There is no single best miles credit card in Singapore in 2026, because the highest earn rate depends on where your money goes. For online and contactless spend in Singapore dollars, a 4-miles-per-dollar card like the HSBC Revolution (no annual fee) or Citi Rewards wins, but each caps the bonus at around S$1,000 a month. For foreign-currency spend overseas, the UOB PRVI Miles (2.4 mpd, 3 mpd in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) or Citi PremierMiles (2.2 mpd, miles never expire) earns more even after the roughly 3.25 percent FX fee. For uncapped local spend, the UOB PRVI Miles at 1.4 mpd is the workhorse. That is why most people who take miles seriously hold two or three cards. The maths only works if you pay in full every month. A KrisFlyer mile is worth roughly 1.5 to 2 cents toward flights, so S$1,000 at 4 mpd earns about S$60 to S$80 of value, and one month of interest on a carried balance, around 27 to 29 percent a year at the major banks, erases that several times over.
A miles card pays you a fraction of a mile for every dollar you spend, then lets you transfer those miles to an airline programme, almost always Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer for Singapore-issued cards. The number you see quoted, like 1.4 mpd or 4 mpd, is miles per dollar. At 1.4 mpd, S$1,000 of spend earns 1,400 miles. At 4 mpd it earns 4,000.
Two things decide which card pays the most on any given purchase: the category and the currency. Banks split spend into a base rate (the plain rate on everything) and bonus rates (higher rates on specific categories such as online, contactless, dining or overseas). Bonus rates almost always carry a monthly cap, after which spend drops back to the base rate. So a 4 mpd card is really a 4 mpd card up to about S$1,000 a month, then a 0.4 mpd card.
The currency matters because foreign-currency spend earns a different (usually higher) bonus rate, but it also picks up a foreign-transaction fee of about 3.25 to 3.5 percent on most cards. That fee is real money out of your pocket, so the higher overseas earn rate has to clear it before the card is worth using abroad.
This is where the most miles per dollar live in Singapore. Several cards pay 4 mpd on online or contactless spend in Singapore dollars, which is the highest rate you can earn on everyday purchases without jumping through hoops. The catch is identical across all of them: a monthly bonus cap of roughly S$1,000, so these are cards you max out and then put down.
The HSBC Revolution is the cleanest pick because it has no annual fee and no minimum spend. From 1 April 2026 it pays 4 mpd on contactless and online spend, including most travel, up to S$1,000 per calendar month, then 0.4 mpd after. The income bar is two-tier: S$30,000 a year if you hold at least S$50,000 in Total Relationship Balance with HSBC, otherwise S$65,000. Hold S$50,000 in an HSBC Everyday Global Account and the rate jumps to 8 mpd, capped at 22,800 points (about S$1,200 of spend) a month.
The Citi Rewards card pays 10X points, which is 4 mpd, on online shopping and department-store spend, capped at 9,000 bonus points (about S$1,000 of eligible spend) a statement month. Its Citi ThankYou points carry a 60-month validity, but once you convert them to Citi Miles those miles do not expire, and they transfer to KrisFlyer at 1:1. The DBS Woman's World Card pays 4 mpd on all online spend (men can apply too), but the cap was cut from S$1,500 to S$1,000 a month on 1 August 2025, and DBS is removing the card's S$25,000 spend-based annual-fee waiver from 1 August 2026, the same date it drops the Altitude's.
When you travel and pay in a foreign currency, the online 4 mpd cards stop being the obvious answer, because the FX fee changes the maths and the bonus categories often exclude foreign-currency transactions. This is where dedicated miles cards earn their place.
The UOB PRVI Miles pays 1.4 mpd locally, 2.4 mpd on general overseas spend, and 3 mpd on spend in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, which covers a lot of regional trips. The annual fee is S$261.60 with the first year waived for all variants. The Citi PremierMiles pays 1.2 mpd locally and 2.2 mpd overseas, with an annual fee of S$196.20 and the appeal that Citi Miles never expire. The DBS Altitude is similar at 1.3 mpd local and 2.2 mpd overseas, and its DBS Points do not expire either. Note that DBS is removing the Altitude's S$25,000 spend-based fee waiver from August 2026, so the annual fee stops being waivable by spending after that.
All of these charge roughly 3.25 percent on foreign-currency transactions. At 2.4 mpd a S$1,000 overseas charge earns 2,400 miles, worth about S$36 to S$48, while the FX fee costs S$32.50, so the net gain is thin. Some miles chasers route overseas spend through a card like Instarem Amaze, which converts foreign currency at close to the interbank rate (around a 0.5 percent markup instead of 3.25 percent) and still passes the charge to a linked Mastercard for miles. Check which of your cards Amaze still earns bonus miles on before relying on it, since issuers change the eligibility list.
If you do not care about earning miles on a particular overseas spend, a multi-currency card or account such as Wise, Revolut or YouTrip skips the bank FX fee entirely by converting at or near the mid-market rate, which is usually cheaper than any miles card abroad. The trade-off is you earn no miles on that spend. So the call is simple: put bonus-eligible overseas spend on a miles card fed through Amaze, and push everything else through a multi-currency card to dodge the FX fee. We compare the multi-currency options head to head in the Singapore multi-currency card comparison.
Some spend does not fit a bonus category, like insurance premiums, hospital bills, big-ticket renovation or tax payments through a facility. For that, you want a card with no monthly cap, even at a lower rate, because a capped 4 mpd card gives you nothing past S$1,000.
The UOB PRVI Miles at 1.4 mpd is the standard workhorse here, with no cap on the base rate. The Citi PremierMiles (1.2 mpd) and DBS Altitude (1.3 mpd) do the same job slightly lower. For very large bills, that 1.4 mpd uncapped beats a 4 mpd card the moment you would have blown past the S$1,000 bonus cap anyway.
If you are a high earner who would rather hold one premium card than juggle several, the UOB Visa Infinite and DBS Vantage sit in the S$120,000-income tier with their own perks, but their plain local rates (around 1.4 to 1.5 mpd) are not dramatically higher than the PRVI Miles, so you are paying the larger annual fee mostly for lounge access and travel insurance, not for the miles rate. Decide whether you will actually use those perks before paying for them, and check the effective interest rate on any fee you are charged.
The headline 4 mpd online rate is not the ceiling. When you book travel through a card issuer's own booking portal, several cards pay far more, and this is the part most miles guides skip. Citi PremierMiles pays an elevated rate on hotels booked through Kaligo and on Agoda; UOB PRVI Miles and DBS Altitude pay boosted rates on Agoda and Expedia booked through the right links. The exact multiplier shifts with each bank's running promotion, so the number you see today may differ next quarter.
The trap is that the portal price is sometimes higher than booking direct, which quietly eats the extra miles. Before you route a hotel through a bonus portal, price the same room on the hotel's own site. If the portal is S$40 dearer on a S$400 room, the few thousand extra miles you earn are worth roughly S$30 to S$60, so the gain is marginal once you account for the markup and the loss of hotel loyalty points and status credit. Treat portal bonuses as a tie-breaker, not a reason to overpay.
For the flights themselves, paying for an air ticket on a miles card earns the card's normal travel or overseas rate, not a special portal rate, unless the airline sells through a bank portal. If you fly Singapore Airlines often, an SIA co-brand card can add a small bonus on tickets bought from the airline. Our guide to travel cards for booking flights and hotels breaks down which portal pays most for each booking type.
Welcome offers are how banks win new miles customers, and the numbers look large: tens of thousands of bonus miles for a new card. They are real, but they almost always require a minimum spend inside a window, often a few thousand dollars across the first two or three months, sometimes with the annual fee charged up front. The bonus only pays off if you would have spent that money anyway.
Do the maths the boring way. If a card offers a bonus for S$5,000 of spend in 90 days, ask whether you have S$5,000 of genuine, payable-in-full spending in that window. Manufacturing spend you do not need, or worse carrying the balance, destroys the value instantly, because one month of interest at the bank rate of roughly 27 to 29 percent a year on that S$5,000 is more than the bonus miles are worth. The annual fee, if not waived, also comes off the top.
Sign-up offers move constantly, so a figure printed in any guide is stale within weeks. Check the live promotion on the issuer's page before applying, and see our running list at miles card promotions and the latest credit card promotions. Treat the welcome bonus as a one-off sweetener, then judge the card on its ongoing earn rate, because you will hold it for years and use the bonus once.
Here are the main miles cards side by side, with the figures that decide which one to reach for. Rates and fees were checked against issuer and review sources current as of mid-2026; banks change bonus categories and caps often, so confirm on the issuer's page before applying.
| Card | Local mpd | Overseas mpd | Bonus rate | Monthly cap | Annual fee (incl GST) | Min income (SC/PR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSBC Revolution | 0.4 base | 0.4 base | 4 mpd online + contactless | ~S$1,000 | None | S$30k (with S$50k TRB) / S$65k |
| Citi Rewards | 0.4 base | 0.4 base | 4 mpd online + dept stores | ~S$1,000 | S$196.20 | S$30,000 |
| DBS Woman's World | 0.4 base | 1.2 | 4 mpd all online | ~S$1,000 | S$196.20 (spend waiver ends Aug 2026) | S$30,000 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 | 2.4 (3 in ID/MY/TH/VN) | n.a. | Uncapped base | S$261.60 (1st yr waived) | S$30,000 |
| Citi PremierMiles | 1.2 | 2.2 | n.a. | Uncapped base | S$196.20 | S$30,000 |
| DBS Altitude | 1.3 | 2.2 | n.a. | Uncapped base | S$196.20 (waiver ends Aug 2026) | S$30,000 |
| HSBC TravelOne | 1.2 | 2.4 | Earned as HSBC points, transferable to airlines | Uncapped base | S$196.20 (waived yr 2+ on S$25k spend) | S$30k (with S$50k TRB) / S$65k |
| Amex KrisFlyer Ascend | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2 mpd SIA/Scoot, KrisShop, Pelago | n.a. | S$397.85 | Not published (~S$50k historically) |
A KrisFlyer mile is not worth a fixed amount. Redeemed against an economy flight it is worth roughly 1.5 to 2 cents; The MileLion values a mile at about 1.7 cents on average. Redeemed for premium-cabin long-haul flights it can stretch past 3 cents, and burned on retail through Kris+ or KrisShop it drops to about 1 cent or less. So aim miles at flights, not shopping.
Put numbers on it. At 4 mpd, S$1,000 of online spend earns 4,000 miles, worth about S$60 to S$80 toward flights. The same S$1,000 on a 1.4 mpd card earns 1,400 miles, worth roughly S$21 to S$28. The gap between a 4 mpd card and a base card on capped spend is real, which is why the order of operations matters: fill your 4 mpd caps first, then let everything else fall to the no-cap card.
Now the part that decides whether any of this is worth doing. Singapore card interest runs around 27 to 29 percent a year at the major banks, charged from the statement date if you do not pay in full. One month of interest on a S$1,000 balance is roughly S$23, which is more than the miles you earned on that S$1,000 are worth at almost any redemption. Carry a balance even occasionally and a miles card is a losing trade. If you cannot clear the statement every month, a high-interest savings account or paying down the debt beats chasing miles. Run your own numbers with the compound interest calculator.
| Redemption | Value per mile (approx) | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Kris+ / KrisShop retail | ~1 cent or less | The worst use; you are spending miles like cash at a poor rate |
| Economy award flight | ~1.5 to 2 cents | The everyday benchmark most people get |
| Premium economy long-haul | ~2 to 3 cents | A noticeable step up if you would have paid for the cabin |
| Business or first long-haul | ~3 cents and up | Where miles stretch furthest, since cash fares are very high |
Only the airline co-brand cards (the KrisFlyer-branded UOB and American Express cards) earn KrisFlyer miles directly. Every other card earns the bank's own currency first: DBS Points, Citi ThankYou points, UOB UNI$, HSBC points, OCBC points or Standard Chartered points. You hold those, then transfer a block to KrisFlyer when you want to book. The transfer is one-way and usually carries a small one-time fee per conversion, so check your bank's current figure before transferring.
Two things bite people here. First, banks transfer in fixed blocks, not single points, so a few hundred leftover points can sit stranded below the minimum block. Second, the bank points themselves can expire even when the eventual KrisFlyer miles would not. DBS Points and Citi Miles do not expire while the card is active, which is the appeal of those programmes, but several other banks' points lapse after a set period if you do not convert them. So the safe rule is to keep spend on a non-expiring programme, or transfer to KrisFlyer only when you are close to booking, since a KrisFlyer mile then starts its own three-year clock.
There is also a timing question many miss: once points become KrisFlyer miles they expire three years after crediting, so converting early just to tidy your accounts can waste them if you are not booking soon. We cover when an early transfer pays off, including bonus-conversion windows, in should you convert your bank points for bonus miles.
Most people who take miles seriously do not hunt for one perfect card, because no card wins every category. They run a small stack and route each purchase to the card that pays most for it. A workable 2026 setup looks like this.
Card one is your 4 mpd online card: HSBC Revolution (no fee) or Citi Rewards. Put online shopping, subscriptions and contactless on it until you hit the roughly S$1,000 cap. Card two is your overseas card: UOB PRVI Miles or Citi PremierMiles for foreign-currency trips, ideally fed through Amaze to cut the FX cost. Card three, optional, is your no-cap workhorse, often the same UOB PRVI Miles, for big local bills that would overshoot the online cap anyway.
Two habits matter more than the card choice. First, watch the caps: a 4 mpd card past its cap earns the same 0.4 mpd as leaving the card at home, so know your reset date (calendar month versus statement month differs by card). Second, do not let annual fees quietly eat your miles. Several cards waive the first-year fee and waive later years on a spend target or a phone call, so put a reminder to review or ask the bank to waive the fee before each renewal. If you are new to cards entirely, our general best credit cards guide covers cashback options that may suit you better than miles.
There isn't one. For online and contactless spend in Singapore dollars, a 4-mpd card like the HSBC Revolution (no annual fee) or Citi Rewards wins up to its ~S$1,000 monthly cap. For overseas foreign-currency spend, the UOB PRVI Miles (2.4 mpd, 3 mpd in Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/Vietnam) or Citi PremierMiles (2.2 mpd) earns more. For uncapped general local spend, the UOB PRVI Miles at 1.4 mpd is the default. Most miles chasers hold two or three to cover all three cases.
Roughly 1.5 to 2 cents (SGD) when redeemed against economy flights, and more (sometimes past 3 cents) for premium long-haul cabins. Burned on retail through Kris+ or KrisShop it drops to about 1 cent or less. To get value, redeem for award flights, not shopping. The MileLion uses an average value of about 1.7 cents.
Yes. KrisFlyer miles expire three years after the month they are credited, regardless of activity. You can pay to extend expiring miles for six months at a cost of 1,200 miles or USD12 per 10,000 miles (or part thereof); KrisFlyer Elite Silver and Elite Gold members pay the same fee but get a full year instead, per Singapore Airlines' published terms. Some card programmes, such as Citi Miles (from the Citi PremierMiles card) and DBS Points, do not expire while the card is active, so you control when you transfer them to KrisFlyer.
Often not. If you fly rarely, a cashback card or a high-interest savings account gives certain, immediate value with no expiry risk, while miles only pay off when you redeem for flights. Miles cards suit people who spend enough to fill the bonus caps, pay in full every month, and fly enough to burn the miles within three years.
Only if the overseas earn rate clears the fee. At 2.4 mpd a S$1,000 foreign charge earns about S$36 to S$48 of miles, while the ~3.25 percent FX fee costs S$32.50, so the net is thin. Routing the charge through a multi-currency card like Instarem Amaze cuts the FX cost to about 0.5 percent while still earning miles on a linked card, which usually beats paying the full bank FX fee.
Spend past the cap earns the card's base rate, usually about 0.4 mpd, which is roughly a tenth of the 4 mpd bonus. That's why a single high-cap card isn't enough: once you max its ~S$1,000 bonus, you either switch to another 4 mpd card or move large spend to an uncapped card like the UOB PRVI Miles at 1.4 mpd. Caps reset by calendar month or statement month depending on the card.
Pick a no-cap workhorse and accept that you leave some miles on the table. The UOB PRVI Miles is the common single-card choice: 1.4 mpd on everything local, 2.4 mpd overseas (3 mpd in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam), no monthly cap to track. If most of your spend is online, the HSBC Revolution at 4 mpd with no annual fee is the better solo card, as long as you stay near its ~S$1,000 monthly cap and do not have large uncapped bills. One card is simpler and still earns; two or three cards just squeeze more from each spend category.
Unless you hold a KrisFlyer co-brand card, your card earns the bank's own points first (DBS Points, Citi ThankYou, UOB UNI$, HSBC points and so on). You log in and transfer a block of points to KrisFlyer, usually for a small one-time fee, and the miles land in your KrisFlyer account within a day or two. Banks transfer in fixed blocks, so small point balances can be stranded, and some banks' points expire if you do not convert them in time. Transfer only when you are close to booking, because a KrisFlyer mile then begins its own three-year expiry.
Usually not, unless your spending is heavily tied to Singapore Airlines. Co-brand cards (the KrisFlyer-branded UOB and Amex cards) earn KrisFlyer miles directly with no conversion step or fee, and add small bonuses on SIA, Scoot and KrisShop spend. But their everyday earn rates are modest, around 1.2 mpd on general spend. A general miles card like the UOB PRVI Miles earns more per dollar and lets you choose when to convert, while keeping the option to send points to other airlines. Co-brand cards suit frequent SIA flyers who value the direct earning and airline perks over the higher everyday rate.
Most mainstream miles cards need S$30,000 a year for Singapore citizens and PRs, including the UOB PRVI Miles, Citi PremierMiles, DBS Altitude and Citi Rewards. The HSBC Revolution accepts S$30,000 if you hold at least S$50,000 in Total Relationship Balance, otherwise S$65,000. Premium cards sit higher: American Express no longer publishes a fixed minimum income for the KrisFlyer Ascend (historically around S$50,000), and the UOB Visa Infinite and DBS Vantage are pitched at the roughly S$120,000 tier, but they earn similar miles rates to the cheaper cards. Confirm the current requirement on each issuer's application page before applying.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.