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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 Feb 27, 2011, 11:18 pm
  #106  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 14
Thanks aster, hmm, I'd say about 3k+ on average? I only fly coach normally in Asia-Pac region

Last edited by nb123; Feb 27, 2011 at 11:25 pm
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 12:14 am
  #107  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Since there is a cap for the bonus miles earned on SQ Amex Gold card I would say go with the DBS Altitude AMEX or Citi PremierMiles Visa.
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 1:57 am
  #108  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 14
Ahh... btw, I go through a travel agent for the bookings, I don't do it online, will that make a different reg. choice of card?
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 2:50 am
  #109  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Nope, but all the more you should not stick with SQ Amex as it offers double miles only for tickets booked directly online.
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 5:28 am
  #110  
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Posts: 5,171
Originally Posted by aster
We did the math earlier on and the results were the following: If you spend up to $7,000 using your card in a given month, you are better off with DBS Altitude AMEX. If you charge over $7,000 per month then Citi PremierMiles Visa will be better.
This still stands true today.

You are pretty much right on the border between these two cards. If you're going to break the 7k barrier then you might as well go for the Citi PremierMiles Visa card as it is more widely accepted than Amex, and you earn points/miles for every $1 spent, whereas with the DBS card you are credited for every $5 spent, so $5 generates the same amount of points as a $9.99 purchase.
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 6:17 am
  #111  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 14
Ah ok, that's good to know, thanks guys, I'll apply for the card - quick question - my spending month to month kinda goes something like 12k one month, then 3k another, then 5k another, then 13k again, something like that... so sometimes less than 7k, sometimes more, so Citi Premiermiles is most suitable?
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 7:01 am
  #112  
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Join Date: Dec 2009
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Posts: 5,171
Whoa, I believe that Citi no longer gives 2 miles per $1 for spend above $4,000 per month. In the small print they stated that this is valid until 31 Dec, 2010, but with DBS boosting all spend above $1,000 in a given month we all expected Citi to stay in the game.

Maybe I'm blind and someone wants to double-check this, but is seems that there is only one clear winner now - DBS Altitude Amex:
http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards...e/default.aspx

And some interesting insurance (up to $1M) if you purchase your tickets using this card. Here's a link to the T&Cs:
http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards..._insurance.pdf
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 8:58 pm
  #113  
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Singapore, Warsaw, Surfers Paradise
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold>>>Silver>>>Blue, Finnair Silver, Royal Caribbean Diamond
Posts: 5,171
Since DBS gives extra miles for all monthly spend >$1,000 , I wonder how they would go about things if someone's first purchase of the month was worth several thousand?

Would they treat the entire purchase at the regular rate of miles since at the time of purchase the $1,000 barrier has not been crossed yet?
aster is offline  
Old Feb 28, 2011, 9:11 pm
  #114  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Programs: SPG Gold, SQ Blue, OZ Diamond, JAVA and occasionally C
Posts: 5,563
I assumed that citibank would still give the same benefits but I was wrong I guess I need to do some research before coming back with a reply. Since amex is not that widely accepted worldwide there needs to be an alternate card to rack up spends on.
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Old Feb 28, 2011, 9:45 pm
  #115  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 1,799
I'm not sure on the limitations on the Maybank Horizon Platium card, but if you can get the offer of 5 points per $1 on travel (equals to 2 miles per $1), then you could consider using this card for your flights.

After taking the flights out, most of your monthly spends would be under $7k, so the DBS Altitude would be the better option, whether Citi chooses to continue with its PM promotion or not.

So, in summary, I would consider getting the Maybank for flights/travel, and getting the DBS for everything else.
Awesom Andy is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2011, 4:35 am
  #116  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 14
Ok thanks guys, will apply for the DBS Altitude Amex
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Old Mar 1, 2011, 6:23 pm
  #117  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Programs: SPG Gold, SQ Blue, OZ Diamond, JAVA and occasionally C
Posts: 5,563
Ok the conclusion of my research:
- Citi Premiermiles card seem to be giving out only 20k bonus miles and no longer additional miles for above 4k monthly spends.
- Get UOB Signature Card and use it for local spends for places that don't accept Amex. You earn 1 mile per $1.25 of spend.
- Get the Maybank Horizon Platinum and use it for all overseas and ticket spendings. You will earn 2 miles for every $1 spent.
kitsura is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2011, 8:32 pm
  #118  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 50
Originally Posted by kitsura
Ok the conclusion of my research:
- Citi Premiermiles card seem to be giving out only 20k bonus miles and no longer additional miles for above 4k monthly spends.
- Get UOB Signature Card and use it for local spends for places that don't accept Amex. You earn 1 mile per $1.25 of spend.
- Get the Maybank Horizon Platinum and use it for all overseas and ticket spendings. You will earn 2 miles for every $1 spent.
why use the UOB signature card when the citi pm has a $1 to 1.2 mile conversion ratio?
adamantine is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2011, 9:52 pm
  #119  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Programs: SPG Gold, SQ Blue, OZ Diamond, JAVA and occasionally C
Posts: 5,563
Originally Posted by adamantine
why use the UOB signature card when the citi pm has a $1 to 1.2 mile conversion ratio?
Personal preference maybe

I find that citibank has a very annoying website which is why I seldom use their cards.
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Old Mar 1, 2011, 10:42 pm
  #120  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Singapore, Warsaw, Surfers Paradise
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold>>>Silver>>>Blue, Finnair Silver, Royal Caribbean Diamond
Posts: 5,171
Back in the day DBS Altitude Amex and the DBS Treasures Amex (for those with at least 200k there) had the same high ratio of miles:dollars spent.

Nowadays, with the Altitude card giving the most miles of any card in Singapore for overall spend, I'm surprised they haven't bumped up the Treasures card to equal that (unless I missed info about the "raise").
aster is offline  


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