The Visa Signature CIMB card is the rare Singapore cashback card that charges no annual fee for life and still advertises 10% back. The headline is real, but it only applies to five spend categories, and only once you have posted at least S$800 in a statement month. Miss that floor and your rate quietly drops to 0.2%. Hit it and you are still capped at S$100 a month, with each category limited to S$20. This guide shows the actual maths, the eligibility numbers (verified against CIMB's own terms as of June 2026), and the exact spender it suits, so you can decide before you apply rather than after your first statement disappoints.
CIMB markets this as a 10% cashback card, and the rate is genuine, but the structure matters more than the number. The 10% is made of two parts: a 0.2% base rebate credited in the same statement month, plus an extra 9.8% bonus credited the following month once you clear the spend rule. On everything outside the five bonus categories, you earn a flat 0.2% with no cap and no minimum.
The five categories that earn the boosted rate are beauty and wellness, online shopping, groceries, pet shops and veterinary services, and cruises. These are defined by merchant category code (MCC), so where you pay decides what you earn. A facial at a registered personal-care merchant qualifies; the same spend at a department store beauty counter usually will not, because the store's MCC is a department store, not a cosmetics outlet.
For the wider menu of cashback cards in Singapore and how flat-rate versus category cards differ, our guide to cashback credit cards breaks down the trade-offs. The CIMB sits firmly in the category-bonus camp.
Two limits decide whether this card is worth carrying. First, the 9.8% bonus only kicks in once you post a minimum of S$800 in a statement month. That S$800 is your total qualifying spend, not just spend inside the five categories, but several transaction types are excluded from counting toward it, including payments to online trading platforms and brokerages.
Second, the bonus is capped two ways at once: S$100 total per statement month, and up to S$20 per category. So you cannot pour S$1,000 of groceries through and collect S$100 from a single category. To max out the full S$100, you need meaningful spend spread across all five categories, S$200 each at 10% hits the S$20 ceiling per category.
Anything above the per-category cap, or any spend after you hit S$100 for the month, reverts to the 0.2% base rate. That is the part the headline rate hides.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Bonus rate | 10% (0.2% base + 9.8% bonus) |
| Bonus categories | Beauty & wellness, online shopping, groceries, pet & vet, cruises |
| Minimum spend to earn bonus | S$800 posted per statement month |
| Cap per category | S$20 |
| Total monthly cashback cap | S$100 |
| Base rate (all other spend) | 0.2%, no cap, no minimum |
| Annual fee | None, for life |
| Foreign currency transaction fee | Around 3% (as of June 2026) |
Headline rates are easy; effective rates are what land in your account. Work it from the cap backward. The most you can earn in bonus is S$100 a month, which is S$1,200 a year, with zero annual fee dragging it down. To get there you need to spend roughly S$200 in each of the five categories every month, S$1,000 of qualifying category spend, and clear the S$800 floor (which the same spend does).
If your life only fits two or three of those categories, your ceiling drops. A household that spends S$200 on groceries, S$200 online, and S$200 on beauty earns S$60 a month, S$720 a year, still strong for a free card. But pet and cruise spend is lumpy for most people, so treating the S$1,200 figure as your real return is optimistic.
The base 0.2% is deliberately weak, a nudge to keep your non-category spend on a different card. Pairing this with a flat-rate cashback card for everything else is the standard move; see how the flat-rate options stack up in our cashback card comparison. To sanity-check whether the rebate is worth the admin, drop your category spend into the personal budget calculator and read the cashback as a percentage of total outgoings.
The income bar is lower than most banks. Singaporeans and permanent residents need a minimum annual income of S$30,000; foreigners need S$45,000. If you do not meet the income test, CIMB lets you qualify by placing a fixed deposit of at least S$10,000 as collateral, which is how many students and new earners get approved.
Principal applicants must be 21 to 70 years old, and supplementary cardholders at least 18. Foreigners cannot apply as principal cardholders but can hold a supplementary card on someone else's account with a valid passport. Supplementary cards are free, which matters because their spend counts toward the same S$800 and S$100 caps on the principal account.
Watch the foreign currency transaction fee of around 3% as of June 2026; this is a cashback card built for local category spend, not an overseas-travel card. If travel rewards are your goal, a miles card fits better, and our balance transfer glossary entry is worth reading if you are carrying a balance you should clear before chasing any rebate.
The closest rivals are general cashback cards that pay a flat rebate without category hunting. The CIMB wins on raw category rate and on never charging a fee, but it loses on flexibility because spend outside its five categories earns almost nothing. The right pick depends on whether your spending clusters into its categories or spreads everywhere.
The table below compares the headline mechanics. Figures are issuer-published and current as of June 2026; rates and caps change often, so verify on each bank's page before applying.
| Card | Top rate | Minimum spend | Monthly cap | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIMB Visa Signature | 10% on 5 categories | S$800 | S$100 | None, for life |
| UOB One | Up to ~5% (tiered) | S$500 / S$1,000 / S$2,000 | Quarterly rebate to ~S$300/qtr | Waivable |
| UOB Absolute (flat) | 1.7% on almost all spend | None | No cap | Waivable |
| Typical category cashback card | 6-8% on chosen categories | S$600-S$800 | S$60-S$80 | Often waivable |
Get it if your monthly spend already lands in groceries, online shopping, beauty, or pet care, and you can clear S$800 a month without forcing purchases. Families, pet owners, and frequent online shoppers extract the most. The zero annual fee means it costs nothing to keep as a category card even in months you do not hit the floor.
Skip it, or pair it, if your spend is spread thin across dining, transport, and bills, where a flat-rate card pays more per dollar. Also skip it as a travel card: the roughly 3% foreign currency fee erases the 0.2% you would earn abroad. Anyone carrying a revolving balance should fix that first, since card interest near 27% per year dwarfs any cashback. Our credit score guide explains how application and repayment behaviour feed your score before you add another card.
Yes, but only on five categories (beauty and wellness, online shopping, groceries, pet and vet, cruises) and only after you post at least S$800 in a statement month. The bonus is capped at S$100 total per month and S$20 per category; all other spend earns just 0.2%.
You must post a minimum of S$800 in qualifying spend within the same statement month to trigger the 9.8% bonus on top of the 0.2% base. Certain transactions, such as payments to online brokerages, are excluded from this S$800 calculation.
No. The card has no annual fee for life on both principal and supplementary cards, which is unusual in Singapore. That makes it cheap to keep purely as a category cashback card even in months when you do not reach the S$800 spend floor.
Singaporeans and PRs need a minimum annual income of S$30,000, while foreigners need S$45,000. If you do not meet the income requirement, you can still qualify by placing a fixed deposit of at least S$10,000 with CIMB as collateral.
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.