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1. How to Earn Miles on a Credit Card?
2. Is it Worth Getting a Credit Card for Miles?
3. Types of Mileage Credit Cards
4. What Credit Cards Gives the Most Miles?
5. How to Earn Miles Quickly in Singapore?
6. Which is the Best Miles Credit Card in Singapore?
One can earn miles through signing up or spending on Mileage Credit Cards. Miles earned through credit cards sign up is usually accompanied by various conditions such as annual fee payment, meeting a minimum spend within a stipulated period or even just making a single transaction on the credit card (see Sign Up for Credit Cards for Free Air Miles Promotions for details)
The other way to earn miles through credit cards is to earn a fixed number of miles per $1 or $5 spend. Some of these mileage credit cards are co-branded with airlines and allow you to credit the miles earned directly to the airlines reward programme but most other mileage credit cards are actually simply earning a higher number of reward points which can be converted to air miles for a fee. Different banks have different credit cards air miles redemption rates and also different fees for the conversion. It is important to take all these into account when looking for the right credit card to accumulate miles.
The answer depends on an individual preference on travelling and reward type. If you love travelling and particularly like to travel in style on business or first class flights, earning miles to redeem for such flights gives absolute value as you will save on flight tickets. However, if you prefer to travel using the lowest cost options such as via budget airlines or prefer cash back, you might be better off applying for Cash Back Credit Cards which is able to reward cardholders consistently with cash back for your purchases.
Mileage credit cards belong to category-based spending credit cards or broad-based spending credit cards or a mixture of both in order to attract more signups. Category-based spending credit cards usually reward users with miles (or points) for spending on specific categories such as Dining, Online Shopping or Overseas Spending and are covered under their respective reviews. Broad-based spending credit cards are cards which reward users with miles (or points) for spending on everything or multiple categories or with specific payment methods. Category-based spending credit cards tend to have a higher mileage earn rate for their specific spend category as compared to broad-based spending mileage credit cards for spending on anything.
| Credit Card Issuer and Type of Credit Card | Minimum Requirements / Conditions | Mileage Earn Rate |
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Only eligible for overseas spend that qualify and chosen as a preferred category. Categories include fashion, beauty and wellness, travel, dining, transport, entertainment and family |
Earn 4 air miles or 10X UNI$ (2.00% cash rebate) per $1 spend in overseas spend in chosen category |
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Only when for contactless payments including Google Pay, Apple Pay and UOB Mighty |
Earn 4 air miles or 10X UNI$ per $1 contactless spend |
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Only for contactless payments including Visa payWave or mobile payments with minimum spend of $1,000 per statement period |
Earn 4 air miles or 10X UNI$ per $1 contactless spend |
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Only for online spend. Exclude travel agencies, hotels, food deliveries, fast food and groceries |
Earn 4 air miles or 10 Rewards Points per $1 online spend |
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Only eligible for shopping spend and online spend. Online spend exclude travel related spend |
Earn 4 air miles or 10X Citi ThankYou Points per $1 online and shopping spend. |
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Only eligible for shopping for Babies and children’s wear, Department stores, Clothes, shoes and bags, Electronics and gadgets and Personal care |
Earn 4 air miles or 10X OCBC$ per $1 online and shopping spend |
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None |
Earn 1.6 air miles or 4X DBS Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.6 air miles or 4X UNI$ per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.6 air miles or 4X Citi ThankYou Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.5 air miles or 3.75X DBS Points per $1 on local spend |
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Step-up earn rate of 1.5 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend only valid for all spending above $3,800 in a month |
Earn 1.3 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.4 air miles or 3X UNI$ per $1 spend |
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UOB PRVI Miles World MasterCard |
None |
Earn 1.4 miles or 3.5X UNI$ per $1 spend |
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Only valid if mnimum spend of $2,000 in a statement month met. Else earn rate is 1 air mile per $1 spend |
Earn 1.4 air miles or 3.5X Points per $1 spend |
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Step-up earn rate of 1.4 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend only valid for all spending above $3,800 in a month |
Earn 1.3 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.3 air miles or 3.25X Citi ThankYou Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.3 Voyage Miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.3 Travel$ per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.3 air miles or 3.25X DBS Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.2 air miles or 3 Rewards Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.2 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.2 air miles or 1.2 Citi Miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.2 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.2 air miles or 3X DBS Points per $1 spend |
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Maybank Visa Infinite Card |
None |
Earn 1.2 air miles or 3X Treats Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.2 air miles or 3X Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1.1 Krisflyer miles per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1 air miles or 2.5 Rewards Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1 air mile or 4.5 Points per $1 spend |
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None |
Earn 1 air miles or 2.5X Points per $1 spend |
A surefire way to earn miles quickly in the least possible time is to take advantage of Sign Up for Credit Cards for Free Air Miles Promotions and using mileage credit cards that have the highest mileage earn rates for your daily expenditure. Listed below are a list of mileage credit cards with the most attractive promotions or mileage earn rate.
An interesting promotion by American Express allows American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card cardholders to earn 5,000 miles + 10,000 miles by spending $5,000 within 3 months of approval. This is on top of an earn rate of 1.2 miles per $1 spent. Cardholders will be automatically upgraded to the KrisFlyer Elite Gold Membership tier when they spend above $15,000 at singaporeair.com within 12 months approval. They can also enjoy a complimentary night stay at Hilton Properties in Asia Pacific as well as four complimentary lounge access vouchers to SATS Premier and Plaza Premium Lounges anually. If paying for annual feees is not your thing, you can consider the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card instead as it awards 5,000 miles + 5,000 miles by spending $3,000 within 3 months of approval. This is on top of an earn rate of 1.1 miles per $1 spent and a free first year fee waiver.
The UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card has a high earn rate of 2.4 miles per $1 overseas spend, 1.4 miles per $1 spend locally and 6 miles per $1 spend on Expedia. The most attractive thing about this card is that you will also receive a bonus of 20,000 miles every year if you spend more than $50,000 a year and is a great card for you to use for large expenses like wedding or car purchase.
The Citibank PremierMiles Card earns a slightly lower mileage earn rate of 1.2 miles per $1 local spend as compared to the UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card but with the opportunity to earn up to 34,200 bonus miles for new signups with $9,000 spend if you are willing to fork out the $192.60 annual fee.
OCBC VOYAGE Visa Infinite Card awards 2.2 air miles (2.2 VOYAGE Miles) per $1 equivalent spend in foreign currency. The main advantage of this card lies with the fact that VOYAGE Miles can be used to redeem air tickets on any airline, anytime, with no black-out dates with flexibility of partial or full redemption for yourself or your family members. VOYAGE Miles never expire and there is no conversion cost for redemptions. In the event VOYAGE Miles are used for air tickets redemption, the redeemed tickets can still earn new VOYAGE Miles.
The HSBC Revolution Credit Card earns 10X Rewards Points or 4 air miles for Visa payWave, Google Pay, Apple Pay and for online spending. It is similar to UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card and is one of the top credit cards for earning miles after its reboot. However, its benefits have been nerfed and it now exclude travel agencies, hotels, food deliveries, fast food and groceries for 10X rewards.
The Citibank Rewards Visa / MasterCard Card earns 10X Citi ThankYou Points or 4 air miles for retail shopping worldwide and for online spending (excluding travel-related spend). It is running a promotion which allows new cardholders to earn 10,800 bonus miles.
Similarly, OCBC Rewards Card earns 10X OCBC$ or 4 air miles for online and offline shopping for babies and children’s wear, department stores, clothes, shoes and bags, electronics and gadgets and personal care. It also runs regular promotions to award bonus OCBC$ for various spend.
The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card is the best credit card for miles due to its highest earn rate of 4 miles per $1 spend on contactless payments and online spending (see Best Miles Credit Card Review Singapore for comprehensive review). There is no minimum spend and is an extremely useful card for everyday spend as most Singapore merchants accept some form of contactless payment.
UOB Lady's Solitaire Card and UOB Lady's Card are also worth a special mention as they earn 4 miles per $1 spend on a chosen category. This is the highest earn rate for a specific category in Singapore and the icing on the cake is that is also no minimum spend. However, unlike the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card which can be used as a general spending card on anything, the UOB Lady's Cards will require a cardholder to carefully plan her expenses on a specific category every month to maximise the miles earned.
The Maybank Family & Friends Card is the best cash back credit card in Singapore 2024.
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