Best Credit Cards for Millennials

The card from your first job may not fit anymore

Most millennials picked their current card years ago, when spending meant meals out and online shopping. If your money now goes on groceries, insurance and family logistics, a card tuned for online and contactless spend may be earning its base rate on most of what you buy. The card hasn't got worse — your spending has moved out from under it.

Run a quick audit: pull two or three months of statements, note your top spending categories, and compare them against your card's bonus categories. While you're there, check the annual fee — waivers you enjoyed as a new customer can quietly lapse, and a fee is only worth paying if the rewards you actually earn still beat it.

Banking miles is easy; redeeming them well is the hard part

A miles card only pays off at redemption, and that is where long-time collectors leave the most on the table. Miles put toward flights — particularly premium-cabin seats booked well ahead — usually stretch much further per mile than the same balance cashed out against your statement or spent through a shopping portal. If you have let a balance quietly build for years, treat it as savings earmarked for a specific trip rather than points you will "use eventually".

Know how your card's miles actually move before you need them. Some cards earn a bank's own rewards currency that you convert to an airline programme when you book; others credit airline miles directly. Conversions can carry a small fee and take a few days to land, so check your card's transfer partners, fees and timing now — a redemption deadline is the wrong moment to discover how the mechanics work.

Family-stage bills that don't earn what you'd expect

A lot of the spending that arrives with family life — insurance premiums, education and school fees, taxes, e-wallet top-ups — sits on issuers' exclusion lists, earning little or nothing; our monthly bills and utilities guides cover where it does earn. Check a card's current exclusion list with the bank before routing a large new payment through it.

Bonus rates are also usually capped monthly. A renovation instalment, a furniture haul or a family air-ticket booking can blow through a cap in a single transaction, with the remainder earning only the base rate. For big planned purchases, check the cap first — where you can spread a purchase across billing months, it sometimes earns meaningfully more.

Frequently asked questions

How many credit cards should a millennial have?

Often two is the sweet spot: one cashback card for everyday categories and one miles card for travel. More than that gets hard to manage and rarely adds much, especially if it tempts you to spend to hit minimums.

Is it worth paying an annual fee as a millennial?

Only if the miles and perks you actually use beat the fee. Many cards waive the first year or waive on a minimum spend, so do the maths for your own spending before committing.

Should I cancel the credit card I got in my twenties?

Not automatically. If it's genuinely no-fee, it costs nothing to keep as a backup. If it charges an annual fee you can no longer get waived and its rewards no longer match your spending, redeem any outstanding points, move recurring bills off it, then cancel. Just avoid opening and closing cards in quick succession — each new application adds an enquiry to your Credit Bureau Singapore file.

Which payments usually don't earn credit card rewards?

Most issuers keep an exclusion list, and it commonly covers insurance premiums, education fees, taxes and other government payments, rent and e-wallet top-ups. The lists differ by bank and change over time, so check your card's current terms before putting a large payment through it just for the rewards.