Chocolate Visa Card: Earn 2 Max Miles per S$1 on virtually everything

If you’ve been looking for additional ways to earn Max Miles, here’s an exciting development.

From 11 February 2025, Chocolate Finance will partner up with Heymax to offer Max Miles for spending on the Chocolate Visa Platinum Debit Card, with 2 Max Miles per S$1 on virtually everything. Yes, even charitable donations, education, hospitals, insurance premiums, utilities, and — wait for it — AXS transactions (edit: not from 5 March 2025 onwards)

This earn rate is offered for the first S$1,000 of spending per calendar month, and there’s also a guaranteed 3.3% p.a. on the first S$20,000, and 3% p.a. on the next S$30,000 with Chocolate Finance.

Max Miles are arguably the most valuable loyalty currency in Singapore right now, because of their exceptional versatility. They can be transferred to 19 airline and eight hotel programmes, including exclusive partners not available through any local bank like American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt.

👍 250 Max Miles joining bonus

Sign up for a Heymax account and get up to 250 Max Miles as a welcome bonus

250 bonus Max Miles

Earn 2 mpd with the Chocolate Visa Card

Apply here

No annual fee or minimum income requirement

With the new Heymax partnership, the Chocolate Visa Card will award:

• 2 Max Miles per S$1 on the first S$1,000 of spend per calendar month
• 0.4 Max Miles per S$1 on all spend above S$1,000 per calendar month

This applies to both online and offline transactions, in local or foreign currency. There’s currently no end date for this promotion, which will continue until further notice. 

“Wait a minute,” you say. “Only 2 mpd? I could earn 4 mpd with other cards!” You certainly could, but let me say three things to that.

Max Miles are extremely valuable

Max Miles do not expire, and can be converted at a 1:1 ratio to 27 airline and hotel partners, with no fees.

KrisFlyer is not a partner, but even if it were, transferring Max Miles to KrisFlyer would be a waste of their potential. KrisFlyer miles can be earned almost everywhere; the whole point of Max Miles is to get access to “exotic” partners. 

No other bank in Singapore offers anything close to the variety of Max Miles, and it’s not just any random partners- some of these have exceptional sweet spots. You could fly First Class to Tokyo on JAL with 40,000 American AAdvantage miles, or domestically within Japan on JAL with 4,000 JAL Mileage Bank miles. 

Here’s a snapshot of some of my favourite sweet spots that you can redeem through Max Miles transfers. 

For more details and how to book these, refer to the post below.

Max-imum Fun: The best sweet spots for Max Miles redemptions

Max Miles can also be used to offset the cost of commercial flights at S$0.018 apiece through the FlyAnywhere feature, which offers good value redemptions for Economy Class flights. 

There’s virtually no exclusions

Heymax and Chocolate Finance are taking a very broad approach to eligible spending— and in case you were wondering, that’s deliberate, not an oversight.

The only transactions that aren’t eligible for Max Miles are those which give rise to manufactured spending/money laundering concerns.

Otherwise, everything else is fair game. You can earn Max Miles on commonly-excluded transactions like:

• AXS transactions
• charitable donations
• education
• government bills
• hospitals
• insurance premiums
• utilities

You could also earn Max Miles on CardUp payments, though I don’t think there’s a point in paying a fee, assuming you could pay the entity directly with Visa or via AXS.

So there is really no reason why you shouldn’t be earning the full 2,000 Max Miles per month (or more, if you can accept the 0.4 mpd earn rate after that). Pay your income taxes. Pay your school fees. Pay your electricity bill. Pay your road tax. It’s all good. 

No FCY transaction fees

Most banks charge you a 3.25% foreign currency (FCY) transaction fee, but the Chocolate Visa does not. Overseas transactions will simply be converted into SGD at the Visa rate, with no further mark-up.

This makes the Chocolate Visa a 2 mpd option for overseas spending, superior to other zero FCY fee cards like Trust, Revolut, or YouTrip.

How to get a Chocolate Visa Card

Apply here

To get the Chocolate Visa, you’ll need to download the Chocolate Finance app and open a Chocolate Finance account (using The MileLion’s link generates a referral bonus that supports the site). 

Once that’s done, you can create a virtual Chocolate Visa Card immediately.

While there is the option of ordering a physical card, there’s really no need to. You can add the card to your Apple Pay or Google Pay wallet immediately and pay in-store by tapping your phone. 

The Chocolate Visa Card has no minimum income requirement, nor annual fee.

How to link to Heymax

👍 250 Max Miles joining bonus

Sign up for a Heymax account and get up to 250 Max Miles as a welcome bonus

250 bonus Max Miles

If you don’t have a Heymax account, the first step will of course be to create one, which you can do via the link above. 

After that, you need to pair the card with Heymax under the Your Cards > Add Card menu. A test transaction will be charged and later refunded. 

Debit card, not credit card!

The most important thing to understand about the Chocolate Visa is a debit card, not a credit card. This means you’ll need to put money into your Chocolate Finance account before spending, and can’t spend more than you have in your account.

It also means you should take additional precautions with regards to fraud, because any successful fraudulent transactions will be immediately debited from your account balance (as opposed to a credit card where the bill is only payable later, giving you time to spot the transaction, report it, and receive a temporary credit that removes the charge pending further investigation).

There is, of course, a proper fraud reporting process to get such transactions reversed from your account, but you’ll be out of pocket during the investigation period. Mind you, these concerns aren’t unique to the Chocolate Visa; it’s the same for every debit card. 

To be extra safe, I recommend locking your card via the Chocolate app whenever it’s not in use.

What is Chocolate Finance?

Chocolate Finance is a spare cash management platform that holds a CMS license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

At the time of writing, accountholders earn:

1. 3.3% p.a. on the first S$20,000
2. 3% p.a. on the next S$30,000 
3. A target 3% p.a. on any amount above that

Returns are credited daily, just after midnight. If Chocolate Finance does not make its target returns for components (1) or (2), the difference will be topped up, so it’s effectively guaranteed. (3), however, is not.

There is no lock-in period, and funds can be withdrawn at any time. Withdrawals of up to S$20,000 per day are processed instantly. Amounts larger than this require 3-10 working days (so if you want to withdraw, say, S$50,000, it’d be better to do it as S$20,000, S$20,000 and S$10,000 over three consecutive days). 

Since Chocolate Finance is not a bank, your funds are not SDIC-insured. Mind you, that’s the same as any other money market funds outside of a bank or insurer, such as Stashaway Simple or Endowus Cash Smart.

For security, MAS regulations require that customer assets be ringfenced and segregated in a separate, third-party account. These are not mixed with Chocolate Finance’s operating capital, and in the event that the company were to go under, the funds would still be safe.

Look. If the lack of SDIC coverage makes you lose sleep at night, then don’t park anything in here beyond the S$1,000 you need to max out the 2,000 Max Miles each month. Chocolate isn’t requiring a minimum deposit to earn Max Miles (though that might happen in the future).

You can find a list of FAQs about Chocolate Finance here.

Conclusion

Apply here

From 11 February 2025, the Chocolate Visa Platinum Debit Card will earn 2 Max Miles per S$1 spent, capped at S$1,000 per calendar month.

With virtually no exclusion categories, most people should be able to max out the full 2,000 Max Miles each month, which can be converted into 27 airline and hotel loyalty programmes at a 1:1 ratio. Just imagine earning 2 Hyatt points per S$1, or 2 Aeroplan points per S$1- it’s something we’ve never had before in Singapore!

Obviously, a lot of money is being burnt here from the Chocolate and Heymax sides, so this arrangement can’t last forever, at least not in its current form. I anticipate that we’ll see additional terms added further down the road, such as a lower earn rate, smaller cap, or perhaps a minimum deposit requirement. 

But that’s a tomorrow problem, really. Today is all about making hay, and make hay we shall.