What is the Best Credit Card for Cash Back

What is Cash Back

Cashback or Cash rebate refers to the credit that is credited back into your credit card after you have made your purchases with your credit card. It is typically a small percentage of the overall purchase and could be subject to various terms and conditions. The cash back could be credited when you receive your monthly credit card bills or in some cases at the end of a quarter. Credit Cards offering cashback typically do not offer bank reward points.

Types of Cashback Credit Cards

Credit cards with cashbacks are typically divided into category-based, tiered-based or no-frills. Category-based credit cards usually award high cashback only for specific categories such as Shopping, Dining, Overseas Spending, etc and users can read more about them under various Lobang Reviews. These credit cards might target more than one category and cashback is usually only awarded if cardholders spend a minimum amount in a month. Comparatively, tiered-based credit cards are more straightforward as cardholders are awarded higher cashback for higher spending while no-frills credit cards are credit cards that offer low cashback for all spending without any spending requirements. Our table below will cover category-based credit cards, tiered-based credit cards and no-frills credit cards with the intention of covering the best cashback credit cards for everyday spend.

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Credit Card Issuer and Type of Credit Card	Minimum Requirements / Conditions	Rate for Cash Rebate
CIMB Visa Signature Card	Minimum spend of $600 in a month	Earn 10% rebates on dining, online spend and groceries
BOC Family Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month	Earn 10% cashback on dining and movies, 3% on supermarkets, telco bills, online spend and selected merchants and up to 0.3% on all other spend
Citi Cash Back Card	Minimum spend of $888 in a month	Earn 8% cashback on petrol, dining and groceries and 0.25% on all other spend
Maybank Family & Friends Card	Minimum spend of $1000 or $500 in a month	Earn 8% or 5% cash rebate at popular selected merchants that include supermarkets, petrol stations, fast food delivery, theme parks, pharmacies, etc
UOB Delight Card	Minimum spend of $400 or $800 in a month	Earn 3% SMART$ rebates on selected supermarkets and Guardian, telcos, Prudential Insurance, United Overseas Insurance, Town Councils, SPH newspapers, selected contactless payments and ATUs. Earn 8% SMART$ rebate for supermarkets and Guardian if higher tier spending met.
Citibank SMRT Card	Minimum spend of $300 in a month	Earn up to 7.3% SMRT$ rebate at popular selected merchants that include supermarkets, movies, coffee, fast food, restaurants, pharmacies, recurring bills, etc
POSB Everyday Card	Minimum monthly spending requirements for dining	Earn up to 15% rebate for online food delivery, 6% at key merchants, 5% for dining and 0.3% on all other spend
OCBC 365 Credit Card	Minimum spend of $800 in a month	Earn up to 6% cashback on dining, 3% on online spend, groceries, travel expenses, recurring bills and 0.3% on all other spend
DBS Live Fresh Card	Minimum monthly spend of $600 in a month	Earn 5% cashback on contactless and online payments
HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card	Minimum monthly spend of $600 for all 3 months in a quarter	Earn 5% cash rebates on petrol, groceries and dining
UOB One Card	Minimum monthly spend of $2000 for all 3 months in a quarter	Earn 5% cash rebates on all transactions
BOC ZaoBao Card	Minimum spend of $600 in a month	Earn 23% cash rebate on petrol and 5% cash rebate on dining, online spend, department stores. Earn up to 10% cash rebate at other selected merchants and up to 5% cash rebate for spend in China.
HSBC Advance Credit Card	HSBC Advance customers / Non-HSBC Advance customers with minimum monthly spend of $2,000	Earn 3.5% / 2.5% cashback for all spend Earn 2.5% / 1.5% cashback for all spend if minimum spend requirement not met
Maybank Platinum Visa Card	Minimum spend of $300 / $1,000 in a month for all 3 months in a quarter	Earn 3.33% cash rebate on local spend
ICBC Unionpay Dual Currency Card ICBC Visa Dual Currency Card	Minimum spend of $500 a month for all 3 months in a quarter. Cashback only applicable on spending in excess of $500 each month	Earn up to 2% / 5% / 8% cashback for 1st / 2nd / 3rd month in a quarter on all spend in excess of $500 for each month
American Express True Cashback Card	Maximum spend of $5,000 for first 6 months	Earn 3% cashback on any purchase, 1.5% cashback after first 6 months
ICBC Koipy Dual Currency Card	Minimum spend of $1,000 in a month	Earn 3% cashback on all spend
Standard Chartered MANHATTAN World MasterCard	Minimum spend of $3,000 in a month	Earn 3% cash rebate on all spend
SAFRA DBS Credit Card	Minimum spend of $500 in a month	Earn 3% rebates on PayPass and online spend
UOB Visa Signature Card	Minimum monthly spend of $1000 in a statement period	Earn 2.3% cash rebates on petrol, online, overseas, VisapayWave and mobile payments
StanChart Spree Card	None	Earn 2% cashback on contactless and mobile payment and 1% cashback on any purchase
UOB UnionPay Card	None	Earn 2% cash rebates on all transactions
Maybank FC Barcelona Visa Signature Card	None	Earn 1.6% cashback on local spend
ICBC Global Travel MasterCard	None	Earn 1.5% cashback on local spend and 3% cashback on overseas spend
Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card	None	Earn 1.5% cashback on any purchase

Cashback Credit Cards Worth a Mention

The POSB Everyday Card offers up to 6% rebate from key merchants, 5% rebate from dining and 0.3% on everything else. It is a versaile card as it covers most major expenses with 5% cash rebate for groceries at Sheng Siong. Cardholders can also earn cash rebate for recurring bills as well as petrol at SPC. In fact, it offers one of the highest petrol savings of 20.1% at SPC for motorists.

Maybank Family & Friends Card rewards cardholders with up to 8% cash rebate at selected merchants such as Cold Storage, FairPrice supermarkets, Leading petrol stations & hypermarts in Malaysia, Leading petrol stations in Singapore, Guardian, Unity NTUC Healthcare, Watsons, Legoland, theme parks in Malaysia, etc. It has one of the highest rebate for spending on groceries and petrol in Singapore and Malaysia and is flexible in the sense that if you fail to meet the minimum $1,000 spend to attain the 8% cashback, you can still get 5% cashback with a minimum monthly spend of $300.

UOB One Card awards potential cashback of 5% for everyday purchases. However, the 5% cashback comes with plenty of conditions such as three minimum purchases per statement period and a minimum monthly spend of $2000 for all three months in a quarter. Failing to spend the minimum monthly spend will still earn you 3.33% cash back provided you still have a minimum monthly spend of $500 for all three months in a quarter. Additional perks include enrolment in the SMART$ rebate programme, a huge rarity among credit cards that already earn cash back in the first place.

BOC ZaoBao Card awards 5% cash rebate for online purchases and dining as well as an attractive 23% cash rebate for fuel at Shell, Caltex, Sinopec and SPC allowing savings of up to a whopping 32.3%. However, the low maximum cash rebate of $30 for fuel ensures that cardholders will need to spend on dining and online spend (cash rebate also cap at $30) to hit the minimum spend of $600 in a month. Furthermore, fewer restaurants and online merchants accept UnionPay and cardholders could find it difficult to spend the required $600 minimum spend to obtain the 5% cash rebate.

The BOC Family Card was the previous champion for cashback but the terms to qualify for cashback has been revised several times to disadvantage cardholders. Nevertheless, it still provides cash rebates for a large number of spending categories and is still worth a consideration. It still awards 10% cashback for both dining and movies as well as a less than impressive 3% cashback for telco bills, supermarkets and online spend. There is a higher minimum spend of $800 and lower cash rebate cap of $25 or $30 for each spending category.

The Standard Chartered MANHATTAN World MasterCard gives out 3% cash rebate with minimum spending of $3,000 a month capped at $200 a quarter. The cashback might not sound impressive but this card is a handy card to have around as it allows cashback for any spending and allows some benefit when you have to buy big-purchase items.

The Best Cash Back Credit Card

The previously inflexible CIMB Visa Signature Card provides the highest cash rebate for three important spending categories (dining, online spend and groceries) and is now our choice card for cash rebates (see Best Cash Back Credit in Singapore 2019 for comprehensive review). Eliminating the minimum number of transactions to qualify for cash rebate was a masterstroke and is is in fact now the best credit card for cashback for dining, online spend and groceries as well. Coupled with a low minimum spend of $600, using the card for cash rebates is a no brainer. However, cardholders should enjoy the benefits while it last considering the fact that the generous cashback offered by the credit card is probably unsustainable and it is only a matter of time CIMB tweaks its terms and conditions to disadvantage cardholders just like how it eliminates the minimum transactions criteria to attract more signups.

However, every consumer has different spending pattern and it will be a better idea to scroll through our list of Cash Back Credit Cards to select the best credit card to suit your spending pattern.