Standard Chartered Smart Card
(WE DON’T PROMOTE THIS CARD ANYMORE)
Earn 6% cashback or 5.6 miles per dollar in the form of reward points on selected merchants
Standard Chartered Smart Card Overview:
The Standard Chartered SMART Credit Card Singapore is a budget-friendly option for everyday spenders seeking cashback rewards. Forget complicated reward tiers – the SMART card offers a straightforward 6% cashback in the form of reward points on specific merchants.
Check out my TikTok video where I review the Standard Chartered Smart Card—it’s the number one (the best!) credit card for earning miles and cashback on bus and MRT rides!
Eligibility & Fees:
- Minimum Age: 21 years old
- Minimum Annual Income: S$30,000 (locals/PRs); S$60,000 (foreigners)
- Annual Fee: Waived for life (From 6 December 2025, a fee of S$91 (excluding GST) will apply)
Key Benefits:
- Earn 10% cashback or 9.28 miles per dollar for spends above S$1,500 for bonus categories
- Earn 8% cashback or 7.42 miles per dollar on spends below S$1,500 for bonus categories
- Earn 0.5% cashback or 0.46 miles per dollar on spends below S$800
- This has No Bonus Cap
How to Best Optimise it:
Best Used Locally for Below Merchants:
Bonus Categories | Current |
Smart Dining | – Mcdonalds – Burger King – KFC – Subway – Toastbox – Yakun – Dominos NEW – Starbucks NEW – Coffee Bean NEW – Pizza Hut NEW |
Smart Streaming | – Disney+ – Spotify – Netflix – Youtube – Amazon Prime NEW – iQiyi NEW – Viu NEW – HBO Go NEW |
Smart Transport | – Bus/MRT – Electrical Vehicle Charging* NEW |
*All transactions under the MCC 5552 for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging will be included and valid only until 31 December 2025. | |
(see Buffs/Nerfs for more information)
Redeem Cash, Even If You Love Miles:
- You can redeem either cashback or miles, but unless you eat $500 of fast food every month, it would not be worth converting the points to miles as the minimum amount of conversion points required is 10,000 points— you will likely end up with orphan points. In addition, each miles transfer requires you to pay a transfer fee. Therefore, I would opt for cashback as 6% cashback is a great deal.
Redeem Reward Points Regularly:
- There is a weird expiry policy on the card (see FAQ for more)
Avoid Foreign Spend:
- Best used on local transactions; using it in foreign spends will incur you a 3.5% foreign currency fee while earning only 0.5% cashback on your spending
What to Avoid:
Exclusion List:
a. any cash advance;
b. any Credit Card Funds Transfer;
c. any monthly instalment of an EasyPay transaction;
d. any amounts charged to your Smart Card that is subsequently cancelled, voided, refunded or reversed;
e. AXS, SAM or ATM transactions made using your Smart Card;
f. any insurance premiums charged to your Smart Card;
g. recurring payments (being automatic payments where the Smart Cardholder or supplementary Smart Card cardholder has given a one-time authorisation or instruction for the merchant to charge the payment directly to his/her Smart Card at a fixed interval, such as transactions made pursuant to Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited’s 0% Interest Instalment Plan) or payments made to all billing organisations using Standard Chartered Online Banking or mobile app;
h. any fees or charges (including but not limited to annual card fees, service fees, interest charges, cheque processing fees, administrative fees, finance charges, and/or late payment charges and other miscellaneous fees and charges);
i. amounts which have been rolled over from any preceding month’s statement;
j. tax refunds credited into your Smart Card;
k. charges incurred but not submitted or posted to your Smart Card account during the Smart Card Promotion Period;
l. any fraudulent retail transaction;
m. any payments related to betting (including lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting, and wagers at race tracks) through any channel charged to your J Smart Card;
n. any top-ups or payment of funds to any prepaid cards and any prepaid accounts including without limitation:
- any transaction classified under either of the following Merchant Category Codes:
- Financial Institutions – Merchandise, Services, and Debt Repayment (6012); or
- Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load (6540); and
- any top-ups or payment of funds to the following accounts or any other accounts as we may specify from time to time:
- EZ LINK PTE LTD
- EZLINK*
- TRANSIT LINK*
- EZ LINK PTE LTD (FEVO)
- EZ LINK
- TRANSIT LINK PL
- EZ-LINK PTE LTD SINGAPORE
- EZLINKS.COM
- TRANSIT
- EZ-LINK TOP-UP KIOSK
- FLASHPAY ATU
- PAYPAL * BIZCONSULTA
- EZ-LINK (IMAGINE CARD)
- TRANSITLINK*
- PAYPAL * CAPITALROYA
o. any transactions under these MCCs:
MCC | Description |
4829 | Money Transfer |
4900 | Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water, and Sanitary |
5047 | Medical, Dental, Ophthalmic and Hospital Equipment and Supplies |
5199 | Nondurable Goods (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
6050 | Quasi Cash – Financial institutions, Merchandise, Services |
6051 | Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Non-Fiat Currency (for example: Cryptocurrency), Money Orders (Not Money Transfer), Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment |
6211 | Security Brokers/Dealers |
6513 | Real Estate Agents and Managers |
6529 | Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Financial Institute |
6530 | Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Merchant |
6534 | Quasi Cash – Money Transfer – Member Financial Institution |
7299 | Other Services – Not Elsewhere Classified |
7349 | Cleaning, Maintenance and Janitorial Services |
7511 | Quasi Cash – Truck Stop Transactions |
7523 | Parking Lots, Parking Meters and Garages |
8062 | Hospitals |
8211 | Elementary and Secondary Schools |
8220 | Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools, and Junior Colleges |
8241 | Correspondence Schools |
8244 | Business and Secretarial Schools |
8249 | Vocational and Trade Schools |
8299 | Schools and Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
8398 | Charitable Social Service Organizations |
8651 | Political Organizations |
8661 | Religious Organizations |
8999 | Professional Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
9211 | Court Costs, Including Alimony and Child Support |
9222 | Fines |
9223 | Bail and Bond Payments |
9311 | Tax Payments |
9399 | Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
9402 | Postal Services – Government Only |
9405 | U.S. Federal Government Agencies or Departments |
Past Buffs/Nerfs:
Buffs:
- Cashback of up to 10% on Bonus Categories + Additional Merchants
-
- Smart Dining, Smart Streaming, and Smart Transport:
Bonus Categories | Current |
Smart Dining | – Mcdonalds – Burger King – KFC – Subway – Toastbox – Yakun – Dominos NEW – Starbucks NEW – Coffee Bean NEW – Pizza Hut NEW |
Smart Streaming | – Disney+ – Spotify – Netflix – Youtube – Amazon Prime NEW – iQiyi NEW – Viu NEW – HBO Go NEW |
Smart Transport | – Bus/MRT – Electrical Vehicle Charging* NEW |
*All transactions under the MCC 5552 for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging will be included and valid only until 31 December 2025. | |
- Unlimited Cashback:
-
Monthly cap of 14,400 Rewards Points will be removed
-
- SmartDelay™:
-
Get complimentary lounge access in case of flight delays, effective 15 January 2025
-
Nerfs:
- Changes in Bonus Category:
-
for spends less than S$800, the cashback will drop to 4% (only until 31 March 2025) then it will reduce to 0.5% effective 1 April 2025.
-
Minimum Spend | Bonus Categories Rate | Other Eligible Spend |
Less than S$800 | 4% 0.5% (1.6 points) | 0.5% (1.6 points) |
S$800 | 8% (25.6 points) | 0.5% (1.6 points) |
S$1,500 | 10% (32 points) | 1% (3.2 points) |
A minimum of 3,200 360o Rewards Points is required for each redemption of S$10 cashback. | ||
- Annual Fee:
-
Waived for the first 12 months, then a S$91 annual fee (excluding GST) will be charged on your account from 6 December 2025.
-
- Installment Conversion fee
-
a new processing fee will apply for 3-month instalment conversions effective 8 December 2024
-
- Effective Interest rate:
-
The Effective Interest Rate (“EIR”) will be reverted to the base rate of 27.9% per annum
-
Read FAQs here
The biggest drawback would probably be the addition of minimum spend requirement. These changes seem to point towards benefitting those who spend more than S$1,500 or more on the current and new merchants with the uncapped 10% cashback potential.
Is it Worth it:
Advantages:
- No minimum spend
- No annual fee
- 6% cashback with no minimum spend criteria is unheard of in cashback credit cards
Disadvantages:
- Limited merchants
- Bonus 360° Reward Points capped at 14,400 per month (equivalent to S$818 Spending cap at 6% earn rate)
- have to manually redeem cashback or miles
- Reward points expire 3 years from your card opening date. (See FAQ for more)
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How do I redeem for my cashback with my Rewards Points: you can redeem the cashback via the bank’s Online Rewards Page. Cashback can be redeemed in blocks of S$10. Every 3,200 of 360° Reward Points entitles you to a S$10 cashback for your Smart Credit Card.
- When do the 360 reward points expire: The points expire 3 years from your card opening date, which is very strange. Your points earned the day before your 3rd year card anniversary date could just expire the next day. You could set a redemption reminder date 3 years from your card opening date. Alternatively, you could keep the points in your account low by doing regular redemption. This way, even if you forget, all is not lost.
- Is there a an expiry date on 360 Rewards with other cards: SCB Journey Card points don’t expire, unlike the SCB Smart Card, SCB Rewards+, and other points-earning cards, which have expiry dates.
Final Thoughts:
This card would be great for those whose purchasing patterns involve a lot of fast food, coffee shop hopping, digital subscriptions, and public transportation, as there is no yearly annual fee and no minimum monthly spend required to get reward points. Although given that it has a decent 6% cashback rate, you can only earn it on specific merchants. This is still my current primary card for SimplyGo transactions for bus and mrt rides. Very good card in my opinion.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
