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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):
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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 Jul 21, 2015, 1:42 am
  #4456  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Singapore
Posts: 43
Confirmed the HSBC Advance Visa 10x promo ends this month. The other HSBC card is Revolution which gives 5x for all online
chewiegranolabar is offline  
Old Jul 21, 2015, 7:52 am
  #4457  
formerly Fly-Swiss
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 878
Originally Posted by lcpteck
Yep, did it last night. Finally we can see the Travel$ in our account in realtime.
The website is quite good and this card is now back at the top of my list for domestic spending. coupled with UOB PRVI Amex for foreign currency, it is the best earning ratio you can find.
Volasia is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2015, 12:59 am
  #4458  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 22
Originally Posted by Fly-Swiss
The website is quite good and this card is now back at the top of my list for domestic spending. coupled with UOB PRVI Amex for foreign currency, it is the best earning ratio you can find.
Why not just use UOB PRVI Amex for local spend as well?
naro is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2015, 1:28 am
  #4459  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 32
Originally Posted by Fly-Swiss
The website is quite good and this card is now back at the top of my list for domestic spending. coupled with UOB PRVI Amex for foreign currency, it is the best earning ratio you can find.
For me, its :
1) UOB Signature VISA for first $2k of foreign spend (S$1 = 4 Miles) - I typically use this to pay for airfare since I purchase most of my airtix from overseas.
2) UOB PRVI Amex for remaining foreign spend (S$1 = 2.4 Miles),
3) UOB Preferred AMEX for all dining local or overseas (S$1 = 4 Miles),
4) Citibank Prestige Mastercard for all other local spending (S$1 = 1.42 Miles. Its 1.42 instead of 1.3 becos I've 30% loyalty bonus with them). If I did not have the loyalty bonus, I'd have used ANZ Travel card. Also, Citi's miles have no expiry.
dickson_g is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2015, 5:02 am
  #4460  
formerly Fly-Swiss
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 878
Originally Posted by naro
Quote:
Why not just use UOB PRVI Amex for local spend as well?
Because UOB gives points every 5.- spent. If you spend 9.95 you only receive based on 5. So in summary you are closer to 1.3 miles than 1.4 as advertised.

Good point on the visa signature. I use the Amex for the airport limo primarily.
Volasia is offline  
Old Jul 23, 2015, 8:14 am
  #4461  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 129
Hi guys,

Is there any card that still lets you get miles while paying with AXS?
vade is offline  
Old Jul 23, 2015, 9:07 am
  #4462  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: SIN
Posts: 61
Hey guys,

I was wondering if any of you had any tips regarding MS (Manufactured Spending) here in Singapore. I saw a post a few pages ago about a possibility at a famous Swedish furniture store and have been looking for other and maybe easier options. So far no luck. Most of the MS forum is for US citizens and I cannot find any working option here in SG.

Asked in MS forum but might have more success here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...singapore.html

Feel free to PM me if you do not want to write it on a public forum.

Cheers
Alex
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 7:51 pm
  #4463  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,819
Originally Posted by vade
Hi guys,

Is there any card that still lets you get miles while paying with AXS?
Not that I know of.
lcpteck is online now  
Old Jul 25, 2015, 9:27 pm
  #4464  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
Call ANZ to send you a replacement card with payWave free and earn 2x Travel$ till 30 Sept 2015:

http://www.anz.com/singapore/en/pers...s/travel-card/

2.8 Travel$ on Contactless purchases

http://www.anz.com/resources/9/6/969...df?MOD=AJPERES
vsepr is offline  
Old Jul 25, 2015, 10:24 pm
  #4465  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,819
Originally Posted by vsepr
Call ANZ to send you a replacement card with payWave free and earn 2x Travel$ till 30 Sept 2015:

http://www.anz.com/singapore/en/pers...s/travel-card/

2.8 Travel$ on Contactless purchases

http://www.anz.com/resources/9/6/969...df?MOD=AJPERES
Seems to be only eligible for new members.

The ANZ Contactless 2X Rewards Promotion (“Contactless Promotion”) is open to new-to-bank applicants...

I still prefer the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa for paywave purchases.
lcpteck is online now  
Old Jul 26, 2015, 1:34 am
  #4466  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 22
Originally Posted by lcpteck
Seems to be only eligible for new members.

The ANZ Contactless 2X Rewards Promotion (“Contactless Promotion”) is open to new-to-bank applicants...

I still prefer the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa for paywave purchases.
Yes. But except places where SMART$ is issued instead of UNI$. Some of my biggest bugbear are Cold Storage, Giant and Guardian Pharmacy.
naro is offline  
Old Jul 26, 2015, 6:28 am
  #4467  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
Speaking of UOB PPV, I was checking my points balance and noticed a 4.8k deduction of my UNI$ for an annual fee. Well first of all they should give a waiver proactively for my spend, but whom am I kidding. On serious note though, while I can deal with the fee waiver request nonsense, I did not know that (as per a CS Agent claim) UOB will automatically deduct the annual card fee equivalent in UNI$ from your account if the balance can cover the amount (4.8k UNI$ currently) without even asking. Apparently it is in the T&Cs and you can not choose the preference always to pay in cash and not points. What the heck? Really ticks me off. At least do cash by default and allow people to redeem UNI$ for annual fee if they chose to do so.
demue is offline  
Old Jul 26, 2015, 7:09 am
  #4468  
Moderator, El Al and Marriott Bonvoy, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ*G, Mar LTT, Hyatt Glb, AA LTG, LY, HH, IC, BA, DL, UA SLV
Posts: 12,018
Same here. UOB pisses me off.

Not sure why I keep the PPV.
yosithezet is offline  
Old Jul 26, 2015, 8:11 am
  #4469  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Singapore / India
Programs: SQ QPP, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Taj Inner Circle Gold
Posts: 639
Originally Posted by demue
Speaking of UOB PPV, I was checking my points balance and noticed a 4.8k deduction of my UNI$ for an annual fee. Well first of all they should give a waiver proactively for my spend, but whom am I kidding. On serious note though, while I can deal with the fee waiver request nonsense, I did not know that (as per a CS Agent claim) UOB will automatically deduct the annual card fee equivalent in UNI$ from your account if the balance can cover the amount (4.8k UNI$ currently) without even asking. Apparently it is in the T&Cs and you can not choose the preference always to pay in cash and not points. What the heck? Really ticks me off. At least do cash by default and allow people to redeem UNI$ for annual fee if they chose to do so.
It's been this way for awhile. I guess that is one way to reduce their UNI$ liability. Most ppl i know (outside FT) are not staunch guarders of points like us here. They don't monitor, they 'forget' and there go those points.
SQueeze is offline  
Old Jul 26, 2015, 9:35 pm
  #4470  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 819
Originally Posted by demue
Speaking of UOB PPV, I was checking my points balance and noticed a 4.8k deduction of my UNI$ for an annual fee. Well first of all they should give a waiver proactively for my spend, but whom am I kidding. On serious note though, while I can deal with the fee waiver request nonsense, I did not know that (as per a CS Agent claim) UOB will automatically deduct the annual card fee equivalent in UNI$ from your account if the balance can cover the amount (4.8k UNI$ currently) without even asking. Apparently it is in the T&Cs and you can not choose the preference always to pay in cash and not points. What the heck? Really ticks me off. At least do cash by default and allow people to redeem UNI$ for annual fee if they chose to do so.
Call UOB everyday from the day, usually the 1st of the month, the UNI$ are deducted for annual fee to request for reinstatement. Stop until the UNI$ are back to your account.

Who knows, sometimes there are double crediting of UNI$ and you get a bonus of 4800 UNI$!!
vsepr is offline  


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