Grab is so commonly used in Singapore right now that heated discussions about politics with taxi drivers are now a thing of the past. And the best thing about using Grab is that if you have a good credit card for Grab, you can get cashback, rewards and air miles.
But which credit cards should you use to pay for your Grab rides?
Best credit cards for Grab in Singapore 2019
| Credit Card | Benefit | Minimum spend | Also good for |
| Citi Cash Back Credit Card | Cashback | $888 | Dining, groceries, petrol |
| UOB YOLO | Cashback | $600 | Dining, entertainment, online fashion and online travel |
| UOB One | Cashback | $500 | Paying Singapore Power utilities bill, getting bonus interest with UOB One savings account |
| CIMB Platinum MasterCard | Cashback | $800 | Dining, bars, petrol, travel in foreign currency, health and medical, electronics and furnishings |
| Maybank Family & Friends | Cashback | $1,000 / $500 | Groceries and select merchants |
| OCBC 365 | Cashback | $800 | Dining, online food delivery, groceries, online groceries, taxis, petrol, recurring telco and electricity bills, online air and cruise tickets, online hotel and tour bookings |
| OCBC FRANK Credit Card | Cashback | $400 (offline spending only) | Online shopping and entertainment |
| UOB PRVI Miles Credit Card | Air miles | – | Local and overseas spending |
| Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card | Air miles | – | Dining, bus, train, petrol, taxi, Agoda bookings, air tickets, travel packages, foreign currency transactions |
| American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card | Air miles | – | Local and overseas spending |
Best cashback credit cards for Grab
Citi Cash Back Credit Card: High cashback, but also high minimum spend
Citi Cash Back Credit Card offers 8% cashback on dining, groceries, petrol and Grab rides (till 30 Jun 2019). While the cashback offered is generous, you only get it if you satisfy the high minimum spending requirement of $888.
There is also a cashback cap of $25 in each of the four categories, which means you get cashback on a maximum of $312.50 worth of Grab rides.
UOB YOLO: Ideal for those who live it up every weekend
You can party hard with UOB YOLO, which earns you up to 8% cashback on weekend Grab, dining and entertainment spending. On weekdays, you get 3% cashback on Grab, dining and entertainment spending. You also get 3% cashback on online fashion and travel spending with UOB YOLO.
The minimum spending requirement is a manageable $600, while the cashback cap of $60 is decent but not incredibly high.
UOB One Card: Up to 10% cashback on Grab, but you’ll need to spend consistently
If you already have a UOB One savings account and frequently take Grab, the UOB One Card is a great card. The UOB One Card now advertises up to 10% cashback on Grab, which is the highest on this list, but you will only get the full 10% if you are awarded the quarterly cash rebate (up to 5%).
And how to get the quarterly cash rebate? You need to spend consistently spend in one quarter, and lowest tier of minimum spend per month is $500.
The max quarterly cash rebate you can get is $300 based on a minimum retail spend of $2,000 per month.
| Minimum retail spend per month | Quarterly cash rebate |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $300 |
Aside to that, you get up to 6% on Singapore Power utilities bills and up to 5% on all spend. There is also fuel discounts of up to 20.8% off at Shell and 24% off at SPC.
And if you pair it with the UOB One savings account, you enjoy up to 3.88% bonus interest.
Read more about the intricacies of UOB One in our dedicated article: UOB One Card – MoneySmart Review 2019
CIMB Platinum Mastercard: High cashback, but low cap in each category
This card gives a very generous 10% cashback on transport spending including Grab and taxis (Ezlink top-ups not included). You also get 10% cashback on dining, bars, travel expenses made in foreign currencies, health and medical spending and electronics and furnishings at certain merchants including Ikea and Best Denki.
The minimum spending requirement of $800 is on the high side and cashback is capped at $100 and $20 in each category. This means it’s only good for up to $200 worth of Grab rides.
Maybank Family & Friends Card: High minimum spend
This card gives you 8% rebates, capped at $80 a month, on not just Grab rides but also groceries, other modes of transportation (including taxis, bus and MRT rides and petrol) and selected merchants including McDonald’s, Popular Bookstore, Guardian and Watson’s.
The catch is that the minimum spending requirement of Maybank Family & Friends Card is a hefty $1,000. For those who are unable to meet the requirement, spending at least $500 in a month will enable you to earn a respectable 5% cash rebate (instead of 8%) in all the above categories.
OCBC 365: Unimpressive cashback rates in a very wide range of categories
OCBC 365 gives you 3% cashback on private hire car and bike rides and taxis locally and overseas, including Grab of course. While the 3% cashback rate is lacklustre, the card also gets you 6% on local and overseas dining and online food delivery, as well as 3% on local and overseas groceries, online groceries, recurring telco/electricity bills, online air/cruise ticket purchases and online hotel/tour bookings. Petrol discounts can also be enjoyed at Caltex and Esso, as well as 5% cashback at other petrol stations.
The minimum spending requirement of $800 is on the high side and the cashback cap of $80 is average.
OCBC FRANK Credit Card: Low minimum spending requirement but only offline transactions count towards it
OCBC FRANK offers 6% cashback on all online shopping transactions, which extends to Grab rides. You also get 5% cashback on entertainment from Fridays to Sundays, and 3% on weekdays.
The minimum spending requirement of $400 is quite low, but the catch is only offline transactions count towards it. So you the actual amount you spend on the card in order to qualify for the rebates is likely to be much higher. The monthly cashback cap of $60 is not great, either.
Best air mile credit cards for Grab
UOB PRVI Miles Credit Card: Decent earn rate that can be improved if you open a deposit account
UOB PRVI Miles Credit Card gets you 3 miles for every $1 spent on Grab, which is a decent earn rate. You also get 1.4 miles for every $1 spent locally and 2.4 miles for every $1 spent overseas.
If you want to really supercharge your earn rate, you can get bonus miles for every $1 spent by opening a KrisFlyer UOB Deposit Account with at least $1,000 a month.
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card: Great for transport, dining and travel
Hit the maximum earn rate of 3.2 miles for every $1 spent when you pay for Grab rides with the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card. Other ways to earn 3.2 miles per $1 include spending on dining, bus and train rides, petrol, taxis and hotel bookings on Agoda.
You can also get 2 air miles per $1 spent on air tickets, travel packages and foreign currency transactions.
American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card: Lacklustre mile accrual rates
AMEX KrisFlyer credit card is a vanilla frequent flyer credit card with so-so mile accrual rates. For every $1 spent on Grab transactions, you earn 3.1 miles, which is not bad. However, Grab mile accrual is capped at $200 worth of spending each month, which is not great.
Their foreign currency spending conversion rate is a measly 2 miles per $1 spent, while local spending gets you only 1.1 miles for every $1 spent.
The biggest advantage is that your miles are credited automatically to your KrisFlyer account with no conversion payment or lag time, and you get some perks such as 500 bonus miles on your first Grab ride.
What is your favourite credit card to use for Grab rides? Share your recommendations in the comments!
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Tags: Cashback
