Best credit card for general purchases!

LATEST UPDATE (2 APRIL 2015)

The ANZ Travel VS card is no longer the best card for earning cash rebates. The redemption scheme for the Travel Card has changed. Please see details here.

This card now earns 1.00% effectively in terms of cash rebate. However, if you are looking at miles, this card will still earn you 1.4 miles/dollar spent.

The best card to use for general spending in term of earning cash rebate is now the AMEX True Cash Back card. The AMEX TCB card earns you 1.5% in terms of cash rebate.

In order of my preference:
1) AMEX True Cashback card
2) UOB PRVI MasterCard

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People often asked me which credit card I use mainly for my purchases.

There are so many cards in the market to choose from and different cards have their own perks and rewards system. Some give discounts, some give cash rebates, so gives miles and some give points.

So which card do I consider the "best" for general purchase if I only want to bring 1 card out?


My answer would be: ANZ Travel Visa Signature credit card

Image credit: ANZ Singapore

Why this card out of so many cards?

Of course, I am not saying that you should pay for all purchases with this card. If you can get more than 2.5% discount for your purchase using another card, then you should use the other card and not this card.

However, this card is good for general purchase with discounts/rebates less than 2.5% if you were to use another card.

Perks of this card:

1) 1.4 Travel$ earned for every S$1 spent locally (up to S$10,000.00)

• You may redeem 2750 Travel$ for a S$50 credit to offset your bill.

• This means you will get S$50 credit for every S$1964.29 spent locally. This works out to be 2.54%!

2) 2.8 Travel$ earned for every S$1 spent for direct flight bookings with Qantas, Jetstar Airlines or retail spending in Australia and New Zealand

• This works out to be a whopping 5%!

• Of course there will be exchange rates and cross border charges. But these apply to all other cards as well. Based on my experience, it is still worth it!

3) Complimentary airport limousine departure transfers

• This is a collaboration between ANZ and ComfortDelgro.

• Spend S$1500 within 30 days and you may call 1800 269 2269 to obtain a limousine transfer to the airport

• They will send you an email with the booking voucher within a 3 days (based on my experiences)

• You may book a limousine taxi with at least 48 hours notice to the airport

• Generally, you do not have to pay anything if you go directly from your pick up location to the airport. However, if you have other requests/stopovers, charges may apply. (Do check the the terms and conditions on the voucher itself)

4) Unlimited complimentary access to Airport Lounges around the world

• Self explanatory

5) Use this card to pay for your income tax!

• After you receive your NOA or your GIRO payment schedule from IRAS, you may submit the application to ANZ. (NOA for 1 time payment, GIRO payment schedule for monthly payment)

• Processing fee of 0.7% applies but you may get the admin fee waived if you meet the min spending per month on the card with at least 3 transactions every month (details on website)

• Earn 1 Travel$ for S$1.00 of tax paid every month

Assuming you need to pay S$1000.00 income tax every month, your processing fee will be $84.00 (S$7.00 monthly). You will earn 1000 Travel$ every month for the tax amount (not the admin fee). Total Travel$ earned will be 12000, which is equivalent to S$218.l8!


How does it work?

Assuming your tax payment of S$1000 is on the 7th every month, ANZ will credit S$1000 on the last few days of the previous month and charge S$1000 to your credit card.

Tax payment due on 7 Oct 2014 on your GIRO account
ANZ credits S$1000 on 30 Sep 2014 to your GIRO account
ANZ charges S$1000 + S$7.00 to your ANZ credit card

Amazing, isn't it?


More information about paying income tax with ANZ credit card here.



Of course, the perks and benefits are more than this, but I would like to point out the few that excite me.

I also omitted the sign-up perks as many cards also have sign-up perks and they change from time to time. Plus, it is not meaningful to look at and compare the sign-up perks too.


Conditions and eligibility for application:
- Applicants must be between 21 and 65 years of age
- Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents: Minimum income of S$60,000 p.a.
- Foreigners: Minimum income of S$90,000 p.a.

Apply for ANZ Travel Visa Signature



Tags: Best credit card, general purchase, ANZ,  income tax, cash rebate, free limousine transport, Travel Visa Signature