Overview:
Given the continual rise in petrol prices, every driver seeks to optimize their savings at the pump. Find out about the credit cards made especially to reduce your fuel costs by gaining rewards of either miles or cashback. Choosing the “best” card needs thoughtful consideration of your entire personal finance strategy because there are so many options offered with different discounts rates with different cards for different petrol kiosk groups. So you should choose the card based on the petrol group that you would use most. Here’s the best cards for petrol:
Shell
UOB One card does seem to be the winner here with the highest amount of fuel savings plus you can pair the credit card spending with the UOB One account to supercharge your savings to maximise the interest earned on your savings account. You can refer to my post here if you are interested.
Cashback Card | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Cashback Cap | Notes |
up to 10% cashback | minimum S$500 monthly spend in a quarter | $50, $100, $200 per quarter | Fuel savings of up to 24% at Shell and SPC | |
8% cashback | S$800 | S$80 | ||
8% cashback | S$800 | cashback capped at S$125 per month; S$25 per category | under Transport Category | |
 OCBC Frank Credit Card | 8% cashback | S$800 | S$25 cashback cap) |
Miles Cards | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Spend Cap |
4 miles per dollar (Choose Transport Category) | No min spend | S$1,000/S$2,000 | |
4 miles per dollar | No min spend | S$1,000 |
SPC
UOB One card and POSB Everyday are both equally good here with the highest amount of fuel savings. However, POSB Everyday is good for those who do not want a minimum spending required type of card and those who may have a lower transaction amount that is below S$51 per bill. On the other hand, the UOB One card allows you to pair the credit card spending with the UOB One account to supercharge your savings to maximise the interest earned on your savings account. Therefore, UOB One card is definitely the best in this case. You can refer to my post here if you are interested. However, to maximise the UOB One cashback, each transaction amount needs to be S$51 and above to get additional 5% discount (extra S$3 off).
Cashback Cards | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Cashback Cap | Notes |
up to 10% cashback | minimum S$500 monthly spend in a quarter | No Cap | Fuel savings of up to 24% at Shell and SPC | |
up to 10% cashback | No minimum monthly spend required | No cap | up to 22.93% on fuel savings when you use it on SPC petrol stations islandwide. | |
8% cashback | S$800 | S$80 | ||
8% cashback | S$800 | Cashback capped at S$125 per month; S$25 per category | Transport Category |
Miles Cards | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Spend Cap |
4 miles per dollar (Choose Transport Category) | No min spend | S$1,000/S$2000 | |
4 miles per dollar | No min spend | S$1,000 |
Esso
Cashback Card | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Cashback Cap | Notes |
DCS VICOM Credit Card | 23.2% cashback | S$1,200 a year | comes with Esso Fleet Card to earn up to 23.2% Savings on petrol and/or diesel at Esso Stations | |
DBS Esso Card | Up to 21.6% fuel savings at Esso & 2.4% Smiles savings | S$180 nett - to get the S$8 monthly fuel savings | No Cap | 18% instant fuel discount. Additional S$8 fuel savings with min. S$180 nett fuel spend at Esso per calendar month from 1 May 2022 to 30 June 2024 |
8% cashback | S$800 | S$80 | ||
8% cashback | S$800 | capped at S$125 per month; S$25 per category | Transport Category | |
6% cashback | S$800/S$1,600 | S$80/S$160 | Up to 21.04% fuel savings at Esso |
Miles Cards | Rate | Minimum Spend | Spend Cap |
4 miles per dollar (Choose Transport Category) | No min spend | S$1,000/S$2,000 | |
UOB Visa Signature Card | 4 miles per dollar | S$1,000 per month | S$2,000 per month |
Caltex
Cashback Card | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Cashback Cap | Notes |
6% cashback | S$800/S$1,600 | S$80/S$160 | Up to 22.92% fuel savings at CaltexEnjoy 18% upfront discount on Techron® fuels with all other OCBC credit/ debit cards when you pay with the CaltexGO app. | |
8% cashback | S$800 | S$80 | ||
OCBC Frank Credit Card | 8% cashback | S$800 | S$25 cashback cap | Enjoy 18% upfront discount on Techron® fuels with all other OCBC credit/ debit cards when you pay with the CaltexGO app. |
8% cashback | S$800 | cashback capped at S$125 per month; S$25 per category | Transport Category |
Miles Cards | Earn Rate | Minimum Spend | Spend Cap |
4 miles per dollar | No min spend | S$1,000 | |
4 miles per dollar | No min spend | S$1,500 | |
4 miles per dollar (Choose Transport Category) | No min spend | S$1,000/S$2,000 | |
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa | 4 miles per dollar | No min spend | S$1,110 per month |
Conclusion:
Selecting a credit card that optimizes your savings is crucial, taking into account your preferred gas station and spending habits. You should definitely opt for a cashback card instead of a miles card for petrol, because just because you can earn 4 miles per dollar on the above miles cards doesn’t mean you should. Of cos, everyone’s valuation of miles is difficult. I have a pretty conservative valuation for miles. For me, the current value of 4 miles, is equivalent to around 5.28% cashback. If a cashback card gives more than 5.28% cashback/savings, I would opt for cashback and use the cashback earned to “buy miles”. Therefore, my recommendation below will be solely to go for cashback cards.
For Esso Stations, DCS VICOM Credit Card and DBS Esso Card are possibly the best option to get since it’s exclusively made for purchases on ESSO stations with a high fuel savings. UOB One Card would be the best to use at Shell and SPC stations because of its 22.66% potential savings. POSB Everyday Card can be best also for SPC stations because of its 20.1% fuel savings with no minimum monthly spend required to earn the cashback. For Caltex Stations, OCBC 365 Credit Card with the CaltexGo app would be the best to use because of a high coverall fuel savings.
