What are the Best Credit Cards for Cash Back

Last updated on 2024-11-01

1. What Does it Mean to Get Cash Back on a Credit Card?

2. Is it Worth Getting a Cash Back Credit Card?

3. Types of Cashback Credit Cards

4. How Can I Get the Most Cash Back?

5. What Credit Cards Gives the Most Cash Back?

6. What Credit Cards Gives you 5% Cash Back or More?

7. Which is the Best Cash Back Credit Card in Singapore?

 

What Does it Mean to Get Cash Back on a Credit Card?

Cash back or cash rebate refers to the credit that is credited back into your credit card after you have made your purchases with your credit card. It is typically a small percentage of the overall purchase and could be subject to various terms and conditions. The cash back could be credited when you receive your monthly credit card bills or in some cases at the end of a quarter. Credit Cards offering cash back typically do not offer bank reward points.

 

Is it Worth Getting a Cash Back Credit Card?

The answer is absolutely. Cash back received from spending on cash back credit cards is equivalent to a discount given by the bank and if you use the right cards on the right spending, it is possible to save up to 5% of your monthly expenses which will really add up.  Some proponents of Mileage Credit Cards might argue that air miles are better in the never ending debate of Air Miles vs Cash Back Credit Cards but essentially both type of credit cards are about receiving some sort of rebate or reward for your expenses.

 

Types of Cashback Credit Cards

Credit cards with cashbacks are typically divided into category-based, tiered-based or no-frills. Category-based credit cards usually award high cashback only for specific categories such as Shopping, Dining, Groceries, Overseas Spending, etc and users can read more about them under various Lobang Reviews. These credit cards might target more than one category and cashback is usually only awarded if cardholders spend a minimum amount in a month. Comparatively, tiered-based credit cards are more straightforward as cardholders are awarded higher cashback for higher spending while no-frills credit cards are credit cards that offer a fixed cashback for all spending. Our table below will cover category-based credit cards, tiered-based credit cards and no-frills credit cards with the intention of covering the best cashback credit cards for everyday spend.

 

How Can I Get the Most Cash Back?

The best strategy to getting the most cash back is to designate a category-based credit card for your largest spending categories (such as a dining credit card for dining expenses) and use either a tiered-based or no-frills credit cards for all other purchases. Tiered-based credit cards are more suitable for larger spenders while no-frills credit cards are more suitable otherwise. One should also take note of the minimum spend and cash back cap for each credit card so as to allocate the expenses properly. The process could be tideous and tiresome but nobody said that saving money is easy (or in this case, spending to save money).

 

What Credit Cards Gives the Most Cash Back?

Credit Card Issuer and Type of Card	Minimum Requirements / Conditions	Rate for Cash Rebate
UOB One Card	Minimum monthly spend of $2,000 or $1,000 or $500 for all 3 months in a quarter	Earn up to 10% cash rebate on Groceries, Shopee and Grab and up to 3.33% cash rebate on all other transactions
BOC Family Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month Cashback capped at $25 per category group per month	Earn 10% cashback on dining and movies, 5% on selected merchants and ABT based public transport, 3% on supermarkets, online spend and up to 0.3% on all other spend
UOB EVOL Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month	Earn 10% rebates on online and mobile contactless spend and in-store overseas FX spend
CIMB Visa Signature Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month Cashback capped at $20 per category group per month	Earn 10% cashback on supermarkets, online shopping, beauty & wellness, pets shop and vet service and cruise lines expense and up to 0.2% on all other spend
Citi Cash Back+ Card	Maximum spend of $4,000 for first 2 months	Earn 8% cashback on all spend for 1st 2 months, 1.6% cashback after first 2 months.
OCBC FRANK Credit Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month.	Earn 8% rebates on online, in-store mobile contactless and overseas foreign currency spend. Earn an additional 2% rebate for Eco Merchants
Citi Cash Back Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month Cashback capped at $80 per month	Earn 8% cashback on petrol and groceries, 6% cashback on dining and 0.25% on all other spend
Maybank Family & Friends Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month	Earn 8% cash rebate on 5 chosen categories from 8 options including transport (include petrol), dining, groceries, telco and online tv streaming bills, pharmacies, pets, entertainment and online fashion
HSBC Live+ Credit Card	Minimum monthly spend of $600 for all 3 months in a quarter	Earn 8% cash rebates on shopping, entertainment and dining and 5% cash rebates on petrol
DBS Live Fresh Card	Minimum monthly spend of $800 in a month	Earn 6% cashback on shopping and transport and 0.3% on all other spend
Stan Chart Smart Card	No minimum spend	Earn up to 6% cashback on selected dining, recurring bills and 0.5% on all other spend
OCBC 365 Credit Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month	Earn up to 5% cashback on dining, 3% on groceries, transport, recurring bills and 0.3% on all other spend
Citibank SMRT Card	Minimum spend of $500 in a month	Earn up to 5% SMRT$ rebate at supermarkets, online shopping and transport
POSB Everyday Card	Minimum monthly spend of $800 for selected categories	Earn 5% for groceries, 5% for selected online merchants, 3% on recurring bills and 0.3% on all other spend
HSBC Premier MasterCard	Minimum monthly spend of $600 in a month	Earn 5% cash rebates on petrol, groceries, transport and dining
Maybank Platinum Visa Card	Minimum spend of $300 / $1,000 / $2,000 in a month for all 3 months in a quarter	Earn 3.33% cash rebate on all spend
ICBC Unionpay Dual Currency Card	Minimum spend of $500 a month for all 3 months in a quarter. Cashback only applicable on spending in excess of $500 each month	Earn up to 2% / 5% / 8% cashback for 1st / 2nd / 3rd month in a quarter on all spend in excess of $500 for each month. Highest effective cashback rate is 3.2%
SAFRA DBS Credit Card	Minimum spend of $500 in a month	Earn 3% rebates on PayPass and online spend
American Express True Cashback Card	Maximum spend of $5,000 for first 6 months	Earn 3% cashback on any purchase, 1.5% cashback after first 6 months. Earn additional 1% cashback for overseas spend
Maybank Manchester United Visa Card	Additional 2% cash rebate only on Manchester United Match days and if they win their match	Earn 3% / 1% cash rebate on all spend

 

What Credit Cards Gives you 5% Cash Back or More?

Maybank Family & Friends Card rewards cardholders with up to 8% cash rebate on 5 categories from 8 options which include groceries, dining, transport (including petrol), telco and online tv streaming bills, entertainment, pharmacies, online fashion and pets. It oalso offers 8% cash back Malaysia Ringgit and Indonesia Rupiah spend as a bonus cateogory. It offers one of the highest rebate for these categories and its generous policy of allowing 5 of the selected categories to receive the cashback ensures that one can easily meet the $800 minimum spend.

Similarly, the Citi Cash Back Card offers 8% cash back on groceries and petrol and 6% cash back on dining. The minimum spend to receive cashback is also $800. It offers one of the highest cashback for fuel at Shell and Esso (See Best Credit Cards for Petrol) which is a major expense among motorists.

UOB One Card awards potential cashback of 3.33% for everyday purchases. However, the 3.33% cashback comes with plenty of conditions such as five minimum purchases per statement period and a minimum monthly spend of $500 or $2,000 for all three months in a quarter. Cardholders also earn an additional 6.67% cashback for Shopee, Grab and Dairy Farm Group merchants when they qualify for your quarterly cashback. Additional perks include enrolment in the SMART$ rebate programme, a huge rarity among credit cards that already earn cash back in the first place.

UOB EVOL Card and DBS Live Fresh Card offers 8% and 5% cash back for online and mobile contactless spend respectively. However, the cash back is capped at $20 per category per month and coupled with a minimum spend of $600 per month, the cashback earned per month is likely lower than the headline 8% or 5% quoted.

The POSB Everyday Card offers up to 5% rebate for groceries and 0.3% on everything else. It is a versaitle card as it covers most major expenses. Cardholders can also earn cash rebate for recurring bills as well as petrol at SPC. In fact, it offers one of the highest petrol savings of 21.8% at SPC for motorists.

The BOC Family Card awards 10% cashback for both dining and movies, 5% for selected merchants as well as a less than impressive 3% cashback for supermarkets, online and transport spend. There is a higher minimum spend of $800 and lower cash rebate cap of $25 or $30 for each spending category.

 

Which is the Best Cash Back Credit Card in Singapore?

The Maybank Family & Friends Card awards 8% cash back on 5 selected categories (choose from groceries, dining, transport, data communication & online TV streaming, retails & pet, online shopping, entertainment and pharmacy & wellness) as well as Malaysia Ringgit and Indonesia Rupiah spend and is our choice card for cashback (see Best Cash Back Credit in Singapore for comprehensive review). The 8% cash back is highly attainable with its reasonable cap of $25 per category and $800 minimum spend per month unlike other credit cards on the list which promote themselves as high cashback credit cards but fail to deliver due to low cashback cap.

Ultimately, every consumer has a different spending pattern and it will be a better idea to scroll through our list of Cash Back Credit Cards to select the best credit card to suit your spending pattern.