Which cards should you have (Bank breakdown version)

Dining? Traveling? Grocery shopping? What card to use??

I will be creating a simple cheatsheet very soon but this isn't the topic for this blog. Instead, I will be covering which cards to get from each bank, and which cards to get first, to maximise the most out of your credit card application.

This will be broken into

1. Which card gives you the most sign up bonus as a "new-to-bank" Customer

2. Cards that give you best mpd rates

3. Optional cards that comes with some luxury perks or additional sign up bonuses

Definition of "new-to-bank" - not owning any cards from that bank and have not canceled any cards in the 12 months (some 6) prior to credit card application

Before we get to the deets, please note the following:

1. Most of the sign up bonuses will have you

   1. Pay an annual fee and/or

   2. Hit a minimum spending within certain months after card application approval

2. Sign up bonuses will keep changing but usually each promotion runs for a couple of months at least

3. The details below are accurate at the time of writing

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Apply for either of this first!

UOB Priv Miles Visa / Mastercard / Amex

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): 26k miles for spending $2k for 2 consecutive months AND 12k miles for overseas spending $2k for 2 consecutive months

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($261.60) for additional 20k miles OR No (no miles given)

Miles Earning Rate: 1.4 mpd for general spend

UOB Priv Miles Visa / Mastercard / Amex

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): 20k miles with $2k spend in first 60 days + 5k welcome miles

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 3 mpd for dining, food delivery, online shipping and travel, transport spend with $800 annual spend on Singapore Airlines, Scoot and KrisShop

Then go for the following:

UOB Lady's Card & UOB Lady's Solitaire Card

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd on 2 categories spend, capped at $2k per calendar month

Special Mention: Spending $500 in a calendar month unlocks your UOB ONE account interest too

UOB Visa Signature

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd on foreign transactions, capped at SGD2k per calendar month

UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd on contactless spend, capped at SGD1.1k per calendar month

If you need more miles (optional but comes with certain luxury perks that may be useful)

UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card

Sign Up Bonus: 40k miles for 4k spend in the first 30 days

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($654)

Miles Earning Rate: 1.4 mpd for general spend

Do UOB points pool? - YES and having the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card waives the miles transfer fee.

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Apply for this first!

UOB Priv Miles Visa / Mastercard / Amex

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): 16k miles with $800 spend in the first 2 months

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd for online spend, capped at $1k per statement month

Then go for the following:

Citi Premiermiles Mastercard

Miles Earning Rate: 1.2 mpd on general spend (miles never expire)

If you need more miles (optional but comes with certain luxury perks that may be useful)

Citi Prestige

Sign Up Bonus: 50k miles for spending $2k by the end of the second calendar month

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($545)

Miles Earning Rate: 1.3 mpd for general spend

Do Citi points pool? - NOOOO but they have more airline transfer partners than other banks.

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Apply for this first!

DBS Altitude

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): 20k miles with $800 spend in 60 days

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 1.3 mpd for general spend (miles never expire)

Then go for the following:

DBS Woman's World

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd on online spend, capped at $1.5k per calendar month

DBS Yuu

Miles Earning Rate: 10 mpd on selected spend, min $600 a calendar month

If you need more miles (optional but comes with certain luxury perks that may be useful)

DBS Vantage

Sign Up Bonus: 40k miles for spending $4k in 30 days

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($599.50)

Miles Earning Rate: 1.5 mpd for general spend

Do DBS points pool? - NOOOO. And the DBS Woman's World points expire 1 year after earning.

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Apply for this first, and only this!

Standard Chartered Journey

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): 45k miles with $3k spend in first 2 months

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($196.20)

Miles Earning Rate: 1.2 mpd for general spend, 3 mpd for transportation, food deliveries and online groceries

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Apply for any of these!

OCBC 90N

Miles Earning Rate: 1.2 mpd for general spend

Special Mention: Spending $500 in a calendar month unlocks your OCBC 360 account "Spend" interest too

OCBC Rewards

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd for shopping

Special Mention: Spending $500 in a calendar month unlocks your OCBC 360 account "Spend" interest too

Do OCBC points pool? - NOOOO.

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Apply for this first!

HSBC Revolution

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): $200 with $500 spend up to end of next calendar month

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 4 mpd for online shopping

Then go for the following:

HSBC Travel One

Sign Up Bonus: 20k miles with $500 spend up to end of next calendar month

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($196.20)

Miles Earning Rate: 1.2 mpd for general spend

Do HSBC points pool? - YES and they have the most airline transfer partners.

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Apply for any of these!

Maybank Horizon Visa

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): $200 with $1.3k spend in first 2 months

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 2.8 mpd for airline tickets (with min $800 spend in a calendar month) / 1.2 mpd for general spend / 0.24 mpd for utilities and insurance

Maybank Visa Infinite

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): $200 with $1.3k spend in first 2 months

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 1.2 mpd for general spend including utilities and insurance

Do Maybank points pool? - YES and miles dont expire if you have the Maybank Visa Infinite.

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Apply for this first!

Amex Singapore Airlines Krisflyer

Sign Up Bonus (new-to-bank): 17k miles with $1k spend in first month

Need to pay Annual Fee: No

Miles Earning Rate: 1.1 mpd for general spend / 2 mpd for Singapore Airlines / Scoot / KrisShop

If you need more miles (optional but comes with certain luxury perks that may be useful)

Amex Platinum

Sign Up Bonus: $200 with $1k spend in first month

Need to pay Annual Fee: Yes ($327)

Miles Earning Rate: 0.69 mpd for general spend but 3.9 mpd on certain luxury retail

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Now does that mean you have to get all the cards listed above? No, you do not have to. The trick is to plan 1-2 years ahead on the airline program you want transfer your points to and spend on cards from the bank that allows you that option. Another trick is to always be "new-to-bank" on 1 or 2 banks every year so you can get those sign up bonuses!

Which airline partners can these banks transfer to? Watch this space.