Credit Cards Reward Points Redemption Rates Comparison

Reward Points Credit Cards Flexibility

While often seen as the poorer cousins of Cashback credit cards, Reward points credit cards are actually much more flexible than their well-publicised peers. Reward points can be used to redeem cash credit, air miles or vouchers from various merchants. Reward points credit cards also usually do not have any monthly minimum spend and a pretty high or no limit to the number of points earn.

Credit Cards Reward Points Redemption Options

The best way to utilise Reward points is to redeem them for air miles, followed by vouchers if you intend to shop at the specific merchants that link up with the Reward programme. The worst way to utilise Reward points is to redeem them for cash credit unless your credit card allows you to redeem cash credit at a better rate commonly seen among higher-end cards.

With redemption rates for air miles to be more or less the same (2.5 reward points for 1 air mile or other equivalent ratio depending on earn rate) and redemption rates for merchant vouchers not a fair comparison considering the large number of merchants around, one can safely say that redemption rates for cash credit is the best way to compare Reward points by the various card-issuers.

Singapore Credit Cards Reward Points Redemption Rates Comparison Table

Credit Card Issuer	Default Earn Rate / Redemption Rates / Expiry	Cashback Rate
Amex Credit Cards	- 2 Membership Reward point for every $1.60 spent - 2,100 Membership Reward points for $10 Credit - No expiry	0.60% Cashback
StanChart Credit Cards	- 1 Reward point for every $1 spent - 32,000 Reward points for $100 Credit - 36 months from earned month	0.313% Cashback
Maybank Credit Cards	- 1 TREATS point for every $1 spent - 17,000 TREATS points for $50 Credit - 1 year from earned quarter. Some cards with no expiry.	0.294% Cashback
HSBC Credit Cards	- 1 Reward point for every $1 spent - 20,000 Reward points for $50 Credit - 37 months from earned month	0.25% Cashback
Citibank Credit Cards	- 1 Citi$ for every $1 spent - 4,200 Citi$ for $10 Credit - 5 years from card account creation. Some cards with 1 year expiry or no expiry.	0.238% Cashback
UOB Credit Cards	- 1 UNI$ for every $5 spent - 2,000 UNI$ for $20 Credit - 2 years from earned quarter	0.20% Cashback
DBS Credit Cards	- 1 DBS Point for every $5 spent - 1,200 DBS Points for $10 Credit - 1 year from earned quarter	0.167% Cashback
OCBC Credit Cards	- 1 OCBC$ for every $1 spent - Not Redeemable for Credit - 2 years from earned month	Not Applicable

Low Redemption Rates for Cash Credit

The redemption rates for cash credit and hence cashback rates seemed pathetically low in the comparison table above which makes you wonder if there is any point in doing the comparison at all. However do note that the default earn rates in the table above are for the average credit cards (for eg. Classic cards) and it is perfectly possible to find higher end cards that earn 10 times or even 20 times the default earn rate and hence cashback rate.

Some notable cards include Citibank Reward Card which awards 10X Citi$ (2.38% cashback) for all shopping, American Express Platinum Card which awards 10X Membership Reward points (3% cashback) at Platinum EXTRA Partners, OCBC Titanium Reward Card which awards 10X OCBC$ (2.78% cashback, Titanium card exclusive) for shopping and mobile payments and the UOB Visa Signature Card which awards 10X UNI$ (5% cashback) for overseas and online transactions in foreign currencies, petrol and selected contactless and mobile payments. Do check out Reward points credit cards for other cards with superior Reward points earn rate.