Best Singapore Credit Cards For Overseas Spending
Optimise your holiday spending with attractive cashback and high air miles earn rates. Here are the best credit cards for overseas spends in Singapore.
Overseas spending and foreign currency transactions offer higher cashback and air miles earn rates, and travellers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to rake in the rewards. But to get more bang for your buck, it’s essential to transact using credit cards geared towards overseas spends.
Here are the best credit cards for overseas spending we found in Singapore.
Best cashback credit cards for overseas spending
Citi Cash Back Card
If fine dining and Michelin-starred meals are the reason you travel, you might appreciate the savings you can get from the Citi Cash Back Card.
This card gives you 6% cashback on restaurants and cafes, as well as 6% cashback on supermarkets and groceries. These rewards are applicable worldwide, making the card a good companion for foodies as they hunt down favourite eats and discover new treats.
There’s a minimum spend of S$800 per month to be eligible for cashback, but you’ll get up to S$80 in cashback each month. That’s up to S$960 in savings a year, which you can roll into your next gourmet holiday.
DCS Cashback Card
We like this card for the 5% cashback it provides on all transactions, local or overseas. You can save up to S$50 per month this way, and need only clear S$400 worth of transactions each month to qualify for cashback.
There’s also one complimentary airport lounge visit per year, and free travel insurance up to S$1 million when you charge your tickets to your card.
While the travel perks are rather modest, the low spend requirement and moderately high cashback makes this card a worthy consideration for casual travellers.
HSBC Advance Card
With up to 3.5% cashback on all eligible spends, and a cashback cap of up to S$370 per month, the HSBC Advance Card offers over S$4,000 in savings per year. That’s quite a lot!
But now for the bad news. There are quite a number of conditions attached to such luscious rewards (surely you saw that coming) but to be fair, they aren’t really that onerous.
By default, the HSBC Advance Card provides 1.5% cashback with no minimum spend. But if you spend more than S$2,000 a month, your base cashback gets bumped up to 2.5%.
And, if you’re a HSBC Everyday+ Rewards member and deposits at least S$2,000 in fresh funds, and makes at least five eligible transactions each month, you will get an additional 1% cashback, for a maximum of 3.5%.
The base cashback is capped at S$70 per month, and the Everyday+ Rewards cashback is capped at S$300 per month. Between the two, you’ll have plenty of headroom to earn cashback when booking your overseas holiday.
CIMB Visa Infinite Card
This premium card offers 2% unlimited cashback on all travel spends, overseas transactions and online foreign currency spends, making it an easy choice for travellers who prefer uncomplicated reward mechanics. The only requirement is a minimum monthly spend of S$2,000.
Another point in its favour is the three complimentary airport lounge visits per year that comes included, as well as complimentary travel insurance coverage of up to S$1 million per trip.
Note that this is a premium credit card and requires a minimum annual income of S$120,000 to qualify.
Best air miles credit cards for overseas spending
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card offers an earn rate of 2.4 miles per dollar (mpd) for all foreign currency spends, as well as 1.2 mpd for local transactions.
But with the option to get up to five supplementary cards for free – and earn rewards as your family members spend on them – you’ll soon have more than enough air miles for your family holiday.
Another reason to choose this card for family travel is the customary free travel insurance coverage (up to S$100,000) that extends to family members travelling with you, instead of just being limited to the principal cardholder, as is the case with many other cards.
This card also has four complimentary airport lounge visits per annum, albeit only for the principal cardholder.
UOB PRVI Miles Card
The UOB PRVI Miles Card has always stood out for its 1.4 mpd earn rate for local spends, which is the highest in the category. It also offers a competitive 2.4 mpd for overseas spends, but travel bookings are where this card really shines.
Bookings at Agoda, Expedia and the bank’s own UOB Travel will net you 6 mpd, making for a great way to vacuum up some additional miles to offset your next overseas trip.
There is no cap on how many miles you can earn, and neither are there any minimum spends to meet.
DBS Altitude Card
With 2.2 mpd for foreign spends (1.3 mpd for local transactions), the DBS Altitude Card lags a little behind other credit cards for overseas spending. However, it provides other ways to increase your air miles balance. For instance, Agoda bookings made on DBS Travel & Leisure Marketplace (TMP) will earn you 3 miles per dollar.
There are also other avenues for you to receive bonus air miles. You will automatically be awarded 10,000 miles when you pay your annual fee, which stands at S$194.90 at the time of writing. That translates to an unbeatable 51.3 mpd – too bad you can only take advantage of this once per year!
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card
This Maybank credit card offers an eye-catching 2.8 mpd for foreign currency spends and air tickets bookings, making it a great choice for your travel expenses. Local transactions earn 1.2 mpd.
The catch, though, is you’ll need to spend at least S$800 per month to be eligible for that juicy earn rate – but that hurdle shouldn’t be too hard to clear.
This card provides up to S$1 million in travel insurance coverage for free. Complimentary airport lounge access is also available, but you’ll need to spend at least S$1,000 at least three months prior to your visit.
No foreign transaction fee: Trust Bank Credit Card
The eight credit cards we’ve highlighted above provide attractive cashback and air miles for travellers. But they all come with foreign conversion fees that clock in at around 3.25%.
If you’re adamant about not paying any foreign transaction fee at all, here’s a fuss-free alternative.
The Trust Bank Credit Card doesn't charge any foreign currency transaction fees, not even the 1% Visa fee, so you will only be exposed to forex spreads when spending overseas.
However, in exchange, there also aren’t any special travel perks or privileges for overseas spending, as this card is mainly aimed at local groceries and petrol spends.
Still, this card is an alternative for those allergic to foreign transaction fees. Be sure to still watch out for DCC charges, though – explained below.
Understanding credit card foreign currency fees
No doubt, credit cards offer attractive rewards for overseas spending. But in earning such rewards, we should also heed the additional fees involved when making foreign transactions. This will help us have a clearer view of the actual value we are getting.
Why is there a foreign currency fee when I use my credit card overseas?
When you use your credit card to pay for a transaction denominated in a foreign currency, say JPY, the amount is first converted into USD, before being converted into SGD.
Each conversion involves a spread, usually the prevailing wholesale interbank rates or the government-mandated rates – basically, about as favourable rates as you can find.
On top of the spread, you will also be charged a foreign currency transaction fee, or FCY, which makes up the bulk of the extra charges. FCY is charged by the payment network provider, i.e., American Express, Mastercard or Visa, and can vary from bank to bank.
DCC: Why you should say no
When using your credit card overseas, you’ll need to watch out for another money trap that will cause you to spend more than necessary.
This is Dynamic Currency Conversion or DCC, and basically, it converts your foreign currency amount at the point of sale into SGD, presumably so it’s easier for you to gauge whether you’re getting a fair price.
The problem is, with DCC, the merchant is free to use any forex rate they choose, and this inadvertently turns out to be much higher than market rates as a way to fleece unsuspecting tourists.
There is also an additional 1% DCC service fee added to the converted amount, levied by the payment network providers.
DCC is optional, and tourists are free to choose whether they want to use DCC or not. But some unscrupulous vendors may foist DCC on you by not asking you beforehand, or claiming it’s required by law.
If you see your bill being presented in SGD instead of the currency of your host country, you’ll know they’re trying to charge you extra. Either request to pay in the local currency, or walk away and buy from another shop.
Incidentally, this also applies to online transactions. If the e-store you are buying from is registered as an overseas merchant, or processes payments through an overseas intermediary, you will be charged an additional 1% when paying in SGD
If you’re unsure, check with the online merchant whether payments are processed overseas. If indeed so, request to pay in the relevant foreign currency to avoid this extra fee.
This credit card guide was first posted on SingSaver.
