Best Miles Credit Cards in Singapore
A miles card turns spending into airline miles one of two ways: as bank points you transfer to an airline programme later, or as miles credited straight into an airline account. That choice matters more than the headline earn rate, because it decides whether your miles sit on a clock. The picks below are grouped by how you spend and redeem rather than ranked, since no single card wins for everyone.
- 1Miles
Citi PremierMiles Card
Citibank
Why it fits: Non-expiring miles and a wide transfer-partner list, so you can decide where the miles go long after you earn them.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Citi Miles never expire, so no rush to redeem
- +~2.2 mpd on foreign spend, good for travel
- +Wide transfer-partner list for flexible redemptions
- +Lounge access; first-year fee waived
Cons
- −S$196.20 annual fee from year two onward
- −Low ~1.2 mpd on local spend
- −Not especially beginner-friendly
- Miles
Why it fits: The most beginner-friendly miles card here: non-expiring miles and lounge visits, with little to track.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Beginner-friendly all-rounder for general spend + travel
- +Miles never expire, so no rush to redeem
- +Decent ~2.2 mpd on overseas spend for travel
- +Airport lounge access included
Cons
- −S$196.20 annual fee; auto spend-waiver ends Aug 2026
- −Low ~1.3 mpd base rate on local spend
- −Visa-only, no Amex perks for this card
- Miles
Why it fits: Geared to heavy and overseas spenders, with a strong foreign-currency earn rate and lounge access.
Annual fee S$261.60 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +First-year annual fee waived (S$261.60 thereafter)
- +~2.4 mpd base on foreign spend
- +Airport lounge access included
- +Visa option means wider acceptance than Amex variant
Cons
- −S$261.60 annual fee from year two onwards
- −Local rate only ~1.4 mpd, weak for SG spend
- −Standard foreign-currency fee still applies on FX spend
- 4Miles
Standard Chartered Journey Credit Card
Standard Chartered
Why it fits: An all-rounder with non-expiring points and bonus categories that are useful day to day, not just on holiday.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Up to 3 mpd on selected transport, grocery & food delivery
- +Solid all-rounder: ~1.2 mpd local, ~2 mpd foreign base
- +Points convert to airline miles for flexible redemptions
- +Comes with lounge access
Cons
- −S$196.20 annual fee from year 2 (first year waived)
- −3 mpd capped and limited to selected categories only
- −Low ~1.2 mpd on general local spend
- 5Miles
OCBC 90°N Card
OCBC
Why it fits: Miles that never expire and a higher overseas rate — an earner rather than a perks card, since its lounge programme is a paid one.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Miles never expire
- +Higher earn rate on foreign-currency spend (2.1 mpd)
- +No cap on miles earned; convert in 1,000-mile blocks
- +First-year fee waived; waivable thereafter on S$10,000 annual spend
Cons
- −Local earn rate (1.3 mpd) is only average for a miles card
- −No complimentary airport lounge access as a standard perk
- −S$25 transfer fee applies when converting miles to a partner programme
- −3.25% foreign-currency transaction fee partly offsets the overseas earn rate
- Miles
Why it fits: Auto-credits KrisFlyer miles with no transfer step, plus bonus rates on Singapore Airlines, dining and online spend.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Miles auto-credit to KrisFlyer monthly, no transfer fee
- +Up to 3 mpd on SIA Group, up to 2.4 mpd on dining/online
- +Bonus rates are uncapped (no annual limit)
- +Scoot perks: priority check-in and seat selection
Cons
- −Bonus miles can take up to 14 months to credit
- −Everyday bonus rates need annual SIA Group spend first
- −No complimentary lounge access; weak base earn rate
Bank points or airline miles: the choice that shapes everything
Cards like the Citi PremierMiles, DBS Altitude and Standard Chartered Journey earn bank points that you later convert to an airline or hotel programme. The appeal is that points parked on a non-expiring card do not expire while you decide, so you can wait for a redemption worth having and shop between partners. The cost is a conversion step, which can carry minimum transfer blocks, processing time and sometimes a fee — the OCBC 90°N charges S$25 per conversion.
A co-branded card such as the KrisFlyer UOB credit miles directly into your KrisFlyer account, with no transfer to remember. That is genuinely less admin, but it commits you to one programme and starts the airline's expiry clock the moment the miles land: KrisFlyer miles expire three years after they are earned. Transfer ratios also move over time — banks have devalued partner ratios before — so flexibility is a hedge as much as a convenience. Confirm current ratios and fees with the bank before you commit.
The earn rate splits by billing currency, not by what you bought
Every miles card advertises at least two rates, and the line between them is the currency the transaction is billed in — not whether the purchase was travel. A flight bought from Singapore on a local airline's site, or a hotel prepaid in Singapore dollars, normally earns the lower local rate even though it is unmistakably a travel purchase. The higher rate applies to foreign-currency spend, which in practice means spending during the trip rather than booking it.
Where a card does run a bonus category, each bank draws the boundary differently: one may bonus only a named airline group's own tickets, another may exclude travel bookings from its bonus categories entirely, and an online travel agency is often classified differently from the airline it books you onto. Before routing a large booking through a card for its bonus, confirm with the bank that your booking channel qualifies. If you cannot confirm it, budget on the base rate.
What a miles card costs once the first-year waiver ends
Most of the picks here carry an annual fee that is commonly waived for the first year, and several will waive it again on request or on hitting a spend threshold — our guide to getting an annual fee waived covers how to ask. The DBS Altitude and the co-branded American Express KrisFlyer Ascend sit in the harder category, where the fee is part of the proposition rather than something to negotiate away. Check each card's current fee and waiver terms with the issuer before you apply; they change.
The fee only makes sense against what you actually earn, and the arithmetic is unforgiving on modest spending. A miles card that pays its bonus rate only above a monthly minimum spend can quietly earn you the base rate all year while still charging the fee. If your spending is low or uneven, a no-fee cashback card usually beats a fee-paying miles card — which is the comparison our miles-versus-cashback guide walks through properly.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
- What's the best miles credit card in Singapore?
- There isn't one winner. The right card depends on whether you spend mostly locally or overseas, whether you want the flexibility of transferable bank points or the simplicity of miles credited straight to KrisFlyer, and whether you'll clear any minimum spend the bonus rate requires. Compare those three things against your own spending, and confirm current rates and fees with the issuer.
- Do credit card miles expire in Singapore?
- It depends where they sit. Points held on a card advertised as non-expiring, such as the Citi PremierMiles or OCBC 90°N, generally don't expire while the account is open. Once you transfer them into an airline programme they follow that programme's rules — KrisFlyer miles, for example, expire three years after they are earned. Check both clocks: the bank's and the airline's.
- Is a miles card better than a cashback card?
- Only if you fly. Miles are worth more than cashback per dollar spent when you redeem them well, typically on premium-cabin long-haul flights, but they're worth nothing until you actually book something. Cashback pays out regardless. If you don't have a trip in mind, or your spending is too low to clear a miles card's minimum spend, cashback is usually the better-paying choice.
- How many miles do you need for a flight from Singapore?
- It varies by airline, route, cabin and how far ahead you book, and award charts are revised periodically. Rather than working from a remembered number, check the airline's current redemption table for your route before you plan around it — our guide to redeeming miles for business class walks through how to read one.