Blacklist vs whitelist cards: How to earn more miles by optimising both

The fastest way to grow your miles balance — after leveraging all available sign-up bonuses — is to channel as much of your spending as possible to specialised spending cards that earn bonus miles for specific categories.

It should be obvious why: specialised spending cards earn up to 4 mpd (or even more, if you pair them with the right bank accounts), enabling you to earn free flights much faster than general spending cards, which typically offer just 1.2 to 1.6 mpd.

Specialised spending cards come in two varieties: blacklist cards and whitelist cards.

• Blacklist cards reward you based on how you spend (i.e. the mode of payment)
• Whitelist cards reward you based on what you spend on (i.e. the merchant category) 

Because modes are broader than categories, blacklist cards tend to be the more versatile and straightforward solution. But where things can get confusing is that some cards are hybrids, taking a whitelist approach in certain scenarios, and a blacklist approach in others.

In this post, I’ll explain the differences between blacklist and whitelist cards, and how to optimise your spend between both.

What are the blacklist cards?

💳 Blacklist Cards
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card For Online Spend Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1K per s. month Review
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1K per c. month  Review
Maybank XL Rewards For FCY Spend Apply	4 mpd	Min. S$500, max. S$1K per c. month Review
UOB Preferred Visa For Offline Spend Apply	4 mpd	2x bonus caps, each max. S$600 per c. month Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd	2x bonus caps, each with min. S$1K, max. S$1.2K per s. month Review
C. month= Calendar month | S. month= Statement month

Let’s first start with blacklist cards, where the rule is very simple:

All transactions earn bonuses, unless they’re on the exclusions list

Citi Rewards Card

The Citi Rewards Card is a hybrid of blacklist and whitelist:

• For online transactions, it’s a blacklist card that awards 4 mpd on all transactions except:
  • In-app mobile wallet transactions (e.g. Kris+)
  • Travel-related transactions
  • Citi’s general exclusions list
• For in-person transactions, it’s a whitelist card that only rewards selected MCCs (see next section)

DBS Woman’s World Card

The DBS Woman’s World Card awards 4 mpd on all online transactions, except those on DBS’ general exclusions list.

Maybank XL Rewards Card

The Maybank XL Rewards Card is a hybrid of blacklist and whitelist:

• For FCY transactions, it’s a blacklist card that awards 4 mpd on all transactions except those on Maybank’s general exclusions list
• For SGD transactions, it’s a whitelist card that only rewards selected MCCs (see next section)

UOB Preferred Visa

The UOB Preferred Visa is also a hybrid of blacklist and whitelist:

• For in-person transactions, it’s a blacklist card that awards 4 mpd on all mobile contactless payments (e.g. Apple, Google, or Samsung Pay), except those on UOB’s general exclusions list
• For online transactions, it’s a whitelist card that only rewards selected MCCs (see next section)

UOB Visa Signature

The UOB Visa Signature awards 4 mpd on all FCY, contactless and petrol transactions, except those on UOB’s general exclusions list.

What are the whitelist cards?

💳 Whitelist Cards
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card For Offline Spend Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1K per s. month Review
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1K per c. month Review
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap. Min. S$1K spend on SIA Group in a m. year Review
Maybank XL Rewards For SGD Spend Apply	4 mpd	Min. S$500, max. S$1K per c. month Review
OCBC Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1.1K per c. month Review
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1K per c. month  Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	2x bonus caps, each max. S$750 per c. month Review
UOB Preferred Visa For Online Spend Apply	4 mpd	2x bonus caps, each max. S$600 per c. month Review
C. month= Calendar month | S. month= Statement month | M. year= Membership year

The rule for whitelist cards is:

Transactions don’t earn bonuses, unless they’re on the inclusions list

Citi Rewards Card

When spending offline, the Citi Rewards Card only earns 4 mpd at department stores, or shops which sell shoes, bags or clothes. This is capped at S$1,000 per statement month.

However, there’s an easy way of circumventing this. By pairing the Citi Rewards Card with Amaze, all transactions become online. You are effectively turning offline spend (whitelist) into online spend (blacklist). 

The catch here is that a 1% admin fee (with a min. of S$0.50) now applies to all SGD transactions charged to Amaze, effective 10 March 2025. If you’re making larger transactions, the fee might still make sense, but you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons carefully. 

Should you still pair the Amaze Card with Citi Rewards?

HSBC Revolution Card

The HSBC Revolution Card earns 4 mpd on dining, shopping, member clubs, transport and travel, for both contactless and online transactions. This is capped at S$1,000 per calendar month.

Cardholders who maintain an average daily balance of at least S$50,000 in a HSBC Everyday Global Account will earn 8 mpd on these bonus categories, capped at S$1,200 per calendar month.

KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card

The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card earns an uncapped 2.4 mpd on dining, online shopping, online travel and transport, provided the cardholder spends at least S$1,000 on Singapore Airlines, Scoot or KrisShop transactions in a membership year. 

If you’re a big spender and have fully utilised the bonus caps on 4 mpd cards, this would be a great option for the remainder.

Maybank XL Rewards Card

The Maybank XL Rewards Card earns 4 mpd on dining, entertainment, shopping and travel in SGD (remember, all FCY spending already earns 4 mpd as part of its blacklist mode). This requires a minimum spend of S$500, and is capped at S$1,000 per calendar month.

OCBC Rewards Card

The OCBC Rewards Card earns 4 mpd on shopping at department, apparel and luggage stores, as well as selected whitelisted merchants like Guardian, Lazada and Shopee. This is capped at S$1,110 per calendar month.

There is currently an ongoing promotion that upsizes the earn rate to 6 mpd for Watsons, Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop and Taobao until 31 March 2027.

UOB Lady’s Cards

The UOB Lady’s Card and UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card allow cardholders to pick one and two bonus categories respectively from a list of seven options, including beauty & wellness, dining, entertainment, family, fashion, transport and travel. These can be rotated every calendar quarter. 

Cardholders earn 4 mpd on their bonus category/categories, capped at S$1,000 per calendar month for the UOB Lady’s Card, or S$1,500 per calendar month for the UOB Lady’s Solitaire (split into two sub-caps of S$750 per category).

You can also earn an extra 2-6 mpd on UOB Lady’s Card spending by opening a UOB Lady’s Savings Account.

UOB Preferred Visa

When spending online, the UOB Preferred Visa earns 4 mpd on dining, food delivery, supermarkets, shopping and entertainment.

For the avoidance of doubt, using Apple or Google Pay for in-app transactions is considered an online transaction, and will be subject to the MCC restrictions listed above. Using Apple or Google Pay for in-store transactions (i.e. tapping your phone to pay) is considered an offline transaction, and is not subject to these MCC restrictions (i.e. blacklist card).

Mixing blacklist and whitelist cards

Blacklist caps are inherently more valuable than whitelist caps, because of their versatility.

It doesn’t matter what the MCC is (assuming it’s not on the general exclusions list, of course). So long as you pay via the prescribed method — online, contactless, in FCY, as the case may be — you’ll earn the bonus.

If your average monthly spending falls within the overall bonus caps, go right ahead and stick to blacklist cards for convenience.

However, if you’re a bigger spender who regularly exceeds the bonus caps, then you should aim to conserve your blacklist cards’ more flexible caps by utilising the whitelist cards’ caps first. 

For example, if you’re buying something on Shopee, both the HSBC Revolution and DBS Woman’s World Card would earn 4 mpd. But since the HSBC Revolution is a whitelist card, and the DBS Woman’s World Card is a blacklist card, the smarter decision would be to use the former, and save the latter for other situations.

In that sense, whitelist cards’ bonus caps serve as a buffer that should be utilised before touching the blacklist cards’ bonus caps. 

Blacklist cards are best used in situations where the merchant does not feature on any whitelist, such as car dealers, car servicing workshops, courier services, veterinarians, laundromats, dentists, opticians, health screenings, teleconsultations, storage facilities, phone bills, or furniture stores.

Alternatively, if you have a spouse or family member who simply refuses to memorise what card to use where, then a blacklist card offers a (mostly) idiot-proof solution.

Conclusion

With whitelist cards, you need to think about what you’re buying. With blacklist cards, you only need to think about how you’re paying. That’s why blacklist cards are the easier option, but with limited bonus caps, some people will need to juggle a mix of both.

The general approach should be to use a whitelist card first, and save your blacklist caps for situations where no whitelist card can earn a bonus.

Keep in mind that several cards are hybrids — the Citi Rewards, Maybank XL Rewards and UOB Preferred Visa switch between modes depending on how you pay. That can make all the difference between 4 mpd and 0.4 mpd, so proceed with caution.

How do you optimise spending among your whitelist and blacklist cards?