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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 Oct 17, 2015, 8:09 pm
  #4741  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: HH Diamond, GHA Titanium
Posts: 1,961
Originally Posted by flo-e
Does anybody know what Citibank's (PremierMiles) cross currency exchange fee is? Couldn't find anything on the website.
Well, on 8th Oct I swiped a 84,502 jpy thing to my Citi PM Visa, and it posted as 1,016.30 sgd.

Yahoo puts that day's sgd/jpy rate as 84.9485 i.e. 994.74 sgd.

So around a 2.17% deviation from the day's mid-rate.
shuigao is offline  
Old Oct 18, 2015, 6:25 am
  #4742  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,820
Post Citibank Thank You Rewards

Citibank points (Citi$ and Citimiles) are now consolidated into the Thank You rewards program. The new website still have bugs/kinks to work out but it's up and live.

With the introduction of Thank You Rewards, they added 4 more redemption partners:

Club Carlson
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Flying Blue (KLM/Air France/Others)
Qantas Frequent Flyer

This also puts Citibank with the most redemption partners in Singapore with 13 FFPs and 3 Hotel Loyaty programs.

Last edited by lcpteck; Oct 18, 2015 at 6:37 am
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Old Oct 18, 2015, 9:57 am
  #4743  
 
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: 7,741
Thanks for the heads up. I haven't looked into it, but if they convert citi$ or citi miles into those thank you points they better keep in mind that 1 citi mile currently equals 1 airline FFP mile, so I would expect to get 2.5 thank you points for every one of my premiermiles miles if points to FFP miles converts 1:0.4. Citi$ can convert 1:1 as ratio is same as thank you points.
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Old Oct 18, 2015, 10:07 am
  #4744  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
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No change to conversion

Originally Posted by demue
Thanks for the heads up. I haven't looked into it, but if they convert citi$ or citi miles into those thank you points they better keep in mind that 1 citi mile currently equals 1 airline FFP mile, so I would expect to get 2.5 thank you points for every one of my premiermiles miles if points to FFP miles converts 1:0.4. Citi$ can convert 1:1 as ratio is same as thank you points.
There's no change in the conversion table, it still remains as it is for Singapore. Though instead of needing 5 Citi$ to convert to 2 FFP Miles, they changed base value of 1 Citi$.

1 former CitiMiles = 1 FFP Mile
1 former Citi$ = 0.4 FFP Miles
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Old Oct 18, 2015, 7:30 pm
  #4745  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Singapore
Posts: 46
Originally Posted by lcpteck
Citibank points (Citi$ and Citimiles) are now consolidated into the Thank You rewards program. The new website still have bugs/kinks to work out but it's up and live.

With the introduction of Thank You Rewards, they added 4 more redemption partners:

Club Carlson
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Flying Blue (KLM/Air France/Others)
Qantas Frequent Flyer

This also puts Citibank with the most redemption partners in Singapore with 13 FFPs and 3 Hotel Loyaty programs.
Is there a page that summarises the new changes? The citirewards sg site doesnt really tell much. I couldnt get any information on the consolidation of Citi$ and Citimiles.
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Old Oct 18, 2015, 7:52 pm
  #4746  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,820
Originally Posted by phelansg
Is there a page that summarises the new changes? The citirewards sg site doesnt really tell much. I couldnt get any information on the consolidation of Citi$ and Citimiles.
Not that I know of, but I'm sure Citibank will send out an e-mailer eventually.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 12:58 am
  #4747  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: HH Diamond, GHA Titanium
Posts: 1,961
Think the kinks have been more or less worked out of Citi's sytems now. The rewards page now jumps to their "thankyou by Citi" page. Redemptions remain unchanged at 1 Citi Mile : 1 (whatever FF mile). I briefly entertained the thought of moving some miles to Etihad Guest to experience their Apartments ... but too expensive at 89k one way Abu Dhabi - London (180k for two people ... I need like 3-4 years to collect miles for that lol).

I'll probably just save up ~60k'ish to redeem for my parents to HK to let them experience SQ suites, then next 60k for parents-in-law.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 1:28 am
  #4748  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,820
Expedia/DBS Promotion

As per the local forum, looks like Expedia extended the same Citibank Promotion to DBS. Although T&Cs are similar, only valid till year end. The below clause (which I wonder how they will track) is also inferior to Citibank's promotion:

Cardmembers are required to book and complete the travel or stay between 15 October and 31 December 2015 to qualify for the additional miles.

They also require bookings to be made via their referral link.

I'm still booking my eligible flight tickets using Citibank Cards instead.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 1:30 am
  #4749  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,820
Originally Posted by shuigao
Think the kinks have been more or less worked out of Citi's sytems now. The rewards page now jumps to their "thankyou by Citi" page. Redemptions remain unchanged at 1 Citi Mile : 1 (whatever FF mile). I briefly entertained the thought of moving some miles to Etihad Guest to experience their Apartments ... but too expensive at 89k one way Abu Dhabi - London (180k for two people ... I need like 3-4 years to collect miles for that lol).
I have thought about redeeming for EY's First Apartment as well, but apparently even using their own program's miles are very expensive. So it's not a good option.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 2:14 am
  #4750  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: SIN
Posts: 61
Originally Posted by lcpteck
I have thought about redeeming for EY's First Apartment as well, but apparently even using their own program's miles are very expensive. So it's not a good option.
I read that AA miles was a good way to do just that but am unaware of SG cards that let you earn or transfer to AA.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 2:43 am
  #4751  
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Join Date: Oct 2014
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Originally Posted by lcpteck
I have thought about redeeming for EY's First Apartment as well, but apparently even using their own program's miles are very expensive. So it's not a good option.
AA miles probably the best value for EY/CX redemption... however, AA earning/conversion partner in Singapore is ... almost non existent.

only option is to purchase miles directly from AA during their promo period
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 5:32 am
  #4752  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 21
Card to use for car insurance and road tax

Which card do y'all use for car insurance and road tax? Since UOB PRVI doesn't award miles for insurance and govt-related payments, I would think the other option to get 1.4miles/dollar is ANZ travel card?
elliotng is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2015, 6:13 am
  #4753  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,820
Originally Posted by Wadexis
I read that AA miles was a good way to do just that but am unaware of SG cards that let you earn or transfer to AA.
There are no cards that can transfer to AA as they don't even fly here. I've read AA miles are a good option though the only way we can get them is to buy them outright when there's a promotion or transfer from SPG. Redemption have to be made by calling the hotline as well. There is a local reservation hotline though I'm not aware if they can book award flights.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 6:14 am
  #4754  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,820
Originally Posted by TTOTY
AA miles probably the best value for EY/CX redemption... however, AA earning/conversion partner in Singapore is ... almost non existent.

only option is to purchase miles directly from AA during their promo period
Agreed.
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Old Oct 19, 2015, 10:32 am
  #4755  
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Posts: 98
Originally Posted by elliotng
Which card do y'all use for car insurance and road tax? Since UOB PRVI doesn't award miles for insurance and govt-related payments, I would think the other option to get 1.4miles/dollar is ANZ travel card?
I think anz travel card no longer award 1.4 mile per $ of tax payment. They have revised it to 0.5 mile per $.
TTOTY is offline  


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