Maximise Savings With The Best Cashback Credit Cards For Your Big Expenses

4 May 2020

Singaporeans are always on the look out for the best cashback credit card to optimise their card spend. But many cashback cards have a minimum spend criteria and there's only so much shopping, dining or travelling you can spend on each month. Plus there are a number of big payments you can't pay with your credit card, such as rent, insurance premiums or school fees. It is often frustrating to the cardholder that they can't earn cashback on these big bills – but CardUp's here to help!

A CardUp fee is charged to enable card payments in places where you couldn’t use your card before, but the value of cashback earned can far outweigh this fee.

If you are still unsure if the fee is worth it, read on to see how you can save almost $700 annually on your rent, insurance and parking payment- amounting to over $3,200 of monthly expenses!

But first, let us introduce 4 of the best cashback credit cards that work well with your CardUp spend. 

1. UOB ONE Card

Already known as one of the best cashback credit cards in the market, it has a 3-tier spend system that rewards 3 levels of cashback to the cardholder.

Based on a spend of S$500 or S$1,000 monthly made over 5 or more purchases, cardholders enjoy up to 3.33% cashback for each qualifying quarter. This gives a quarterly cashback amount of S$50 or S$100 respectively.

Those who spend $2,000 a month made over 5 or more purchases enjoy a maximum of 5% cashback for each qualifying quarter, giving a quarterly cashback amount of S$300.

While the various levels of cashback might be confusing to some, it can be extremely useful for those who need to pay a large bill on a monthly basis and have no problems meeting the minimum spend to earn the maximum amount of cashback.

2. Bank of China Family Card

An often overlooked cashback card locally is the Bank of China Family Card. It's a great cashback card for everyday spend because it offers a rather high percentage of cashback compared to other cards in the market.

For a start, foodies will love this card because you get to enjoy 7% cashback on dining everyday of the week. You also get a nice 3% cashback on online purchases such as CardUp payments, supermarket spend and even hospital bills!

3. Maybank Platinum Visa Card

With up to 3.33% cashback on local purchases including CardUp payments, the cashback earned will automatically be used to offset your bill. Similar to the UOB ONE Card, the minimum monthly spend and cashback given is on a quarterly basis. Simply charge a minimum of S$300 monthly for each quarter to qualify.

4. Standard Chartered MANHATTAN World Mastercard Card

This card is suitable for those with large monthly expenses. With 3 cashback tiers capped at S$200 per quarter, you can get up to S$800 in cashback a year with no minimum spend required. Here's how the 3 tiers work: 3% cashback when you spend S$3,000 or more a month, 1% cashback when you spend between S$1,000 and S$2,999 a month and 0.5% cashback when you spend below S$1,000 a month.

How to optimise your cashback with CardUp

With a CardUp account, you can start earning cashback on all your monthly expenses such as rent and insurance premiums by making these payments through CardUp’s online platform. Your recipient receives funds by bank transfer, without the need to register with CardUp.
Here's a list of payments that you can be shifting onto your credit card:

• Rent
• Insurance
• Income tax
• Education fees
• Electricity bills
• Helper salary
• Stamp duty
• Car loans and season parking
• ...and many more!

Let’s take a look at an example to show how much you stand to gain:

You have a rent payment of $1,960 per month which you usually pay via bank transfer. In addition, you pay $1,000 monthly insurance premiums by GIRO as your insurer doesn't accept credit card payments. You also incur office season parking and other expenses of close to $294 each month which you pay by cheque.

By using CardUp and splitting these payments onto 3 cashback credit cards, plus redeeming $25 off your first payment with ‘MEREWARDS25’, you can earn cashback of almost $700 annually.

*Valid for users who meet the minimum spend requirement of 5 or more purchases on the UOB ONE Card

Even after deducting the CardUp fee, you save almost $700 per year just by shifting payments you’re anyway making onto your credit cards via CardUp! That's a hefty amount of savings, isn't it? So stop hesitating and start using CardUp to get more out of your cashback credit cards now!

For cards not listed here (e.g. Standard Chartered Bank Spree Card, or American Express True Cashback Card), please note that the base earn rate of cashback still applies.

This article was first produced by CardUp. To enjoy this promotion, visit our Coupons page here to enjoy $25 off your CardUp fee when you make your first payment.