What Credit Cards To Bring Along This December Trip?

You are in luck if you are planning some heavy-duty shopping (overseas) this month.

It’s Christmas and many banks are offering temping rebate offers if you spend with their card overseas. Imagine a 2% rebate on a $1000 bill (we know our bags cost more than this, don’t we?), it will be a $20 savings. You could buy a branded wristlet with the money saved!

So, whose card should you bring along? Let me do the analysis for you!

– Standard Chartered (my pick!)
– OCBC
– HSBC

 #1. Standard Chartered – 15% Rebate Up To $150 

This is the least rigid as compared to the other 2 banks’ promotions. You simply have to spend a minimum of $5,000 to enjoy 15% rebate on your online OR overseas spend, capped at $150. Of course, having the cap makes it less attractive but if you combine this with the Manhattan Credit Card, you’ll enjoy the card’s privilege of 3% rebate (capped at $200 per quarter) PLUS the $150 cashback if you fulfill the minimum spend of $5,000.

There are also other gifts to incentivize additional spending:

– Free Samsonite Casso 28” Spinner luggage with min spend of SGD 8000
– Free 1-night stay in Wonderful Room at W Singapore with min spend of SGD 16,000
– Chance to win a pair of Singapore Airlines Suites tickets to Paris with every SGD 1,000 spent

Now you see why this is my pick out of the 3? 🙂

 #2. OCBC – 2% Rebate with No Cap 

This would have been great because there’s no cap but the catch is – the rebate will only be calculated based on the excess spend ABOVE your ‘personalized spend’. What’s ‘personalized amount’ you ask? We have no idea and it seems like this amount differs across individuals. If your ‘personalized amount’ is SGD 1,000, it means that even with a spend of SGD 5,000 (using Standard Chartered’s minimum spend as benchmark), you will only earn an $80 rebate.

Do a quick calculation and you’ll know you’ll have to spend at least $10,000 to be on par with what Standard Chartered is offering.

 #3. HSBC – 10% Rebate Up To $100 

The minimum spend to qualify is just $500, which is the lowest as compared to the other 2. However, as you can see, the cap is also the lowest. Despite these factors, I would prefer this to the OCBC promotion as you would jsut have to spend $1,000 in order to qualify for the $100 rebate. It’s a no-brainer isn’t it?

Do note that the promotion is only valid on HSBC Visa Platinum Card or HSBC Advance Visa Platinum Card.

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As most of the above are festive promotions, they work on a first-come-first-serve basis and some promotions may require registrations. Do click on the links to find out more about the promotions, ok? In case you are wondering why am I ignoring all the Miles cards, it’s because I care more about rebates than miles. 😉

This is not a sponsored post.
Emma
My parents think I travel too much but if not now, then when? New experiences excite me the most and that's why I rarely visit the same city twice unless (a) they have awesome food and (b) they have awesome food.
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