How to maximise miles by splitting payments across multiple cards

In an ideal world, you would be able to split payments across multiple credit cards whenever you pleased.

But real life isn’t so simple. While some stores and websites allow customers to split payments, the general rule is one transaction, one card. That’s unfortunate, because splitting payments enables you to spend the optimum amount on each card, maximising your overall earn rate. 

The good news is that even if the merchant doesn’t explicitly allow for splitting of payments, there are some potential workarounds that let you achieve the same end.

Why might you want to split payments?

To optimise sign-up bonuses

Many general spending cards offer lucrative sign-up bonuses, which require making a particular minimum spend within a certain period of approval. 

However, their earn rates outside of the sign-up bonus may not be very impressive, so in an ideal situation you’d meet the minimum spend on the dot, then switch to higher-earning cards for the remainder.

For example, suppose I’ve just signed up for a StanChart Journey Card, which at the time of writing offers 20,000 bonus miles with a minimum spend of S$800. I also have an upcoming transaction of S$2,000 to make.

The non-optimised approach would be to put the entire S$2,000 on the StanChart Journey Card.

• The first S$800 earns 20,960 miles because of the StanChart Journey Card’s sign-up bonus
• But the remaining S$1,200 earns just 1,440 miles, based on the StanChart Journey Card’s general spending rate of 1.2 mpd
• Total miles: 22,400

	Spend	Miles
StanChart Journey Card	S$2,000	22,400 (20,000 bonus miles & S$2,000 @ 1.2 mpd)
Total	S$2,000	22,400

The optimised approach would be to put S$800 on the StanChart Journey Card, and S$1,200 on the UOB Visa Signature Card:

• The first S$800 earns 20,960 miles because of the StanChart Journey Card’s sign-up bonus
• The remaining S$1,200 earns 4,800 miles based on the UOB Visa Signature’s earn rate of 4 mpd for contactless payments
• Total miles: 25,760

	Spend	Miles
StanChart Journey Card	S$800	20,960 (20,000 bonus miles & S$800 @ 1.2 mpd)
UOB Visa Signature	S$1,200	4,800* (S$1,200 @ 4 mpd)
Total	S$2,000	25,760
*Assuming local contactless spend

To optimise specialised spending bonuses

There’s no shortage of specialised spending cards in Singapore, which offer up to 4 mpd on specific categories or modes of spend.

💳 Specialised Spending Cards
Card	Earn Rate	Cap
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd1	S$1K per s. month Review
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd2	S$1.5K per c. month Review
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd3	S$1K per c. month Review
OCBC Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd4	S$1.1K per c. month Review
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd5	S$1K per c. month Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd6	S$2K per c. month Review
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd7	S$1.1K per c. month Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd8	S$2K per s. month Review
1. All online transactions except in-app mobile wallet and travel (airlines, hotels, rental cars, tour agency, cruises etc.) (T&Cs) 2. All online transactions (T&Cs) 3. Online transactions for shopping, dining and transportation (T&Cs) 4. Clothes, bags, shoes and shopping (T&Cs) 5. Pick 1: Beauty & wellness, dining, entertainment, family, fashion, transport, travel (T&Cs) 6. Pick 2: Beauty & wellness, dining, entertainment, family, fashion, transport, travel (T&Cs) 7. For in-person mobile contactless spending, and online shopping & entertainment (T&Cs) 8. For in-person contactless spending, foreign currency transactions and petrol. Min spend of S$1K per s. month applies (T&Cs)

The problem with specialised spending cards is that the 4 mpd rate is typically capped at S$1,000 to S$2,000 of spending per month. Once you exceed that limit, the earn rate drops sharply to just 0.4 mpd, making them unsuitable for large purchases.

To illustrate, suppose I’m buying a S$2,000 laptop online.

The non-optimised approach would be to put the entire S$2,000 on the DBS Woman’s World Card.

• The first S$1,500 earns 6,000 miles because of the DBS Woman’s World Card’s bonus earn rate of 4 mpd for online spending
• But the remaining S$500 earns just 200 miles, based on the DBS Woman’s World Card’s regular earn rate of 0.4 mpd beyond the bonus cap
• Total miles: 6,200

	Spend	Miles
DBS Woman’s World Card	S$2,000	6,200 (S$1,500 @ 4 mpd & S$500 @ 0.4 mpd)
Total	S$2,000	6,200

The optimised approach would be to put S$1,500 on the DBS Woman’s World Card, and S$500 on the Citi Rewards Card.

• The first S$1,500 earns 6,000 miles because of the DBS Woman’s World Card’s bonus earn rate of 4 mpd for online spending
• The remaining S$500 earns 2,000 miles based on the Citi Rewards Card’s bonus earn rate of 4 mpd for online spending
• Total miles: 8,000 

	Spend	Miles
DBS Woman’s World Card	S$1,500	6,000 (S$1,500 @ 4 mpd)
Citi Rewards Card	S$500	2,000 (S$500 @ 4 mpd)
Total	S$2,000	8,000

To leverage credit balances across multiple banks

Another use case for splitting payments is to “combine” your credit limits across banks.

For example, if you had a credit limit of S$5,000 with Bank A and S$5,000 with Bank B, you wouldn’t be able to make a purchase of S$10,000 unless it were possible to split payments.

Obviously, I wouldn’t recommend doing this if it means overextending yourself, but I figured I’d mention it for completeness.

How can you split payments?

Split payments via gift cards

Buying gift cards allows you to effectively break up a transaction into two or more different modes of payment. For example, if I have a payment of S$3,000 to make with Merchant X, I could buy 3x S$1,000 gift cards for Merchant X, each using a different credit card. 

Some of the bigger gift card aggregators in Singapore can be found below (the merchants shown are indicative; refer to the websites for the full list).

MCC 5311 MCC 5399 Amazon processes transactions over a range of MCCs, so use a card that awards bonuses for general online spend
Amazon Courts Challenger Best Denki Dairy Farm	Eu Yan Sang IKEA Klook NTUC FairPrice TADA

MCC 5999
Amazon Best Denki Cold Storage Courts Dairy Farm Group eCapitaVoucher* Eu Yan Sang Giant	Grab Guardian IKEA Lazada NTUC FairPrice Sheng Siong TANGS ZALORA
*Admin fee of up to 5% applies to purchases

MCC 5311
Amazon Best Denki Courts Deliveroo Foodpanda Giant Grab IKEA Klook Lazada	Natureland NTUC FairPrice Oddle Eats Pelago Ryde Shein Shell Sheng Siong TADA TANGS ZALORA

MCC 5812 MCC 5814 MCC 5311 ShopBack processes transactions over a range of MCCs, so use a card that awards bonuses for general online spend
Amazon Foodpanda Gojek Grab IKEA Lazada	NTUC FairPrice Ryde Shell Shopee TADA Uniqlo

MCC 5947
Amazon Best Denki Caltex Challenger Cold Storage Courts Giant GrabGifts Guardian IKEA	iStudio Klook Lazada Muji NTUC FairPrice Shell Shopee TADA TANGS Trip.com Watsons

In addition to these aggregators, other merchants like Harvey Norman, Hipvan, Trip.com and Traveloka also sell gift cards directly under their regular MCCs.

Wherever you buy from, I’d highly advise checking the MCC before purchasing, to make sure it’s rewards-eligible. 

Here’s a simple illustration of how gift cards help you maximise rewards.

Suppose I want to purchase a S$3,000 sofa from IKEA. If I were to buy the item directly in-store, the best outcome I could hope for would be to pay with the UOB Visa Signature Card (contactless payment), which would earn 8,400 miles (S$2,000 @ 4 mpd, S$1,000 @ 0.4 mpd).

👍 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

But instead, I could buy 3x S$1,000 gift cards from HeyMax (MCC 5311):

• Gift Card #1: 6,000 miles (OCBC Rewards @ 6 mpd- limited-time buff till 30 June 2025) 
• Gift Card #2: 4,000 miles (Citi Rewards Card @ 4 mpd)
• Gift Card #3: 4,000 miles (DBS Woman’s World Card @ 4 mpd)

This gives me 14,000 miles in total!

As an added bonus, HeyMax also awards its own Max Miles loyalty currency on gift card purchases, which can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to more than two dozen airline and hotel loyalty programmes.

Split payments via Atome

If gift cards aren’t an option, another way of splitting payments is through a BNPL platform like Atome.

Going back to our IKEA sofa example, instead of spending the S$3,000 in a single transaction, I could opt to use Atome and be charged:

• Month 1 (upfront): S$1,000
• Month 2: S$1,000
• Month 3: S$1,000

Each month’s instalment is within the bonus cap for the various specialised spending cards like the Citi Rewards and HSBC Revolution, allowing you to earn 4 mpd on the entire S$3,000. Atome also lets you switch your payment card for the 2nd and 3rd instalment if you wish, so you don’t have to use the same card every month. 

While Atome will automatically bill your card each month, it’s best practice to trigger the 2nd and 3rd payments manually (which can be done via the Atome app, under the Bills section). It’s been reported that automatic payments may be seen by the bank as recurring billing arrangements, which are ineligible for points.

I’ve written a separate article about the best cards to use for Atome.

What’s the best card to use for Atome?

Conclusion

Splitting payments is how you optimise the spend on your credit cards, ensuring that each incremental dollar earns as high a reward as possible. 

If the merchant doesn’t let you pay with more than one credit card, two workarounds include buying gift cards, or using a BNPL service. The latter also serves as a “time machine”, shifting this month’s expenses to be utilised against future months’ bonus caps. 

Any other ways you know of splitting payments?