If you want one card that earns well without much fuss, the HSBC Revolution is the strongest all-round rewards card in Singapore in 2026: no annual fee for life, 4 miles per dollar (or up to 8 mpd if you bank with HSBC) on online and contactless spend, capped at S$1,000 a month. For pure cashback the UOB One pays a tiered quarterly rebate up to about 3.33 percent if you can hit S$2,000 a month across 10 transactions, and the Standard Chartered Smart pays up to 10 percent uncapped on fast food, streaming and transport. But the right card depends entirely on what you spend on and whether you fly. This guide gives you the verified 2026 earn rates, caps, fees and income rules so you can match a card to your spending rather than chase a headline number.
Almost every consumer card in Singapore is a rewards card of some kind. The label covers three reward currencies: cashback paid as a statement credit, air miles you redeem for flights, and the bank's own points that you can convert to either. A miles card is just a rewards card whose points are pegged to an airline programme, so the real question is not cashback versus rewards but which currency suits how you spend and travel.
The number a card advertises, whether it is 4 mpd or 10 percent cashback, is the ceiling. It applies only to specific categories, up to a monthly cap, and often only after a minimum spend. Two people holding the same card can earn very different returns depending on whether they read the fine print. Before comparing cards, map three months of spending into buckets such as dining, groceries, transport, online shopping and foreign spend. The category that dominates is the one your card should reward. The personal budget calculator sorts your outgoings into those same buckets.
For the full framework on choosing across cashback, miles and points rather than a ranked list, see the guide on the best credit card in Singapore. This article focuses on the rewards cards worth shortlisting in 2026 and exactly what each one pays.
These are the cards with the strongest published earn rates for everyday spending as of mid-2026, with verified rates, caps, fees and income rules. Rates and promotions change often, so confirm the current terms on each issuer's own page before you apply. All annual fees below include 9 percent GST.
| Card | Top earn rate | Bonus cap | Annual fee | Min. income (SC/PR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSBC Revolution | 4 mpd (8 mpd with HSBC EGA) on online + contactless | S$1,000/mth (S$1,200 enhanced) | Free for life | S$30,000 |
| Citi Rewards | 4 mpd (10X points) on shopping + online | 9,000 bonus pts/statement mth | S$196.20 (1st yr waived) | S$30,000 |
| OCBC Rewards | 4 mpd on online + retail (6 mpd promo at select platforms) | S$1,110/mth at 4 mpd | S$196.20 (1st 2 yrs waived) | S$30,000 |
| DBS Woman's World | 4 mpd (10X DBS Points) on online | S$1,000/mth | S$196.20 (1st yr waived) | S$80,000 |
| UOB Lady's | 4 mpd on one self-chosen category (of 7) | S$1,000/mth | S$196.20 (1st yr waived) | S$30,000 |
| UOB One | Up to ~3.33% cashback + bonus categories | S$200/quarter base + S$120/mth bonus | S$196.20 (1st yr waived) | S$30,000 |
| Standard Chartered Smart | 10% on fast food, streaming, transport | Uncapped on bonus categories | S$99.19 (1st yr waived) | S$30,000 |
Since 1 April 2026 the HSBC Revolution earns 4 miles per dollar (10X reward points) on online and contactless spend across dining, shopping, transport, membership clubs and travel, with no annual fee on the principal or supplementary cards, ever. That earn rate is now permanent rather than promotional, which is what makes it the easy pick for a single no-fuss card. The base rate on everything else is 0.4 mpd.
The bonus is capped at S$1,000 of qualifying spend per calendar month, which works out to 4,000 miles a month at the 4 mpd rate. If you hold an HSBC Everyday Global Account and keep an average daily balance of at least S$50,000 in it for the month, your earn rate on bonus categories jumps to 8 mpd and the cap rises to S$1,200. Most people will not park that much cash, so treat 4 mpd as the realistic number.
The income requirement is S$30,000 a year for Singaporeans and PRs (with a S$50,000 total relationship balance), or S$65,000 a year without the balance requirement. HSBC reward points are valid for 37 months, and there is a one-time S$42.80 fee when you first enrol to transfer points to an airline programme, with a minimum transfer of 25,000 points (10,000 miles).
Both of these earn 4 mpd (10X points or 15 OCBC dollars) on shopping, and both suit people whose spending is heavy on retail and e-commerce rather than dining or transport.
The Citi Rewards card pays 10X points, equivalent to 4 mpd, on department stores and online shopping at eligible retailers covering bags, clothes, shoes and accessories. Bonus points are capped at 9,000 per statement month, which is roughly S$1,000 of qualifying spend. Hotels booked directly and airline tickets earn only the standard 1X. The annual fee is S$196.20 with the first year waived, and the income requirement is S$30,000 for Singaporeans and PRs or S$42,000 for foreigners.
The OCBC Rewards card earns 4 mpd on the first S$1,110 of online and retail spend each calendar month, then drops to 0.4 mpd above that. Until 30 June 2026 it runs an upsized promotion of 6 mpd (15 OCBC dollars per dollar) at Watsons, Lazada, Shopee, Taobao and TikTok Shop, capped at S$1,000 a month. The annual fee is S$196.20, waived for the first two years and thereafter waived automatically on at least S$10,000 of annual spend. Income requirement is S$30,000 for Singaporeans and PRs or S$45,000 for foreigners.
Despite the name, the DBS Woman's World card is open to all genders. It earns 4 mpd (10 DBS Points per S$5) on online spend, local or overseas, on the first S$1,000 charged per calendar month. The DBS Woman's World card has paid this rate since the cap was trimmed from S$1,500 to S$1,000 in August 2025. The base rate is 0.4 mpd on general local spend and 1.2 mpd on foreign-currency spend.
The catch is the income bar: S$80,000 a year, well above the S$30,000 floor on most rewards cards. The annual fee is S$196.20 with the first year free. There has been a fee waiver on at least S$25,000 of annual spend, but that waiver is ending from 1 August 2026, so budget for the fee from your second year. DBS Points expire annually, 12 months from the date they are earned, so redeem or convert them before they lapse.
Against the HSBC Revolution it earns the same 4 mpd on the same S$1,000 cap, but only on online spend (not contactless), charges a fee where HSBC does not, and demands far higher income. For most people the Revolution is the better version of the same idea unless you specifically want DBS Points in the same ecosystem as a DBS Altitude or other DBS miles card.
The UOB Lady's card is the one rewards card here that lets you point the bonus rate at whatever you spend most on. You pick one preferred category out of seven, and that category earns 4 miles per dollar (10X UNI$ per S$5), with everything else at the 0.4 mpd base. Despite the name, the card is open to all genders.
The seven categories are dining, travel, fashion, beauty and wellness, family, transport and entertainment. You can switch your chosen category once a quarter through the UOB app, so you can move the bonus to follow a holiday quarter, a wedding-shopping quarter or a school-fees quarter. The 4 mpd rate is capped at S$1,000 of spend in your chosen category each calendar month, the same ceiling as the HSBC Revolution. UNI$ convert to airline miles at UNI$1 to 2 miles, with a per-programme conversion fee of about S$25.
The annual fee is S$196.20 with the first year waived, and the income requirement is S$30,000 for Singaporeans and PRs or S$40,000 for foreigners. The Lady's card earns its place when your spending is lopsided towards a single non-online category that the HSBC Revolution does not reward as well, such as in-store dining or beauty. If your spend is mostly online or contactless, the fee-free Revolution still wins on the same 4 mpd and the same cap.
If you would rather have cash back than miles you may or may not redeem, these two are the cashback cards to weigh.
The UOB One pays a tiered quarterly cashback based on minimum monthly spend across the quarter, and you must make at least 10 transactions each statement month to qualify. Spend at least S$600 a month and you get S$60 a quarter; S$1,000 a month gets S$100; S$2,000 a month gets S$200, which is the top base rate of about 3.33 percent. On top of that there is bonus cashback on Grab, McDonald's, Shopee, SimplyGo, groceries, SP utilities and Shell, capped at S$120 a month, so the headline rate on those categories runs higher. The annual fee is S$196.20, waived the first year and thereafter on at least three transactions a month. Income requirement is S$30,000.
The Standard Chartered Smart pays up to 10 percent cashback, uncapped, on three categories: fast food, streaming and SimplyGo transport (plus EV charging), but only at named merchants such as McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Netflix, Spotify and Disney+, and only when charged in SGD. The rate is tiered by monthly spend: under S$800 a month earns the 0.46 mpd base only; S$800 to S$1,499 earns 8 percent on bonus categories; S$1,500 and above earns the full 10 percent. Everything else earns about 1 percent. The annual fee is S$99.19, waived the first year and on at least S$10,000 of annual spend thereafter. Income requirement is S$30,000.
Cashback is easy to value because a dollar back is worth a dollar. Miles are only worth chasing if you can realistically value each mile at about 2 cents or more, which is the rough break-even against a 2 percent cashback card. Whether you clear that bar depends entirely on how you redeem.
Redeemed for economy flights, a KrisFlyer mile is typically worth around 1 to 1.5 cents, so a 4 mpd card delivers roughly 4 to 6 cents per dollar spent. Redeemed for business or first-class seats, the same mile can be worth 3 to 6 cents, which is where miles cards pull clearly ahead of cashback. Let miles expire and they are worth nothing, the most common way people lose on a miles card.
The honest rule: if you fly at least once or twice a year and will actually redeem, especially in premium cabins, a 4 mpd card like the HSBC Revolution beats cashback on the same spend. If you fly rarely or hate tracking expiry dates, take the cashback on the UOB One or the uncapped SC Smart instead. Run your own number: take your monthly bonus-category spend, apply the earn rate up to the cap, value any miles at your realistic redemption rate, subtract the annual fee, and compare. That figure is what the card is worth to you, not the headline.
Most rewards cards launch with a sign-up bonus, paid through the bank or an aggregator such as SingSaver or HeyMax: cash by PayNow, gift cards, gadgets, or a block of bonus miles. These offers move every month and are often the largest single return a card pays in its first year, so they are worth factoring into your choice rather than ignoring.
The catch is the qualifying condition. A welcome offer usually needs a minimum spend, often S$500 to S$1,000 within the first one or two months, sometimes paired with a card-approval cut-off date. The bonus is only worth it if you would have spent that money anyway. Manufacturing spend to hit the threshold, or applying for a card you do not otherwise want, turns a S$300 bonus into a net loss the moment you carry a balance or pay a fee you cannot waive.
Treat the welcome offer as a tie-breaker, not the deciding factor. Pick the card whose ongoing earn rate fits your spending first, then take whichever welcome offer is live when you apply. Because the figures change so often, this article does not quote specific bonus amounts; check the current promotion before you apply. The running list sits in the guide on the best credit card promotions in Singapore.
Almost every Singapore rewards card charges a foreign transaction fee on overseas and foreign-currency spend, including purchases from overseas-based online merchants billed in SGD. The standard fee is about 3.25 percent: roughly a 1 percent card-network charge (Visa or Mastercard) plus around 2.25 percent kept by the bank. That fee applies to the transaction amount before any rewards, so on a 4 mpd card the fee usually outweighs the miles you earn on the same spend.
This matters more on rewards cards than people expect, because the headline earn rate is quoted in miles or cashback while the fee is a flat percentage off the top. A purchase abroad that earns you roughly 1.6 cents of value at 4 mpd (valuing a mile near 0.4 cents per mpd point) still costs you 3.25 cents in fees, so you go backwards on foreign spend unless the card waives the fee.
If you spend overseas often, pair your local rewards card with a card or account that charges no foreign-currency fee, and put all overseas and foreign-currency transactions on that second card. Several no-FX-fee cards and multi-currency accounts now exist for exactly this. Keep your 4 mpd rewards card for local online and contactless spend, where the fee never applies.
Three terms turn a headline rate into your actual return, all in the fine print.
Minimum spend is the amount you must charge before the bonus rate applies at all. The SC Smart pays nothing extra under S$800 a month; the UOB One needs S$600, S$1,000 or S$2,000 depending on the tier you want, plus 10 transactions. Fall short and you drop to a base rate as low as 0.4 mpd or 0.46 mpd. The monthly cap then limits how much bonus you can earn: S$1,000 of qualifying spend on the HSBC Revolution, OCBC Rewards and DBS Woman's World, 9,000 bonus points on Citi Rewards, S$120 of bonus cashback a month on the UOB One. Spend past the cap and you earn only the base rate.
Annual fees range from free for life (HSBC Revolution) to S$196.20 (most of the rest). Most fees are waivable, either automatically on a spend threshold or by calling the bank to ask. A short call requesting a waiver works more often than people expect, and you can usually do it once a year when the fee is charged. The guide on how to waive your credit card annual fee covers the script. If the bank refuses and your rewards do not clear the fee, a no-fee card earning slightly less can come out ahead.
The income and credit-limit rules are set by MAS and apply across every bank. To hold a principal card you must be at least 21, and Singaporeans and PRs aged 55 and below need a minimum annual income of S$30,000 (the DBS Woman's World is the outlier at S$80,000). Foreigners are set higher by each bank, commonly around S$40,000 and up; for the cards here it is S$42,000 (Citi Rewards) and S$45,000 (OCBC Rewards). Your credit limit is capped at 2 times monthly income up to S$30,000 of annual income, 4 times from S$30,000 to S$120,000, and uncapped above that. Across all banks combined, interest-bearing unsecured borrowing cannot exceed 12 times your monthly income.
No rewards card is worth anything if you carry a balance. Outstanding balances are charged roughly 25 to 29 percent a year, which dwarfs any cashback or miles, so one month of revolving debt can wipe out a year of rewards. Pay the full statement balance within the grace period of about 20 to 25 days and you pay no interest. The minimum payment, typically 3 to 5 percent of the balance, is a trap, not a target, and late payment usually triggers a fee around S$100.
Set up a GIRO arrangement to pay the full statement balance automatically each month. That removes the only real downside of a rewards card. Re-check your card choice once a year, because both your spending and the offers change.
For an all-round rewards card, the HSBC Revolution is the strongest pick: no annual fee for life and 4 miles per dollar on online and contactless spend up to S$1,000 a month (8 mpd if you keep S$50,000 in an HSBC Everyday Global Account). The best card for you, though, depends on whether you want miles or cashback and which category you spend the most on.
Several cards pay 4 mpd on bonus categories: HSBC Revolution and OCBC Rewards on online and contactless or retail spend, Citi Rewards on shopping, and DBS Woman's World on online spend. HSBC Revolution can reach 8 mpd if you maintain a S$50,000 balance in an HSBC Everyday Global Account, and OCBC runs a 6 mpd promotion at Watsons, Shopee, Lazada, Taobao and TikTok Shop until 30 June 2026.
Cashback is simpler because a dollar back is always worth a dollar, which suits people who do not travel much. Miles are worth chasing only if you can value each mile at about 2 cents or more, which generally needs you to fly at least once or twice a year and redeem well, especially in premium cabins. Miles that expire unused are worth nothing.
Singaporeans and PRs aged 55 and below generally need S$30,000 a year, and you must be at least 21 for a principal card. Foreigners are set higher by each bank, commonly around S$40,000 and up (for example S$42,000 on the Citi Rewards and S$45,000 on the OCBC Rewards). The DBS Woman's World card is the outlier, requiring S$80,000 a year.
It varies. The HSBC Revolution has no annual fee for life. Most others charge around S$196.20 (or S$99.19 for the SC Smart), usually with a first-year waiver and often an automatic waiver on a spend threshold such as S$10,000 a year. You can also call the bank to request a waiver, which works more often than people expect.
Most 4 mpd cards cap bonus earning at around S$1,000 of qualifying spend a month: HSBC Revolution, OCBC Rewards (S$1,110 at 4 mpd) and DBS Woman's World. Citi Rewards caps bonus points at 9,000 per statement month, and the UOB One caps bonus cashback at S$120 a month. Spend past the cap and you earn only the base rate, often 0.4 mpd.
Most do, and the window varies by issuer. DBS Points expire 12 months after they are earned, HSBC reward points last 37 months, and several airline programmes such as KrisFlyer expire miles after about three years. Cashback is usually credited to your statement and does not expire once paid. Check your card's expiry rule and redeem or convert points before they lapse, since expired points are worth nothing.
No. Cashback, miles and points earned on personal spending are treated as a rebate or discount, not income, so they are not taxable in Singapore. Rewards tied to business spending claimed against business expenses can be a different matter, so check with IRAS or an accountant if you run the card through a business.
Often yes, but only if you would hit the qualifying spend anyway. Sign-up bonuses (cash, vouchers, gadgets or bonus miles) are usually a card's biggest first-year return, but they need a minimum spend, commonly S$500 to S$1,000 in the first month or two, sometimes with an approval cut-off date. Pick the card whose ongoing earn rate fits your spending first, then take whatever offer is live when you apply rather than chasing a card you would not otherwise want.
Yes, but most Singapore bank cards charge a foreign transaction fee of up to about 3.25 percent on overseas and foreign-currency transactions, which can outweigh the rewards earned. Frequent overseas spenders should compare cards with lower or zero foreign fees, or pair a rewards card for local spend with a multi-currency card for foreign spend.
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.