Best credit card to maximize air miles?

[londonbowler]

Like many expats, I travel a lot as part of my job and have a large number of office expenses. I put these on my personal card and am reimbursed. I want to save some money and maximize my air miles earned from credit card use, particularly because of the high level of reimbursed expenses. I want to focus on air miles as most credit card rewards add up to a 0.5% rebate or worse. If Singapore Air miles are booked in advance, you can get an effective rebate of 1-2%.

I plan to use the credit cards below and let me know what you think.


1) DBS Altitude American Express

Miles conversion:
S$0.83 = 1 mile (S$5 = 3 points = 6 SQ miles) for first S$1,000 per month
S$0.63 = 1 mile (S$5 = 4 points = 8 SQ miles) after first S$1,000 per month

Use:
- use as main credit card due to highest conversion, although points are earned in S$5 blocks and the actual rates are lower because of this (for example, a S$9.99 purchase is still only 6 or 8 miles and you lose on average S$2.50 in spending per transaction)

- can obtain waiver of initial annual fees

- must pay S$42.80 per year as a miles conversion fee

- it's an AMEX so some stores will not accept it


2) Maybank Horizon Platinum Visa

Miles conversion:
S$2.50 = 1 mile (S$1 = 1 treat point = 0.4 SQ mile)
S$0.50 = 1 mile for air tickets and overseas (non-S$) spending
S$0.25 = 1 mile for EZlink top ups and some restaurants like Din Tai Fung and Crystal Jade

Use:
- use as main card when overseas due to high conversion and reported low exchange rate

- use for air tickets, EZlink auto top-up and specified restaurants

- can obtain waiver of initial annual fees

- no fees for conversion of points to Krisflyer miles

- is a Visa, can be used for stores that do not accept Amex


3) American Express Platinum Reserve

Miles conversion:
S$1.28 = 1 SQ mile (S$1.60 = 2 rewards points from permanent 2x points, 8 points = 5 SQ miles)
S$0.13 = 1 SQ mile from platinum partners due to 10 + 10x program
S$0.26 = 1 SQ mile from 5x partners including supermarkets

Use:
- use only when shopping at a platinum partner for 20x points

- also use for strong discounts (up to 50% at Swissotel and Fairmont Hotel restaurants, free entry for Butter Factory, Stereolab and Pump Room) and for Internet purchases that may be disputed (Amex Platinum customer service is excellent)

- no waiver of annual fees but can get gifts

- S$25 fee for conversion of rewards points to SQ miles


4) Citi Premiermiles Visa
S$0.83 = 1 SQ mile (S$1 = 1.2 SQ mile)

Use:
- use only when Amex not accepted and no special Maybank Horizon rewards

- can obtain waiver of initial annual fees

- S$20 fee for conversion of rewards points to SQ miles

- unsure if it is worth keeping this card with the first three as usage as a backup card may be low and not a lot of points will be accumulated

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

You might want to try NerdWallet or Card Hub. Lots of good info there.

[londonbowler]

Do they discuss Singapore dollar cards?

[aster]

We already have a thread about this:

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic68944.html

[carteki]

Interesting list you have there. I'm confused as to why the Citibank card is down as the 4th as it seems to be equivalent to the DBS Amex card in terms of conversion with no additional fees? That would be my 1st card.

Do you spend enough money in Singapore to warrant looking for airmiles deals? I think that the lowest amount of miles you need for a flight is 25k. That equates to spending of $20k. How many of those flights a year would you get? Remembering that you can probably fly those routes for $100-$200 on the LCC's.

I would look at the cards in terms of their overall "deals" based on your spend. The SCB Manhattan card may be worth it (although they've decreased the benefits) and it gives you actual cash that adds up if your spend is greater than $3k per month. The petrol cards are a good idea if you drive and you do really need a number of cards from each bank / provider (AMEX, MC and VISA) to take advantage of the different deals that are around.

If you make Singapore Air's PPS club you can apply for the AMEX PPS card. That gives you 30k miles every year (over and above the earning at $1 / mile).

[aster]

Interesting list you have there. I'm confused as to why the Citibank card is down as the 4th as it seems to be equivalent to the DBS Amex card in terms of conversion with no additional fees? That would be my 1st card.

They are only the same for the first $1,000 you spend in a given month, giving you 1.2 miles per S$1.

But with the DBS card as soon as you cross this 1k threshold you're up to a whopping 1.6 miles per Dollar.

Citi raised their mileage ratio last year in an effort to compete, but fell out of the race and gave up, returning to their previous ratio of 1.2.