Back in February 2025, HeyMax partnered with Chocolate Finance to offer up to 2 Max Miles per S$1 on all spending on the Chocolate Visa Debit Card.
A 2 mpd rate isn’t particularly remarkable (especially with a S$1,000 monthly cap) but what grabbed headlines was the virtual lack of exclusion categories. Cardholders could earn miles even on charitable donations, education, hospital bills, government services, insurance premiums and utilities bills (and AXS, briefly!).
 Chocolate Visa Card |
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| Apply here |
This ushered in a rather unprecedented era in the miles game, though as expected, it didn’t last long. Sure enough, Chocolate is now tightening the criteria for earning Max Miles.
From 1 July 2025, the earn rate for the Chocolate Visa Card will be slashed by 50% to 1 mpd— unless customers deposit at least S$100,000 into their Chocolate Finance account to keep the current 2 mpd rate.
Also, miles earned from bill payments will be capped at just 100 per month, though “bill payments” may be a misnomer. Chocolate is adopting a very broad definition of the term, which may even include some unexpected merchants!
Chocolate Visa cuts earn rates to 1 mpd
| Till 30 June 25 | From 1 Jul 25 | |
| First S$1,000 spend | 2 mpd | 1 mpd |
| Above S$1,000 | 0.4 mpd | 0.4 mpd |
From 1 July 2025, the Chocolate Visa Card’s earn rate for the first S$1,000 spent per calendar month will be cut from 2 mpd to 1 mpd.
There is no change to the earn rate for spending above this amount, which remains at 0.4 mpd without any cap.
New cap on bill payments
From 1 July 2025, the Chocolate Visa Card will cap cardholders at earning a maximum of 100 miles per calendar month from bill payments.
Chocolate defines bill payments as transactions with the following MCCs.
| MCC | Category |
| MCC 4900–4999 |
Utilities |
| MCC 6300–6399 |
Insurance |
| MCC 6513, 6531 |
Real Estate and Property Management |
| MCC 7311–7399 |
Business Services |
| MCC 8011–8099 |
Medical Services, Health Practitioners, Hospitals, Dentists |
| MCC 9311–9399 |
Government Services |
| For the avoidance of doubt, the 100 miles cap is shared among all categories | |
There’s good news, bad news, and very bad news.
The good news is that charitable donations and education have survived the cull. Cardholders can continue to earn miles on both these categories, without any monthly cap (though remember, any spend beyond S$1,000 is rewarded with just 0.4 mpd).
The bad news is that government services, hospitals (and all healthcare, for that matter), insurance and utilities are now capped at earning a paltry 100 miles per month. This also effectively kills off the possibility of using the Chocolate Visa Card with CardUp (MCC 6513 and 7399).
The very bad news is that this actually goes beyond bill payments. MCC 7399 isn’t just used by CardUp; it’s also used by Points.com, LifeMiles subscriptions, IHG Points + Cash bookings, and many random businesses. Heck, even Shopee has been known to code as 7399 on occasion!
Because of this, you’re going to want to be very diligent about checking your MCCs before making a purchase.
New Miles Multiplier feature
When the Chocolate x HeyMax partnership first launched, I said that it was only a matter of time before Chocolate started tying rewards to AUM. After all, there’s very little in this for Chocolate if people merely use it as passthrough, topping up their balance when they spend and not keeping anything inside otherwise.
Well that time has now come, and from 1 July 2025, Chocolate will introduce a Miles Multiplier feature that awards bonus Max Miles based on the monthly average balance (MAB) in your Chocolate Finance account.
| Monthly Average Balance (MAB)* |
Multiplier % |
| <S$5K | 0% |
| S$5K to <S$10K | 5% |
| S$10K to <S$15K | 10% |
| S$15K to <S$20K | 15% |
| S$20K to <S$25K | 20% |
| S$25K to <S$30K | 25% |
| … | … |
| S$100K and above | 100% |
| *Includes both SGD and USD balances | |
Customers will earn a 5% multiplier for every S$5,000 MAB with Chocolate, capped at S$100,000 or 100%. For example, if John has a S$50,000 MAB with Chocolate and spends S$1,000 during the month, he will receive 500 bonus Max Miles (S$1,000 x 1 mpd x 50% multiplier).
In other words, Chocolate is requiring that customers maintain an MAB of S$100,000 to continue enjoying the 2 mpd that they currently earn.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Miles Multiplier applies to all spending on the Chocolate Visa Card, not just the first S$1,000. Bonus Max Miles will be automatically credited in the first week of the following month.
| ⚠️ Important: Match emails on accounts! |
| The emails on your Chocolate Finance account and Max Miles accounts must match in order for miles to be credited properly. Take a moment to check this now, just in case |
How much does money in Chocolate earn?
| Amount | Return | Remarks |
| First S$20K | 3% p.a. | Guaranteed |
| Next S$30K | 2.7% p.a. | Guaranteed |
| Above $50K | 2.7% p.a. | Non-guaranteed |
Chocolate offers 3% p.a. on the first S$20,000 in the account, and 2.7% p.a. on the next S$30,000. These returns are guaranteed in the sense that Chocolate will top-up any shortfall, from now till 30 September 2025 or until Chocolate’s AUM reaches $1 billion, whichever comes first.
It’s worth noting that Chocolate has historically extended the top-up programme each time the expiry date has drawn near — it’s kind of their signature thing — but past performance future returns blah blah.
Chocolate aims to provide a 2.7% p.a. return on anything beyond S$50,000, though that’s not guaranteed.
I’ve never claimed to be any good with money, so I’ll leave it to the experts in the comments section to weigh in on whether Chocolate’s returns are compelling enough to park funds in the account. Suffice to say, I’d personally be looking at the S$50,000 tier.
And before anyone asks, money in Chocolate is not SDIC-insured, because Chocolate Finance is not a bank. That became readily apparent in March when the not-a-bank run took place (for the record, everyone who withdrew their money got all of it back).
Customer funds are custodised and kept separate from Chocolate’s operating capital, but if the lack of SDIC insurance causes you to lose sleep at night, then you’ll just have to live with giving up the Miles Multiplier.
Overview: Chocolate Visa Card
| Chocolate Visa Card |
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| Apply here | |||
| Income Req. | None | Annual Fee |
None |
| Earn Rate |
2 mpd (first S$1K per c. mth) 0.4 mpd (>S$1K per c. mth) |
FCY Fee | None |
The Chocolate Visa Card has no minimum income requirement, and can be opened by anyone with a Chocolate Finance account (technically, you need a minimum balance of S$0.01 to apply for a card).
All transactions currently earn 2 Max Miles per S$1 on the first S$1,000 spent per month, and 0.4 Max Mile per S$1 subsequently, though that will be changing from July as I’ve already covered in this article.
What’s not changing is that all foreign currency (FCY) transactions will continue to be free of FCY transaction fees. They will be converted into SGD at the prevailing Visa rates, with no further markup.
Max Miles earned on this card can be converted to 28 airline and hotel loyalty programmes at a 1:1 ratio, without any fees. Alternatively, they can be redeemed against commercial airfares at a rate of 2 cents each.
Do refer to my detailed list of Chocolate-related FAQs below. I will be updating this document once the changes go live on 1 July 2025.
Conclusion
The Chocolate Visa Card will get a lot less sweet (dark chocolate?) from July, when it cuts its base earn rate in half and caps miles from bill payments at just 100 per month.
While the Miles Multiplier presents an opportunity to continue earning up to 2 Max Miles per S$1, the higher bonus tiers do require committing some significant capital to Chocolate, which you may or may not feel comfortable doing.
I think we all knew from the start that there was no way Chocolate’s existing rewards structure could continue indefinitely, though I was hoping it’d last for at least six months!
Would you deposit funds with Chocolate Finance for the Miles Multiplier?
Final Nail to the Coffin. No more love from Milers!
I think 50k SGD with 1.5x on partners like AA / JAL is still pretty good especially with no cap + 2.85% yield.
But they are quite cheap changing so quickly after launching.
Sorry, taking back my words here as it seems 0.4 with 1.5x is 0.6 rather than 1.5.
Not worth it imo
Just a caution for those aiming to rake up their account to earn more miles, since your debit card is tied to the same account, in the event of fraudulent transactions on your debit card, your deposit will be expose to it. That’s what happen to me, fortunately, it’s only a few hundred dollars and dispute claim is still on-going for almost a month with no resolution in sight. Yes, locking and unlocking the debit is another option, but still stand a chance of forgetting to lock. Anyway, for safety wise, now simply use the card as “pass-through” and top-up… Read more »
A very good point actually. You should NEVER have a large sum sitting in an account that has a link to a debit card.
when they say the give out 100 million miles in less than 4 months in the mailer, this programme is definitely unsubstainable.
As Milelion always say, make hay while the sun shines
Why do you conclude that it is not sustainable? 25m miles per month is 25,000 cards maxing out their $1,000/month spend. This is nothing. 100million miles is a drop-in-the-ocean. If, for example, UOB can give 4mpd for the lady’s card up to $2,000/month (and this is one example of many), then UOB would be giving away 200million miles in 4 months if 25,000 cards max out their spend, but I bet you UOB has WAY more than 25,000 Lady Cards out there. While other organizations such as Citi, DBS, and UOB can give 4mpd on spend, giving 2mpd should not… Read more »
Do you have no context of business sizing at all? Comparing banks to a VC backed fund with a single product. Surely you cant be that obtuse
Obtuse? How bizarre. In case you had not noticed, the banks, regardless of business or size, are the organizations Chocolate has chosen to compete with when offering miles. So it is highly appropriate to compare them. If Chocolate cannot compete with the banks, then it would be in the best interest of Chocolate to not compete. Offering a max of 1.4mpd (on spend above $1k/month) needing $100k deposit offers the consumer nothing when that 1.4mpd can be earnt on the most basic card offered by the banks.
Chocolate is giving free miles when people use it as a passthrough which I am guilty of as well. While banks cuts a cut from the transaction fee which might or might not cover the cost of the miles. It is obviously 2 very different product.
The amount of credit rollover balance is about $8billion (2024) and with interest over 20% /annual. The banks would definitely come up on top.
So, you have just explained why Chocolate cannot compete with the banks. Chocolate should therefore stop trying to complete. No one is going to deposit $100k in Chocolate to earn 2mpd on the first $1,000 spend and 1.4mpd after that, when 1.4mpd can be earnt on the most basic bank credit card – which comes with more benefits to the consumer, like not having to pay immediately, and less risk in the case of fraud etc. Chocolate simply has no product that can come close to the bank’s product(s).
Another one for the bottom drawer. Goodness the bottom drawer is getting rather full these days. To make matters even worse you can’t even get your miles out unless you have 10,000 there – whereas earlier on you could transfer out any amount from just 1,000 or more.
Really? It’s 10,000 mile blocks now? Damn now I have orphan points. Too hard with all the shifting sands and changing rules.
you can do fly from anywhere redemption 2 cents/miles
Just checked and the redemption still seems to be in blocks of 1000
I just checked too. British Airways, Qantas, and Qatar. In all cases it says enter miles in multiples of 1,000, but as soon as you start typing a number a message comes up saying you must enter at least 10,000. So please do advise where exactly you can redeem in blocks of 1,000 with a minimum of less than 10,000
fyi: larger blocks are supposed to be temporary.
https://milelion.com/2025/04/07/heymax-announces-major-overhaul-of-max-miles-redemptions/
In my case I have about 8,000 miles. So I am going to suck-up the very poor earn rate of 1mpd, by spending a further $2,000 over the next couple of months. The day I hit 10,000, I will transfer those miles out and cut the physical chocolate card in half, and remove the App from my phone.
Nope, not continuing with Chocolate anymore
Further, the Chocolate Team must have rocks-in-their-head if they think anyone would put $100k in Chocolate to get 2mpd, that maxes out at a grand total of 1,000 miles !!!!!!!!!! It is quite hilarious really.
Actually reading again, I may be slightly wrong above. So the bonus applies to any spend amount. So after a $1,000 spend you get 0.4mpd plus 1mpd bonus if you have $100k, so total is 1.4mpd – no more than any other standard spend card (e.g UOB)! Meanwhile, as another comment above rightly points out, who in their right mind would have $100k sitting in an account that is linked to a debit card given the hassle that could occur if a large fraudulent transaction were to get processed! The Chocolate has more than just melted. It is now potentially… Read more »
Why not use general spending cards that gives you more than 1mpd? You also have credit feature which is safer for fraudulent transactions + interest rolling in a HY savings account. The bill payment function is useless now with only 100miles cap. I would consider putting 100k if the bill payment wasn’t capped at 100.
Chocolate is officially dead for me. I mainly use it for utilities and government services like parking.sg. And transactions less than $5 where I earn nothing from UOB preferred visa. It’s no longer a meaningful card to earn 1 mpd.
Well the 1mpd is still better than nothing for a transaction less than $5. The 1 remaining use-case maybe. Although you could use another card that does not round in blocks of $5 and get more than 1mpd. Citi for example.
Seems NO option available to LOCK the CHocolate Visa card :(! Quite reisky . . .
Seems NO option to LOCK the Chocolate Visa card 😦 . . . Quite risky . . .
There is a “freeze” option in the App. Why they call it freeze and not lock, I don’t know. But freezing is the same as locking.
Yes you can. Click on the card in the App and select “Freeze card. You can also set transaction limits by clicking “More”
I literally just signed up for the chocolate card yesterday (3rd June) after mulling the meagre mpd earn rates. The fact that there were little to no Forex and transaction costs that offset the meagre 2 mpd (and the $1000cap/mo) made me think hard. At the end of the day, I decided to go with it because sign up was easy and free. But with this news barely 12 hours after signing up, it’s left a bitter taste in my mouth. Ive yet to begin using the service and I’m already in the negative. No way they’ll get me to… Read more »
please la, dont think you even have $10k to spare. tuakang machiam like have $100k.
The hole so big that the whole ML community can stand inside
1. How is it the company’s fault that you only had 12 hours to enjoy the benefits?
2. The application is free. How are you in the negative?
hoping to see the transaction limit being increased to its original
Anyone has any idea what their 7 day yield is for sums exceeding their guarantee? I asked and…they had no idea.
Rather poor for a fund.
I’d be cautious of them. They have a tendency to throw promos out then slowly cut back. Happened with their interest rates (and instant withdrawals), then the axs/bills payment and now this 1mpd/2mpd. I say another nerf will come before Q4
how can a financial institution dealing with peoples money every month or 2 change its policy. you think selling prata?
withdrawing my 50k with them immediately.
No way – this is the end of the Choc card for me.
Does this mean we can no longer get miles from using Choco Finance to pay through Cardup for all services, or only thru Cardup for govt svcs, hospitals, insurance and utilities? E.g. if I use Choco finance to pay for education through cardup, I’m still eligible for miles?
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bad news is that government services, hospitals (and all healthcare, for that matter), insurance and utilities are now capped at earning a paltry 100 miles per month. This also effectively kills off the possibility of using the Chocolate Visa Card with CardUp (MCC 6513 and 7399).