UOB One Card Overview:
The UOB One Credit Card offers up to 20% cashback on your daily favourites, such as McDonald’s, Grab, Shopee, and UOB Travel. You can also enjoy fuel savings of up to 24% at Shell and 22.66% at SPC, and free travel insurance coverage of up to S$500,000. Plus, you can earn 5% p.a. interest on your savings account when you pair your UOB One Credit Card with a UOB One Account.
Eligibility & Fees:
- Minimum Age: 21 years old
- Minimum Annual Income: S$30,000 (locals/PRs); S$40,000 (Foreigners)
- Applicants who do not meet the minimum income requirement can submit a minimum Fixed Deposit Collateral of S$10,000.
- Annual Fee: S$196.20, waived for the first year
Key Benefits:
- Earn up to 20% total cashback when you charge at least 5 Card Transactions with a minimum spend of S$2,000, capped at S$200
- Base cashback: 3.33%
- Additional cashback: 6.67%
- Enhanced cashback: 10% Cashback
- Earn up to 10% total cashback when you charge at least 5 Card Transactions with a minimum spend of S$500 or S$1,000 for three consecutive months, capped at S$50 or S$100 respectively:
- Base cashback: 3.33%
- Additional cashback: 5%
- Enhanced cashback: 5% Cashback
- Earn up to 24% fuel savings at Shell and up to 22.66% at SPC
- Earn up to 4.33% cashback on Singapore Power utilities bills
How to Best Optimise it:
Good Use For Regular Consistent Spending With Some Level Of Tracking:
- You will minimally get 3.33% cashback. The only part that you need to take note is that it needs to be consecutive monthly spending. This means, if you spend S$1,000 in month 1, you would need to spend S$1,000 in month 2 and 3 to qualify for Tier 2 quarterly cashback (i.e. S$100). If you spend S$1,000 in month 1, then S$500 in month 2 and 3, then you will only qualify for Tier 1 quarterly cashback (i.e S$50). Do note that everyone’s quarter is different and it is dependent on your card opening month. (See “How to Earn the Quarterly Cashback” below)
Best Use for These Eligible Merchants For Additional Cashback On Top of 3.33%:
Cashback | Minimum Spend (S$500 and S$1,000) | Minimum Spend (S$2,000) |
Quarterly Cashback (min. 5 transactions monthly for qualifying quarter) | 3.33% | 3.33% |
Additional cashback (Selected Partners listed above) | 5% | 6.67% |
How to earn the Quarterly Cashback?
- Spend According To Your Card’s Quarterly Cycle, Not The Calendar Quarterly Cycle:
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- Note that the monthly spend is based on your statement period:
- Example 1: If your statement is generated on 30th, your monthly spend for January will be from 1 January to 30 January
- Example 2: If your statement is generated on 15th, your monthly spend for January will be from 16 December – 15 January
- The spend quarter is a 3-month period base on your first 3 statements, if your card is issued in February, these are your spend quarters:
- Spend quarter #1: Feb, Mar, Apr
- Spend quarter #2: May, Jun, Jul
- Spend quarter #3: Aug, Sep, Oct
- Spend quarter #4: Nov, Dec, Jan
- Note that the monthly spend is based on your statement period:
- To find out when is your card issued, you can refer to the physical card for your anniversary month as a reference.
Avoid Squeezing Your Spending To The Last Few Days Of The Month:
- Your spending is calculated and counted into the spend conditions for the month when your transaction is successfully charged AND posted on the Bank’s systems (See below picture). This means that if you spend on 31st Jan, it will likely not get posted on the same day, even for contactless spending. It usually take a few days. So technically, it’s best to hit your S$500 minimum spending a few days before the end of the month as it takes time for the transaction to get posted.
What to Avoid:
Exclusion List:
MCC | Description |
4829 | Wire Transfer/Remittance |
4900 | Utilities |
5199 | Nondurable Goods |
5960 | Direct Marketing – Insurance Services |
6012 | Member Financial Institution–Merchandise and Services |
6050 | Quasi Cash–Financial Institutions, Merchandise and Services |
6051 | Quasi Cash–Merchant (Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Non-Fiat Currency, Cryptocurrency) |
6211 | Securities–Brokers and Dealers |
6300 | Insurance Sales/Underwrite |
6513 | Real Estate Agents & Managers – Rentals |
6529 | Quasi Cash-Remote Stored Value Load-Financial Institute Rentals |
6530 | Quasi Cash-Remote Stored Value Load-Merchant Rentals |
6534 | Quasi Cash-Remote Money Transfers |
6540 | Stored Value Card Purchase/Load |
7349 | Clean/Maint/Janitorial Serv aka Property Management |
7511 | Quasi Cash – Truck Stop Trxns |
7523 | Automobile Parking Lots and Garages |
7995 | Gambling – Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, Off-Track Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks |
8062 | Hospitals |
8211 | Schools, Elementary and Secondary |
8220 | Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools and Junior Colleges |
8241 | Schools, Correspondence |
8244 | Schools, Business and Secretarial |
8249 | Schools, Trade and Vocational |
8299 | Schools and Educational Services–Not Elsewhere Classified |
8398 | Charitable and Social Service Organizations |
8661 | Religious Organizations |
8651 | Political Organizations |
9211 | Court Costs including Alimony and Child Support |
9222 | Fines |
9223 | Bail and Bond Payments |
9311 | Tax Payment |
9402 | Postal Services—Government Only |
9405 | Intra-Government Purchases—Government Only |
9399 | Government Services—not elsewhere classified |
Is it Worth it:
Advantages:
- 3.33% base cashback on all qualifying retail spend – so you know minimally, you will get 3.33% cashback without tracking
- quite easy requirements of 5 transactions per month – just take bus/mrt rides 5 times!
- Lowest minimum spend requirement
- can double dip on UOB One Account interest with one spending
- Relatively high cashback on eligible merchants like Grab rides
- Great for petrol savings with SPC
Disadvantages:
- need three months of consistent spending to get quarterly cashback
- AXS payments are excluded from all rewards
- Cashback is based on S$500, S$1000 and S$2000. Even if you spend S$800, you will only get cashback based on S$500 tier.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Does utility bills qualify for cashback and UOB One account interest minimum spend: Yes if you do not pay via AXS. Download SP App and pay via the app directly.
- Are insurance eligible for cashback and does it count into the min spend for cashback on UOB One Credit Card?: No, transactions tagged under MCC 6300 (Insurance Sales/Underwrite) are not considered as purchases, hence, they are not eligible for cashback and will not count into the minimum spend accumulation for cashback. You may refer to uob.com.sg/onetncs for the full list of exclusions. However, card spend tagged under insurance are eligible to earn bonus interest for UOB One Account.
Final Thoughts:
This card is a perfect complementary credit card to UOB One account holders who may just want to hit the lowest minimum spend requirement to get the highest interest on their savings account. After hitting the minimum spend requirement, you can move on to using your other credit cards for higher cashback.
💳 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.
