SCB Simply Cash Credit Card Review—Is Simple Really Best?

standard-chartered-simply-cash-credit-card-review

Note: As of 5 December 2022, the Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Credit Card was renamed to the Simply Cash Credit Card along with a card redesign. 

The premise of the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is extremely simple—1.5% cashback on everything with no minimum spending and no rebate cap.

Okay, so 1.5% doesn’t sound impressive. But most cashback cards require that you fulfil their minimum spending requirements before they’ll grudgingly hand over the rebates. And even so, there’s a limit to how much you can receive. This cashback card promises you won’t have to suffer any of these two scenarios. Let’s find out if it’s worth signing up for.

Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card Review—Is it MoneySmart?
standard-chartered-simply-cash-credit-card-review

Overall: ★★★☆
Best for: Those looking for a fuss-free, anything-goes cashback credit card. With no minimum spend requirements, it’s perfect for students and first jobbers. With no rebate cap, it’s great if you have a big-ticket expense coming up.

Category Our rating The deets
Earn rates: Cashback 💰💰💰💰 1.5% cashback on practically everything. Exceptions include: Top ups and tax, parking, insurance, brokerage, and recurring bill payments.
Earn categories 💰💰💰💰
Annual fees and charges ★★★★☆ S$194.40 (first 2 years waiver available) / $0 for supplementary cards
Accessibility ★★★☆☆ Minimum income requirement: $30,000 (Singaporeans) / $60,000 (non-Singaporeans)
Extras/periphery rewards ★☆☆☆☆ – Shopping discount privileges at over 3,000 outlets in Asia with Standard Chartered’s The Good Life Programme
– If you pump Platinum 98 with Techron fuel: 16% upfront discount + 10% rebate
– If you pump Premium 95 with Techron, Regular 92 with Techron, or Caltex Diesel with Techron fuel: 14% upfront discount + 10% rebate
Sign-up bonus ★★★★★ Apply and spend $500 within 30 days from card approval date to get one of the following:
– S$330 cash via PayNow
– Nintendo Switch OLED (worth S$549)
– Apple Watch SE, 40mm GPS (worth S$382.50)
Valid until 30 Jun 2023. Check here for the latest sign-up promotion.

See our credit card ranking rubric to find out how we rank credit cards.

 

Contents

  1. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Summary
  2. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Fees
  3. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Minimum spend
  4. What happened to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card bonus cashback?
  5. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Exclusions
  6. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Benefits
  7. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Sign-up promo
  8. Should I get the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card?
  9. Alternatives to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card

1. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Summary 

As a fuss-free, anything-goes card, this is as simple as it gets. You get up to 1.5% cashback on all spending, with no cashback cap and no minimum spending requirements.

Standard Chartered logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
1.5% UNLIMITED CASHBACK
Cash Back on Eligible spend
Up to 1.5%
Min. Spend per month
S$0
Cash Back Cap per month
Unlimited
MoneySmart Exclusive:

Unlock Exclusive Rewards
Earn up to 5,000 SmartPoints or up to S$400* when you apply and meet the relevant spend criteria. T&Cs apply.
 
Why Choose SmartPoints? 
Enjoy the ultimate flexibility to redeem ANY gift at our Rewards Store.
Short on points? Simply pay the difference with cash, and grab your desired gift today!

Valid until 31 Mar 2024

While the 1.5% cashback rate the card offers isn’t really super high, the card’s strength lies in how uncomplicated it is. If you’re not one to meticulously keep track of your spending in various categories, the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card definitely has its appeal.

However, if you also have the Unlimited$aver account, you can earn an additional bonus cashback of up to $100 per month. The catch? You must have at least $100,000 in your savings account.

Back to top

 

2. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Fees

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is a beginner-friendly card with a minimum annual income requirement of $30,000. Besides that, the card’s annual fee is also waived for 2 years while most credit cards offer a one-year fee waiver.

Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card
Annual fee & waiver $194.40 including GST (waived for 2 years)
Supplementary annual fee
Interest free period
Annual interest rate 26.90%*
Late payment fee $100
Minimum monthly repayment 1% or $50, whichever is higher
Foreign currency transaction fee 3.25%
Cash advance transaction fee 6%
Overlimit fee $40
Minimum income $30,000 (Singaporean/PR) / $60,000 (non-Singaporean)
Card association Mastercard
Wireless payment MasterCard PayPass, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay

*The effective interest rate is 26.90% per annum (minimum). If full payment is not received by payment due date, finance charges will apply and are calculated on a daily basis at 0.074% from transaction date to payment due date.

Back to top

 

3. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Minimum spend

One of the best things about this card is that there’s no minimum spend that you need to meet to qualify for cashback.

If you decide to spend only $10 on your card one month, you still get the 1.5% cash rebates. It doesn’t matter what you use the card on, and you don’t have to worry if you’re using it in the right spending categories, as the 1.5% applies to practically everything (there are a few exceptions, like taxes and EZ Link top-ups).

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re going through major (read: very expensive) life changes such as getting married, buying a new home, going on a round-the-world trip to find yourself, this fuss-free credit card will still deliver the same 1.5% rebate on your sky-high expenses.

With most other cashback credit cards, you would bust the rebate cap unless you really dedicate yourself to gaming the system and splitting your expenses. And frankly, who even has time for that!?

Back to top

 

4. What happened to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card bonus cashback?

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card offers a standard 1.5% cashback on all spend.

There used to be a way to boost the cashback: Having an Unlimited$aver account with at least $100,000 parked in it. This would then earn you an additional 1.5% in cashback (up to $100 bonus cashback) monthly. Sadly, Standard Chartered no longer offers this account and your Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is stuck at the standard 1.5% cashback rate.

Psst, if you do have $100,000 to put into a savings account anyway, we’d suggest putting the lump sum into one of these high-interest savings accounts to earn greater interest.

Back to top

 

5. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Exclusions

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is quite honestly as fuss-free as credit cards get. However, here are a few key exclusions that will not earn you any cashback:

  • EZ-Link top ups
  • Government services
  • Parking payments
  • Tax payments
  • Payments to educational institutions
  • Insurance payments
  • Betting
  • Payments to brokerages
  • Cleaning, maintenance services
  • Recurring bill payments

It hardly discriminates but if you’re thinking you could earn a steady stream of cashback with recurring bill payments that you charge to your Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card, we’re sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not going to happen.

Also take note that you won’t earn cashback for EZ-Link top ups or any stored value card purchases.

Back to top

 

6. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Benefits

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is a great fuss-free cashback card, but its benefits mostly end there. The only extra perks it comes with are some shopping and petrol discounts:

  • Shopping discount privileges at over 3,000 outlets in Asia with Standard Chartered’s The Good Life Programme, which is open to all SCB credit and debit cardholders. The deals include getting 30% off regular-priced items at Puma, 20% off regular-priced items at Club21, and up to 7% off accommodation worldwide with Agoda.
  • If you pump Platinum 98 with Techron fuel, you get 16% instant upfront discount + 5% Standard Chartered rebate + 5% rebate on nett amount charged to your Simply Cash Credit Card.
  • If you pump Premium 95 with Techron, Regular 92 with Techron, or Caltex Diesel with Techron fuel, you get 14% instant upfront discount + 5% Standard Chartered Rebate + 5% rebate on nett amount charged to your Simply Cash Credit Card.

Back to top

 

7. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card—Sign-up promo

Thinking of adding the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card to your wallet? Take advantage of the ongoing sign-up promo to get S$330 cash via PayNow, a Nintendo Switch OLED (worth S$549), or an Apple Watch SE, 40mm GPS (worth S$382.50). Here’s how to qualify:

  • You must be new to Standard Chartered credit cards (or have cancelled yours more than a year ago)
  • Activate your physical card and spend S$500 within 30 days of card approval
  • Promotion ends 3o Jun 2023

On top of the promo above, there’s also an ongoing additional S$20 cash bonus promo if you place your credit card on file and make spend a minimum of $20 with any of the following merchants:

  • Shopee
  • Lazada
  • Taobao
  • Ezbuy
  • Qoo10
  • Carousell
  • Netflix

Spend $20, get $20 back. Essentially, Standard Chartered is giving you the equivalent of a $20 voucher to these merchants.

Back to top

 

8. Should I get the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card?

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is great for beginners who are new to the world of cashback credit cards. You don’t have to think too much about the spending categories and their respective cashback caps or even about hitting a minimum spend requirement.

The no minimum spend requirement is especially great for students and first jobbers who might not be raking up enough monthly expenses to meet the usual requirement ($600 and above) by cashback credit cards to earn bonus rebates. Plus, without the limitations of spending categories, you can earn uncapped cashback on everything from your McDelivery orders to Grab payments.

Speaking of which, if you have a big expense coming up (perhaps, a wedding banquet), you can earn unlimited cashback with the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card. There’s no need to worry about being limited by cashback caps!

Back to top

 

9. Alternatives to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card

Standard Chartered’s offering isn’t the only unlimited cashback credit card on the market. American Express, Maybank and even ICBC have entered the fray. But we’ll look at the most mainstream options here:

UOB Absolute Cashback Card – This card has the highest cashback in the market at 1.7%, with lesser exclusions (you can use this card to pay your insurance premiums!) than the Standard Chartered card. The main downside is that it’s an Amex card, so you’ll be hard-pressed to find smaller merchants to accept it.

UOB logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
UP TO S$15,000 WORTH OF REWARDS!
Cash Back on Eligible Spend
1.7%
Min. Spend per month
S$0
Cash Back Cap
Unlimited
MoneySmart Exclusive:

[UP TO S$15,000 WORTH OF REWARDS!]
 
Receive up to S$350 Cash Credit from UOB when you are the first 200 new-to-UOB customers who successfully apply for an eligible UOB Credit Card and spend a min. of S$1,000 per month, for 2 consecutive months from the card approval date. T&Cs apply.
 
PLUS 2 other exclusive offers if you sign-up through MoneySmart. T&Cs apply.
 

  • Get an extra S$50 Cash Bonus on top of UOB’s online promotion offer, when you are one of the first 300 customers to submit the MoneySmart claim form
  • Stand a chance to also win a Rolex Explorer 124270 or a Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro 512GB or a Sony PlayStation®5 (SLIM) Digital Edition when you participate in the MoneySmart x UOB March Giveaway
Valid until 31 Mar 2024

Citi Cashback+ Mastercard – This card plays second fiddle to the UOB Absolute Cashback card, offering 1.6% cashback. For 0.1% less cashback, you get the benefit of the Mastercard association – a very important thing to note with the existence of the Instarem Amaze Card. This lets you stack an additional 1% cashback.

Sponsored
Citibank logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
LUCKY DRAW | GET UP TO S$18,000 WORTH OF PRIZES
Cash Back on Eligible Spend
1.6%
Min. Spend per month
S$0
Cash Back Cap per month
Unlimited
MoneySmart Exclusive:

[MoneySmart Giveaway]
Stand a chance to get a Rolex Submariner 124060 (worth S$15,521) or an Apple iPhone 15 Pro, 128GB (worth S$1,664.25) or a Sony PlayStation®5 (SLIM) Digital Edition (worth S$669) when you apply through MoneySmart!
 
Unlock Exclusive Rewards
You can also earn 5,040 SmartPoints or S$300 cash when you apply and meet the minimum spend within 30 days from card approval date. T&Cs apply.
 
Why Choose SmartPoints?
Enjoy the ultimate flexibility to redeem ANY gift at our Rewards Store.
Short on points? Simply pay the difference with cash, and grab your desired gift today!

Valid until 31 Mar 2024

American Express True Cashback Card – Extremely similar to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card as both offer 1.5% cashback. Amex True Cashback has the advantage of also offering 3% cashback during the first 6 months of card membership for your first $5,000 worth of spending.

American Express logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
Unlimited Cashback
Welcome Bonus (on all eligible purchases, up to S$5,000 spend in the first 6 months)
3.0% Cashback
on all eligible purchases
1.5% Cashback
Cash Back Cap
Unlimited
MoneySmart Exclusive:

[FLASH DEAL]
Get an upsized S$200 Cash via PayNow when you apply and spend a min. of S$500 in Qualifying Spends within the first month of card approval! T&Cs apply.

Valid until 19 Mar 2024

UOB One Card – This card gives more generous rebates on everything, but the main problem is that the minimum spending requirements are high, onerous (you need to hit the target every month in a quarter to qualify for rebates for that quarter) and confusing. If you’re looking for simplicity, avoid this card, unless you are consistently spending exactly $2,000 every month on a specific credit card.

UOB logo
MoneySmart Exclusive
UP TO S$15,000 WORTH OF REWARDS!
Cashback on McDonald's, DFI Retail Group, Grab, Shopee, SP and more
Up to 10%
Cashback Cap per quarter
S$500
Min. Spend per month
S$500
MoneySmart Exclusive:

[UP TO S$15,000 WORTH OF REWARDS!]
 
Get up to 15% Cashback and S$350 Cash Credit from UOB when you successfully apply for an eligible UOB Credit Card and spend a min. of S$1,000 per month, for 2 consecutive months from the card approval date. T&Cs apply.
 
PLUS 2 other exclusive offers if you sign-up through MoneySmart. T&Cs apply.
 

  • Get an extra S$50 Cash Bonus on top of UOB’s online promotion offer, when you are one of the first 300 customers to submit the MoneySmart claim form
  • Stand a chance to also win a Rolex Explorer 124270 or a Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro 512GB or a Sony PlayStation®5 (SLIM) Digital Edition when you participate in the MoneySmart x UOB March Giveaway.
Valid until 31 Mar 2024

Maybank Platinum Visa Card – Another credit card that offers a flat cash rebate for consistent spending, but with lower spending tiers than the UOB One Card. Get up to 3.33% cashback on all local spending if you spend $300 or $1,000 each month in a quarter. If you don’t mind a wee bit of responsibility and a reasonable minimum spending requirement, consider this card.

Maybank logo
Cashback on Local & Foreign Spend
Up to 3.33%
Min. Spend per month
S$300
Cashback Cap per quarter when you spend S$300 per month
S$30

Conclusion? For uncomplicated unlimited cashback, the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card and Amex True are extremely close, and the winner might just be whichever is offering a better credit card sign-up promotion.

Back to top

 

P.S. Here’s our MoneySmart credit card ranking rubric

In case you’re wondering, here’s how we decide on our credit card rankings.

Is that credit card MoneySmart?
Our MoneySmart credit card ranking rubric
Category Our rating
Overall The average rating for the credit card on the whole, calculated from the ratings for the individual categories below. Plus, we’ll give you a one-liner on who we think the credit card is best suited for. 
Earn rates: Air miles / Cashback / Rewards points Air miles ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️ / Cashback 💰💰💰💰💰/ Rewards points 🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁. This category looks at the depth rather than breadth of earn rates.
– 5 stars means this card’s got the highest earn rates within that credit card type.
– 3-4 stars mean it’s average
– 1-2 stars reflect earn rates that are below average.
Earn categories This category looks at the breadth rather than depth of your earnings.
– 5 stars: Earn with ANY spend.
– 3-4 stars: Earn on a large number of categories (e.g. all dining, transport and retail, but not telco bills) OR earn on 1 very broad category (e.g. all contactless/mobile payments).
– 1-2 stars: Earn a decent rate only on selected categories, such as fast food only.
Annual fees and charges – 5 stars: $0
– 4 stars: $1-200
– 3 stars: $201-500
– 2 stars: $501-$999
– 1 star: $1,000 and up
We dock a star if fee waiver is NOT allowed.
Accessibility Minimum income requirements:

  • 5 stars: Less than $30,000 a year
  • 4 stars: Around $30,000 a year for Singaporeans and $40,000-$45,o00 for non-Singaporeans
  • 3 stars: $30,000-$60,000 a year for Singaporeans, $40,000-$70,000 for non-Singaporeans
  • 2 stars: $60,000-$120,000 a year for Singaporeans, $70,000-$120,000 for non-Singaporeans
  • 1 star: $120,000 and up for either, or both

Exclusivity: We dock 1-2 stars if there is/are another category/categories that make the card exclusive and very specific to a certain clientele.

Extras/periphery rewards These include:
– Travel benefits, such as airport lounge access
– Lifestyle benefits, such as spa privileges
– Dining benefits, such as complimentary AMEX Love Dining or Entertainer with HSBC subscriptions
We count the number of benefits and award between 0.5 to 2 stars for each, depending on how good the perk is.
Sign-up bonus 5 stars: The gift(s), cash, or miles are the highest we see out there compared to other credit cards of the same type (miles, cashback, etc). Also easy to attain these welcome bonuses.
3-4 stars: Average but not disappointing sign-up bonus compared to other credit cards. You aren’t losing out.
1-2 stars: You are probably losing out in terms of the welcome bonus you’re getting; there are other similar credit cards with sign-up bonuses that are better or easier to attain.

Check out all our MoneySmart credit card reviews: The Ultimate List of Credit Card Reviews in Singapore.

Back to top

 

Found this article useful? Share it with friends/family looking for a fuss-free cashback credit card!