From 1 September 2026, Chocolate has changed the rules for earning Max Miles on the Chocolate Visa Card and on your account balance. The best earn rate now covers twice as much monthly spending, the bill payment cap has tripled, there is a new S$5,000 minimum balance before you earn anything at all, and a new feature called Miles for Returns lets you turn the money your balance earns into miles. Here is how it works, and whether it is worth it for you.
If you have never used Chocolate Finance, it is a managed account run by Chocfin Pte Ltd, licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (CMS101452) for fund management. Your money goes into a portfolio of short-duration fixed income and money market funds, and returns are credited daily. Every account comes with a free Chocolate Visa Card, and that card earns Max Miles, the points run by a Singapore app called HeyMax that you can turn into flights. I have a step-by-step guide to the card if you are starting from zero.
This card built a following because anyone could get it. No income requirement, no credit check, no annual fee, and it earned miles on bills that other cards ignore. For students, freelancers and anyone without a credit card, it was often the only option. That is what the S$5,000 rule changes.
What Changed on 1 September 2026
| Until 31 August 2026 | From 1 September 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who earns Max Miles | Every cardholder | You need an average daily balance of S$5,000 — see below for when this starts |
| Bonus rate | 1 Max Mile per S$1 on the first S$1,000/calendar month | 1 Max Mile per S$1 on the first S$2,000/calendar month |
| Spend above the cap | 0.4 Max Miles per S$1, no cap | 0.4 Max Miles per S$1, no cap |
| Bill payments | Capped at 100 Max Miles/calendar month | Capped at 300 Max Miles/calendar month |
| Balance bonus | Miles Multiplier — +5% per S$5,000 of average balance, up to +100% | Ended 31 August 2026 |
| Returns | Paid as cash into your balance | Paid as cash, and convertible to Max Miles |
| Conversion window | — | 80 Max Miles per S$1 from 1 Sep to 1 Dec 2026, then 62.5 |
What That Means for You
Your average daily SGD balance is tracked from September, and this is how it will affect you. You are only entitled to the benefits if you hold an average daily balance of at least S$5,000 in your Chocolate SGD account the month before. Average daily balance means the average of your balance across every day of that month.
If your average daily SGD balance is under S$5,000, the Chocolate card that previously allowed you to earn 1 Max Mile per dollar at any level of balance will no longer earn miles in the following month.
For example, if your average daily SGD balance is S$2,000 in September, then your Chocolate Visa Debit Card will not earn any miles in the month of October. You can still keep the card, as it costs nothing to hold and charges nothing extra overseas. It just will not earn miles.
On the other hand, if your average daily SGD balance is S$5,000 or more in September, you can earn 1 Max Mile per dollar on your first S$2,000 of eligible spend. In addition, you can use it to pay for bills that are commonly excluded like medical, government services, utilities, real estate and property management, insurance and business services, capped at 300 Max Miles per month. That is equivalent to S$300 worth of bill payments.
On top of that, you have the option to convert returns from your Chocolate Account to Max Miles under the Miles for Returns programme, at a promotional rate of S$1 = 80 Max Miles until 1 December 2026, as long as you maintained the S$5,000 average daily SGD balance in the previous month. The rate reverts to S$1 = 62.5 Max Miles, after 1 December 2026.
For the month of September, the S$5,000 requirement is waived, as it would have required you to hold an average daily balance of S$5,000 in August, and that was not possible because they had not announced or implemented it then.
Miles For Returns: How Does It Work?
Since Chocolate Finance gives 2% p.a. on your first S$20K and 1.8% p.a. on your next S$80K, these returns are typically just added to your Chocolate Account balance. As you can see, I earned around S$151.90 of returns on my S$100K+ deposit.
- August shows S$0.00 available because I have already converted it, at 80 Max Miles per S$1.*
With Miles for Returns, you can convert that return into Max Miles instead. You can decide how much of it to convert, in the Chocolate app. You can only convert a month’s returns during the month after they were earned. In September you convert August’s returns. In October you convert September’s. Anything you do not convert in the month cannot be converted the following month — it does not carry forward.
Converting turns the account’s cash return into a higher one, because HeyMax buys Max Miles back at 1.8 cents each via the FlyAnywhere programme.
| Your balance | Kept as cash | Converted at 80 Max Miles per S$1 | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| First S$20,000 | S$33.33 a month, 2% p.a. | S$48.00 a month | 2.88% p.a. |
| Next S$80,000 | S$120.00 a month, 1.8% p.a. | S$172.80 a month | 2.59% p.a. |
This is a good deal in my books as long as you are not using your miles to exchange vouchers on HeyMax or transferring it at a sub-optimal rate.
Which Way of Using the Miles Gives You the Most?
| Where you send the 80 Max Miles | What you end up with | Cost per mile | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash them against a flight, through FlyAnywhere | S$1.44 of flight | 1.25 cents | Anyone who just wants the money back |
| Transfer 1:1 to an airline or hotel partner | 80 airline miles | 1.25 cents | Saving for a business class seat |
I benchmark it against a feature from HeyMax called FlyAnywhere, which lets you book any flight you like, pay for it yourself, send HeyMax the receipt, and HeyMax pays you back at 1.8 cents for every mile you use. You do need enough Max Miles to cover the whole ticket though, because HeyMax does not do partial redemptions, and it pays out by PayNow within three to five business days.
On a S$5,000 balance that is 2,000 Max Miles across the three conversions in September, October and November. November’s returns convert in December, by which point the rate has usually gone back to 62.5. Hold the same balance through the following year at that rate and you add another 6,250 Max Miles, so about S$148 of flight in total. Max Miles don’t expire, so you can take your time to accumulate them.
Transferring can beat that if you are chasing a business class seat, where a mile is worth more than 1.8 cents. HeyMax sends Max Miles to more than 25 airline and hotel programmes, all at one mile for one mile unless otherwise stated. The airlines include EVA Air, Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific. A handful sit at other ratios, and the hotel programmes mostly do.
How to Convert Your Returns, Step by Step
If you are converting this month, this is how to do it.
- Link HeyMax to Chocolate. Connect your HeyMax account in the Chocolate app, using the same email address on both. Miles will not credit if they differ. Your confirmed Max Miles, lifetime Max Miles and HeyMax member ID then show there.
- Open Miles for Returns in the Chocolate app. It sits on the home screen, under the banner showing the dates.
- Where to find it on the Chocolate home screen.*
- Choose how much to convert.
Is the Chocolate Visa Card Worth It Now?
On your first S$20,000 it turns a 2% account into 2.88%, because those returns come back as flight through FlyAnywhere at 1.8 cents a mile. This is a great deal, even though on a S$5,000 deposit, accumulation of Max Miles will take many months, unless you are able to increase your deposit balance in the Chocolate account.
Don't Have a Chocolate Visa Card?
If the sums above work for you, this is where to start.
The card is free, it comes with every Chocolate account, and there is no annual fee and no income requirement to hold it.
- Download the app from the App Store or Google Play
- Copy the referral code above and enter into the app when prompted
- Sign up with your details
Don't Have a HeyMax Account?
You need one linked inside the Chocolate app before any Max Miles are paid to you, whether they come from your spending or from converting your returns.
43774BFE
- Download the HeyMax app from the App Store or Google Play
- Enter the referral code 43774BFE when prompted during sign-up
- Complete phone verification
- Make 1 confirmed transaction via HeyMax within 180 days of account creation
- Get 200 Max Miles as your sign-up reward
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you convert Max Miles to KrisFlyer miles? Not directly. KrisFlyer is not on HeyMax’s transfer list at all. You go through yuu Points instead, and it takes 1.2 Max Miles to end up with 1 KrisFlyer mile, which makes it the most expensive way to use them.
Do Max Miles expire? No. Max Miles never expire, so you can hold what you convert until you have a flight you want.
How long do Chocolate’s Max Miles take to arrive? Usually within seven days. They show as pending as soon as the payment is charged to your card, and are paid into your HeyMax account once the transaction settles.
Will my average daily balance in USD count towards my S$5,000 minimum balance requirement? No. Only SGD is counted.
All of the terms above are on Chocolate’s card FAQ.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it’s difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates.
