Guide: Buying miles with Standard Chartered’s SC EasyBill service

Back in 2019, Standard Chartered Bank launched a new service called SC EasyBill, its response to the then-nascent Citi PayAll platform.

SC EasyBill allows Standard Chartered customers to pay taxes, rent, insurance and education bills with their credit cards, earning rewards points in exchange for a small fee. In this guide, I’ll explain how the service works, its benefits, which card lets you get the lowest cost per mile and more.

How does SC EasyBill work?

SC EasyBill

SC EasyBill allows StanChart customers to earn rewards when paying selected bills with their credit cards, in exchange for a 1.9% admin fee. 

To set up a billing arrangement:

1. Login to the SC Mobile app, tap on Pay & Transfer > EasyBill
2. Select the card you wish to pay with 
3. Select payment type
4. Fill out the necessary details
5. Select Pay Bill Now and confirm transaction

At step 5, you’ll be shown the option to “Pay Bill Now” or “Convert into Instalments”. If you opt for the latter, the SC EasyBill fee will be waived, but you also won’t earn any rewards points.

SC EasyBill will then make a bank transfer to the receiving party on your behalf; the receiving party need not be registered with SC EasyBill.

Here’s an example:

1. John sets up a S$10,000 tax payment to IRAS with his StanChart Journey Card
2. John’s credit card is charged S$10,190 (S$10,000 + 1.9% admin fee)
3. John earns 12,000 miles (S$10,000 @ 1.2 mpd; the admin fee does not earn miles)
4. A S$10,000 bank transfer is made to IRAS on his behalf

SC EasyBill does not request supporting documentation at the time of payment creation, but StanChart may ask for it subsequently. For what it’s worth, I’ve paid IRAS income tax via EasyBill before and did not have to submit my NOA.

What payments are supported?

SC EasyBill currently supports the following types of payments. Do note that only one-time payment requests are supported; recurring payments are not possible at the moment. 

The scope is relatively narrow, at least compared to Citi PayAll or CardUp. For instance, you can’t use SC EasyBill to pay for charitable donations, MCST fees, parking fees, utilities bills, renovations, or helper salaries.

Citi PayAll supported payments

💰 Citi PayAll: Supported Payments
Education Fees Taxes Rent Insurance Premiums Renovation Fees Property Agent Fees Wedding Expenses Condo Management Fees Child Care Services Domestic Helper Service Fees Donation or Charity Payment Electricity Bills	Event Management Fees Membership Fees Maintenance Fees Medical Services Payment for Retail Goods and Services Parking Professional Services Fees Storage Travel Expenses Transport Fees Utilities

CardUp supported payments

💳 CardUp Supported Payments
Car Loans Condo & MCST Education Electricity (except SP Group) Helper Salary Insurance (except NTUC Income)	Miscellaneous Mortgage Loans Renovation Rent Season Parking (except HDB) Taxes

However, it does cover major categories like tax, insurance, and rent, and the education category is rather vaguely defined. I could certainly think of a lot of interesting ways people could make payments under the guise of fees pertaining to “extracurricular activities” or “hobbies”!

What’s the benefit of SC EasyBill?

Earning miles

Tax, education, insurance and rent either can’t be paid with credit cards, or if they can, won’t be eligible for miles.

SC EasyBill allows you to circumvent this restriction, at the cost of the admin fee. Is the admin fee worth it? It boils down to what card you have. 

Card	Earn Rate	Cost Per Mile (1.9% admin fee)
StanChart Beyond Card (PB & PP)	2 mpd	0.95¢
StanChart Beyond Card (Regular)	1.5 mpd	1.27¢
StanChart Visa Infinite	1-1.4 mpd*	1.36 to 1.9¢
StanChart Journey Card	1.2 mpd	1.58¢
StanChart Priority Banking Visa Infinite	1 mpd	1.9¢
*1.4 mpd with min. S$2,000 overall spend in a statement month, otherwise 1 mpd

All other StanChart Cards will earn <1 mpd with SC EasyBill, and aren’t really worth considering.

Depending on the card you have, the cost per mile can be as little as 0.95 cents each. I’d certainly be a buyer at that price, but it does require you to have a S$1,635 StanChart Beyond Card, with Priority Banking or Priority Private status. 

Otherwise, if you have a more ordinary card like the StanChart Journey Card, then the cost per mile becomes 1.58 cents each. That’s more marginal, because the periodic CardUp and Citi PayAll offers we see usually reduce the price to below 1.5 cents.

Cashflow benefit

Rewards aside, a lesser-discussed benefit of SC EasyBill is the ability to stretch your cashflow by deferring payments.

For example, suppose my rent is due on the 1st of each month. If I were to pay via bank transfer, the money would leave my bank account immediately.

Suppose I use SC EasyBill instead. My landlord still gets paid on the 1st of each month, but the money doesn’t leave my account yet- StanChart pays for me first! Instead, that charge becomes part of my bill for that statement cycle, which for illustration’s sake let’s say is the 11th. My credit card bill is only due on the 5th of the following month, which allows me to delay the cash outflow for an extra 35 days, compared to a direct bank transfer.

Of course, the same benefit applies to any other payment platform that lets you use a credit card, be it AXS, CardUp, or Citi PayAll. 

Does EasyBill count towards minimum spend?

Since this isn’t explicitly stated, I’ve confirmed with a Standard Chartered spokesperson that EasyBill payments will count towards:

• the minimum spend for credit card welcome offers (e.g. the 45,000 miles sign-up bonus with the StanChart Journey Card)
• the minimum spend to trigger the 1.4 mpd earn rate on the StanChart Visa Infinite

What can you do with StanChart rewards points?

Standard Chartered used to have 10 different airline and hotel transfer partners, one of the widest ranges in Singapore.

Unfortunately, that all changed in March 2024, when nine of them were unceremoniously dumped. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles was added, but the overall lineup is a lot thinner than before. 

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (SC Points: Partner)
	VI, Journey, Beyond	All Others
	25,000 : 10,000	34,500 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000	34,500 : 10,000

Transfers cost S$27.25 each, regardless of the number of points transferred. 

Not the same as the income tax payment facility

Tax Payment Facility

If you have a StanChart Visa Infinite, you might be familiar with the income tax payment facility. 

This also has a 1.9% fee (it used to be 1.6%, but was increased in March 2024), but the mechanics are quite different from EasyBill.

Here’s an illustration of how the StanChart Visa Infinite Income Tax Payment Facility works, using the example of a cardholder with a S$10,000 tax bill:

1. Cardholder completes an online application form and uploads a copy of their IRAS NOA
2. S$10,190 is charged to his StanChart Visa Infinite Card (S$10,000 + 1.9% admin fee), for which he earns 14,000 miles (S$10,000 * 1.4 mpd; the admin fee does not earn miles)
3. S$10,000 will be deposited into his designated bank account within seven business days
4. He uses the funds to pay IRAS

Note step (3). Unlike EasyBill, Standard Chartered does not pay IRAS on your behalf. Instead, it deposits money into your account, and you pay IRAS yourself. 

Keep in mind, that’s optional too. Whether or not you pay IRAS with the funds credited in step (3) is your business. You’re perfectly at liberty to keep your current GIRO payment plan, or even use another bill payment platform like Citi PayAll or CardUp to buy more miles while paying IRAS.

This tax payment facility is currently only available to principal and supplementary StanChart Visa Infinite cardholders (not the Priority Banking version), but Standard Chartered has told me that it will be made available to Beyond cardholders later this year.

Conclusion

SC EasyBill allows Standard Chartered cardholders to earn miles on taxes, rent, insurance and education payments, in exchange for a 1.9% admin fee.

If you have one of the higher-earning StanChart cards, in particular the Beyond, the cost per mile might make sense. However, the downside is that Standard Chartered rewards points are less flexible than before, since Asia Miles and KrisFlyer are the only two transfer partners now.