Chocolate Finance has announced some upcoming changes to the Chocolate Visa Card from 1 September 2026, but the good news is that they’re mostly positive.
In short, the earn rates are staying the same, but the caps are being increased. Cardholders will soon be able to earn 1 Max Mile per S$1 on the first S$2,000 per month (up from S$1,000), and earn up to 300 Max Miles per month on bill payments (up from 100 Max Miles).
The Miles Multiplier feature will be scrapped — no real loss there — and customers must maintain a minimum balance of S$5,000 in SGD to earn Max Miles.
In a related development, Chocolate will also be rolling out its “Miles for Returns” programme to all customers, and enhancing the conversion rate to 80 Max Miles per S$1 from September to November 2026. This allows you to buy Max Miles at 1.25 cents each, and should be a no-brainer if you already have funds inside Chocolate. I’ll be covering this in a separate article, so stay tuned.
How the Chocolate Visa Card is changing
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| Apply | |||
| Open a Chocolate Finance account via SingSaver and get up to S$120 cash or S$130 Grab vouchers. T&Cs apply. |
Here’s a summary of the changes coming to the Chocolate Visa Card, effective from 1 September 2026.
| Till 31 Aug 2026 | From 1 Sep 2026 | |
| Earn 1 mpd on | First S$1,000 per month | First S$2,000 per month |
| Earn 0.4 mpd on | Any spending >S$1,000 | Any spending >S$2,000 |
| Cap on Bill Payments | 100 miles per month | 300 miles per month |
| Miles Multiplier | 5-100% bonus depending on account balance | Removed |
| Min. ADB to Earn Miles | None | S$5,000 in SGD |
1 mpd earn rate doubled to S$2,000 per month
The Chocolate Visa Card currently offers:
- 1 mpd on the first S$1,000 spent per calendar month, and
- An uncapped 0.4 mpd beyond S$1,000
From 1 September 2026, the earn rates will change to:
- 1 mpd on the first S$2,000 spent per calendar month, and
- An uncapped 0.4 mpd beyond S$2,000
Basically, you can now spend twice as much before the earn rate gets throttled to 0.4 mpd.
Monthly cap on bill payments tripled
The Chocolate Visa Card currently has a monthly cap of 100 Max Miles on bill payments, defined as transactions with the following MCCs (for the avoidance of doubt, the cap is shared among all categories).
| 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 |
Once the monthly cap has been reached, you will not earn anything more on these transactions — not even the reduced 0.4 mpd rate. It basically becomes a de facto exclusions list at that point.
From 1 September 2026, the bill payments cap will be tripled to 300 Max Miles per month. If nothing else, this is an opportunity to earn 300 miles on transactions that usually wouldn’t earn anything with other cards, like government services, hospitals, insurance premiums and utility bills.
Miles Multiplier removed
The Chocolate Visa Card currently offers a Miles Multiplier feature, which awards an additional 5-100% bonus Max Miles based on the average daily balance (ADB) in your Chocolate account.
| Average Daily Balance | 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 | |
For example, a customer who spends S$1,300 on the Chocolate Visa Card with a S$50,000 ADB will receive 1,120 base Max Miles (S$1,000 x 1 mpd + S$300 x 0.4 mpd) and 560 bonus Max Miles (50% x 1,120).
From 1 September 2026, the Miles Multiplier feature will be removed, and how many Max Miles you earn will be independent of your ADB — provided you satisfy one condition.
New ADB requirement to earn miles
The Chocolate Visa Card currently does not have any minimum balance requirement (but since it’s a debit card, obviously you can’t spend more than what’s in your account). There’s nothing stopping you from only transferring in funds when you have something to buy, and keeping a zero balance otherwise.
From 1 October 2026, customers must maintain a minimum ADB of S$5,000 in SGD (ADB in USD doesn’t count) to earn any Max Miles. Eligibility is determined by the previous month’s ADB. For example, your September ADB determines whether you can earn Max Miles in October.
Do note that unlike the rest of the changes, this one only kicks in from October. There is a transitional arrangement in place this month, such that all customers will be able to earn Max Miles in September 2026 regardless of their ADB in August 2026.
I can’t say I’m surprised by this new requirement. As a funds management company, it doesn’t really make sense for Chocolate if people keep using it as a “passthrough” for card spending. In any case, that S$5,000 would earn 2% p.a., plus an extra 1% p.a. until 30 September 2026 as part of Chocolate’s SG61 Birthday Booster (in-app registration required). It’s certainly better than letting it sit idle in a savings account.
What should you use the Chocolate Visa Card for?
The Chocolate Visa Card clearly isn’t going to be your daily driver. A 1 mpd earn rate — even if the “m” in that “mpd” are lucrative Max Miles — is far short of what other cards have to offer.
That said, I can still think of three scenarios where you might want to spend on the Chocolate Visa Card nonetheless.
Bill payments
Most of the MCCs that Chocolate defines as bill payments would not earn any rewards with other cards.
Therefore, you might as well use the Chocolate Visa Card. Set it as the recurring payment method for your insurance premiums, utility bills etc. and get a small trickle of miles each month.
Charitable donations and education
Charitable donations and education do not fall under the Chocolate Visa Card’s definition of bill payments, so there’s no cap on the number of miles you can earn on these payments each month.
Where charitable donations are concerned, do note that the Chocolate Visa Card will only work for local organisations like Giving.sg. Donations to overseas organisations are blocked on the back end.
Overseas spending
With the Chocolate Visa Card, foreign currency transactions are converted into SGD at the prevailing Visa rate, with no further markup. You can use the official Visa calculator here to check how much you’ll pay (set the bank fee at 0%).
This means that one of the best uses for the Chocolate Visa Card is for overseas spending.
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| Chocolate Visa Card | HSBC TravelOne Card | |
| FCY Earn Rate | 1 mpd | 2.4 mpd |
| FCY Transaction Fee | 0% | 3.25% |
For example, if your alternative option is a general spending card like the HSBC TravelOne Card, then spending on the Chocolate Visa Card makes more sense — at least for the first S$2,000 per month — because paying a 3.25% fee to earn an extra 1.4 mpd means buying miles at 2.32 cents each, way above what you should be paying.
However, if your alternative option is a specialised spending card like the UOB Visa Signature, then paying a 3.25% fee to earn an extra 3 mpd means 1.08 cents per mile, making the Chocolate Card the inferior option (though keep in mind the S$1,000 minimum spend and S$1,200 cap on the UOB Visa Signature).
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| Chocolate Visa Card | UOB Visa Signature | |
| FCY Earn Rate | 1 mpd | 4 mpd |
| FCY Transaction Fee | 0% | 3.25% |
There are numerous alternatives for FCY spending I’d sooner use, like Amaze + Citi Rewards/Maybank XL Rewards for 4 mpd with a 2% fee, but assuming those are already exhausted, or if you just want to earn miles at the lowest possible cost, then the Chocolate Visa Card would be the answer.
You won’t enjoy rates as good as Revolut or YouTrip, but neither of those options let you earn rewards.
What can you do with Max Miles?
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| Get 200 Max Miles when you open an account and complete your first transaction |
| Get a HeyMax Account |
Max Miles can be converted to more than 20 airline and hotel partners, at a 1:1 ratio for most frequent flyer programmes.
| ✅ HeyMax Transfer Partners All 1:1 unless otherwise stated |
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| ✈️ Airlines | |
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| 🏨 Hotels | |
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Max Miles can also be encashed at 1.8 cents each via the FlyAnywhere feature, which allows you to claim reimbursement for commercial or award tickets you’ve booked in the past 30 days. This effectively sets the floor value — you shouldn’t accept any redemption that gives you less than 1.8 cents per Max Mile.
Therefore, another way of viewing the Chocolate Visa Card is that it’s a 1.8% cashback card for the first S$2,000 of spending. It’s a competitive rate, though the UOB Absolute Cashback AMEX Card is currently offering an uncapped 2% cashback on all physical card contactless payments until 31 January 2027. That said, Visa has much wider acceptance than AMEX, so that’s another point in Chocolate’s favour.
Conclusion
The Chocolate Visa Card will be getting higher earning caps from September 2026, with cardholders earning 1 Max Mile per S$1 on up to S$2,000 per month, and up to 300 Max Miles on bill payments.
That earn rate isn’t going to set the world on fire, but this was never meant to be your primary spending card anyway. The Chocolate Visa Card has niche use cases, like charitable donations, education, and overseas spending where you want to minimise transaction costs while not forfeiting miles altogether.
On the flip side, you will need to maintain a minimum ADB of S$5,000 in SGD to earn Max Miles beginning from October 2026, though Chocolate is hardly the worst place to be parking some emergency funds anyway.
But the real exciting news here is that Chocolate is rolling out the Miles for Returns programme to all customers, and boosting the conversion rate to 80 Max Miles per S$1 for a limited time. This presents some interesting opportunities — which I’ll talk about more in a separate post.
