Standard Chartered Credit Card, The best credit card for you depends on your lifestyle and regular spending habits. Here are 3 steps to help you decide which credit card is best for you.
Step 1
Find a card that fits your spending habits
Think about your current lifestyle and spending habits. What are the things you spend the most money on? For example, if you’re a real foodie and spend a lot on dining out, then it makes sense to get a card with double rewards points for eating out and useful perks like 1-for-1 deals at restaurants.
Step 2
Plan how to use your credit card benefits
Credit cards come with a whole plethora of benefits for cardholders. You’ll need to narrow things down by focusing on the benefits that you would actually use. Do you want to collect air miles and fund your upcoming travels? Or accumulate points for shopping vouchers? Or would you rather enjoy cash rebates? This is a deeply personal matter, so it’s worth considering how you like to be rewarded.
Step 3
Check the Terms & Conditions
Now that you’ve got a shortlist of credit cards, it’s time to dig deeper into the details of the rewards or air miles programmes. Find out all you can about terms and conditions like expiry dates, exclusions, minimum spend, credit limit, etc. Be sure to ask a bank rep to clarify if you don’t see answers anywhere.
Common Credit Card Fees
Annual fees aren’t the only type of credit card charges you might be paying. Many of these other common fees will impact the benefits you earn, so be mindful of them and actively monitor your spend.
Balance Transfer Fees
Charged when you move a balance from one card to another, usually 2-4% of the amount transferred.
Cash Advance Fees
Some credit cards allow you to withdraw cash from ATMs, using your credit line. Be prepared to fork out up to 6% of the transaction amount, plus 2%+ daily charges on unpaid withdrawn balance.
Foreign Transaction Fees
Charged for transactions processed outside of Singapore, whether while you’re travelling or making an online purchase. This is usually 2.5% to 3% on top of the prevailing foreign exchange rate.
VISIT THIS LINK TO SELECT YOUR CREDIT CARD
Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card
is an excellent choice for people who are looking for a simple flat rate card to use. First, its flat 1.5% of cash rebate on all your expenditures is unlimited, so that you can earn as much rebate as you spend. Secondly, this card can double up as an EZ-Link card, so you can simplify your wallet as much as possible. Lastly, it has no minimum spending requirements and comes with a 2-year waiver for its annual fee of S$192.6, making it a very easy and cheap to use. If you are looking for an inexpensive flat-rate cashback card, this is one of the best options you will find in the market.
Highlights
- Annual fee: S$192.6, 2 Year Waiver
- 1.5% unlimited cash back on all your expenditure
- No minimum spend requirement
- 0% instalment payment plan: no fees and earn rewards for up to 36 months
- Up to 24% discount on petrol at Caltex
- EZ-Link compatible
- Promotion: Up to S$100 in cashback + Up to S$150 in Prime Now credits, 10% cashback & free Amazon Prime
- Up to 10% off bookings with Hotels . Com
- Read Our Full Review
Standard Chartered SingPost Spree Credit Card
is an online shopping rewards card that is very easy to use. In fact, it is pretty much the only shopping cashback card without a monthly minimum spending requirement. For this reason, the Spree card has a relatively low reward rate of 3% on foreign currency online transaction and 2% on local currency online transaction. Not only that, Standard Charterd is unique in being one of a few banks that actually provide rewards on its credit card 0% instalment plans while also not charging any fees. Given this, we believe this card can work relatively well for people who like to shop with online retailers overseas like Taobao or Amazon, especially since it provides another 3% of cashback on vPost.
Highlights
- Annual fee: S$192.6, waived for 2 years
- Rebates: 3% foreign currency online purchases & vPost transactions, 2% on local online transactions, 1% on other retail transactions
- 0% instalment payment plan: no fees and earn rewards for up to 36 months
- No monthly minimum spend & Online price guarantee
- Promotion: Up to S$100 in cashback + Up to S$150 in Prime Now credits, 10% cashback & free Amazon Prime
- Up to 10% off bookings with Hotels . Com
- Read Our Full Review
Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card
is an excellent travel card for frequent business travelers. Its highlight, in our opinion, is the 3 miles awarded for every S$1 spent overseas. To this, it adds luxurious perks like HHonor Gold status, discounts on Grab rides globally and discounts for golf clubs, yacht rentals and private jet usages. Award on local expenditure is also one of the best in the market at 1.4 miles per S$1 spent. For business travelers who spend a great portion of their time abroad, SC Visa Infinite card is a great way of earning miles quickly.
Highlights
- Annual fee: S$588.6 and no waiver
- 1.4 miles and 3 miles for every S$1 spent locally and overseas, respectively.
- Hilton HHonor Gold status, complimentary VIP lounge access & travel insurance, discounts for golf clubs, yachts and private jets
- 0% instalment payment plan: no fees and earn rewards for up to 36 months
- Promotion: Up to S$100 in cashback + Up to S$150 in Prime Now credits, 10% cashback & free Amazon Prime
- Up to 12% off bookings with Hotels . Com
- Read Our Full Review
Standard Chartered Rewards Plus Credit Card
could be a decent rewards credit card for dining and travelling, especially for budget minded consumers. First, it comes with a rewards rate of around 3% on foreign currency and overseas spends on retail, dining and travel, with another 1.5% rewards on local dining transactions. Its 3% rewards rate is particularly high for those spending categories compared to other cards in the market. Secondly, its annual fee of S$192.6 is waived automatically for 2 years. Although an average person can only earn about S$60 to S$70 of rewards per year on this card, we think it can work decently well for low income individuals with limited budget or for those who want a specialised dining or travel credit card to complement another general purpose credit card.
Highlights
- Annual fee: S$192.6 waived for 2 years
- About 3% rewards on foreign currency or overseas transactions (retail, dining and travel)
- About 1.5% rewards on dining transactions in SGD
- No minimum spending requirement
- Promotion: Up to S$100 in cashback + Up to S$150 in Prime Now credits, 10% cashback & free Amazon Prime
- Up to 10% off bookings with Hotels . Com
- Read Our Full Review
Standard Chartered Manhattan $500 Card
stands out among student credit cards with its 20% rebate on Grab rides globally. While it requires S$900 of monthly spend to qualify for this benefit (compared to S$500 of monthly credit limit), those who readily repay their credit card balance frequently could still enjoy this benefit. Otherwise, this card provides a 0.25% cashback every month on retail spending.
Highlights
- Fee: S$32.1, waived for 1st year
- 0.25% cashback on everything you spend
- No minimum income requirement
- Credit limit: S$500
- Age 18 and above, with parent’s consent.
- Promotion: 15% cashback on Grab after S$900 spend (up to S$30/month)
- Read Our Full Review
Standard Chartered Manhattan World
Standard Chartered Manhattan World MasterCard Credit Card is a great flat-rate cashback card, but we think there are better options. It may seem great because of its S$138 of welcome gift, a 3% flat rebate on everything and an annual fee of S$180 (waived for the 1st year). However, a detailed analysis reveals its weaknesses. SC Manhattan World card requires a minimum spend of S$3,000 a month to qualify for 3%, and then imposes a S$200 cap on quarterly rebate. If you fail to meet the high minimum spend requirement, flat rate cashback drops to 1% (and possibly lower for people who spend less than S$1,000/month). This suggests that the maximum rebate you can earn is actually 2.5% on S$8,000 of quarterly spend.
Compared to this, American Express True Cashback has no minimum spend, and offers 1.5% cashback which is boosted to 3% for the first 6 months. Therefore, American Express True Cashback is actually the better card for those who spend less than S$2,000 a month. For those who spend more than S$2,000, UOB One Card could earn up to 5% rebate on all your expenditures.