Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card – MoneySmart Review 2022

Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card – MoneySmart Review 2022

The Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card’s main draw is that it offers up to 10X rewards points… for overseas retail, overseas dining and travel spending. Gee, thanks! What an unwelcome reminder of how Covid has changed our lives.

But there are some tiny reasons you might still want to sign up for the card, especially if you eat out a lot. Let’s see whether this card is still useful in 2021.

Standard Chartered logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
Earn up to 10X Rewards Points
on Foreign Currency Spend
S$1= 10X Points
on Local Dining Spend
S$1= 5X Points
on All Other Spend
S$1= 1X Point
MoneySmart Exclusive:

Get S$230 Cash via PayNow or 2,990 SmartPoints when meet the spend criteria. T&Cs apply
 
Additionally, enrol in our Rollin' Rewards campaign for FREE and stand a chance to win 50,000 SmartPoints. That’s enough to redeem ANY item from our Rewards Store, such as a Sony BRAVIA 3 85-Inch 4K Ultra HD Google TV (worth S$5,799) + an Apple iPhone 16 Plus 128GB (worth S$1,399).
 
PLUS stand a chance to win a Porsche Taycan Base (model year 2025) in SC Million Reasons to be Happier! T&Cs apply.

Valid until 31 Dec 2024

Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card terms & conditions

Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card

Annual fee & waiver

$192.60, waived for first two years

Supplementary annual fee

Interest free period

Annual interest rate

26.90%

Late payment fee

$80

Minimum monthly repayment

1% or $50, whichever is higher

Foreign currency transaction fee

3.5%

Cash advance transaction fee

6%

Overlimit fee

$40

Minimum income

$30,000

Card association

Visa

Wireless payment

Visa Contactless, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay

How the Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card works

As its name suggests, the Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card is, surprise surprise, a rewards card. For newbies, that means it gives you rewards points as you spend. These points can then be exchanged for vouchers, gifts or once-popular air miles.

The Stanchart Rewards+ Card gives you a good maximum earn rate of 10X rewards points. The catch is that this earn rate is only applicable for foreign currency spending on overseas retail, dining and travel. A fat load of good that’s going to do at this point in the pandemic.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The card also offers a respectable 5X rewards points on local dining. Finally, something that Singaporeans can actually use!

You can get the 5X dining rewards at all eateries from McDonald’s to Michelin-starred restaurants. The only exception is hotels, so don’t go and book a spot at a hotel high tea buffet just yet.

There’s a cap of 20,000 bonus rewards points per year. That means that when you spend on local dining, you can earn 5X rewards points on a maximum of $5,000 worth of spending per year.

When travel resumes, you’ll be able to earn 10X rewards points on a maximum of $2,222 per year, which isn’t much at all.

You get rewards points for every $1 spent. So, if you spend $10 at McDonald’s, you get 50 rewards points. If you spend $1,000 on a lavish dinner at Waku Ghin, you get 5,000 rewards points.

Points are valid for 3 years, which is a relatively long lifeespan and means you don’t have to rush to accumulate and spend your points.

Standard Chartered rewards catalogue

Rewards points are only as good as the rewards you can exchange them for. So how does Standard Chartered’s rewards catalogue measure up? To be honest, it’s quite standard.

That means it’s got the usual shopping, dining and lifestyle vouchers at run-of-the-mill places like Watsons, CapitaLand malls, Crystal Jade and Sushi Tei. Boring but practical. You won’t get excited about these vouchers, but you’ll definitely find opportunities to use them.

For those suffering from holiday withdrawal symptoms, they’ve also got 1-night staycations at a few hotels, including Raffles Hotel and W Hotel Sentosa Cove.

Of course, you can also swap your rewards points for air miles, but we don’t think those are particularly useful right now unless you’re going to Germany.

Who is the Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card for?

This card is not for big spenders because of the low annual cap on rewards points. But for low spenders, it’s actually not too bad.

One advantage is that unlike most cashback cards, there’s no minimum spending requirement. The points are valid for up to 3 years, so low spenders have quite a bit of time to accumulate them.

Therefore, the card is useful for those who want to be rewarded for dining out but may not spend enough to meet the minimum spending requirements on cashback cards.

The card would be ideal for someone who spends fairly modestly and whose monthly expenditure on eating out is, say, about $200 a month. At $200 a month, this person might have difficulty fulfilling the minimum spending requirements on most dining cashback cards (usually requiring you to spend $600 and above).

The Standard Chartered Rewards+ Card, on the other hand, would yield 5X rewards points, ie. 1,000 points per month, or 12,000 points a year. It would thus take this person about a year to amass enough points to exchange for a $50 TANGS or Isetan voucher costing 12,500 points.

Other rewards credit cards to consider

Rewards cards tend to be targeted at shopping rather than dining out. So, you can consider picking up another card or two for your shopping in addition to using the Stanchart Rewards+ Card for your dining needs.

Citi Rewards Card – 10X rewards (4 miles) points on online and shopping purchases, ride hailing and online food delivery. Unlike Stanchart Rewards+, this card doesn’t reward you for dining out, so it can be used together with the former.

Citibank logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
UPSIZED CASH | FASTER FULFILMENT
on Online & Shopping Purchases
S$1= 10X Points
for all other purchases
S$1= 1X Point
Rewards Conversion
10X Points = 4 Miles
MoneySmart Exclusive:

Get UPSIZED S$370 Cash or 5,040 SmartPoints  in as fast as 5 weeks when you spend S$500 within 30 days. T&Cs apply.
 
Additionally, enrol in our Rollin' Rewards campaign for FREE and stand a chance to win 50,000 SmartPoints. That’s enough to redeem ANY item from our Rewards Store, such as a Sony BRAVIA 3 85-Inch 4K Ultra HD Google TV (worth S$5,799) + an Apple iPhone 16 Plus 128GB (worth S$1,399).

Valid until 20 Dec 2024

DBS Woman’s Card – 5X rewards points on online shopping. Again, doesn’t overlap with Stanchart Rewards+, so you can use both to maximise your rewards.

DBS logo
Online Shopping
on Online Purchases
S$5 = 5 DBS Points (2 Miles per S$1)
on Other Purchases
S$5 = 1 DBS Point (0.4 Miles per S$1)
e-Commerce Protection for Online Purchases
Complimentary

HSBC Revolution Card – 10X rewards points (4 miles and 2.5% cashback) on online and contactless spending. Another card that you can use concurrently with Stanchart Rewards+.

HSBC logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
Earn up to 4 miles per S$1 | Instant Activation*
on Online Spend on Travel, Shopping & Dining
S$1 = 10X Points
on All Other Spend
S$1 = 1X Point
for every 10 Points
Earn 4 Miles
MoneySmart Exclusive:

Get S$199 Cash via PayNow or 3,500 SmartPoints  when you apply, spend a min. of S$500 from Card Account Opening Date to end of the following calendar month! Pay Annual Fee for HSBC TravelOne Card. T&Cs apply.
 
Additionally, enrol in our Rollin' Rewards campaign for FREE and stand a chance to win 50,000 SmartPoints. That’s enough to redeem ANY item from our Rewards Store, such as a Sony BRAVIA 3 85-Inch 4K Ultra HD Google TV (worth S$5,799) + an Apple iPhone 16 Plus 128GB (worth S$1,399).

Valid until 31 Dec 2024

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