Review: Standard Chartered Smart Card

Here’s The MileLion’s review of the Standard Chartered Smart Card, launched in October 2021 and proudly showcased as the bank’s first carbon-neutral card. The carbon footprint involved in the card’s production had been fully offset, so cardholders could feel virtuous every time they bought more stuff they didn’t need.

Gratuitous corporate greenwashing aside, the card itself was pretty decent. Cardholders enjoyed a permanent annual fee waiver, and 5.6 mpd on fast food, streaming subscriptions, and public transport— no minimum spend necessary.

But in December 2024, StanChart gave the Smart Card a major refresh. A ~S$100 annual fee was added, EV charging was introduced as a new bonus category, and perhaps most intriguingly, the earn rates were enhanced to as much as 9.28 mpd or 10% cashback, without any cap.

There’s a catch though: those rates sound amazing on paper, but the list of bonus categories is fairly restrictive, and the minimum spend makes it difficult to achieve in practice. So unless you really love your fast food, and I mean Morgan Spurlock-level love (if you’re too young to get that reference, I hate you), then this could very well be a junk card— in more ways than one.

Standard Chartered Smart Card
🦁 MileLion Verdict
☐ Take It  Take It Or Leave It ☑ Leave It
What do these ratings mean?
The StanChart Smart Card offers an incredible uncapped 9.28 mpd or 10% cashback — but the limited bonus categories and minimum spend requirement make it hard to recommend.
👍 The good	👎 The bad
Up to 9.28 mpd or 10% cashback on bonus categories, without any cap The only card with EV charging as a bonus MCC	Only selected fast food restaurants and streaming services qualify for bonuses Minimum spend of S$800/S$1,500 will be tricky to hit without spending on non-bonus categories
💳 Full List of Credit Card Reviews

Overview: Standard Chartered Smart Card

Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the StanChart Smart Card.

Apply
Income Req.	S$30,000 p.a.	Points Validity	Up to 3 years
Annual Fee	S$99.19 (FYF)	Min. Transfer	34,500 points (10,000 miles)
FCY Fee	3.5%	Transfer Fee	S$27.25
Local Earn	0.46 mpd	Points Pool?	No
FCY Earn	0.46 mpd	Lounge Access?	No
Special Earn	Up to 9.28 mpd on fast food, streaming, SimplyGo & EV charging	Airport Limo?	No
Cardholder Terms and Conditions

How much must I earn to qualify for a Standard Chartered Smart Card?

The StanChart Smart Card has a S$30,000 p.a. income requirement, the MAS-mandated minimum for a credit card.

If you do not meet the minimum income requirement, you can try to open a secured version instead, backed by a fixed deposit. Visit a Standard Chartered branch for details.

How much is the Standard Chartered Smart Card’s annual fee?

When it first launched, the StanChart Smart Card had no annual fee for either principal or supplementary cards.

However, this policy changed in December 2024, when a S$99.19 annual fee was introduced. Up to four supplementary cards remain free for life.

An annual fee waiver will be granted if you spend at least S$10,000 in a membership year. I would hope that a waiver would still be possible even if you don’t meet this threshold, but recent experience with the StanChart Journey Card suggests that Standard Chartered is getting stricter with its fee-waiver policy, even for entry-level cards.

What welcome gifts are available?

Apply

New-to-bank customers who apply for a StanChart Smart Card through the links in this article can enjoy welcome gifts from SingSaver, including:

• Apple iPad 9th Gen 10.2″ WiFi 64GB
• Xiaomi Truclean W20 Wet Dry Vacuum
• Hinomi H1 Classic V3 Ergonomic Office Chair
• S$200 cash

Gifts are often rotated, so be sure to refer to the T&Cs for the latest selection.

New-to-bank customers are defined as those who do not currently hold a principal StanChart credit card, and have not cancelled one in the past 12 months. Do note that holding a Trust Bank card has absolutely no impact on your new-to-bank status for Standard Chartered, as the two are completely separate entities.

A minimum spend of S$800 within 60 days of approval is required. In addition to this, you must also complete one of the following activities within 60 days of approval:

• Apply for Standard Chartered EasyPay for at least three retail transactions on your credit card with a min. amount of S$150 each, with at least 12 months tenure
• Apply and open a Standard Chartered Bonus$aver Account with a min. deposit of S$3,000
• Get approved for a Standard Chartered CashOne Personal Loan with a min. amount of S$1,000 and 12-month tenure
• Get approved for a Standard Chartered credit card funds transfer with a min. loan amount of S$1,000 for a min. tenure of 3 months

How many miles do I earn?

SGD/FCY Spend

The StanChart Smart Card normally earns:

• 1.6 points for every S$1 spent in Singapore Dollars
• 1.6 points for every S$1 spent in foreign currency (FCY)

That’s an equivalent earn rate of 0.46 mpd for local and overseas spend. 

Overseas transactions come with a hefty 3.5% FCY fee, the highest in the market. Needless to say, this isn’t a card you should be using for general spending!

Bonus Spend

The StanChart Smart Card offers up to 32 points per S$1 (9.28 mpd) on transactions made in SGD at the following merchants.

There are three important points to highlight:

• With the exception of EV charging, bonuses are not awarded by MCC. Instead, fast food, streaming entertainment and public transportation are limited to the specifically-named merchants, so you won’t earn any bonuses at MOS Burger or Jollibee, for example
• Bonuses only apply if the transaction is charged in SGD. This means that overseas Burger King, Subway etc. transactions will not earn bonuses
• Not all EV charging providers use MCC 5552. Some, like Shell Recharge, use different MCCs and will not earn bonuses. Refer to the article below for more details

2026 Edition: Best Credit Cards for EV Charging

Transactions at bonus-eligible merchants earn:

• the regular base rate of 1.6 points per S$1 (0.46 mpd), and
• a bonus of 11.2-30.4 points per S$1 (3.25-8.82 mpd), depending on monthly spend

Now, here’s where it gets complicated. The StanChart Smart Card has three different earning tiers, based on total spend within a statement month.

When spending on bonus categories:

• Cardholders who spend less than S$800 per statement month will earn 0.5% cashback or 0.46 mpd
• Cardholders who spend at least S$800 but less than S$1,500 per statement month will earn 8% cashback or 7.42 mpd
• Cardholders who spend at least S$1,500 per statement month will earn 10% cashback or 9.28 mpd

There is no cap on the miles that can be earned, which sounds fantastic on first glance— who wouldn’t want an uncapped 9.28 mpd?

But in practice, you might find that hard to attain because of the minimum spend requirements. It’s very difficult to see anyone spending more than S$800 at these bonus merchants, let alone S$1,500.

Think about it. Let’s say you have a Disney+ (S$22.98), Netflix (S$29.98) and Spotify (S$20.98) subscription (the most expensive plans for all three services), and let’s say you have an EV and charge your vehicle four times a month (S$200). That only comes up to S$274, so you’d need to spend at least S$526 on the fast food category.

I mean, everyone gripes about how much McDonald’s and Starbucks costs these days, but that’s still a lot of junk to be eating. And if you want to hit the top rebates tier of 10% cashback or 9.28 mpd, I hope you enjoy your S$1,226 feast (now, if only there were a card that offered bonus miles for medical treatment…).

That’s not to say it’s impossible. You might be able to buy prepaid credits with an EV charging provider, or maybe you volunteer to order fast food or coffee for the office every week.

And of course, you might choose to transact on non-bonus categories to meet the minimum spend, but with an earn rate of just 0.46 mpd, your weighted average will be dragged down.

Here are some illustrative scenarios. In my opinion, the benchmark to outperform should be 4 mpd, since that’s what you’d be able to earn with alternative cards, albeit with a cap.

When are SC Rewards Points credited?

Base and bonus points will be credited together at the start of the following statement cycle.

How are SC Rewards Points calculated?

Here’s how you can work out the SC Rewards Points earned on your StanChart Smart Card.

General spend

Bonus transactions (SGD only)

If you’re an Excel geek, here are the formulas you need to calculate points: 

General spend

Bonus transactions (SGD only)

For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:

• General Spending Cards
• Specialised Spending Cards

What transactions aren’t eligible for SC Rewards Points?

A full list of transactions that do not earn points can be found in the T&Cs at point 15.

I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:

• Charitable donations
• Education
• Government services 
• GrabPay and YouTrip top-ups
• Hospitals
• Insurance premiums
• Utilities

While CardUp transactions do earn points with Standard Chartered credit cards, this wouldn’t be the right card to use anyway as the earn rate would be just 0.46 mpd.

What do I need to know about SC Rewards Points?

Expiry

SC Rewards Points earned on the StanChart Smart Card are valid for up to three years. 

Note how that’s “up to three years” and not “three years”. Like Citibank, SC Rewards Points have a fixed expiry date, based on when you opened your card (but unlike Citibank, StanChart doesn’t have a grace period!).

 In other words, when you open a StanChart card account, a three-year countdown timer starts. All the points you earn during that initial three-year period will expire on the same date, regardless of when they were actually earned. In an extreme example, your points can be valid for as little as one day!

PSA: Standard Chartered’s unusual points expiry policy

Pooling

Standard Chartered divides its credit cards into two tiers:

• Tier 1: Beyond, Journey, Visa Infinite, Priority Banking Visa Infinite
• Tier 2: All other cards

Points pool within tiers, but not across tiers (so you can’t combine Tier 1 and 2 points in a single redemption, for example). 

Transfer Partners & Fees

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)
	Tier 1	Tier 2
	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.

Transfer Time

Conversions to KrisFlyer miles are generally completed within three working days. 

Other card perks

Visa SmartDelay

Visa SmartDelay

The StanChart Smart Card offers a feature called SmartDelay, which offers complimentary lounge access in the event of a flight delay. 

Cardholders simply need to register their flight. If their flight is delayed by more than one hour, an email containing a LoungeKey QR code will be automatically generated (which covers both the cardholder and guest). This can be redeemed at any LoungeKey-accepting airport lounge worldwide (LoungeKey and Priority Pass are basically the same).

Interestingly, there is no requirement that you pay for your flight with the card you use to register. That’s a good thing, because the StanChart Smart Card earns just 0.46 mpd on air ticket bookings— hardly the right card to use!

SmartDelay is available to both principal and supplementary cardholders, but the supplementary cardholder cannot register for the same flight that the principal cardholder has registered for. I suspect this might be a problem unique to Standard Chartered cards, however, since supplementary cards share the same card number as principal cards (yes, it’s weird).

Visa SmartDelay: Get complimentary lounge access during flight delays

Terms & Conditions

• Standard Chartered Smart Card T&Cs

Summary Review: Standard Chartered Smart Card

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🦁 MileLion Verdict

☐ Take It ☐ Take It Or Leave It ☑ Leave It

While I’ve ultimately given the StanChart Smart Card a “Leave It” rating, I’m not saying it’s completely useless. I just think its appeal is very niche. 

But perhaps you own a fleet of EV cars. Perhaps you have a fast food addiction. Perhaps you’re a train otaku who does nothing but ride the MRT all day. Whatever your vice, if you’re able to meet the minimum spend (or at least a big part of it) through bonus category spending, then you won’t find a better card out there.

For the general population, however, this simply isn’t a realistic proposition. Either you’ll fail to meet the minimum spend, or you’ll have to include so much non-bonus spend that you might as well save yourself the trouble and just use a 4 mpd card instead (or 10 mpd, in the case of streaming services paid through Cast.sg with Singtel Billing and the DBS yuu Card).

So that’s my review of the StanChart Smart Card. What do you think?