Best Credit Cards for Cash Rebates 2015

Cashback credit cards are gaining in popularity as they give you cash rebates, usually at the end of month or quarter instead of the reward points that many credit cards offer. They work much better than rewards points as you don't have to redeem them for vouchers which will just force you to spend more instead.

Whether you own a car or not will determine which credit card you should be using as drivers typically spend $300 to $400 on petrol each month and credit cards typically offer 5% up to 20% discount / rebate on your petrol spend which can add up to a lot in a year.

Where you pump your petrol will also affect which card is right for you as banks usually have tie-ups with one or two brands. The Citibank Dividend Card offers up to 18.3% savings at Esso and Shell while HSBC Visa Platinum Card offers up to 18.3% at Shell and Caltex with minimum monthly spending of $800 for each qualifying quarter. OCBC 365 Card on the other hand requires minimum monthly spending of $600 for the rebates to apply, otherwise only 0.3% cash rebates are awarded. In terms of flexibility, Citibank Dividend Card comes up tops and does not come with a monthly minimum spending requirement. However, to qualify for the rebates, each transaction must be $50 and above, which should be easily met if we are talking about a full tank of fuel. Below is a summary of how much savings you can potentially get at the various fuel stations.
 

	Savings offered at
	Esso	Caltex	Shell	SPC
Citibank	Up to 18.3%	Up to 5%	Up to 18.1%	Up to 5%
HSBC	Up to 5%	Up to 18.3%	Up to 18.3%	Up to 5%
OCBC	Up to 18.3%	Up to 18.3%	Up to 5%	Up to 5%
UOB		Up to 21.7%		Up to 20%

Based on data provided on sgcarmart.com, there are a total of 190 petrol kiosks in Singapore -
Esso (63), Shell (58), SPC (40), Caltex (29)

Also, how much you typically spend monthly, whether it is $300 or $3,000, there is a credit card to cater to your needs. The American Express True Cashback card and CIMB World MasterCard  do not have any minimum spending requirements, making them more suitable for small monthly expenditure. The Citibank Dividend Card and the Manhattan World MasterCard are more suitable for high spenders.

Some cards offer a complicated cashback system or low cashback rates with many conditions attached. Some cards like the UOB One Card, Manhattan World MasterCard, HSBC Visa Platinum Card offer tiered rebates based on monthly and / or quarterly spending.

For Drivers, our Top 3 Cards are:

The Citibank Dividend Card promises more savings on petrol, groceries and health & beauty / pharmacies spend, dining spend and 0.5% on all other spend. What we like about the card is that it does not have any monthly spending requirements. However, all eligible transactions under petrol, groceries, pharmacies and dining spend must be greater than $50, otherwise only 0.5% is awarded. The annual award is capped at a maximum of $800 Bonus Dividend Dollars. 



Current Promotion
Online Festive Special: Get a $68 Instant Citi Rebate when you apply for two Credit Cards and a Ready Credit account.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card allows you to enjoy up to 5% cash rebates on groceries and petrol, and up to 2% cash rebates on dining under the Quarterly Cash Rebates Programme with a minimum spending of $800 per month for all 3 months in a quarter. On top of enjoying the cash rebates of up to 5% on petrol, you will also enjoy 14% instant petrol discounts at all Caltex and Shell stations, that is up to 18.3% savings. The rebates earned are subject to the conditions below.

 

Earn 1 Rewards point with every S$1 charged and reap the benefits of a 3-year validity period. That means more time to accumulate points for higher-value Rewards items. Plus, earn HSBC's Rewards points with your tax payment. Simply charge your taxes to your HSBC credit card to enjoy the convenience of consolidating your payments into one account.

 

Current Promotion

Receive a welcome gift of a United Colors of Benetton Slash 24" luggage (worth S$319) when you sign up now, plus an additional United Colors of Benetton Slash 20" luggage and a kid's backpack (worth S$348) when you sign up with an additional supplementary card.

Online sign up exclusive:
Enjoy an additional S$20 cash rebate when you apply and submit your supporting documents online.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

 

OCBC 365 Credit Card
This OCBC cashback card is a latecomer into the local credit card scene but is a pretty strong contender to the other cashback cards as it offers rebates on online shopping and more attractive dining rebates with a minimum spend of S$600 based on posted transactions in a calendar month. If you spend less than S$600, a flat 0.3% cashback is awarded. Cashback amount is capped at S$80 per calendar month or $960 per calendar year.

Please see below for the various types of rebates.

Current Promotion
Apply now and get 2 years of annual fees waived.



Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

For Non-Drivers, our Top 3 Cards are:

For those who spend below $1,500, we have a tie between 2 cards.

American Express True Cashback Card

Enjoy 1.5% cashback anywhere 24/7 365 days. There is no minimum monthly spending as well as minimum spending per transaction required. There is also no cap on the amount of cashback you can earn. This is especially useful for those with small monthly expenditure or those with irregular spending patterns each month. It helps if you can maximise the usage of the card by charging all your recurring bills like Telco, utilities, insurance, monthly subscriptions, gym memberships to the card as well.

Current Promotion
As an welcome offer, you will enjoy 5% Cashback for the first 3 months (up to a total of $5,000 spending) plus a fee waiver for the first year.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

AND

OCBC 365 Credit Card
This OCBC cashback card is suitable for you if you have a regular spending pattern, with a minimum spend of $600 per month. It offers rebates on online shopping and more attractive dining rebates based on posted transactions in a calendar month. If you spend less than S$600, a flat 0.3% cashback is awarded. Cashback amount is capped at S$80 per calendar month or $960 per calendar year.

Please see below for the various types of rebates.

Current Promotion
Apply now and get 2 years of annual fees waived.



Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.


For those who spend $1,500 and above,

The Citibank Dividend Card promises more savings on petrol, groceries and health & beauty / pharmacies spend, dining spend and 0.5% on all other spend. What we like about the card is that it does not have any monthly spending requirements. However, all eligible transactions under petrol, groceries, pharmacies and dining spend must be greater than $50, otherwise only 0.5% is awarded. The annual award is capped at a maximum of $800 Bonus Dividend Dollars. 

Current Promotion
Online Festive Special: Get a $68 Instant Citi Rebate when you apply for two Credit Cards and a Ready Credit account.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

For those who spend $3,000 and above,

With the Manhattan World MasterCard, you'll get up to 3% CashBack (up to a maximum of $800 a year) on eligible purchases plus a suite of exclusive lifestyle privileges.

To receive the maximum rebate of S$200 per quarter, the best way to do it is to accumulate your big ticket purchases in one month and charge at least S$6,667 in that month. Alternatively, if you spend $3,000 or more per month, you can also enjoy 3% rebate, subject to a cap of $200 per quarter which means that the effective cashback you can enjoy is just over 2.2% or less.

See table below for the tiered spending and the respective cashback you can enjoy with the card.

Total eligible	Applicable CashBack	Maximum CashBack
monthly spend	tier for the month	earned and received
		per quarter
$1–$999	0.50%	Capped at $200
$1,000–$2,999	1%
$3,000 and above	3%

Current Promotion




For new customers, apply for both cards by 28 February 2015 and choose from three great gifts (Samsung GALAXY Tab 4 (7.0") LTE OR BOSE Soundlink Mini Bluetooth speaker OR American Tourister Puzzle-Lite Spinner 59cm luggage). Simply charge a combined minimum of $200 in eligible retail transactions to your Cards (with at least one transaction on each card) within 30 days of card approval. This promotion is only applicable if you do not hold a principal credit card and do not have a personal loan with Standard Chartered Bank.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

 

Other Cashback Cards considered are as follows:

With the UOB One Card, simply spend over S$300 a month to get up to 3.33% in cash rebate per quarter to automatically offset your credit card bills. The more you spend, the more cash rebate you will get. Assuming your UOB One Card Statement date is 15th of every month, a minimum of 3 purchases with a total minimum spend must be posted before the statement date in order for you to earn the quarterly cash rebate. See table below.

 

Also, you will get up to an additional 10% SMART$ rebates on top of your One Card cash rebates, at over 600 participating merchants islandwide which let you earn up to 13.33% cash rebates. Earn an additional 2% on all overseas spend with your UOB One Card. This additional 2% rebate applies to all transactions made overseas, capped at S$5,000 overseas spend per calendar year, awarded to you every month to offset your monthly credit card bills.

If your credit card monthly spend are very regular and is very close to the tier cut-offs by UOB, you can stand to save a lot. However, excess spending on the card exceeding the tier cut-offs will bring down the effective savings. For example, if you spend $600 per month, your effective cash rebates will be only 1.7% instead of 3.33%. One point to note is if you do not meet the minimum spend for just one month, you will not get any cash rebate for that quarter.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

CIMB World MasterCard
Enjoy a 1% cash rebate on all your purchases and no monthly cap, no annual fees for life, complimentary green fees at prominent golf courses in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, travel insurance of up to S$1 million, special dining discounts and unique privileges across borders.

However, the prohibitive factor is the income requirement of $120,000 per annum which will put it out of most people's league.

Click here to Apply Now and we will direct you to the official card issuer's website.

What is your favourite cashback credit card? How much rebates can you get from the card each month?

Let us know if you have a better card to recommend to us.