After 5 years of waiting, the keys to our home are almost ready for collection. Apart from our wedding, the next biggest expense in our life has got to be our house / home renovation.
For us, we’ve decided to engage an interior designer to design and manage our renovations. In addition to getting a professional home design that we like, we also appreciate the help interior designers provide when it comes to the management of the renovation process.
As someone who enjoys collecting miles and points, the main goal for our home renovation project is to earn as many miles/points as possible while paying for these large expenses. A standard home renovation project in Singapore can easily be 5 or even 6 digits.
If we’re spending so much money anyway, we might as well try to earn as many miles as possible for our next business-class flight.
In this post, we’re going to explore the different ways we can maximise the number of miles earned when undergoing a home renovation.
Interior Designer / Contractor
One of the biggest costs of a home renovation is the interior design fees or contractor fees. The problem here is that most of these firms do not accept credit card payments. They will only accept cash, cheque or bank transfer payments.
Paying through these payment methods will not award any miles so we’ll try to steer clear of them. The main method to earn miles on these transactions will be through payment facilities such as CardUp, ipaymy and Citi PayAll.
When you use a payment facility, you’ll pay the transaction using your chosen credit card. On the merchant’s end, they will receive the payment through bank transfer, incurring no additional cost on them.
Every credit card gives a different number of miles for these types of transactions.
Almost all of these payment methods will come with transaction fees when you use them. Therefore, you will be effectively purchasing miles when using this option. When it comes down to whether or not you should do it, ultimately depends on the cost and how much you value each mile. Some of these payment facilities occasionally offer discounts for making payments, those can be great times to use them.
CardUp
The current standard fee for all standard payments is 2.25% of the transaction value.
CardUp has different existing promotions for different payment methods and transaction categories. This affects the fees that you’ll pay for the transaction.
As there are no cards that give “bonus” miles for using CardUp, we’ll be looking at general spending credit cards that give the highest number of miles per dollar spent.
| Card | Mpd | Cost per mile in cents (2.25% Fee) |
|---|---|---|
| DBS Vantage | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 | 1.6 |
| UOB VI Metal Card | 1.4 | 1.6 |
| Citi Prestige | 1.3 | 1.73 |
| DBS Altitude | 1.3 | 1.73 |
| OCBC 90N | 1.3 | 1.73 |
| OCBC Voyage | 1.3 | 1.73 |
| Citi Premiermiles | 1.2 | 1.87 |
| KrisFlyer UOB | 1.2 | 1.87 |
Do note that American Express credit cards cannot be used for renovations through CardUp.
As of the time of writing, CardUp has a promotion for a lower admin fee of 1.85% for recurring payments. However, this applies only to Visa credit cards and the monthly payment is limited to S$20,000.
| Promotion | Code | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-off Payments | OFF225 | 2.25% | |
| Recurring Payments | REC185 | 1.85% | Singapore issued Visa cards only |
| First Payment OCBC90N | OCBC90N15 | 1.5% | OCBC 90N cards only |
| First Payment OCBC Voyage and Premier | OCBC15 | 1.5% | OCBC VOYAGE and Premier Visa Infinite Cards only |
| Maybank Platinum Visa Card | MB173 | 1.73% | Maybank Platinum Visa only |
Alternatively, you can sign up for CardUp with our code JIANSHENGL386 for a flat S$30 off your first payment.
ipaymy
Similar to CardUp, ipaymy has different fee structures for different payment methods and transaction types.
The current fee for all standard payments is 2.4% of the transaction value. This is slightly higher than CardUp’s current standard fee (with promotion).
| Card | Mpd | Cost per mile in cents (2.4% Fee) | Cost per mile in cents (1.85% Fee) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DBS Vantage | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.23 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 | 1.71 | 1.32 |
| UOB VI Metal Card | 1.4 | 1.71 | 1.32 |
| Citi Prestige | 1.3 | 1.84 | 1.42 |
| DBS Altitude | 1.3 | 1.84 | 1.42 |
| OCBC 90N | 1.3 | 1.84 | 1.42 |
| OCBC Voyage | 1.3 | 1.84 | 1.42 |
| Citi Premiermiles | 1.2 | 2 | 1.54 |
| KrisFlyer UOB | 1.2 | 2 | 1.54 |
There are a number of cards that do not earn any points/miles when using ipaymy. You can check the full list of cards here.
For ipaymy, you can consider breaking up your payment into a “recurring payment” for a lower fee of 1.85%. ipaymy considers any payments that have a minimum of 3 payments in a series a recurring payment.
This can significantly lower the cost you’ll pay for each mile.
Compared to CardUp, ipaymy’s standard fee of 2.4% includes AMEX Cards whereas CardUp does not. Therefore, if you’re considering hitting the sign-up bonuses of any AMEX Cards, this might be the option for you.
| Promotion | Code | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| S$20 off first payment | SGNEW | 2.4% | Only for Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay |
| 1.85% fee for recurring payments | 1.85% |
Sign up for ipaymy with our link for an extra S$30 off your first payment.
Citi PayAll
Citi PayAll is Citibank’s payment facility offering. It is available to cardholders of any Citibank Credit Card.
When using Citi PayAll, you have 2 options, either the fee-paying or no-fee option. With the no-fee option, you won’t be receiving any miles for the transaction (this is an interesting use case, more on this later).
For the fee-paying option, there is a standard admin fee of 2.6% across all cards. Citibank regularly runs promotions that raise the mpd rewards for using the service.
| Card | Mpd | Cost per mile in cents |
|---|---|---|
| Citi Ultima | 1.6 | 1.62 |
| Citi Prestige | 1.3 | 2 |
| Citi Premiermiles | 1.2 | 2.16 |
| Citi Rewards | 0.4 | 6.5 |
Barring any promotions, Citi PayAll is one of the most expensive methods to purchase miles. Also, remember that miles earned by Citibank cards do not pool across different cards. Therefore, be mindful of which card you use to make your payments.
The card that you use for Citi PayAll might not be the one that you use for regular spending, and therefore your miles might be scattered across different cards, resulting in orphaned miles.
As mentioned earlier, there are use cases for the no-fee option as well. This was what we did when we paid for our initial renovation downpayment.
- Stretch out your cash flow by delaying the payment by a month.
- Pay off the card balance via HSBC Everyday Global Account for 1% cashback. Given that the payment amount is huge, this 1% cashback can be a relatively large number.
UOB Payment Facility
UOB has a payment facility offering for its customers too. It is available to all cardholders who hold a UOB Credit Card.
Its mechanism is slightly different to Citibank’s. Different credit cards will have different fees for using the facility, but all cards will earn the same 2.5 $UNI per S$5 spent (1 mpd). This makes for much easier computation and understanding of how much you’re paying for each mile.
| Card | Fees | Cost per mile in cents |
|---|---|---|
| UOB Reserve | 1.9% | 1.9 |
| UOB Visa Infinite | 2.2% | 2.2 |
| UOB Visa Infinite Metal | 2.2% | 2.2 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 2.3% | 2.3 |
| KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card | 2.3% | 2.3 |
At the time of writing, UOB is offering reduced administration fees across the board. This significantly reduces the cost of purchasing miles, especially for lower-tier UOB cards.
| Card | Fees | Cost per mile in cents |
|---|---|---|
| UOB Reserve | 1.6% | 1.6 |
| UOB Visa Infinite | 1.8% | 1.8 |
| UOB Visa Infinite Metal | 1.8% | 1.8 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.8% | 1.8 |
| KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card | 1.8% | 1.8 |
| Other UOB Cards | 1.8% | 1.8 |
Furniture and Appliances
The next biggest expense for a house renovation will be furniture and appliances. These types of transactions are generally easier to earn miles for as you can use credit cards to pay for them.
Most furniture/appliance shops like Courts or Gain City are coded with MCC 5712 (Furniture, Home Furnishings, and Equipment Stores, Except Appliances). Unfortunately, there are no cards that provide bonus miles specifically for this category.
The main objective here is to overcome the limitations that many of our best miles-earning credit cards have:
- Monthly bonus spending limits
- Specific bonus spending categories via payment methods
Before we dive into the exact cards to use to make these transactions, here are some general strategies to ensure you maximise the number of miles you can earn. Our aim is to achieve a 4 mpd earn rate on as many purchases as possible.
Strategy 1: Break up large expenses into smaller payments
As furniture and appliances are generally large expenses, it will be very easy to exceed the monthly bonus spending limits of the credit cards. Therefore, we’ll need to find ways to split up the payments into monthly payments.
Fortunately, there are various ways to do so.
- Use BNPL platforms like Atome or Shopback PayLater to split up the payment into 3 payments. Be very careful of additional fees and make your payments on time.
- Negotiate a monthly payment plan with the merchant. This is very common across merchants such as Gain City, Harvey Norman, Best Denki and Courts. You can even request to split the payment across different cards in different months. Make sure that the payment plan is by the merchant and not the bank’s IPP (Instalment Purchase Plan). Bank’s IPPs do not give any points for the payment.
Strategy 2: Take note of transaction method (Online or Contactless)
There are a number of credit cards that offer bonus miles on the method of transaction. The 2 most common payment methods are online or contactless.
Therefore, as much as possible, purchase your appliances through these payment methods instead. You can find most of your appliances or even furniture through online shopping platforms like Shopee, Lazada or Taobao.
For physical transactions at stores, ask to pay through the contactless terminals instead of inserting your card’s chip. Alternatively, you can also ask for an online payment link to make your payment and take advantage of spending bonuses in the online transaction category.
Strategy 3: Make use of credit card sign-up offers
This can be the perfect time to fulfil the sign-up bonus spending requirements for a number of credit cards. Before making the purchases, plan out the cards that you can sign up for, together with the spending requirements to achieve the bonuses.
Through this, you can make sure to earn the most number of miles for your large purchases.
These are some of the most popular cards that you can use for these types of transactions.
Contactless Payments
| Cards | Mpd | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Review | 4 | S$1,110 per calendar month |
 UOB Visa Signature | 4 | S$2,000 per calendar month, min S$1,000 spent on contactless |
Online Payments
| Cards | Mpd | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 DBS Woman’s World Mastercard Review | 4 | S$1,500 per calendar month |
 Citi Rewards Mastercard / Visa Review | 4 | S$1,000 per statement month |
 HSBC Revolution Card Review | 4 | S$1,000 per calendar month |
UOB Preferred Platinum Review | 4 | S$1,110 per calendar month |
| OCBC Titanium Rewards Card | 4 | S$1,110 per calendar month |
 KrisFlyer UOB Review | 3 | With minimum S$800 annual spend on Singapore Airlines Group |
The KrisFlyer UOB card is a unique card in this category. Although it only earns 3 mpd and requires you to spend a minimum of S$800 on Singapore Airlines Group in the year, the bonus miles are uncapped. This can be very useful, especially for scenarios such as paying for furniture or appliances.
Strategy 4: Use Kris+ to earn extra KrisFlyer Miles
Kris+ is a payment method that allows users to earn extra miles on top of the miles earned by their credit card. It’s like PayLah, except that it’s tagged to an underlying credit card instead of your bank account.
1 benefit of using Kris+ is that it converts the transaction into an online mobile payment instead of a physical transaction. Therefore, if you’re already hitting your monthly spending limit on contactless payment cards, this method allows you to divert your transaction to another credit card.
At the time of writing, Kris+ has partnered with a number of home furnishing stores and offers bonus miles on purchases. Here are some popular stores that you might be interested in.
| Store | Mpd |
|---|---|
| Audio House | 1 mile per S$1 |
| Hansgrohe | 3 mile per S$1 |
| Harvey Norman | 3 mile per S$3 |
| Mayer | 6 mile per S$1 |
| Ruhens | 3 mile per S$1 |
| Sealy Posturepedic | 3 mile per S$1 |
| Simmons | 3 mile per S$1 |
| Smeg | 6 mile per S$1 |
| Woosa Sleep | 3 mile per S$1 |
Final Thoughts
Home renovation is one of the largest expenses we’ll make in our lifetime. Therefore, we want to maximise the number of miles we can receive from it so that we can earn enough airline miles for our next business-class flight.
For our Interior Designer fees, we’ll likely use a mixture of paid Payment Facilities to hit sign-up bonus requirements and Citi PayAll’s no-fee option to earn the 1% cashback via HSBC EGA Account.
As for furniture and appliances, we aim to split up our payments across different credit cards and months to get around the monthly bonus spending limits. Across both M and I, we have a combined S$7,200 per month of bonus spending limits across multiple credit cards.
With this, we should be able to clock in 4 mpd for most furniture / appliance purchases if we plan it out right.
If you’re interested in our home renovation process, you can follow our new Instagram channel @shrug_home or Telegram channel @shrug_home! We’ll be documenting our renovation process, as well as, sharing some of our favourite finds along the way.
