Best Credit Cards For Your Favourite Streaming Services Like Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, and More

Consider yourself a movie junkie, sitcom lover, k-drama addict, or music connoisseur? Don’t let finances hold you back from indulging in your favourite entertainment – take advantage of these credit cards to earn some cashback, miles, or rewards points on these streaming subscriptions that you can’t live without.

Here are the best credit cards for streaming service subscriptions in Singapore to maximise your Netflix and Chill sessions or help you vibe to Spotify music with a better peace of mind.

If you’re familiar with merchant category codes (MCCs), streaming service subscriptions tend to fall under the following MCCs:

• MCC 4899 (Cable, Satellite, and Other Pay Television, and Radio Services)

• MCC 5815 (Digital Goods – Books, Movies, Music Entertainment & Gaming)

Out of which, TV and movie streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ belong to the former MCC 4899, while music streaming services like Spotify belong to the latter MCC 5815.

That said, below is an overview compilation of all our recommended credit cards for streaming services.

Note: “XX mpd” refers to “XX miles per S$1 spend”.

The Maybank Family & Friends Card is one of the top-earning cashback cards out there – rewarding cardholders with 8% cashback on five preferred categories, out of ten. These categories include:

• Groceries

• Dining & food delivery

• Transport

• Data communication & online TV streaming

• Retail & pets

• Online fashion

• Entertainment

• Pharmacy

• Sports & sports apparel

• Beauty & wellness

As one of the available categories is “Data Communication & Online TV Streaming”, this means that your TV and movie streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ are eligible for cashback if you pay their recurring monthly subscriptions with this card.

You’ll need to meet its minimum monthly spend requirement of S$800 and its cashback is capped at S$125 per calendar month. This cap is further broken down to S$25 per category.

To our knowledge, Spotify isn’t qualified for cashback because its merchant category (MCC 5815) isn’t listed as an eligible merchant under the card’s T&Cs. Only MCC 4899 for cable, satellite, and other pay TV services such as Netflix and Disney+ subscriptions are counted.

Otherwise, all other eligible spend is subjected to only 0.3% cashback.

Another alternative cashback card to consider is the UOB EVOL Card. Similarly to Maybank Family & Friends, it features a sweet 8% cashback on all eligible online and mobile contactless spend.

On the minimum spend front, you’ll only need to spend S$600 per month as compared to the higher S$800 or S$1,000/S$2,000 requirement imposed by other cards. This 8% cashback is capped at S$60 per statement month, split into S$20 per category.

Note: Online spend and Mobile contactless spend are counted as two separate categories. The last category refers to all other spend.

As far as streaming services are concerned, there is no mention of their MCCs being disqualified as eligible merchants according to UOB EVOL’s T&Cs. This is what leads me to believe that it’s worth trying to pay your recurring streaming subscription bills with the UOB EVOL Card to see if it earns the 8% cashback.

Otherwise, you might still earn 0.3% cashback on them if they’re considered as “all other spend”.  

So although not explicitly stated, we’ll consider it worth a shot to try earning cashback on streaming subscriptions on it.

Read our full UOB EVOL Card review here.

Now, the HSBC Advance Card is a unique combination of a regular cashback and unlimited cashback card. Why? For the very simple fact that it offers both unconditional and conditional cashback.

Up to 2.5% base cashback

In terms of unconditional cashback, you can earn 1.5% base cashback with no minimum spend on the card – which makes it straightforward and easy to spend with like unlimited cashback cards. 

However, if you want to tier up, that’s where the conditional cashback kicks in. You’ll need to fulfil their S$2,000 minimum monthly spend requirement to attain 2.5% base cashback. 

Note: Regardless of whether you earn 1.5% or 2.5% cashback, the base cashback is capped at S$70 per calendar month.

Up to 3.5% cashback, inclusive of 1% bonus cashback

And after that, if you want to hit their highest 3.5% cashback tier, you’ll need to open an HSBC Everyday Global Account to earn bonus 1% cashback under their HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme. This bonus cashback is capped at S$300 or S$500 per month, depending on what kind of HSBC banking customer you are. 

But even then, 3.5% cashback isn’t significantly remarkable when compared to regular cashback credit cards.

However, because the HSBC Advance Card markets itself as a “simple and hassle-free” cashback card, this 3.5% cash rebate does stand out from an unlimited cashback card standpoint (and you’ll see why in our later segment).

Other than that, the HSBC Advance Card is essentially a decent cashback card with a “fail-safe mechanism” where you’re guaranteed cashback regardless of spend amount. If you manage to spend S$2,000 eligible transactions that month, great! You’ll earn 2.5% cashback. Otherwise, you’ll still earn 1.5% cashback. 

In any case, this card doesn’t discriminate much in eligible merchants since all spend is as good as gold so long it doesn’t fall under the typical excluded MCCs. And based on the T&Cs, your Spotify, Netflix, Disney+ and every other streaming subscription in between seems qualified for cashback.

But again, try renewing your subscriptions with the HSBC Advance Card at your own risk.

You can read our full HSBC Advance Card Review here.

Read more:
Best HSBC Credit Card Promotions: HSBC Revolution vs HSBC Advance vs HSBC Visa Platinum Card Comparison Review
3 Reasons Why HSBC Everyday Global Account is Made For Young Professionals

As far as unlimited cashback cards go, these types of credit cards are the safest bets when paying for tricky merchants like bills, taxes, fees, and subscription fees. 

Although these cards offer lower rates ranging between 1.5% to 1.7% cashback, they tend to accept otherwise commonly excluded MCCs as eligible merchants. Thus, this allows cardholders to earn some rebate on recurring payments, despite the minimal cashback rate. 

But hey, it’s better than nothing! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Read more:
6 Reasons Why Your First Credit Card Should Be an Unlimited Cashback Card
Best Unlimited Cashback Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)
Credit Card Comparison: AMEX True Cashback vs Citi Cash Back+ vs SCB Simply Cash

Honestly, the Standard Chartered (SCB) Smart Card is one of the MVPs for credit cards catering to subscriptions. Although technically classified as an SCB cashback card, we’ll show you why it’s more useful as a miles credit card instead.

By default, it offers up to 6% cashback on selected everyday spend categories like fast food restaurants, public transport (SimplyGO), and streaming service subscriptions. So far, it has the most robust list of qualifying digital subscriptions such as Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, and Youtube.

The minimum cashback redemption rate is 3,200 360° Rewards Points = S$10.

However, if cashback isn’t your cup of tea, fret not. Stand to earn up to 7.7 mpd (or 19.2 360° Rewards Points) when you convert your points to miles with either the SCB X Card or SCB Visa Infinite Card.

💡Pro-tip: The 19.2 360° Rewards Points is broken down into:
- 1.6 base 360° Rewards Points
- 17.6 bonus 360° Rewards Points

The Standard Chartered miles conversion system is biased towards these two cards where if you pool your points together, you can one-shot convert all your accumulated points at a boosted bonus miles conversion rate of 2,500 360° Rewards Points = 1,000 miles. This amounts to 0.4 mpd.

Thus, your bonus 17.6 360° Rewards Points is worth around 7.4 mpd.

But do note, this boosted point-to-miles conversion only lasts until 31 December 2023. Thus, we really only recommend this method if:

• You already own either an SCB X Card or SCB Visa Infinite Card, or

• You intend to use the SCB Smart Card regularly as your daily spend card, or

• You want to seriously chase after miles and sign up for the SCB X and SCB Visa Infinite Card too.

After all, the SCB X and SCB Visa Infinite Cards are considered higher-tier miles cards with heftier annual fees. 

Read more:
Best Standard Chartered Credit Cards in Singapore (2024)
Best Standard Chartered Credit Card Deals (2024)

As a staple in the miles game, we’re including the Citi Rewards Card as a possible option to earn miles on streaming service subscriptions here.

You can earn up to 10X Rewards Points (or 4 mpd) on eligible online purchases with no minimum spend. That said, its boosted miles rate is only valid on up to S$1,000 spend per statement month. After which, its earn rate on online spend will revert to the base 1X Reward Point per dollar – the same as its earn rate on all other retail spend.

Since the Citi Rewards Card follows a blacklist approach to merchant exclusions, MCCs 4899 and 5815 aren’t explicitly excluded from its T&Cs. The only confirmed exclusions for online retail merchants are “mobile wallets and travel-related transactions”. 

However, there might still be a risk that Citibank decides to list these MCCs as excluded merchants.

You can check out other Citibank’s MCC exclusions here.

Check out our full Citi Rewards Card review too.

The UOB PRVI Miles Card is a rather unexpected miles card on this list because it’s better known for its stellar rates on overseas spend (2.4 mpd) and travel-related expenses (6 mpd) like major airline and hotel bookings made on Agoda, Expedia, and UOB Travel. 

Nonetheless, we’re including this card on the list because it still rewards 3.5X UNI$ per S$5 (1.4 mpd) on local spend. And like all the aforementioned cards, MCCs 4899 and 5815 aren’t explicitly excluded from its T&Cs; so there’s a chance that your streaming service subscriptions might still earn some miles.

💡Pro-tip: On a related note, other recurring bill payments from providers like Starhub are eligible for UOB’s Bill Payment Service. This service allows you to earn 2.5X UNI$ per S$5 spend (or 1 mpd) on bills, rent, taxes, and even one-off big-ticket purchases.

You can read our full UOB PRVI Miles Card Review here.

Any of the other cashback or miles cards aren’t 100% cleared to earn rebates on streaming service subscriptions. So if you already own any of them, try and see if you earn any rebates from them on your subsequent subscription renewals!