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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 Jan 7, 2019, 11:20 pm
  #7486  
 
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Originally Posted by carrotjuice


Just as I thought this thread was loooong dead!
I think too few of us contributing and too many "leeching", plus one cannot discuss tricks or similar any longer in open forums as somehow, someone will call the bank or similar and ask questions and put them onto shutting things down. YMMV.
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 12:02 am
  #7487  
 
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Originally Posted by aster
My question referred to the exact way UOB calculates the number of points it gives you per transaction. Is it round-down to the nearest $5 and then multiply by 3.5?
Indeed. UOB has the incorrigible practice of giving UNI$ in multiples of $5 only. Anything above the multiple up to $4.99 earns zilch.
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 12:04 am
  #7488  
 
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Originally Posted by demue
I think too few of us contributing and too many "leeching", plus one cannot discuss tricks or similar any longer in open forums as somehow, someone will call the bank or similar and ask questions and put them onto shutting things down. YMMV.
And on top of that you have blogs acting heroic and publicising them for the banks to see...
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 5:48 am
  #7489  
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Originally Posted by demue
I think too few of us contributing and too many "leeching", plus one cannot discuss tricks or similar any longer in open forums as somehow, someone will call the bank or similar and ask questions and put them onto shutting things down. YMMV.
Originally Posted by carrotjuice
And on top of that you have blogs acting heroic and publicising them for the banks to see...
https://forum.hongkongcard.com/forumSE/show/16665 #2
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 9:25 am
  #7490  
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Originally Posted by carrotjuice
Indeed. UOB has the incorrigible practice of giving UNI$ in multiples of $5 only. Anything above the multiple up to $4.99 earns zilch.
Yes, a $9.99 purchase is effectively treated as a $5 one.

What's worse is that $5 also suffers from rounding-down so you don't actually get the full $5 x 1.4 miles = 7 miles. Instead I believe your points get rounded down from 3.5 to 3 points, so effectively 6 miles gained.

Overall I still think it's a great card though and am not really worried about using it for tiny purchases. For that there's always the DBS debit card and it's 5% cashback for contactless transactions.
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 1:45 pm
  #7491  
 
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Don't get me started on UOB. Suffice to say I'm not its biggest fan:
- rounding down issue (enough said)
- intransparent promos (you qualify if you're the first X people who sign up and spend, but you never know until after the promo is over)
- terrible customer service (most recently I keep getting calls from their credit management who marked my card as delinquent and started heaping fees on it - because one of my credit cards was frauded, they replaced and said they would ensure the GIRO monthly bill debit is reinstated, but they screwed it up and the GIRO failed)

I don't bother to use a UOB card unless it earns 4 miles per S$1.
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 1:47 pm
  #7492  
 
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Originally Posted by percysmith
Same here in SIN. Gone were the glory days where tax payment via AXS machines earned miles. And if you overpay, IRAS even refunded in cash!!
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 1:48 pm
  #7493  
 
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Originally Posted by aster
... am not really worried about using it for tiny purchases. For that there's always the DBS debit card and it's 5% cashback for contactless transactions.
You've crossed over to the dark side of cashback, my friend!
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 7:40 pm
  #7494  
 
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Originally Posted by carrotjuice
Don't get me started on UOB.

I don't bother to use a UOB card unless it earns 4 miles per S$1.
I echo your sentiment. I use my UOB PPV for 4mls/$ transactions and that's it. However, even proven 4mls (10uni$) merchants can suddenly turn into 1uni$ ones with UOBs awesome IT Ops.

Case in point is Foodpanda transactions (app bookings) which for the last 3 months I had to request to be manually corrected as the CSR informed every time that they only earned 1uni$. Go figure.

The correction request was approved every time, but why did it even become necessary? It used to work just fine? Always, UOB
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Old Jan 8, 2019, 11:22 pm
  #7495  
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I only use UOB A,ex for restaurants. Everything else goes on Citi PM or CRV.
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 1:00 am
  #7496  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Originally Posted by yosithezet
I only use UOB A,ex for restaurants. Everything else goes on Citi PM or CRV.
Even this has gone downhill. Capped at S$6000 worth of dining per YEAR!
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Old Jan 9, 2019, 5:19 am
  #7497  
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Originally Posted by carrotjuice
You've crossed over to the dark side of cashback, my friend!
I work out my valuation of miles https://forum.hongkongcard.com/forumSE/show/25995 #3

I find that for my ongoing earn rates (even those under "promo" e.g. dining, online, paywave), cash rebate generally beats miles now.

Only when I get a time-limited earn promo (normally from a PRC-owned HK bank) does it worth spending for miles.
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Old Jan 11, 2019, 1:47 pm
  #7498  
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Originally Posted by carrotjuice
Don't get me started on UOB. Suffice to say I'm not its biggest fan:
- intransparent promos (you qualify if you're the first X people who sign up and spend, but you never know until after the promo is over)
I definitely agree - these are the worst. I would be somewhat inclined to accept this practice if the "prize" was physical like those recent fitbit gadgets, even though it would still dissuade me from taking part. But when the promo is based around bonus points or something similar then such limits are disappointing.

Originally Posted by carrotjuice
You've crossed over to the dark side of cashback, my friend!
You must admit the DBS cashback isn't that bad (except for the $1k limit per card), I mean we are talking about a D-E-B-I-T card here. When you're making small purchases like a coffee you might as well whip this one out instead of any headache-inducing "how much will I lose on rounding-down here" type card.

On a side note, don't cancel the DBS WWMC card just yet if you were thinking of doing so. I recently booked accommodation for my parents and received a payment link by email to cover the entire stay. Since it was an online gateway I decided to try the WWMC... and ended up getting the full 4 miles/$ on that payment. I will admit that I rarely get to use this card overall, but as long as I keep getting a fee waiver I'll hang on to it...
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 9:50 am
  #7499  
 
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Posts: 533
WIth DBS Altitude or Insignia, can i transfer the DBS Points to Krisflyer miles to a family member?
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 8:33 pm
  #7500  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Programs: Krisflyer Gold, Starwood Gold, Hilton Gold
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Originally Posted by maxinkuckee04
WIth DBS Altitude or Insignia, can i transfer the DBS Points to Krisflyer miles to a family member?
Cannot.
Unless they happen to have same name/initials it might work, but its against T&C.
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