Singapore’s credit card scene is always evolving. Sometimes, new contenders join the playing field, like the HSBC Live+ Card and the Trust Cashback Credit Card released earlier this year. Other times, old favourites get quietly culled—remember Asia’s first numberless physical card, the GrabPay Card?
And don’t even get me started on nerfs. This year, we saw UOB nerf rewards for all Amaze transactions and make their UOB Absolute Cashback Card, well, no longer absolute. HSBC got busy nerfing their HSBC Revolution Card, removing the 10X bonus points on contactless payments and travel spend. Meanwhile, Citi nerfed the Citi Cash Back Card by shrinking cashback rates for grocery spending from 8% to 6%—or did they buff the card, seeing as they also added a new 8% cashback category for private commute?
It’s a lot to make sense of, much less keep up with. Today, we’re here to help with both tasks. Here’s a low-down of the new and the nerfed in Singapore’s credit card scene.
Standard Chartered introduces minimum spend criteria, annual fee, and higher cashback on their Smart Credit Card
As of 6 Dec 2024, the Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card is no longer offering 6% cashback at selected merchants with $0 minimum spend. Instead, it’s introducing not 1, but 3 tiers of minimum spending. Depending on which tier you hit, you’ll earn a different bonus cashback rate.
| Card spend in statement month | Bonus categories | Other eligible spend |
| Less than $800 | 4% (from 6 Dec 2024 – 31 Mar 2025) 0.5% (after 31 Mar 2025) |
0.5% |
| $800 or more | 8% | 0.5% |
| $1,500 or more | 10% | 1% |
It’s not all doom and gloom. You’ll notice that Standard Chartered also increased the bonus cashback you can earn on their Smart Card from 6% to 8% or 10%. The catch is that the higher tiers now come with minimum monthly spends, while previously the 6% was free for all.
Speaking of free for all, that’s exactly what the Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card…isn’t. Not from 6 Dec 2025 anyway, from which the annual membership fee of $91 (excluding GST) will kick in. Technically it starts from 6 Dec 2024, but Standard Chartered is waiving the fee for the first year.
Another positive change is that Standard Chartered has also added to their list of merchants at which you can earn bonus cashback:
| Bonus categories | Participating merchants |
| Dining | McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Ya Kun Kaya Toast, Subway and Toast Box NEW: Starbucks, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza |
| Streaming | Netflix, Spotify, YouTube and Disney+ NEW: Amazon Prime, Viu, iQiyi and HBO GO |
| Transport | Bus and MRT commute via SimplyGo NEW: Electric Vehicle Charging |
Read more about the Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card changes that start from 6 Dec 2024. To make sense of the changes and how they affect you, read our review of the updated Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card.
Standard Chartered launches new luxury card—Beyond Credit Card
Standard Chartered has dropped a new luxury card—the Beyond Credit Card—and it’s definitely not your average piece of plastic. With a minimum income requirement of $200,000 a year (that’s $16,667 a month!) and an annual fee of $1,635 that you can’t waive, this card is clearly aimed at high flyers.
The perks? As you can expect, they’re geared towards a globe-trotting, high-SES clientele: 8 miles per dollar on foreign dining, unlimited Priority Pass lounge visits, and even complimentary business class upgrades.
Fancy a Michelin-starred meal for your birthday? You’ll get it on the house, plus discounts for your guests. There are also complimentary airport limo transfers and elite hotel memberships at brands like Accor, Wyndham, and GHA Discovery.
Finally, what’s a luxury credit card without golf privileges? Golfers can enjoy 4 complimentary green fees at premium clubs in Southeast Asia.
The card does come with a 100,000 miles welcome bonus if you pay the hefty annual fee and spend $20,000 in 90 days. That is no mean feat, but what’s even harder to unlock is the 1,000,000 miles promo Standard Chartered’s been pushing. This is only for those who can park $1.5 million or more with the bank, among other criteria.
UOB One Card’s 20% cashback is coming to an end…for now?
The UOB One Card is one of Singapore’s most popular cards for its high cashback rates at merchants like McDonald’s, the DFI Retail Group (e.g. Cold Storage, Giant), Grab, Shopee, and more. These are staples to the everyday Singaporean.
How high is high? It was a promotional rate of up to 15% cashback from Jan to Mar 2024, then back to the normal rate of up to 10% cashback after, before UOB announced their 20% cashback promotion for new cardholders from Sep to Dec 2024.
Now that the end of December is closing in on us, we’ll be bidding the 20% cashback rate goodbye…for now? Will UOB introduce a new promotional rate in the months to come? If their past behaviour is a good predictor of their future plans, there’s a good chance we’ll see the UOB One Card with up to 15% or 20% cashback in 2025. But for now, unless UOB announces an extension or new promotional rate before 2024 draws to a close, you’re looking at up to 10% cashback only.
More importantly when it comes to the UOB One Card, I want to remind you that the “up to XX% cashback” they advertise only applies to selected merchants if you spend $2,000 a month for every month in a quarter. If you only hit the $500/month or $1,000/month tiers, you’re looking at 8.33% cashback instead of 10% (normal rates), or 13.33% instead of 20% (promotional rates). It’s pretty confusing—read more about it in our UOB One Card Review.
HSBC Live+ Card’s 8% cashback promotion ends 31 Dec 2024
The UOB One Card isn’t the only card that will start 2025 looking less attractive. Unless HSBC decides to extend their cashback promotion, the HSBC Live+ Card’s 8% cashback on dining, shopping and entertainment will drop to 5% come 1 Jan 2025.
This nerf isn’t unforeseen. HSBC has stated since the card launch in Jun 2024 that the 8% is only until 31 Dec 2024.
Could the HSBC Live+ Card get another limited-time cashback boost, taking a page out of the UOB One Card’s book? No one knows for sure. But one of my colleagues here once said, if you think about it, no cashback/miles/rewards points earn rates are guaranteed. With the HSBC Live+Card, we could see this coming from 6 months ago. But really, any bank could nerf or buff any of their cards anytime—*cough cough* Standard Chartered’s Smart Credit Card *cough*.
Check back as we continue to bring you the last nerfs, buffs, and everything in between in Singapore’s credit card scene.
Also don’t miss out our ultimate list of credit card reviews for our take on credit cards in Singapore.
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About the author
Vanessa Nah pens articles on the ins and outs of buying your first home, the T&Cs of credit cards, and the ups and downs of alternative investments. A researcher at heart, she gets a kick out of breaking down complex finance concepts for the everyday Singaporean. When Vanessa’s not debunking finance myths, you’ll find her attending dance classes, fingerpicking a guitar, or (most impawtently) fulfilling her life mission to make her one-eyed cat the most spoiled and loved kitty in the world.