Because of the rapid change in terms and conditions.. refer here for my best credit cards.
UPDATE Oct 21, 2017:
A few days after I wrote this post, BOC changed their terms too.. They cap online cashback from $100 to now $30. It is bad, but if you spend no more than $666 online, and can mix in other spending such as dining, then it is still good.
UPDATE Mar 26, 2018:
BOC increased minimum spending from $500 to $700, and cap individual categories instead.. It is no longer my best online card. I terminated the card, through calling their unprofessional and dubious calling center.
Standard Chartered used to have the best credit card for online purchases, with 7% cashback! But they changed their terms and conditions recently, announced a rebranding from SingPost to Spree, and dropped to only 2% cashback..
It’s time to move to the next best card, again.
Why need a card for online ?
There’s so much convenience and savings from buying online (not forgetting the additional cashback from ShopBack)!
I use a dedicated credit card for ad hoc online purchases, buying on Lazada, Fave by Groupon, Redmart, Hotels, etc..
Tip: I choose not to pay monthly bills with the card, therefore making it easy to cancel when terms change.
The best card
Unfortunately, there is no outright 7% cashback anymore.
There are 2 cards with 5% cashback.
BOC Family Card is the winner for me. Spend $500-$2,000 per month online to get 5% cashback ($25-$100). Spend up to $666 online, with minimum spend $500 (includes offline spend) to get 5% cashback, capped at $30 for online
But DBS Live Fresh could go up to 10% for selected merchants, so you might choose DBS if you shop often at Lazada, Shopee, Grab, etc.
1. BOC Family Card
- 5% cashback for online purchases
- Condition: minimum spend
$500$700 per month - Limit: max cashback $30 per month
In short: Spend $500-$2,000 per month online..up to $666 per month online, with minimum spend $500 at least $700 per month online.
Other than online purchases, BOC also gives pretty good cashback in other categories:
- 10% on dining
- 5% on supermarkets
- 5% NETS FlashPay Auto Top-up
- 5% on selected merchats such as Best Denki, BIG BOX, POPULAR Bookstore, Watson
There are 3 categories with individual cap. You already know online caps at $30. Dining caps at $30 and all others cap at $40.
It’s a very well rounded card, and even better than Standard Chartered SingPost for some cases.
2. DBS Live Fresh
- 5% online and Visa paywave
- Condition: minimum spend $700 per month
- Limit: max cashback $70 per month
In short: Spend $700-$1400 per month online or using Visa paywave
It is not as good as BOC Family Card because of higher minimum spend, and lower max cashback.
The only special thing about it is that DBS has an additional 5% cashback for new cardholders when spending with selected merchants such as Lazada, Shopee, Grab, iTunes, etc. Refer to list.
Their promo period ends 31 Dec 2017, though from records, they extend the 5% for online purchases and Visa paywave since 2015.
But who knows.