Keep the Change

Before we get into the good stuff, here’s the tea: this is our strategy, built to fit our spending habits. We’re all about using specialized spending cards to get the most bang for our buck. If you’re a newbie to the credit card scene, keep reading — we’ll spill a beginner-friendly plan at the end!

Just a heads-up: exclusions apply. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all guide, and every card has its own fine print. Different banks define categories in their own quirky ways, so always check the details.

Now, let’s get into how we rack up major miles (bonus tip: always offer to pay the bill and then get paid back later. Easy points, baby!)

Perks and quirks

• Dining and Food: We use the UOB Lady’s Card for dining, which contributes to hitting the monthly minimum target spend of S$500 to receive bonus interest for the UOB One account.
• Public Transport: UOB One Card for SimplyGo transactions with up to 10% cashback, which also goes toward that S$500 spend goal.
• Groceries: UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (UOB PPV) is our go-to, but you gotta dodge UOB$ merchants like BreadTalk, Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian, and Starbucks. Remember to add the card to your mobile wallet and leave the physical card at home. For months where we’re sure of spending more than S$1,000, we switch it up to the UOB Visa Signature.
• Telco: When it comes to telco bills, we use Citi Rewards or DBS Women’s World Mastercard (DBS WWMC), but make sure they aren’t set as recurring payments to keep those points rolling in.
• Online Shopping: Citi Rewards Card covers almost everything online except travel, while DBS WWMC is your MVP for all categories. Just a heads-up: DBS points expire in one year, so don’t sleep on cashing them out! For travel expenses that Citi Rewards doesn’t cover, DBS WWMC has your back.
• Flights and Accommodation: If the DBS WWMC isn’t maxed out for the month yet, we use it to get 4 miles per dollar (mpd). If we’re booking SQ/Scoot flights or going through third-party sites like Agoda, Airbnb, Booking.com, etc, the UOB KrisFlyer is our ride-or-die for 3 mpd with no cap. For paying directly at hotels, we use UOB PPV (if under S$1,110) or UOB Visa Signature (if over S$1,000 but under S$2,000).
  • Bonus tip: for Agoda, there is a special promo for OCBC 90°N cardholders which offers up to 7 mpd via their special Agoda site. Read more about it here. (Fun fact: we found that the rates were even cheaper on the dedicated site than the main Agoda website when booking accoms for our South Korea trip!)
• Petrol: We are making use of a promotional discount offered to AMEX Platinum cardholders to enjoy 21% off our fuel at SPC.
• Online Subscriptions: AMEX Platinum comes in clutch again for our Netflix subscription with its S$17 monthly entertainment credit. We use Citi Rewards for other online subscriptions like Spotify, Google storage, etc.

Simple Beginner-Friendly 2 plus 1 Card Strategy

If you’re just getting your feet wet, here’s a no-fuss strategy. This combination covers all spending categories without overwhelming you with too many options.

And that’s a wrap on our credit card strategy for 2024! It’s all about finessing the system to hit your miles targets – no cap.

Keep the Change

Tine & Hao