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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 Jun 8, 2016, 2:30 am
  #5776  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Singapore
Programs: Hyatt Diamand; Hilton Diamond; Marriott Platinum; SPG Gold; LeAccor Platinum
Posts: 67
Originally Posted by carrotjuice
3-4 days typically.
Got a bad feeling about this, looks like citi may have clamp down on 10x rewards for axs too. I am on my 3rd day already. 0 points entry.

How bad can it get when both DBS and Citi is facing the same crap. LOL!
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 5:49 am
  #5777  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
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Posts: 7,739
Do we know when those DBS WWMC T&Cs were updated? I gave them a call and just mentioned that I noticed that the T&C for a card I hold seem to have been updated and after checking the CSR mentioned that they were last updated in Dec 2015 and that it included those "exclusions" listed under point 5 of the 10x Rewards since then. Go figure.

Of course I understand that it could be a case of uniformed CSR, but at least up to April I still got 9x online bonus for my spend (posted on May 16) for that specific type of transaction most of us are concerned about. For month of May spend I can't tell yet as the 9x bonus points will only post on Jun 16.
demue is online now  
Old Jun 8, 2016, 5:52 am
  #5778  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 53
Anyone can advice me is Apple transaction qualify for 4 miles/$1 spend on UOB preferred platinum visa card
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 6:03 am
  #5779  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Singapore
Programs: Krisflyer Gold, Starwood Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 444
Originally Posted by Ghost07
Anyone can advice me is Apple transaction qualify for 4 miles/$1 spend on UOB preferred platinum visa card
The sheet says yes. Can't see any reason to think it wouldn't.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...wR4/edit#gid=1

p.s. Welcome to FlyerTalk!
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 6:34 am
  #5780  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 192
Originally Posted by UK_Ship
So what is best way to top up my Fevo now? !
HSBC advance card
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 6:44 am
  #5781  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 53
Originally Posted by w4rd
The sheet says yes. Can't see any reason to think it wouldn't.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...wR4/edit#gid=1

p.s. Welcome to FlyerTalk!
Thank you bro.. your spreadsheet is very useful.^^^^
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 7:11 am
  #5782  
formerly Fly-Swiss
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 878
Originally Posted by Ghost07
Thank you bro.. your spreadsheet is very useful.^^^^
another bro it seems...
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 7:19 am
  #5783  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Singapore
Programs: Krisflyer Gold, Starwood Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 444
Originally Posted by Ghost07
Thank you bro.. your spreadsheet is very useful.^^^^
My pleasure, but I cannot claim credit for the sheet (which will need a few updates after today's bombshell from DBS)!
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 7:51 am
  #5784  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,576
Originally Posted by demue
Do we know when those DBS WWMC T&Cs were updated? I gave them a call and just mentioned that I noticed that the T&C for a card I hold seem to have been updated and after checking the CSR mentioned that they were last updated in Dec 2015 and that it included those "exclusions" listed under point 5 of the 10x Rewards since then. Go figure.
Utter nonsense response from DBS.

I called DBS also, and the CSO said "these exclusions have always been there"?! Fortunately I had downloaded a copy of the old terms on my mobile last month, and emailed it back to them with a demand to know when the terms changed, the effective date and why there was no "reasonable notice" - without which is ground for us to lodge a MAS complaint.

That said, I'm not sure if DBS will get away scott-free like UOB did a few years back when they pulled the same plug on earning 10X points on PP Visa for online prepaid card top ups - again without the slightest hint of notice.

Last edited by carrotjuice; Jun 8, 2016 at 7:57 am
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 7:57 am
  #5785  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,576
Originally Posted by UK_Ship
So what is best way to top up my Fevo now? !
Originally Posted by leogeo
HSBC advance card
Not sure if it's worth the bother. T&Cs say "Transactions made on brokerage/securities and/or money payment/transfer websites are not classified as retail transactions and are expressly excluded. For Online Transactions which involve EZ-Link or Transitlink, 10x Rewards points are capped at 2,000 HSBC Rewards points per Account per calendar month (i.e. S$200 spend)."
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 8:12 am
  #5786  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,900
Originally Posted by leogeo
HSBC advance card
Personal experience?
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 9:11 am
  #5787  
 
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
Originally Posted by carrotjuice
Utter nonsense response from DBS.

I called DBS also, and the CSO said "these exclusions have always been there"?! Fortunately I had downloaded a copy of the old terms on my mobile last month, and emailed it back to them with a demand to know when the terms changed, the effective date and why there was no "reasonable notice" - without which is ground for us to lodge a MAS complaint.

That said, I'm not sure if DBS will get away scott-free like UOB did a few years back when they pulled the same plug on earning 10X points on PP Visa for online prepaid card top ups - again without the slightest hint of notice.
Thanks, that what I thought. If you get a more "qualified" response with an actual date then I'd appreciate if you could let us know. Also, while the DBS card general T&Cs sneakily states that putting up changes to T&Cs can be "announced" via putting the new T&Cs up on the website, if anyone considers filing a MAS complained or push DBS then you can count me in.

If they change the T&Cs that is their prerogative, but make it known in a clear way giving some advance notice that doesn't force customers to take snapshots of your T&Cs, compare them against one another and then guess when exactly they went into effect.

The next test will be June 16 when the bonus points are supposed to post. If it is significantly shy of 3600 bonus points then something is fishy and changed in May. To be seen.

Last edited by demue; Jun 8, 2016 at 9:23 am
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 5:54 pm
  #5788  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SIN
Posts: 352
Originally Posted by demue
Thanks, that what I thought. If you get a more "qualified" response with an actual date then I'd appreciate if you could let us know. Also, while the DBS card general T&Cs sneakily states that putting up changes to T&Cs can be "announced" via putting the new T&Cs up on the website, if anyone considers filing a MAS complained or push DBS then you can count me in.

If they change the T&Cs that is their prerogative, but make it known in a clear way giving some advance notice that doesn't force customers to take snapshots of your T&Cs, compare them against one another and then guess when exactly they went into effect.

The next test will be June 16 when the bonus points are supposed to post. If it is significantly shy of 3600 bonus points then something is fishy and changed in May. To be seen.
I am game for a mass complain to MAS.

Just hoping they don't hide behind 5.j
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 9:01 pm
  #5789  
 
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
I think the key point of a complaint would be around due notice. When you view the T&Cs on the website, it doesn't even state when they were last updated (or dare we expect to highlight what changed ). The you call DBS CSR and of course answers are rubbish like they told me it has been like that since Dec 2015 while carrottjuice downloaded the previous version without such an extensive point 5 last month. Also I still got the full 10x bonus for some transactions that may not qualify any longer (not sure) so if they really were in effect since Dec 2015 certain top up transactions should be fine. Well time will tell, but I'm certainly waiting for 16 Jun for starters to see what my bonus points from May 2016 look like.
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Old Jun 8, 2016, 10:16 pm
  #5790  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SIN
Programs: JL GC | Marriott LT Silver | Global Entry | SQ Silver
Posts: 6,819
Originally Posted by Ghost07
Thank you bro.. your spreadsheet is very useful.^^^^
Originally Posted by w4rd
My pleasure, but I cannot claim credit for the sheet (which will need a few updates after today's bombshell from DBS)!
Yeah the spreadsheet is crowdsourced. The idea came from another guy and then I compiled it onto a spreadsheet and later opened it up for the community to contribute.
lcpteck is offline  


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