annual membership fee, but from 6 December 2025, an annual fee of S$99.19ย will apply.
An annual fee waiver will be granted if you spend at least S$10,000 in a membership year (that’s a lot of McSpicy).
Good: SmartDelay lounge access added
From 15 January 2025, the StanChart Smart Card will introduce a new feature called SmartDelay, which offers complimentary lounge access in the event of a flight delay.ย
How it works is that you register your flight, and if there’s a delay of more than 60 minutes, LoungeKey vouchers for yourself and up to four travelling companions will be automatically emailed. I don’t believe there’s any need to pay for the tickets with your StanChart Smart Card, but let’s wait for the official T&Cs before confirming.ย
StanChart claims that the Smart Card is “the only card in Singapore to offer complimentary access to selected airport lounges worldwide in event of flight delay”, and when I first read that I said “nonsense”, because Mastercard offers a similar product known as Flight Delay Pass.
But joke’s on me, because at some point, banks in Singapore stopped subscribing to Flight Delay Pass. I tried all the Mastercards I had, both credit and debit, and none of them worked. So yes, it does appear that this is a unique benefit of the Smart Card for now.
Are the Smart Card changes good or bad?
While some of the Smart Card changes sound positive, like higher earn rates and the removal of the bonus cap, in practice you’ll find this more of a nerf than a buff.
Why? The minimum spends. It’s just very difficult to see anyone spending more than S$800 at these bonus merchants, let alone S$1,500.
Think about it. Let’s say you have a Disney+ (S$15.98), Netflix (S$25.98) and Spotify (S$17.98) subscription (the most expensive plans for all three services), and let’s say you have an EV and charge your vehicle once a week (S$200). That only comes up to S$260, so you’d need to spend at least S$540 on the fast food category.
I mean, everyone gripes about how much McDonald’s and Starbucks costs these days, but that’s still a lot of junk to be eating. And if you want to hit the top rebates tier of 10% cashback or 9.28 mpd, I hope you enjoy your S$1,240 feast (now, if only there were a card that offered bonus miles for medical treatment…)
So unless you’re ordering food for your office, or just have a death wish of some sort, I foresee a lot of issues meeting the minimum spendย without dipping into non-bonus categories.
Furthermore, keep in mind that even though the minimum spend will be waived until 31 March 2025, the transitionary earn rate of 4% cashback or 3.71 mpd still constitutes a devaluation from the current 6% cashback or 5.57 mpd.
Conclusion
From 6 December 2024, the StanChart Smart Card will get a major revamp featuring higher, uncapped earn rates, but also a new minimum spend requirement that makes those earn rates very hard to attain in practice.
If you have Starbucks in your veins, McDonald’s in your arteries, and KFC in your nether regions, this could very well be the card for you. However, most of us won’t get anywhere near the minimum spend, and together with the new annual fee, this becomes a junk card- quite literally.
Revolut used to have Smart Delay too but seems to have removed it for some reason.
Very similar to Citi Cashback card, where qualifying transactions need not be within the bonus categories to make up the $800 / $1500 minimum spending per statement month?
time to drop it
Will topping up a Starbucks card using SC Smart Card also trigger the bonus points? I may become extra generous to my colleagues when ordering coffees for the team lol.
that depends on what the transaction description is. and no one can verify till december
Indeed, SC is really the Donald Trumpesque garbage bank of Singapore. Dealing with their bank is a pain. And now this. Thanks but no thanks.
Any other recommendations of the alternative for this card to be replace
oh man, any other recommended card for SimplyGo for miles chasers?
same asking. So sad i just applied this card this year and trying to earn enough points for the minimum miles redemption.
After three long years, I have finally earned enough points to redeem 10,000 KF miles with this card (at a S$27.25 fee). Time to cancel the card after emptying out all the points on some cash convert.
Now I am not sure what card to get for SimplyGo.
$8 starbucks per day for 30 days and its $240.
That’s less fast food you need spend on ๐
cue the “this is why millennials can’t afford housing” comments
Could it be just a tactical trick to push people to willingly cancel it before introducing a new card ?
It would not be the first time we see this, HSBC did so recently, turning some historical CC into crap before introducing their Live+.
Nice, one very good reason to throw this card away and further streamline my card collection
Do you not get the 4% if u dont hit the minimum spend of 8%? As per SCB website, it states that you will receive 4% cashback if u spend <800$ on bonus category.
Hi Aaron, qns on the changes taking place on the next statement cycle after 6th Dec;
From 6th Dec to whichever date is my next cycle, am I able to earn the 19.2 points on the new merchants added to the bonus categories? Or will I still only be earning 19.2 points on the existing bonus categoryโ merchants?
The $800/$1500 minimum spend refers to GROSS overall spending in a statement month, and not just spending in the BONUS categories only, right?
Sounds crap but you can charge your utilities, education and insurance to hit the 1.5k benchmark. If you spent about 250 on the bonus categories, this even out to be 1.5 MPD for 1.5k,assuming you are using utilities, education and insurance to close the hit the benchmark.
Correction: It’s about 2mpd if you count in the 0.46. I’m might consider to cancel my maybank horizon and use this instead.
Unfortunately, education and insurance are in the exclusion category, so this card is exceptionally junk unless u have big purchase.