Your parents may have worked hard to give you a good life, but here’s another way they can continue to make your life good! If your parents are above 60 in Singapore, they’re officially Senior Citizens, which means they are now able to to save even more when grocery shopping.
Each supermarket chain sought to capture a piece of the Senior Citizen pie by offering them weekly discounts on their purchases. By combining existing credit card rebates with these Senior Citizen discounts, you’re looking at savings of up to 10% of your grocery bill, just by getting your loving parents to help you with your grocery shopping on the right days.
1. NTUC FairPrice
The longest-lasting Singapore supermarket begins the week with 3% off every Monday for Pioneer Generation Card holders, 2% off every Tuesday for Senior Citizen Concession Card holders.
At NTUC Fairprice, the Citibank SMRT card is the card to beat, with up to 5% rebates (in the form of SMRT$) on your grocery shopping purchases at all FairPrice outlets, including FairPrice Xtra and FairPrice Finest.
The exact cashback varies based on spending. If you spend more than $600 a month, you get 5% on cashback on purchases of $50+. For purchases below that, you get 3% cashback.
If you spend less than $600 a month, the cashback is 0.3% less (so 4.7% on purchases of $50+, 2.7% on purchases under $50).
If you have trouble meeting the minimum spend requirement on grocery shopping alone, consider buying FairPrice vouchers to hit the $600 threshold.
In a distant second is the OCBC Plus! Visa Credit Card, which gives you 5% rebates but requires you to accumulate $500 worth of transactions outside FairPrice each month to be eligible. If you are an NTUC member, however, getting the NTUC Plus! Visa Credit Card gives you up to 9% rebates, provided you spend $400 worth of transactions outside FairPrice each month.
Honourable mentions include:
Maybank Family and Friends Card, which gives 5% cash rebate if you spend a minimum of $500 on the card each month, with a maximum card rebate of $600 annually.
OCBC 365 Credit Card, which gives 3% cashback each month if total card spend is at least $600 a month, capped at a maximum rebate of $80 each month.
2. Giant
If you’re above 60, you may be tempted to remain “loyal” to NTUC FairPrice, which has been around for almost as long as you can remember. But really, there’s no benefit to loyalty when it comes to grocery shopping.
Take Giant, for example. This Malaysian hypermarket chain offers 3% off every Tuesday for those 60 and above, compared to FairPrice’s 2% on the same day. So shop at Giant on Tuesdays. All you need to do is present your pink or blue IC for age-verification.
Which are the best credit cards to use for grocery shopping at Giant?
Again, coming up tops for Giant is the Citibank SMRT Card. Do take note of the restrictions as mentioned above.
In a close second is the Standard Chartered Singpost Platinum Visa Card, which gives 6% rebates as long as you charge a minimum amount of $500 to the card each month. The maximum rebate, however is only $50 a month.
If you don’t have either of these cards, consider:
OCBC 365 Credit Card, which gives 3% cashback each month if total card spend is at least $600 a month, capped at a maximum rebate of $80 each month.
ANZ Switch Platinum Card or the ANZ Platinum Card, both of which earn 6X Rewards Points when you spend on groceries.
3. Sheng Siong
This relatively new local kia on the block has quickly become one of my family’s personal favourite places to shop. They give 2% off every Wednesday for those 60 and above, as long as you present pink or blue IC for age-verification.
The clear winner for Sheng Siong is the POSB Everyday Card, which gives 5% rebates on every purchase, capped at $50 a month. Unlike other cards with a lot of fine print, the POSB Everyday Card has no minimum spending limit and their rebates don’t expire.
The Sheng Siong Diners’ Club card also matches the Everyday Card in terms of rebates, but loses out because their rebates last only for 30 days.
Once again, the Citibank SMRT card, with the potential of hitting up to 7% in rebates is a contender, as long as you take note of the restrictions mentioned above.
But grocery shopping shouldn’t be so complicated…
Now, a thing to note about the cards mentioned above. Just because they’re the best does not mean they’ll fit your needs. If your parents don’t want the hassle of remembering which credit card to use when grocery shopping, consider the Citibank Dividend card, which gives up to 5% at any supermarket with no minimum spending requirement. Or use our credit card comparison tool to find one that suits your lifestyle and theirs!
Which credit card do your parents use for grocery shopping? Which credit card works best for you? Let us know below!