updated: Nov 19, 2024
These premium credit cards are keys to unlock a whole new world of unbridled luxury, from VIP travel privileges to fine dining.
Best for |
Credit cards |
Benefits |
Annual fee |
Fine dining |
American Express The Platinum Card |
- Up to 50% off dining with Love Dining - Unlimited lounge access for principal cardmember and one guest |
S$1,744 |
Women |
UOB Lady’s Solitaire |
4 miles per dollar on 2/7 categories. Choose from: - Beauty - Fashion - Dining - Family - Travel - Transport - Entertainment |
S$414.20 |
Airport lounge access |
Citi Prestige |
- Unlimited lounge access for principal cardmember and one guest - Free nights at any hotel worldwide - Miles don’t expire |
S$545 |
Complimentary travel insurance |
HSBC Visa Infinite |
- Complimentary limousine transfers and fast-track immigration - Dedicated travel and lifestyle concierge - Up to US$2 million in travel insurance coverage |
S$656.08 |
Bonus miles |
Standard Chartered Visa Infinite |
- 35,000 welcome bonus miles - Up to 3 miles per dollar - 6 lounge visits per year |
S$594 |
Having an American Express The Platinum Card in hand is like having a free pass to an exclusive club of upscale gourmet pampering. Whether it’s for spoiling your loved ones or to show clients a good time around Singapore’s most talked about restaurants, The Platinum Card has up to 50% savings in store under the Love Dining program. Some participating hotels are Fairmont Singapore, Swissôtel The Stamford Singapore and Swissôtel Merchant Court. That’s not all, there’s an entire line-up of top-rated restaurants waiting for you, including Wooloomooloo Steakhouse and Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant.
But what good is a fine dining card if it doesn’t also indulge you in a cocktail or two? The Chillax program gives you one more reason to celebrate, as you stand to enjoy complimentary drinks at places like Anti:Dote and Horse’s Mouth Bar.
Besides fine dining, the card offers a long list of other privileges including a welcome offer of 25,000 bonus Membership Rewards points, discounts and vouchers to luxury spas, complimentary green fees and permanent waiver of miles transfer fee (worth S$40).
Take your time to accumulate your Membership Rewards points because they don’t expire. Whenever you’re ready, free flights are waiting for you and what better to pair them with than complimentary travel credits and unlimited airport lounge access.
To enjoy these benefits, your annual income has to be at least S$200,000 — the highest income requirement of all the premium cards. To receive the welcome miles, you need to spend S$5,000 on your card within the first 3 months. You will also need to be comfortable paying a high annual fee of S$1,744 annually, because the price tag matches the perks.
It’s safe to say women have different spending habits compared to men — hence the existence of the UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card.
The biggest draw of this card is you can earn 4 miles per dollar (10X UNI$) on any two choices of these spending categories: Beauty & Wellness, Fashion, Dining, Family, Travel, Transport, and Entertainment. Be sure to weigh your options carefully, as you’ll be locked into the two categories for a full calendar quarter before you can make any changes.
With the UOB Lady’s LuxePay Plan, you can also indulge in luxury shoes and bags with a 6 or 12-month 0% interest instalment payment plan. If you shop online, you can also take advantage of an e-commerce protection plan which covers online purchases in case of faulty or damaged goods. With respect to other premium credit cards on this list, it costs you the least in terms of the annual card fee at S$414.20. Furthermore, there's no annual fee for your first supplementary card should you decide to apply for one.
This card only applies for females with an annual income of at least S$120,000. While there is a broad range of spend categories, you might find it inconvenient to have only two bonus categories a quarter. Furthermore, if you don’t have time to travel or if a situation like COVID-19 happens again, there isn’t any option to convert your miles to cashback.
If you travel often for work or leisure, the Citi Prestige card will treat you like a rockstar.
First things first, you’ll rejoice over the unlimited complimentary access to hundreds of VIP airport lounges for you and a guest. That’s right, the key word there is ‘unlimited’. Other travel-related benefits include eight complimentary airport limousine transfers, one complimentary night for bookings of four consecutive nights at any hotel (blackout dates don’t apply for this privilege) and complimentary travel insurance coverage of up to S$1 million. And if you're a serial golfer, you'll appreciate the six complimentary games granted annually for selected courses in the Asia-Pacific region.
The miles per dollar earn rates are decent at 1.3 miles per dollar on local spend and 2 miles per dollar on overseas spend. Best of all, you have plenty of choices on what you want to do with them. You can redeem your Citi Rewards points for flights, hotels, rewards or cash rebates. And the best part? Citi miles never expire!
The card’s minimum annual income requirement is S$120,000 and these world-of-luxury privileges come with a catch, of course: an unwaivable annual fee of S$545. But upon payment of the annual fee, you get a whopping 62,500 Citi ThankYou Points as a gift.
If you’re a globetrotter who fancies doing it in style and doesn’t settle for anything less, you might want to check out the HSBC Visa Infinite card.
Its star-studded offerings include complimentary access to over 1,100 airport lounges all over the world (unlimited, for you and your supplementary cardholders), complimentary limousine transfer to Changi Airport, expedited immigration clearance, dedicated concierge service and discounts for hotel dining. What really stands out here is that this card offers the highest travel insurance coverage for you and your family, for up to US$2 million with over 20 benefits.
Although your miles earn rate is not much to shout about in the first year (1/1.25 miles per S$1 local/overseas spend), your signup bonus will see 87,500 in HSBC Rewards Points, which is equivalent to 35,000 free miles. What's more, you get access to a dedicated travel & lifestyle concierge. Planning your ideal travel itinerary just got that much easier.
The minimum annual income for the HSBC Visa Infinite Card is S$120,000 and the annual fee is on the higher end at S$656.08. Air miles are also credited in the form of HSBC rewards points, which means you will need to pay an annual programme fee of S$42.80 to convert them into miles.
If you are looking for a premium credit card that helps you rapidly accrue miles, the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite is the card to have.
You will receive 35,000 welcome miles when you sign up, giving you a head start to chase your dream holiday. Alternatively, you could choose to immediately redeem a Economy Saver return ticket on Singapore Airlines to Bali, Hong Kong, or Taiwan.
This card also earns you 3 miles per dollar on overseas spends –– one of the highest on the market. At home, the earn rate goes for 1.4 miles per dollar on local spends. On top of this, you will also receive six complimentary passes to airport lounges each year (includes access for your family), 1-for-1 dining privileges at selected restaurants with The Good Life, and complimentary travel insurance up to S$1 million.
The annual minimum income requirement is S$150,000, unless you’re a priority or private banking customer with Standard Chartered (in which, the minimum annual income is S$30,000). There is also a monthly minimum spend requirement of S$2,000 to hit the 3 miles per dollar overseas earn rate.
For a premium card with this income criteria and an annual fee of S$594, you’re only getting six complimentary passes to airport lounges per year. If this is something you harp on and you don’t see yourself rationing it across your travels, you could look to either the Citi Prestige or the HSBC Visa Infinite above for unlimited access.
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