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The 'Best credit cards for KF miles accrual' master thread

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Old Oct 31, 2014, 6:05 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: lifeonthego_k
I'm going to update this first post as more info flows in to create a 'master list' of all credit cards that offer a decent way of accruing miles - so please help out!

If you know of and/or use any other cards (or the ones already mentioned), please share your thoughts.

***ALL VALUES BELOW IN SINGAPORE DOLLARS (SGD)***
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In no particular order (apart from personal preference in terms of good-mileage opportunities):
============

1. UOB PRVI Miles VISA, MasterCard, AMEX

VISA:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...iles_visa.html
MasterCard:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...astercard.html
Amex:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...amex_card.html
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...ard/microsite/



Mileage accrual:
The earn rate will be 1.4 miles for every $1 spent in multiples of S$10 (every multiple of S$5 gives 6 to 7 miles due to 3.5 UNI$ rounding off, every S$10 gives 14 miles), and 2.4 miles for every $1 spent OVERSEAS (every $5 gives 12 miles).

Requirements: min. income $80,000 (not strict).
Cost: First year free, then S$256.80 for main, first two supplementary always free. Annual fee waiver for Amex card if you charge $50,000 or more in a year.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion. UNI$ are combined in 1 cardholder's name/FIN Number/NRIC together for all UOB cards which earn UNI$.

Pros: Best mileage accrual rates for overseas spend only. 20,000 bonus miles and annual fee waiver with spend of $50,000 per year (both only for Amex card). $45 1-way airport transfer voucher for $1,000 overseas spend in a given quarter (Amex only).
Cons: AMEX not always accepted by merchants. Points allocated on every $5 spent, rounded down to next $5. Transfer in blocks of 5000 UNI$ points = 10,000 miles. Points are valid for 2 years (transfer before expiry and they will subsequently be valid for a further 3 years from the date of transfer to KrisFlyer).

2. UOB Preferred Platinum Visa


http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards..._platinum.html
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...visa_card.html


Mileage accrual: Earn 4 miles for every $1 spent using ONLY MOBILE CONTACTLESS every $5 gives 10 UNI$ which equal 20 miles). Same incredible mileage-earning ratio for internet shopping with certain restrictions (travel-related, utilities, etc.). Earn 0.4 mile for every $1 for regular, signature-based payments AND ORPHAN SPEND DUE TO $5 ROUNDING OR EXCEEDING THE BONUS U$2000 SPEND (every $5 gives 1 UNI$ which equal 2 miles).

Earning 4 miles/$ is limited to the first S$1110 spent during the per calendar month (via Mobile Contactless). 2,000UNI$ refers to the extra 9UNI$ and does not include the normal 1UNI$.(Stop when you notice you earn 3UNI$ (1 + bonus 2) for the last S$5 transaction. ($1110/5)x9=1998UNI$, hence the last S$5 transaction will earn 2 bonus UNI$. The total bonus UNI$ awarded to you from qualifying spend on Selected Online Transactions and Mobile Contactless Transactions is capped at UNI$2,000 for each calendar month. THE CAP IS ON THE 9 UNI$ BONUS NOT 10UNI$ TOTAL YOU GET WITH BASE OF U$1 PER $ SPEND

Keep in mind that some merchants offer different, non-mileage accruing awards with UOB cards which are called SMART$. Some popular merchants include Cold Storage, Guardian and Giant Supermarket, ToastBox and Starbucks. A full list of merchants where Mobile contactless transactions will NOT earn miles can be found here:
http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/cards...smartclub.html

Requirements: min. income $30,000 ($60,000 for foreigners).
Cost: First year free, then $192.60 for main and $96.30 for supplementary. Annual fee waived off easily.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion, in blocks of 5000 UNI$=10,000 miles. UNI$ are combined in 1 cardholder's name for all UOB cards.

Pros: Incredible mileage accrual rates for Paywave transactions (not all merchants - some give SMART$ instead which are different rewards!) as well as internet transactions (some restrictions apply).
Cons: Points allocated on every $5 spent, rounded down to next $5. Transfer in blocks of 5000 UNI$ points = 10,000 miles. Points are valid for 2 years (transfer before expiry and they will subsequently be valid for a further 3 years from the date of transfer to KrisFlyer).

3. Citi PremierMiles MasterCard

https://www.citibank.com.sg/credit-cards/travel/premiermiles-card/?ecid=PSGONSGCCAENPM

Mileage accrual: Earn 1.2 miles for every $1 spent. Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent OVERSEAS. 10,000 bonus miles for each annual membership renewal.

Requirements: min. income $50,000 for VISA. Principal cardholder must be at least 21 years of age.
Cost: First year free, then $192.60 for VISA main, supplementary always free. Annual fee waiver available in exchange for forfeiting the 10,000renewal bonus.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion.

Pros: Decent all-rounder, good for overseas spend. Points never expire. Bonus miles for annual card renewal. 11 frequent flyer programs & 3 hotel programs to choose from, including EVA Air - only 25,000 miles for 1 way Business Class within Asia!!
Cons: No miles awarded for EZ-Link & Transitlink transactions. Miles awarded per S$1. Cents not included. 1.2 miles/S$1. Transfer in blocks of 10,000 miles.

4. DBS Altitude VISA/AMEX

http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards...e/default.aspx
http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards...e/default.aspx



Mileage accrual: Earn 1.2 miles for every $1 spent (every $5 gives 3 DBS points which equal 6 miles). Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent OVERSEAS.

Requirements: min. income $80,000.
Cost: First year free, then $180 for main and $90 for supplementary. Annual fee waiver if you charge $25,000 or more in a year.
Miles conversion fee: S$26.75 per transfer, redeem 1700 DBS points to waive off.

Pros: Points never expire. No rounding down transaction amount to nearest $5 (calculation is done as follows: DBS points = 'transaction amount' divided by 5, multiply by 3, after that round down to nearest whole number. Minimum spend is S$1.67. Each DBS point = 2 miles). Earn 3 miles per S$1 spent on all online Flight and Hotel transactions (capped at S$5,000 per month). 10,000 miles renewal bonus if you have to pay card renewal fees.
Cons: All local spend now down to 1.2 miles/$ (since Dec 1, 2013). AMEX not always accepted by merchants. Transfer in blocks of 5000 DBS points = 10,000 miles (on the plus side points don't expire). Per transfer of S$26.75, redeem 1700 DBS points to waive off.

5. Maybank Horizon Platinum Visa

http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/persona...visa-card.aspx



Earn 3.2 air miles (8X TREATS Points) with every dollar spent on dining, petrol, taxi fares and hotel bookings at Agoda.com/horizon
Earn 2 air miles (5X TREATS Points) with every dollar spent on air tickets, travel packages and foreign currency transactions, with a minimal S$300 in a calendar month

Earn 0.4 mile for every $1 spent elsewhere (1 mile for every $2.50 spent).

Requirements: min. income $30,000 ($80,000 for foreigners).
Cost: $150 for main, supplementary always free. Unsure of any annual fee waiver conditions.
Miles conversion fee: In blocks of 5,000 points to 2000 Asia Miles or KrisFlyer. S$26.75 fee applies.

Pros: Great for ticket purchases and overseas spend. Complimentary access to selected VIP airport lounges when you charge a minimum of S$400 in a single transaction on air tickets or travel packages to your Card 3 months prior to the date of travel.
Cons: Great ONLY for ticket purchases and overseas spend. Points are valid for 1 year only, expire either on 30 June or 31 December of the same year if not Rewards Infinite member.

6. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend AMEX

https://www.americanexpress.com/sg/s...nd-credit-card



Mileage accrual: Earn 1.2 KrisFlyer miles for every S$1 spent on all your eligible purchases with your Card

Earn 2 KrisFlyer miles for every S$1 equivalent in foreign currency spent overseas on eligible purchases during June and December

Requirements: min. income $50,000 ($60,000 for foreigners). Principal cardholder must be over 21 years of age.
Cost: First year free, otherwise $256.80 for main, 2 supplementary cards always free (more available at $80.25 each). Annual fee cannot be waived unless you spend alot.
Miles conversion fee: None - your KrisFlyer miles are transferred to your account directly with no conversion fees or charges.

Pros: None, except for welcome offers (4 complimentary airport lounge access vouchers, one complimentary night with Millennium Hotels and Resorts).

Cons: Simply nothing special - there are better cards available for all types of purchases, including flight tickets, even with all of the bonuses above applied. AMEX not always accepted by merchants.

7. Citibank Rewards Card

http://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/credi...CACRENCCHOCALM



Earn 10X Rewards (10 Rewards Points or 4 Miles for every S$1 spent) when you shop for clothes, bags and shoes or at departmental stores or online shopping websites, including SingTel & M1 online bill payment!

Pros: Transfer to 11 FFPs & 3 Hotel programs in blocks of 25,000 points=10,000 miles; S$25 fee.

Cons: Points awarded per S$1 spend. Cents not included. Cannot combined Thank You Points across cards.

8. DBS Woman's World MasterCard® Card

http://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/cards...astercard-card



10X Rewards for Online Retail Purchases
T&C Here: https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resource...s_card_tnc.pdf

Pros: Men also can get this card!! DBS points are combined in 1 cardholder's name. No rounding down transaction amount to nearest $5 (calculation is done as follows: DBS points = 'transaction amount' divided by 5, multiply by 10, after that round down to nearest whole number. Minimum spend is S$1. Each DBS point = 2 miles).

Cons: DBS points are valid for 1 year based on card anniversary date. The additional 9X DBS Points for online retail spend in a calendar month will be awarded on the 16th of the next calendar month. If the above days are not working days, the Points will be awarded on the next working day. The additional 9X DBS Points are only applicable to the first S$2,000 online retail spend every calendar month.

9. OCBC Titanium Rewards Card

https://www.ocbc.com/personal-bankin...astercard.html

10x OCBC$ on your shopping Local & Overseas Shopping Transactions, Local & Overseas Department Store Transactions and Local & Overseas Online Transactions.
The remaining 9 OCBC$ will be posted to the Card Account by the end of the next calendar month

https://www.ocbc.com/assets/pdf/card...ons.pdf?rand=1
10,000 KrisFlyer miles requires OCBC$ 25000, For each conversion of OCBC$ to KrisFlyer miles a fee of S$25 will be charged

10. UOB Lady's Card
https://www.uob.com.sg/personal/card...ard/index.page

============

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The 'Best credit cards for KF miles accrual' master thread

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Old Dec 19, 2012, 6:27 am
  #991  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by percysmith
Since UOB UNI$ expires 2 years after issue, perhaps use ANZ Travel as base card.
Then see if you can accumulate enough >=S$40 transactions in two years to make 10,000 miles (S$6,250). If you can, you should divert all >=S$40 transactions to PRVI.
I'm accumulating on 2 UOB cards, PRVI Miles @1.6 miles/$ for local, 2.5 miles/$ (currently 3 miles/$ as a promo) for overseas, and Preferred Platinum Amex @4 miles/$ for dining.

The spend required is significantly less than S$6,250.
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Old Dec 19, 2012, 6:51 am
  #992  
 
Join Date: May 2009
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Deleted... wrong posting

Last edited by cy1978hk; Dec 19, 2012 at 7:36 am
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Old Dec 19, 2012, 7:19 am
  #993  
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

UOB deducts GST? Do other cards? Of only UOB does it, then it's earn rate should be restated as 1.495 mile/S$
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Old Dec 19, 2012, 9:07 pm
  #994  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 33
Originally Posted by percysmith
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

UOB deducts GST? Do other cards? Of only UOB does it, then it's earn rate should be restated as 1.495 mile/S$
I don't think any of the cards deducts GST (not that I've noticed anyway).. so why should UOB be any different?
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Old Dec 20, 2012, 2:41 am
  #995  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 33
Quick question: If I book a flight (Tokyo-Honolulu) from the United website and pay in USD, will it be counted as a foreign transaction, i.e. earn 2 miles/$1 for CitiPM, or 2.4miles/$1 for DBS Altitude?

Also, my wife doesn't have a KF account (not really needed since she uses my supp card which credit the miles to my KF account), but can the flight miles she earns also be credited to my KF account? Or is there a way for her to transfer her miles from her account to mine?

Last edited by Gymrat76; Dec 20, 2012 at 2:46 am
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Old Dec 20, 2012, 8:25 am
  #996  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 1,799
Originally Posted by Gymrat76
Quick question: If I book a flight (Tokyo-Honolulu) from the United website and pay in USD, will it be counted as a foreign transaction, i.e. earn 2 miles/$1 for CitiPM, or 2.4miles/$1 for DBS Altitude?

Also, my wife doesn't have a KF account (not really needed since she uses my supp card which credit the miles to my KF account), but can the flight miles she earns also be credited to my KF account? Or is there a way for her to transfer her miles from her account to mine?
Generally, you'll find the extra miles earned is not enough to offset the fx fees charged. On the united website, I think you may be able to change the country to Singapore, and pay in SGD.

Miles earned can only be credit to an account under your own name, so your wife will need her own KF account. It's free to join, so you might as well. However, also consider programs from other airlines which may earn points/miles, depending on the booking class. Some of these may be more suitable for your needs.
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Old Dec 20, 2012, 8:53 am
  #997  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: HAK / HFE / NYC / SIN / SZX
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Honors Diamond, IHG Diamond Amb, Marriott Platinum,SQ, DL, AA, Hyatt
Posts: 688
Originally Posted by Gymrat76
Quick question: If I book a flight (Tokyo-Honolulu) from the United website and pay in USD, will it be counted as a foreign transaction, i.e. earn 2 miles/$1 for CitiPM, or 2.4miles/$1 for DBS Altitude?
When you try to complete the transaction, the united website will prompt you that there is a new fare and it will be in SGD. It can detect you are using a SGD-based credit card. This happens to me all the time.
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Old Dec 20, 2012, 9:47 am
  #998  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 33
Originally Posted by chrisksc
When you try to complete the transaction, the united website will prompt you that there is a new fare and it will be in SGD. It can detect you are using a SGD-based credit card. This happens to me all the time.
Bummer, thanks for the reply
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Old Dec 21, 2012, 11:53 pm
  #999  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 114
Originally Posted by Archieflyer

Anyway, my replacement will be the Citibank Platinum Visa card; 2 miles/$ and 2% CitiRebate. Unfortunately, it's not offered anymore but if you still have it, this is a nice card.
Hmm.. Citibank had such a good Platinum Visa card?
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Old Dec 23, 2012, 12:07 am
  #1000  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by slacker
Hmm.. Citibank had such a good Platinum Visa card?
http://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/credi...Code=SGCPCLNAV

Too bad they are not issuing it to new customers. Glad that I still have mine.
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Old Dec 25, 2012, 8:06 pm
  #1001  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 114
Originally Posted by Archieflyer
http://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/credi...Code=SGCPCLNAV

Too bad they are not issuing it to new customers. Glad that I still have mine.
Each $1 spent earns 1 Citidollar. 5 Citidollar earn only 2 KF Miles. So wonder how u got the $2/miles?
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Old Dec 26, 2012, 12:37 am
  #1002  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Living in SIN™
Programs: TK/SQ Gold, QR Plat, Marriott/Accor Plat, IC Dia Amb, HH Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,706
Originally Posted by slacker
Each $1 spent earns 1 Citidollar. 5 Citidollar earn only 2 KF Miles. So wonder how u got the $2/miles?
You get 5x the points at department stores and supermarkets, so 2 miles/$. Plus a 1%/2% cash rebate at Cold Storage if you spend $20/$50. I pretty much only use this card at Cold Storage once or twice a week. Even though they've stopped issuing them, they've sent me a new card valid thorugh 01/16.
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Old Dec 26, 2012, 7:07 pm
  #1003  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: KFEG, OZ *G
Posts: 23
There's a good comparison of the frequent flier miles credit card in Singapore from Cheaponana.com. Check out the link below - seems like ANZ is the best!


http://www.cheaponana.com/2012/12/27...-in-singapore/

Last edited by dunkmycar; Jan 3, 2013 at 5:49 am
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Old Dec 31, 2012, 7:22 pm
  #1004  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
It's confirmed. Cold Storage/Marketplace/Jason's is not a 5x AMEX Weekend merchant in 2013. The rest remains the same.

http://offers.amexnetwork.com/sg/xo-weekends

Maybank Rewards Infinite is beyond reach for most card members unless you are a
Maybank Premier Platinum MasterCard, Maybank Visa Infinite, Maybank World MasterCard and Maybank Catholic High Alumni Platinum Associates Card Cardmembers may enjoy Rewards Infinite programme with compliments. All other Maybank Cardmembers, simply spend S$24,0001 on your Maybank Credit Card in the preceding year to become a Rewards Infinite member.

Merchant list no change, same as 2012:

http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/persona...-infinite.aspx
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Old Jan 1, 2013, 1:02 am
  #1005  
formerly Fly-Swiss
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 878
You say it's confirmed. From who did you get a confirmation?

The list including cold storage is still there ....

https://www.americanexpress.com/sg/personal/cards/rewards/fivetimes.shtml
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