Compare the Best Credit Cards for Overseas Spending 2023

If you’re the type who goes all out while travelling, the DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card, Citi PremierMiles Card and OCBC 365 Card are worth considering. With the DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card, you can earn up to 5 miles per $1 spent overseas (at point of sale). What’s good about this is there’s no minimum spend per month and no cap. The $5,000 maximum spend per month only applies to any of your online flight or hotel transactions, not for your overseas spend transactions.

So if you’ve indulged in Michelin-starred restaurant experiences or a month-long European or African vacation after 1 December 2021, your accumulated miles will not go to waste, as you can take advantage of this DBS miles promotion and its “miles with no expiry” benefit. The Citi PremierMiles Card offers the similar benefit of miles with no expiry, and you can earn 2 miles for every $1 spent overseas.

As for the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card, you get 2 miles per $1 spent on foreign currency whenever you use your card. What’s more, ​​you’ll be covered with up to $1 million of complimentary travel insurance while shopping on your trip. What’s more, you do not need any minimum monthly spending to enjoy these benefits.

Unlike the usual 1.4 or 2 miles per $1 spent offered by other banks, UOB PRVI Miles offers a slightly better deal – 2.4 miles per $1 spent overseas. Not bad for a permanent bonus miles feature. The downside? The UOB miles you accumulate are bound to expire within 2 years.

The Standard Chartered Rewards+ Credit Card is even more competitive. It gives you 10X Rewards Points for every $1 spent overseas, and every 1X Rewards Point can be converted to 0.29 miles. So if we do the math, you’ll get 2.9 miles for every $1 spent overseas! The annual fee can also be waived for the first 2 years, plus you’ll get free travel insurance when you go on your trips. Sounds like a pretty good deal.

If you’re looking for cashback benefits, the HSBC Advance Credit Card lets you get up to 2.5% cashback, annual fee waiver, online shopping and dining offers, and welcome gifts. There are actually 3 tiers of cashback – base 1.5%, 2.5% with S$2,000 spend, and HSBC Everyday Global Account customers get additional 1% HSBC Everyday+ Cashback. While it’s a fixed feature of the card, you must hit the $30,000 minimum salary requirement to be eligible for these benefits.

If you like taking weekend trips to nearby cities like JB, Batam or KL, you can choose between CIMB VISA Signature Card or Standard Chartered X Card for boatloads of cashback and air miles. With CIMB VISA Signature Card, a weekend family cruise trip overseas means 10% cashback, as well as complimentary travel insurance coverage of up to $500,000 for you and your family. There’s also the Visa Signature Concierge that gives you and your family access to premium travel services for reservations, booking of tickets for entertainment and dining.

For those looking to earn lots of air miles quickly, the Standard Chartered X Card might be the perfect card for you. If you activate your X card within 30 days from the approval date, you’ll get 75,000 360° Reward Points, equivalent to 30,000 KrisFlyer Miles, within, enjoy priority airport lounge access, and redeem your points for air miles or cashback. This premium entry-level air miles credit card lets you earn 2 miles per $1 spent overseas (or 2% cashback) and 1.2 miles for local spending (or 1.2% cashback).

Dynamic currency conversion fees will be jacking up your credit card bills if you choose to pay in SGD for shopping or on other purchases overseas. Paying in SGD may also cause you to lose your potential cashback, rewards or miles for foreign currency spending if that particular credit card you own offers any of such benefits. So be sure to let the cashier know that you wish to make your payments in overseas currency just in case they assume that you would like to pay in SGD.

Foreign transaction fees are charged by the bank which you got your credit card from, and these fees are for the transactions you made overseas or through an online merchant based overseas. It includes the dynamic currency conversion fee which was mentioned above, plus an administrative fee on the foreign transaction amount charged by the bank. Such fees usually range from 2.5% to 3.5%, depending on which bank you picked.

Some credit card issuing banks offer waivers and better discounts on such fees, so choosing certain credit cards with such benefits can help you save some money on your monthly credit card bills.

By using a multi-currency account or mobile wallet, you can convert your currency without having to pay dynamic currency conversion fees. For a multi-currency account, you’ll be able to exchange SGD with the currencies that you want when the exchange rates are favourable, deposit that money into your account and use your debit card for overseas purchases. This will enable you to escape currency conversion and foreign exchange fees altogether.

Using a mobile wallet gives you similar benefits, just that you don’t have to open a multi-currency bank account. Multi-currency travel cards like YouTrip, TransferWise, Revolut and InstaReM lets you convert currency on the go with a mobile wallet, without paying for any currency exchange fees.

This tip only works for Mastercard-issued cashback credit cards and once you link them (only up to 5 cards) with the Instarem Amaze Card, all of your transactions will have the Amaze affix, which is based in Singapore. With this Instarem Amaze Card, you’ll be able to combine your current cashback rewards with the Amaze card’s 1% cashback reward.