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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 Apr 30, 2014, 5:15 am
  #2866  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
https://sg.anz.com/ANZPrivileges/gss/#cash-credit

this year's ANZ's GSS promo no gd, need to charge $200 for $8 or 440 Travel$ credit. 2013 one was charge $100 get $5 or 275 Travel$ credit...
vsepr is offline  
Old May 1, 2014, 7:40 pm
  #2867  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 2
Originally Posted by lcpteck
Yeah, the marketing folks at Amex seems to be living in their own world.
I agree.
Was almost forced to take an upgrade to their new card.
Unfortunately had to reject them.

Anyway lcpteck, your Credit card table has unfortunately been edited beyond recognition by someone who probably has butter fingers or is just too idiotic.

Do you have the original copy?
The entire section on D B S is almost gone, as well as the references, which are good for info.

Thanks in advance! ^
torrentman123 is offline  
Old May 1, 2014, 8:01 pm
  #2868  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: SIN and wandering.
Posts: 1,549
Originally Posted by carrotjuice
Previously when I held the Amex KF Gold card and called up to cancel, the CS also tried their best to encourage me to stay... almost a pathetic 'plead' but completely ignorant of how uncompetitive their card is against others in the market. Almost feel sorry they have to do this to every caller who wants to cancel... a battle that they almost never wins.
Juz cancelled mine yesterday...she was like,"Why would you want to cancel a card with such great benefits??" Could feel my eyes just rolling up when she said this.

First I spoke about the earning rates (thanks to post #1 for the factual ammo).

Then I mentioned about their coverage, and they said they have 90% coverage across Singapore. Then I am like, "Not in the 2 places where I spent the most every other month (my yoga membership and classes)".

I have to give them credit though, because they have promised me a refund of the annual fee which they debited via GIRO last month (is this normal?), and they still maintained their chirpiness (whether fake or not) even after I have cancelled.
SQ319 is offline  
Old May 1, 2014, 10:06 pm
  #2869  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: LX, BA, SQ, MH
Posts: 333
I cancelled my Amex Ascend and they also acted all shocked that I would do that...

I did it before they charged the annual fee as I really did not find their card useful at all. The only benefit was the 5k miles as I did not even use up my lounge vouchers...

The best card for me at the moment is the UOB AMEX Pref Plat as most of my daily spending is on F&B and for overseas spend the UOB Visa signature card.
LAX888 is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 1:48 am
  #2870  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: AZ FA+, A3 G, AB G | IHG RA, HGP D, FPC P, Accor P, BW D, HH D, Eleva, GHA P, 1862 Voyager
Posts: 1,852
How long do they take to post the Ascend sign up / spending bonuses?
lsed is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 1:57 am
  #2871  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: LX, BA, SQ, MH
Posts: 333
Originally Posted by lsed
How long do they take to post the Ascend sign up / spending bonuses?
I had to chase them for the 5k signup bonus as it did not post at all. Call them if you do not see anything after 2months.
LAX888 is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 3:14 am
  #2872  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,571
The 'Best credit cards for KF miles accrual' master thread

New ANZ promo starting 1 May to 30 June: S$8 Cash Credit = 370 bonus Rewards Points = 440 bonus Travel$ for minimum S$200 charged to an ANZ Credit Card in a single receipt and sending SMS, limited to 20,000 SMS. Max 5 SMS redemption requests per calendar week (Monday to Sunday) per Cardmember. All bonus will be credited before 31 Aug 2014.
carrotjuice is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 4:42 am
  #2873  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: BKK/SEL/YQG
Posts: 2,543
Word is you can top up a POEMS account with certain cards. Anyone know more info about that?
SirJman is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 4:45 pm
  #2874  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,571
Latest on UOB PPV cap

I called UOB to clarify this seemingly "vague" UNI$24,000 cap per year on 10X UOB PPV for online and paywave transactions, that isn't clearly detailed in its terms and conditions:

- For 2014, the UNI$24,000 cap will apply for spendings 1 Jun - 31 Dec only (7 months). Whatever spendings at 10X UNI$ attained on and before 31 May are not part of the 2014 cap.

- Thereafter the 2015 cap will apply to spendings 1 Jan - 31 Dec (12 months) and by calendar year (well, if UOB doesn't unilaterally change the rules again, but from experience, no one can be too confident).

- The whole UNI$24,000 cap is by calendar year. There is no artificial split by month.

- Whatever spending that goes above the cap still earns (the very poor rate of) S$5 = UNI$1
carrotjuice is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 8:07 pm
  #2875  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Sunny Singapore
Programs: TG*G, SQ, QF
Posts: 911
Still getting to grips with my recently acquired ANZ Travel card and hoping to use it for lounge access for myself and a friend when we depart Changi T1 in a couple of weeks.

Whilst its complimentary for the cardholder anybody know what the guest fee is for entry..? The Veloce lounge website refers me to the ANZ site and the ANZ site bounces me straight back to Veloce...
cmdsea is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 11:04 pm
  #2876  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Singapore
Programs: PC Plat Am, Accor GOLD, Hilton Gold
Posts: 179
Originally Posted by vsepr
https://sg.anz.com/ANZPrivileges/gss/#cash-credit

this year's ANZ's GSS promo no gd, need to charge $200 for $8 or 440 Travel$ credit. 2013 one was charge $100 get $5 or 275 Travel$ credit...
Agree Vsper. Each mid and year-end promo is getting progressively worse. Cannot even match the normal 4x miles.
unitedinsg is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 11:12 pm
  #2877  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Singapore
Programs: HHonors Gold; Accor Plat; SQ/TG
Posts: 111
Originally Posted by carrotjuice
I called UOB to clarify this seemingly "vague" UNI$24,000 cap per year on 10X UOB PPV for online and paywave transactions, that isn't clearly detailed in its terms and conditions:

- For 2014, the UNI$24,000 cap will apply for spendings 1 Jun - 31 Dec only (7 months). Whatever spendings at 10X UNI$ attained on and before 31 May are not part of the 2014 cap.

- Thereafter the 2015 cap will apply to spendings 1 Jan - 31 Dec (12 months) and by calendar year (well, if UOB doesn't unilaterally change the rules again, but from experience, no one can be too confident).

- The whole UNI$24,000 cap is by calendar year. There is no artificial split by month.

- Whatever spending that goes above the cap still earns (the very poor rate of) S$5 = UNI$1
Thank you very much for calling and sharing - this info is very useful and appreciated ^
Aeran is offline  
Old May 2, 2014, 11:19 pm
  #2878  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Singapore
Programs: PC Plat Am, Accor GOLD, Hilton Gold
Posts: 179
Originally Posted by SirJman
Word is you can top up a POEMS account with certain cards. Anyone know more info about that?
Not really. It's more for MS for certain bank with high bonus interest.
unitedinsg is offline  
Old May 3, 2014, 12:04 am
  #2879  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: BKK/SEL/YQG
Posts: 2,543
Originally Posted by unitedinsg
Not really. It's more for MS for certain bank with high bonus interest.
Which id like to take advantage of. I couldnt find out how to use the card for MS. I assume that its due to EPS, but how does that come off the card?
SirJman is offline  
Old May 3, 2014, 2:53 am
  #2880  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,571
Originally Posted by unitedinsg
Quote:





Originally Posted by vsepr


https://sg.anz.com/ANZPrivileges/gss/#cash-credit

this year's ANZ's GSS promo no gd, need to charge $200 for $8 or 440 Travel$ credit. 2013 one was charge $100 get $5 or 275 Travel$ credit...




Agree Vsper. Each mid and year-end promo is getting progressively worse. Cannot even match the normal 4x miles.
Yes it gets progressively worse. As such I intend to take advantage of this promo only for whatever I was planning to charge to ANZ Signature anyway...
carrotjuice is offline  


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