7 Best Credit Cards for Online Shopping in Singapore (2022)

Remember the good old days before online shopping became the default way to buy stuff? Me neither. Memories of those hazy days have been filed away together with those of Singapore when there were only two MRT lines and when Orchard Road was still cool.

Nowadays, we furnish our homes on Taobao, buy clothes online without trying them on first and get groceries using an app.

That means you get to earn cash rebates, rewards and bonus miles on top of everything you spend, thanks to the fact that credit cards are all fighting for you to use them to pay for your online purchases.

7 best credit cards for online shopping Singapore (2022)

Best for	Best online shopping credit cards
Cashback	DBS Live Fresh Card, OCBC FRANK Card
Rewards points	Citi Rewards, HSBC Revolution, Citi Lazada
Big purchases	StanChart Unlimited, Citi Cash Back+

1. DBS Live Fresh Card

Your wardrobe will certainly look fresher after a shopping spree with the Live Fresh Card, which gives you 5% cashback on online spending and Visa Contactless payments.

Any type of online spending qualifies for the rebates, including air tickets and Steam credits. Grab or Gojek rides also qualify, and you can even earn cashback on your MRT and bus rides if you use SimplyGo, since that counts as Visa Contactless payment.

You can also earn cashback (capped at $15) on non-online, non-contactless transactions (remember those?) at a number of “eco-friendly” businesses, including some eateries, grocery stores and transportation options likeBlueSG and electric vehicle charging.

The minimum spending requirement is $600, which is quite reasonable, considering how many things qualify for cashback on this card.

The main drawback is that the cashback for eligible online spending is capped at $20, with another $20 allocated to Visa contactless spending. That means you can only earn cashback on $400 worth of online spending and $400 worth of Visa Contactless spending per month.

2. OCBC FRANK Credit Card

If you’re looking for the ultimate online shopping card with the highest cashback rate, OCBC FRANK is a strong contender. The card offers 6% cashback on all types of online spending, meaning you can charge anything to the card, including grocery deliveries, Grab rides and your Netflix subscription.

You also get 6% cashback when you pay using your smartphone with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay or Garmin Pay.

Saying this is going to make us all feel bitter, but OCBC FRANK also gives out 6% cashback on in-store foreign currency spending. This could be your go-to card for overseas holidays!

The minimum monthly spending requirement is $600, which isn’t too bad given the number of things you can earn cashback on. The sad thing is that cashback is capped at $25 for online spending and $25 for mobile payments and foreign currency spending. That means you can only earn cashback on about $417 worth of online shopping each month. All in all, the total cashback every month is capped at $75.

3. Citibank Rewards Card

Cashback cards are my personal favourite type of credit card, but they often come with minimum spending requirements. To avoid going over budget, you can use a rewards card like Citi Rewards Card instead, which has no minimum spend requirement.

The card gives you 10X rewards (equivalent to 4 miles) when you make online purchases, use ride hailing apps like Grab or Gojek, and place food or grocery delivery orders.

It helps also that the Citi Rewards catalogue is quite an attractive one. You can swap your points for air miles or gifts and vouchers; if all else fails you can use your points to redeem Apple products or Amazon points.

However, all good things have their limits — Citi Rewards Card only rewards you at the 10X earn rate for up to $1,000 worth of spending per month, so pace yourself!

4. HSBC Revolution Card

Earn 10X rewards points (equivalent to 4 air miles or 2.5% cashback) on online spending and contactless payments when you use this card. All types of online spending count, so go ahead and charge that Grab ride or your Spotify subscription to the card.

Another perk is that the card charges no annual fee, which saves you from having to call them up at the end of the year to beg for a waiver.

The HSBC rewards catalogue is one of the more interesting ones out there. Other than the usual shopping mall vouchers, you’ll find some rather original rewards like luxury crystal wine glasses and Fitbits. If that doesn’t interest you, you can always redeem GrabRide or GrabFood vouchers.

The card also does have a $1,000 limit on how much you can earn the 10X points on, though, so don’t go and spend thousands in a single month.

5. Citi Lazada Card

You can skip this card if you never shop at Lazada. But if Lazada has replaced Amazon in your heart, then the Citi Lazada Card might be useful, since it lets you earn 10X rewards points whenever you spend on the site. As if you didn’t need more encouragement, four times a month, the card gives you Lazada shipping rebates on orders of at least $50.

That doesn’t mean you have to spend your life on Lazada. You earn 5X points in the “real world” when you spend on dining, travel, entertainment and commuting. If you hate leaving your room, you’ll be happy to know that Netflix and Spotify count as entertainment.

As mentioned earlier, the Citi Rewards catalogue is one of the best rewards catalogues out there. There’s enough in there to keep you from defaulting to NTUC FairPrice vouchers.

You’re entitled to earn a maximum of 9,000 points at the accelerated rates each month. In other words, you can earn 10X or 5X rewards points on $900 to $1,800 worth of spending.

6. Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card

I get paid to write about credit cards, but I even get sick of tracking credit card benefits. If you’re tired of trying to remember which card to use when or calculating whether you’ve hit the minimum spending requirements, an unlimited cashback card like Standard Chartered’s makes life so much easier.

The card gives you 1.5% cashback on all spending, with no cashback cap and no minimum spending requirement.

What’s more, your cashback rate also gets bumped up to 5% during the first 3 months (valid on up to $5,000 worth of spending), so sign up for this card right before you overhaul your home with online purchases.

7. Citi Cash Back+ Card

Since we’re on the topic of unlimited cashback cards, Citi Cash Back+ Card is another such card to look out for. The card offers 1.6% cashback on all spending with no cap and no minimum spending requirement.

During your first 2 months with the card, you’re also entitled to 6% cashback on up to $4,000 worth of spending (capped at $240) when you sign up through Citi channels . So sign up for this card before a big ticket expense — a new TV, an electric bicycle, you name it. Do note that the Citibank promo cannot be stacked with ongoing MoneySmart promotions.

Protect yourself against credit card fraud online

Your chances of getting pickpocketed in Singapore are almost nil, but credit card fraud is another matter.

This is a risk you’ll have to manage if you frequently enter your credit card details to buy things online. Fraudsters who manage to steal those card details can do a lot of damage by spending thousands of dollars on your dime.

For this reason, it is important to check your credit card bill every month, even for cards you rarely use. It is especially easy to overlook this if you pay your bills by GIRO.

If you spot any unauthorised transactions, contact your bank immediately. They can then investigate the disputed charge and reverse it at no cost to you.

To avoid getting scammed, never disclose your credit card, internet banking or personal details to anyone. You should also be very wary about clicking on links in emails and text messages.

Always double-check email addresses and URLs to make sure they’re legit before clicking on anything. Even if a website looks legit, it might a phishing site — the only way to be sure is to google the official site.

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