How credit cards track spending: Calendar month, statement month, membership year (and more!)

It’s easy to get confused when tracking bonus caps and minimum spend requirements for credit cards, because banks are nothing if not inconsistent.

While some cards use the calendar month, others use statement month, and to make matters worse, internal consistency is not guaranteed. For example, UOB tracks bonus caps by calendar month for some cards (UOB Lady’s Card), but statement month for others (UOB Visa Signature).

As if that wasn’t enough, some cards may follow the membership year, or use an apparently arbitrary 12-month period altogether!

In this post, I’ll  share a detailed listing of which time periods the major credit cards in Singapore use to track spend.

Cards with monthly caps or minimum spend

Calendar month vs statement month

If a bank tracks bonus caps and minimum spend on a monthly basis, it could either be the calendar month, or statement month.

Calendar month is self-explanatory; it’s basically the period from the 1st to the last day of a given month.

Statement month is the period between two consecutive statement generation dates, and varies from person to person.

To work out your statement month, download your e-Statement and look for the statement date. This is the last day of your statement month. For example, if my statement date is 12 May 2025, then my statement month runs from the 13th of each month to the 12th of the following month.

This, incidentally, is why it’s so confusing when a card which uses statement month makes a change- the effective date will be different for everyone!

For example, the UOB Visa Signature will soon be increasing its monthly bonus cap from S$2,000 to S$2,400, and splitting it into S$1,200 for FCY spend and S$1,200 for contactless and petrol spend.

This change takes place for statement dates from 1 September 2025 onwards, so:

• If your statement date is the first of every month, you’ll be on the current scheme till 31 July 2025
• If your statement date is the last of every month, you’ll be on the current scheme until 31 August 2025

Which month do cards track spending by? 

Here’s a rundown of which cards use calendar month vs statement month for tracking minimum spend and bonuses.

Card	Feature	Is Based on
Chocolate Visa Card Apply	Cap (S$1K) for 1 mpd on all spend, and cap (100 miles) for bill payments	Calendar
Citi Rewards Card Apply	Cap (S$1K) for 4 mpd on online spending	Statement
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	Cap (S$1.5K)1 for 4 mpd on online spending	Calendar
DCS Imperium Card Apply	Min. spend (S$4K) for 4 mpd on FCY spend	Calendar
DBS yuu Card Apply	Min. spend (S$600) and cap (S$600) for 10 mpd on yuu merchants	Calendar
HSBC Revolution Apply	Cap (S$1.5K)2 for 4 mpd on selected MCCs	Calendar
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	Min. spend (S$800) for 2.8 mpd on FCY and air tickets, and cap (S$10K for air tickets)	Calendar
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	Min. spend (S$4K) for 3.2 mpd on FCY	Calendar
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	Min. spend (S$800 or S$4K) for 2.8/3.2 mpd on FCY	Calendar
Maybank XL Card Apply	Min. spend (S$500) and cap (S$1K) for 4 mpd on selected MCCs	Calendar
OCBC Rewards Card Apply	Cap (S$1.1K) for 4 mpd on selected MCCs	Calendar
StanChart Journey Card Apply	Cap (S$1K) for 3 mpd on selected MCCs	Statement
StanChart Smart Card Apply	Min. spend (S$800 or S$1.5K) for 7.42/9.28 mpd on selected MCCs	Statement
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	Min. spend (S$2K) for 1.4/3 mpd on local/FCY spend	Statement
UOB Lady’s Card  Apply	Cap (S$1K) for 4 mpd on selected MCCs	Calendar
UOB Lady’s Solitaire  Apply	Cap (S$2K)3 for 4 mpd on selected MCCs	Calendar
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Apply	Cap (S$1.1K) for 4 mpd on contactless, and selected online MCCs	Calendar
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	Min. spend (S$1K) for 4 mpd on FCY, contactless and petrol, and cap (S$2K)4	Statement
1. Cut to S$1,000 from 1 August 2025 2. Cut to S$1,000 from 1 November 2025 3. Cut to S$1,500 from 1 August 2025 4. Cap of S$2,400 from statement date ending 1 September 2025 onwards, split into S$1,200 for FCY and S$1,200 for contactless and petrol

Cards with annual caps or minimum spend

Calendar year, membership year, or other 12-month period

While monthly tracking is more common, there are also cards which track bonus caps, minimum spend or other card features based on the year.

Calendar year is self-explanatory; it’s the period from the 1st to the last day of the year.

Membership year refers to the 12-month period starting from the month your card was approved or renewed. To check your membership year, look at the expiry date on your card. If your expiry month is May, for example, your membership year runs from 1st May to 30th April each year.

Finally, there are some cards which will track spending based on a specified 12-month period, which may not have any apparent logic behind it!

Which year do cards track spending by? 

Here’s a rundown of which cards use calendar year, membership year, or some other 12-month period for tracking minimum spend, bonuses, and other features.

Card	Feature	Is Based on
AMEX Platinum Charge Apply	S$1,354 annual statement credits	Calendar Year*
AMEX Platinum Credit Card Apply	S$200 lifestyle credit	Calendar Year*
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	Min. spend (S$1K) for Accelerated Miles	Membership Year
StanChart Rewards+ Card Apply	Cap (5.8K miles) for 2.9 mpd on FCY spend	Membership Year
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Apply	Min. FCY spend (S$10K) for 18K miles voucher	1 Nov to 31 Oct
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card Apply	Min. spend (S$12K) for S$150 SIA cashback	1 Jul to 30 Jun
AMEX PPS Card Apply	Min. spend for 50% off redemption voucher (S$75K) & 2X miles voucher (S$15K)	1 Jul to 30 Jun
AMEX Solitaire PPS Card Apply	Min. spend for 50% off redemption voucher (S$75K) & First Class upgrade voucher (S$50K)	1 Jul to 30 Jun
*Awarded half-yearly (1 Jan and 1 Jul), with the exception of Entertainment Credit, which is awarded monthly

At the risk of stating the obvious, when a credit card offers an annual fee waiver subject to meeting a certain minimum spend, that minimum spend is tracked by membership year.

Tracking with HeyMax

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

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If you have difficulty keeping track of your bonus caps, one useful tool is the HeyMax card tracker.

How this works is that you link your cards with HeyMax, which will then keep a running record of your transactions, and therefore how much bonus cap you have left (you’ll need to provide your statement date, for cards which track caps by statement month). 

I find this extremely helpful, because it saves me from having to login to ibanking and manually tally amounts each time (even if your card tracks bonuses by calendar month, transactions will still be grouped by statement month, which makes it complicated to calculate on the fly).

The catch is that it only supports tracking with Visa cards, so Mastercard users will have to do things the old-fashioned way.

Conclusion

Different banks use different time periods for tracking spend. If you’re not aware of this, you might end up spending above or below the optimum amount, earning fewer miles in the process.

Staying on top of your card’s tracking period might take a little effort, but it certainly pays off!