2025 has been generally a bad year for travel-hackers in Singapore. We’ve seen a number of devaluations on popular credit cards, making it harder for everyone to collect miles.
While changes are inevitable, our best approach is to adapt and maximize the opportunities available. All the effort pays off when you’re 30,000 feet in the air, relaxing on a comfortable Q-Suites bed.
With the right strategies, it’s still possible to rack up a sizeable amount of miles for your next business class redemption.
Subscribe to us on Telegram
Join Marilyn & JS on Telegram to receive insider travel hacking tips and exclusive deals. Subscribe to unlock a world of wanderlust.
Previous Editions
We publish our strategy at the start of every year. Check out our past versions here to see what has changed over the years.
Before signing up for any cards, make sure to check out the latest credit card sign-up bonuses to ensure that you’re maximising any potential rewards.
This is the list of cards that we use in each situation.
We have a handful of options in each category, so that we can shift around when we get to have the bonus limits for certain cards. We only list out the cards that we have in our wallets. It is possible for there to be more optimal cards to use in the situation.
Travel
We spend a significant amount of our money on the Travel category. This includes transactions at Hotels, Airlines and Car Rentals.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 UOB Lady’s UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply | 4 | S$1,000 S$1,500 | Must select the Travel category |
 HSBC Revolution Apply | 4 | S$1,500 | Until 28 Feb 2026 |
 DBS Woman’s World Mastercard Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | Online only. Points expire in 1 year. |
 Maybank Rewards XL Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | Minimum S$500 per month |
 Citi Premiermiles Apply | 7.2 | Agoda / Expedia. Book through dedicated link | |
 UOB PRVI Miles Apply | 6.6 | Agoda / Expedia. Book through dedicated link |
Our main workhorse here is the UOB Lady’s Card. With the Solitaire version, we can get a higher monthly spending limit which is very useful, especially for larger purchases. By pairing the UOB Lady’s Card with the UOB Lady’s Savings Account, we can earn 6 mpd on our travel purchases.
Unfortunately, UOB introduced a split-tier bonus structure for the UOB Lady’s Solitaire card that took effect on 1st August 2025. The overall monthly bonus spending cap was reduced from S$2,000 to S$1,500, with a strict sub-limit of S$750 for each of your two selected bonus categories. Previously, the bonus limit was shared across categories, providing much more flexibility.
Towards the end of the year, we’ve pivoted to using the HSBC Revolution Card for travel, as it now offers bonus points on airline and hotel transactions until 28 February 2026. We value HSBC points for their wide range of transfer partners, including several unique options not available with other local banks.
A new addition this year is the Maybank Rewards XL card that offers bonus points on Travel and Dining purchases. This gave us an additional S$1,000 per month of bonus spending to play with, something very valuable when making big family trip purchases.
For Citi Premiermiles and UOB PRVI Miles, you have to book your travel through their dedicated travel portals. Even though the MPD may seem very high, it’s typically not worth it because the prices might not be the most competitive. Therefore, it’s an option that exists, but we typically do not use it.
Dining and Restaurants
The second largest spending category for us is dining out in restaurants, both locally and abroad.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
UOB Lady’s UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply | 4 | S$1,000 S$1,500 | Must select the Dining category |
 UOB Preferred Platinum Apply | 4 | S$1,200 | Must be contactless. S$600 monthly limit for contactless. |
  Citi Rewards + Instarem Amaze Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | Only for overseas. Local transaction has a 1% fee. |
Maybank XL Rewards Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | Minimum S$500 spend for the month |
The first card that we try to use for dining is the UOB Solitaire Card. Given that we’ve chosen the Travel and Dining categories for our UOB Solitaire Card, we have S$750 per month to spend on dining purchases.
This is typically sufficient for us, but on the occasions where our spending exceeds that limit, the Maybank XL Rewards gives us an additional S$1,000 to play around with every month.
We’ll actively use the Citi Rewards and Instarem card combination when we’re dining out overseas to reduce our foreign exchange costs. Citibank also has one of the best selections of transfer partners in Singapore, so we prefer earning Citibank points too.
Online Shopping
These days, whenever we buy anything, we often buy it online due to the convenience and frequently discounted prices compared to their physical store counterparts.
This is a fairly broad category, but we are defining shopping as common retailers like Shopee and Lazada. However, most of the cards listed before work with online transactions in general.
We spent a significant portion of our money this year on online shopping as we were purchasing items for our new home. We also spread out our purchases over a couple of months to ensure that we don’t exceed the monthly bonus spending limits.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
HSBC Revolution Apply | 4 | S$1,500 | Until 28 Feb 2026 |
Citi Rewards + Instarem Amaze Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | Direct with Citi Rewards if local. Paired with Instarem Amaze if in foreign currency. |
UOB Preferred Platinum Apply | 4 | S$1,200 | S$600 monthly limit for online purchases. |
DBS Woman’s World Mastercard Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | Points expire in 1 year |
 OCBC Rewards Apply | 4 | S$1,000 |
This is a fairly easy category to maximise as many cards offer bonus points on online spending.
A new addition this year is the OCBC Rewards Card that I signed up for recently, originally for the upsized sign-up bonus. The OCBC Rewards Card also gives 4 mpd on up to S$1,000 per month on online shopping categories.
With this, we have a total of S$4,500 worth of bonus spending limit for online spend, which is more than enough for us.
Ride Sharing and Taxi
Ride sharing applies to the most common ride-sharing apps in Singapore such as Grab, Gojek, Ryde, CDG Zig and Tada.
As a couple, we don’t have a car and rely primarily on public transport and ride-sharing to get around Singapore. Lucky for us, plenty of credit cards include ride-share as a bonus category.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
UOB Lady’s UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply | 4 | S$1,000 S$1,500 | Must select Transport as a category |
Citi Rewards Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | |
HSBC Revolution Apply | 4 | S$1,500 | |
DBS Woman’s World Mastercard Apply | 4 | S$1,000 |
We prioritise using the Citi Rewards and HSBC Revolution cards for this category because of their valuable transferable points. We only switch over to the DBS Woman’s World Mastercard if we exceed the monthly bonus limits.
Public Transport
Public transport is not a significant spending category for most of us due to its lower cost. With that said, since we’re already spending the money, we might as well get some points and miles out of it.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
UOB Lady’s UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply | 4 | S$1,000 S$1,500 | Must select Transport as a category |
UOB Preferred Platinum Apply | 4 | S$1,200 | S$600 monthly limit for contactless. |
UOB PRVI Miles Apply | 1.4 | ||
 DBS Altitude Card Apply | 1.3 |
Due to the low per-transaction spending on transport, there are concerns about the S$5 rounding policy that many credit cards subscribe to.
Visa Cards: Transactions are posted daily. For UOB Cards*, $UNI points from SimplyGo are accumulated monthly and posted on the 7th of each month. DBS has a point-rounding policy that assures you’ll get DBS points even if you spend less than S$5.
MasterCard: Every 5 days or S$15 accumulated, whichever is earlier*.
The good news recently is that the UOB Preferred Platinum Card now treats SimplyGo (public transport) transactions as eligible mobile contactless spend. While this provides a reliable way to earn 4 mpd, do note that these transactions will count towards the S$600 monthly mobile contactless sub-limit.
Contactless Payments
With the widespread adoption of contactless payments in Singapore, contactless payments act as a catch-all for almost all in-person transactions. When we’re purchasing something that does not fall neatly into the specialised categories above, we’ll fall back to using cards that are good with contactless payments.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
UOB Preferred Platinum Apply | 4 | S$1,200 (S$600 for Contactless) | Must use mobile payment options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay. Do not tap the physical card. |
 UOB Visa Signature Apply | 4 | S$2,666 (S$1,333 for Contactless) | Min S$1,000 Contactless |
The UOB Preferred Platinum Card recently revised its bonus structure. From October 1, 2025, the previous S$1,110 combined cap was replaced with two separate S$600 sub-limits: one for mobile contactless payments and another for selected online transactions. While the total potential bonus spend has increased to S$1,200, the split nature requires more careful management of your tapping and clicking.
Overseas and Foreign Currency
We spend a significant amount of time outside of Singapore, and therefore a lot of our purchases are made in foreign currency.
As overseas spending is so diverse, there can be a potential for overlap between the bonus categories and the foreign currency category. As much as possible, if the purchase falls into any of the above categories such as Travel or Dining, we’ll use the cards in those categories. If not, we’ll fall back to these cards here.
Most credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee in addition to a spread on the currency exchange charged by the payment network. This fee typically ranges from 3 to 4% of the transaction value.
| Card | Mpd | Monthly Limit | Foreign Transaction Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
UOB Visa Signature Apply | 4 | S$2,666 (S$1,333 foreign currency) | 3.25% | Min S$1,000 foreign currency |
Instarem Amaze + Citi Rewards Apply | 4 | S$1,000 | ~2% | No foreign transaction fee, but higher spread of ~2% |
UOB PRVI Miles Apply | 3 (regional countries) 2.4 (others) | 3.25% | ||
DBS Altitude Card Apply | 2.2 | 3.25% | ||
 Trust Cashback Credit Card iOS | Android Code: 7F1X2SN1 | 1% Cashback | 0% | No fees |
When travelling overseas, we primarily use Citi Rewards paired with Instarem Amaze for its lower foreign transaction cost and high miles earn rate. Both M and I have the same setup, so between the 2 of us we have a combined limit of S$2,000 a month.
This is often insufficient for longer trips. When we hit our limits, we fall back to the Trust Cashback Credit Card. It offers excellent foreign currency exchange (forex) rates with no transaction fees and 1% cashback, making it a reliable backup.
Airport Lounges
One of the biggest benefits of credit cards recently has been their access to airport lounges. Although lounges can vary drastically in quality, they are overall a huge upgrade to our travels, especially when we’re flying economy or budget.
| Card | Visit Per Year | Lounge Program | Annual Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Amex Platinum Charge Card Apply | Unlimited + 1 guest | Centurion Lounge, Delta Sky Club Lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, Priority Pass | S$1,744 | Supplementary card holders 8 visits a year. |
 Citi Prestige Apply | 12 | Priority Pass | S$651.82 | |
 HSBC Visa Infinite | Unlimited | Lounge Key | Supplementary card holders get their own LoungeKey. Application paused. | |
 HSBC Premier Mastercard | Unlimited | Priority Pass | Free for HSBC Premier members. Otherwise, S$708.50. | 3 Supplementary Cardholders unlimited access. |
 UOB Visa Infinite Metal Apply | Unlimited + 1 guest | DragonPass | S$654 | |
 HSBC Travel One Apply | 4 | DragonPass | S$196.20 | |
UOB PRVI Miles Apply | 4 | Priority Pass | S$261.60* | No complimentary guests. |
Citi Premiermiles Apply | 2 | Priority Pass | S$196.20* | |
DBS Altitude Card Apply | 2 | Priority Pass | S$196.20* | |
 Standard Chartered Journey Card Apply | 2 | Priority Pass | S$196.20 |
2025 hasn’t been a good year when it comes to lounge benefits for credit cards.
Citi Prestige, once a leader in lounge access, has reduced its benefit to 12 shared visits per calendar year for the primary cardholder and guests. Similarly, the AMEX Platinum Charge devalued its first supplementary card benefit to 8 Priority Pass visits annually, though unlimited access to Centurion and Plaza Premium lounges remains for cardholders.
On the bright side, the HSBC Premier Mastercard received a massive upgrade in August 2025. It now offers unlimited Priority Pass access for the primary cardholder and up to three supplementary cardholders. This benefit is free for HSBC Premier customers (S$200,000 AUM), making it a standout choice for families.
Summary
Even though there are many changes to credit cards in 2025, not all are bad.
The general strategy remains similar to previous years. Most of the staple cards that earn 4 mpd are still the same, albeit with a bit more careful management needed.
We hope this guide helps you rack up those miles for incredible travel experiences in 2026! Personally, we’re eagerly anticipating the launch of Singapore Airlines’ retrofitted Airbus A350 Business Class cabins, expected to take flight in the first half of 2026.
If you have already stacked up a sizable amount of miles, read here to find out how you can redeem them for Singapore Airlines’s Business Class flights.
