GXS Credit Card: Good for overseas Grab, and little else

GXS has launched a new credit card, which it calls — wait for it — the GXS Credit Card. Normally, I would say this constitutes a failure of the imagination, but then again, it’s pretty on-brand for a country which decided that Budget Terminal was a good name for the budget terminal, and Marina Bay a good name for Marina Bay…

This marks the digital bank’s second attempt at a credit card, after the very bizarre GXS FlexiCard, which offered gacha-style randomised cashback rewards, and balance rollovers for the princely sum of S$5.

So is it a case of second time’s the charm? Well, there’s bad news and good news.

The bad news is that this card is terrible for local spending. There are far better alternatives to its 1.75% cashback for general spending and Singtel bills, and its advertised “up to 10% rebate” for Grab spend in Singapore is both convoluted and misleading, because it’s not mathematically achievable in real life.

The good news is this card is fantastic for Grab spending overseas, where it offers an uncapped 10% rebate with no minimum spend, and no FCY transaction fees (the effective rebate could be even higher if you redeem your GrabCoins during the monthly Flash Sale).

In short, the GXS Credit Card has a single use case, but goodness me what a use case that is.

Overview: GXS Credit Card

GXS Credit Card
Category	Earn Rate (All uncapped)
Local Spend Cashback	1.75% Min. S$500 per s. month
Singtel Bills Cashback	1.75% No min. spend
Grab (Local) GrabCoins	3% No min. spend “5%” Min. S$500 Grab & S$500 non-Grab per s. month “10%” Min. S$1,000 Grab & S$500 non-Grab per s. month
Grab (Overseas) GrabCoins	10% No min. spend
Cardholder Terms and Conditions

Income requirement & annual fee

The GXS Credit Card has a minimum income requirement of S$30,000 p.a. and an annual fee of S$196.20. GXS will waive this fee for the first year — but only for customers approved by 31 December 2026.

I have difficulty believing that GXS will be bold enough to enforce this from 2027 though, given that Trust and Mari don’t have any annual fees for their credit cards. We’ll have to wait and see.

No FCY transaction fee

The GXS Credit Card has no foreign currency (FCY) transaction fee. All FCY transactions will be converted into SGD at the prevailing Visa rate, with no further mark-up.

While there’s no FCY transaction fee, the flip side is that you will not earn any cashback for FCY spend (unless it’s on Grab transactions; see below).

1.75% cashback on all local spend

The GXS Credit Card earns an uncapped 1.75% cashback on all local spend, with a minimum spend of S$500 in a statement month.

On paper, this is the best evergreen uncapped earn rate for a cashback card — but it’s not so straightforward.

💳 General Spending Cashback Cards
	Annual Fee	SGD Spend
DCS Ultimate Cashback Apply	S$130.80* (First Year Waived)	2% Cashback capped at S$200 per c. month
UOB Absolute Cashback Apply	S$196.20 (First Year Waived)	2%^ Ends 31 Jan 27
GXS Credit Card	S$196.20 (First Year Waived)	1.75% Min. spend S$500 per s. month
BOC Visa Infinite Apply	S$381.50 (First Year Waived)	1.6%
Citi Cash Back+ Card Apply	S$196.20 (First Year Waived)	1.6%
OCBC Infinity Cashback Apply	S$196.20 (First Year Waived)	1.6%
ICBC Chinese Zodiac Card Apply	S$150 (First 3 Years Waived)	1.6%
Maybank FC Barcelona Card Apply	S$130.80 (First 2 Years Waived)	1.6%
AMEX True Cashback Card Apply	S$174.40 (First Year Waived)	1.5%
Mari Credit Card Apply via app with code 7KZX22QY	None	1.5%
SC Simply Cash Card Apply	S$196.20 (First Year Waived)	1.5%
Trust Freedom Card Apply via app with code 2GQEAM81	None	1.5%
*Billed as S$10.90 per month ^Limited-time promotion for in-person contactless spend, valid until 31 January 2027. 1.7% for online spending

You could earn a much better 2% cashback with the DCS Ultimate Cashback Card instead, and while that’s capped at S$200 a month, the cap won’t be triggered unless you spend more than S$10,000.

Alternatively, you could use the UOB Absolute Cashback Card for an uncapped 2% cashback on in-person contactless spend, until 31 January 2027 (online spend will earn 1.7% cashback).

There are also a multitude of uncapped cashback cards offering 1.5-1.6% with no minimum spend necessary, and the question is whether it’s worth the hassle of spending at least S$500 every statement month on the GXS Credit Card for an extra 0.15% (remember: Grab transactions do not count towards the S$500 minimum). 

Mind you, missing the minimum will be a very costly mistake, because you earn nothing if you spend S$499.99 and below!

Singtel bills

The GXS Credit Card earns an uncapped 1.75% cashback on Singtel bills, with no minimum spend.

Don’t bother with this. You can already earn 4 mpd paying your bill online with the DBS Woman’s World Card or Citi Rewards Card. 

If you find a Singtel kiosk, you can even earn 9.72 mpd on Singtel bills with the DBS yuu Card, or 4 mpd via contactless payment with the UOB Preferred Visa/UOB Visa Signature.

Card	Earn Rate for Singtel Bills	Remarks
DBS yuu Card AMEX Visa	9.72 mpd Pay at Singtel Kiosk	Min. spend S$800, cap of S$823 per c. month. Must spend at 4x participating merchants
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd Pay online	Max S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd Pay online	Max S$1K per c. month
UOB Preferred Visa Apply	4 mpd Pay at Singtel Kiosk	Max S$600 per c. month. Pay via mobile contactless.
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd Pay at Singtel Kiosk	Min. S$1K max S$1.2K per s. month. Pay via contactless

Grab (local)

The GXS Credit Card earns an uncapped 3-10% rebate (in the form of Grab Coins) on Grab Singapore spend, but GXS is being rather sneaky here because these refer to marginal earn rates, not average.

This system is confusing — probably deliberately — so let me try and explain things as simply as I can.

The GXS Credit Card earns an uncapped 3% rebate on Grab Singapore spend, with no minimum spend.

If you spend at least S$500 on non-Grab spend, you will earn:

• a 5% rebate on the portion of Grab Singapore spend between S$500 to S$1,000
• a 10% rebate on the portion of Grab Singapore spend above S$1,000

Note how I say “the portion”. It’s not the case that if you spend S$600 on Grab Singapore, the entire S$600 is rewarded at 5%. Instead, the first S$500 is still rewarded at 3%, and the next S$100 is rewarded at 5%.

So it’s wrong for GXS to say “up to 10%” — you will never earn 10% because of the drag imposed by the lower spending bands. 

The table below illustrates this problem — note how the average lags behind the marginal. Even if you spend a whopping S$4,000 on Grab Singapore, you still won’t be earning 10% on average!

Because of this complexity, I’d much rather stick to a 4 mpd card for Grab spend in Singapore, which based on a conservative value of 1.5 cents per mile, offers a 6% rebate from the very first S$1 — no annoying minimum spend necessary.

Card	Grab Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c . month
Maybank XL Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Min. S$500, max S$1K per c. month
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose Transport as bonus category
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$750 per c. month. Must choose Transport as bonus category

Grab (overseas)

Finally, we come to the good stuff.

The GXS Credit Card earns an uncapped 10% rebate (in the form of GrabCoins) on overseas Grab spend, with no minimum spend.

It doesn’t matter what Grab service you’re using. So long as it’s Grab, and it’s overseas, you get 10%. Given that there’s no FCY fee, this is simply unbeatable.

Is it even better than miles cards? For the most part, yes. With a 4 mpd earn rate and a 3.25% fee, you would need to value a mile at more than 3.3 cents before it beats a 10% rebate with no FCY fee.

It can even beat “upgraded” variants of these cards. For example, the GXS Credit Card’s 10% rebate is better than the UOB Lady’s Card’s 6 mpd (achievable with a S$10,000 deposit in the Lady’s Savings Account), unless you value a mile at more than 2.2 cents.

It may also be better than the HSBC Revolution’s 8 mpd (achievable with a S$50,000 deposit in the HSBC EGA), unless you value a mile at more than 1.65 cents.

Is it worth getting a credit card just for a single use case? That really boils down to how often you use Grab when you’re overseas. But given that there’s no minimum spend, I’d lean towards yes — if nothing else, it will free up some of your 4 mpd caps for other uses.

Acquisition offers: Metal card and S$8 Grab voucher

If you were hoping to get S$500 cash or a PlayStation 5 for signing up, I’m sorry to disappoint you. This is GXS, not Citibank!

That said, the first 1,000 customers who order a physical GXS Credit Card from 18 August 2026 onwards will receive a limited-edition metal card. It does everything the plastic version does, but it’s metal, you know? The plunk factor is real.

GXS is also offering a S$8 Grab Ride voucher for use in Singapore, valid for the first 200,000 redemptions or 30 November 2026, whichever comes first. Each cardholder can only use this voucher once, and it’ll automatically pop up in the offers section once you select the GXS Credit Card as your payment method.

Oh, and if you’re having difficulty applying for this card, it’s probably because you already have a GXS FlexiCard. GXS, in their infinite wisdom, doesn’t allow a customer to hold more than one credit card, so you’ll need to call up customer service to close the FlexiCard before you can apply for the GXS Credit Card. 

What can you do with GrabCoins?

GrabCoins can be used to instantly offset GrabFood, GrabMart and GrabCar rides at a rate of 500 GrabCoins = S$1.

This gives you a baseline value of 0.2 cents per GrabCoin, but you can often do even better during the monthly GrabCoins Flash Sale, which takes place on the 15th to 22nd of each month.

For example, during the recent July Flash Sale, members could get more than double the usual value on their GrabCoins with the following rewards:

• S$10 off Grab Transport for 5,000 coins 2,000 coins (0.5 cents per GrabCoin)
• S$15 off GrabFood for 7,500 coins 3,750 coins (0.4 cents per GrabCoin)
• S$20 off Grab Premium for 10,000 coins 4,000 coins (0.5 cents per GrabCoin)

GrabCoins can also be redeemed for KrisFlyer miles at a rate of 13:1, which means the GXS Credit Card effectively earns 3.84 mpd on overseas Grab (based on 50 GrabCoins/S$1).

However, given the baseline value of GrabCoins, you’re effectively buying miles at 2.6 cents each. That’s way too expensive, so save your GrabCoins for Grab services instead.

Conclusion

The new GXS Credit Card claims to offer the highest unlimited cashback in Singapore, but Singapore isn’t the right place to use this card.

The local rewards scheme is incredibly convoluted. Spend at least S$500 — but not on Grab or FCY transactions — to earn 1.75% cashback on general spending. Earn three stacking marginal rates of 3%, 5% and 10% for Grab Singapore spend — but only if you also spend at least S$500 on non-Grab, non-FCY transactions, and you’ll never actually achieve 10%. Why must life be so hard?

The only time you’ll want to use the GXS Credit Card is for overseas Grab spend, where it’s truly a no-brainer. An uncapped 10% rebate in GrabCoins, with no FCY fees, from the very first dollar of spend? It’s impossible to argue with.

And hey, it’s a free metal card, if you’re lucky.