CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card Review: Boosted 10% Cashback For Young Adults, Families, & Pet Owners

Cashback cards are a dime a dozen, but how many let you earn cashback on cruises, pet shops, and even veterinary services? Well, the CIMB Visa Signature Card can.

Nowadays, plenty of cashback credit cards cater to everyday categories like dining, food delivery, retail shopping, transport, groceries, entertainment, online spending, and more; unfortunately, the downside is that credit cards often come stacked with plenty of merchant exclusions. 

That said, what makes the CIMB Visa Signature Card any different from any other cashback cards currently out there in the market? Well, apart from its impressive 10% cashback on daily spend categories like groceries, online shopping, and beauty and wellness, the same rate also applies to pet shops, veterinary services, and cruises.

Now those are definitely some (oddly) specific spend categories if we’ve ever seen one… but without further ado, let’s dive more into CIMB Visa Signature’s unique card propositions.

Table of contents

• Overview: CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card
• Advantages of the CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card
• Disadvantages of the CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card
• Eligibility, fees & charges
• How to apply?
• Should you get the CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card?

What the CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card can do for you

CIMB Visa Signature Card product summary:

• Bonus cashback: 10% cashback on online shopping, groceries, beauty & wellness, pet shops & veterinary services, and cruises
• Minimum S$800 spend per month 
• Capped at S$100 cashback per month, S$20 per category
• Base cashback: Unlimited 0.2% cashback on all spend
• No minimum spend, no cap
• Up to S$500,000 complimentary travel insurance coverage
• No annual fee 
• Free supplementary cards for life
• Annual income requirement: S$30,000 (Singaporeans/PRs)
• Minimum age: 21

Based on these pros and cons, does the CIMB Visa Signature Card really live up to the cashback hype?

Why should you choose the CIMB Visa Signature Credit Card?

Pros ✅

#1: High 10% cashback rate on specific spend

Anyone familiar with cashback cards would know that 10% is one of the highest cashback rates out there. This bonus rate offered by the CIMB Visa Signature Card is eligible for online spend, groceries, beauty & wellness, pet shops & veterinary services, and cruises. 

🤓 Fun fact: Other credit cards generally offer between 3% to 8% cashback – except for the UOB One Card, which offers up to 15% cashback for new cardmembers. 

With that context, it’s safe to say that 10% cashback is definitely a commendable rate. Moreover, this cashback is valid on both local and overseas spend on the eligible categories! This means you can very well bring the CIMB Visa Signature Card along as your designated travel card if you so wish! However, one downside to this is that the various foreign transaction fees and dynamic currency conversion fees will still apply accordingly. (More info below!)

The other downside to the card is its relatively high S$800 minimum monthly spend that comes with it. Furthermore, the bonus cashback earned is capped at S$100 per month, restricted to S$20 per category. 

[New] 💰 For a limited time only, enjoy the same 10% cashback with a lower minimum S$600 spend per month until 31 October 2023!

Even when the cashback cap is hit, you can still continue to earn 0.2% unlimited cashback on all other spend above S$1, with no minimum spend or cap imposed. Yes, if your transaction falls below S$1, it won’t qualify for this base cashback, but that’s just negligible really.

💡 Pro-tip: The 10% cashback is broken down into 0.2% base cashback and 9.8% bonus cashback. So it’s important to note that the S$100 cap applies to the 9.8% rate.

#2: No annual fees

Another great thing about CIMB cards in general is that there are no annual fees, ever. They’re perpetually waived for life. 

Although many credit cards often give a one-year or two-year fee waiver, few cards give lifetime annual fee waivers; either that or you have to hit a certain annual spend requirement to “waive” the annual fee.

A few other examples of cards with no annual fees include UOB EVOL and HSBC Revolution.

See also: Credit Card Annual Fee Waiver Guide By Banks

#3: Free supplementary cards 

Along the same train of thought, the CIMB Visa Signature Card also offers free supplementary cards for life. You don’t have to spend a single penny getting a second card for your parents, partner or children.

Besides that 10% cashback on groceries, this is another reason why the card is great to be shared among family members – regardless of whether the principal or supplementary card.

With the annual fees of principal and supplementary CIMB Visa Signature Cards out of the picture, you’ll only have to worry about paying your monthly credit card bills on time. After all, with such an advantage already, it’d be embarrassing to be in unnecessary credit card debt. 🥴

See also: How Do Balance Transfers Work and Should You Get One?

But on the off chance that you do find yourself in snowballing credit card debt and need some third-party assistance, a debt consolidation plan might help.

#4: Be worry-free when travelling

I’m sure we can all agree that going on holidays without any travel insurance can almost be considered a cardinal sin nowadays. Especially with COVID-19 taking a toll on the travel industry for the past two years… it’s been rough, no doubt.

That’s why, we have no choice but to stan a credit card that provides its cardmembers with up to S$500,000 complimentary travel insurance. The policy benefits are as follows:

Source: CIMB

Notably, accidental death and permanent disability are the only two components that cover you, your spouse, and your child dependent. The other coverage benefits like baggage loss, baggage delay, flight delay, and trip cancellation only apply to the principal cardholder, AKA you. They won’t be applicable to your family members.

There is also no coverage provided for other essential components like overseas medical expenses, medical repatriation, and implications arising from COVID-19.

Although free travel insurance coverage is better than none, CIMB Visa Signature’s policy coverage is admittedly lacklustre. Thus, it’d be best to purchase extra travel insurance on top of this to protect all bases for you and your loved ones.

See also: Best-Priced Travel Insurance: FWD, Starr, Singlife, Allied World

#5: Fantastic for selected demographic groups

Based on the card mechanics alone, we can identify a couple of group demographics that will benefit from the CIMB Visa Signature Card:

• Young working adults. The absence of annual fees is ideal for those just entering the workforce or earning a relatively lower income.
• Families/households. The 10% cashback on groceries and online retail spend, ‘nuff said.
• Pet owners. Again, the 10% cashback on pet shops and veterinary services is hard to miss if your furbaby is the only baby in your life.
• Short-term vacations via cruises. Although aviation travel and holidays are more popular than cruises, cruise vacations are still great for shorter vacations or when travelling with elderly.

Read more:
Best Credit Cards For Pet Owners
The Real Cost: Owning a Dog in Singapore
Cat Adoption & How Much it Costs to Own a Cat in Singapore

Cons ❌

#1: The spend categories are a bit too specific

Even though the CIMB Visa Signature Card does reward 10% cashback on online spend and groceries, those are perhaps the only two categories that we’d classify as “everyday spend”. In our opinion, the other categories beauty & wellness, pet shops & veterinary services, and cruises don’t exactly fall under that umbrella.

In that sense, CIMB Visa Signature’s spend categories are a bit specific, and might even be a bit restrictive for some. Thus, if you don’t spend a ton on online shopping and groceries, don’t have a pet, and don’t go on cruises, this card wouldn’t hit the mark for you.

#2: Online spend category is limited too

Similarly, the definition of CIMB Visa Signature’s online spend category is rather limited too.

According to its T&Cs, its 10% cashback on online shopping is only valid for the following MCCs:

• MCC 5611: Men’s and Boys’ Clothing and Accessories Stores
• MCC 5621: Women’s Ready to Wear Stores
• MCC 5631: Women’s Accessories and Specialty Stores
• MCC 5641: Children’s and Infants’ Wear Stores
• MCC 5651: Family Clothing Stores
• MCC 5655: Sports Apparel Stores
• MCC 5661: Shoe Stores
• MCC 5691: Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores
• MCC 5699: Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessories Stores
• MCC 5311: Department Stores

Along with other online websites like Alibaba, Amazon, Apple, Daigou, Ezbuy, Razor, and Shopee.

At first glance, this list might seem pretty decent. But, you’ll soon realise that it doesn’t include any online spend for other websites, movies, F&B, travel, airline transactions, government, brokerages/securities, insurance, tuition, and online gambling websites.

While the latter half of transactions (government onwards) are commonly-excluded MCCs, the former half of movies, F&B, travel, airline, and other online websites are commonly-included MCCs that you’d want to earn cashback on, especially for F&B and travel. This might potentially be considered a big disadvantage to some.

See also: 28 Best All-You-Can-Eat Buffets in Singapore

#3: Decently high minimum monthly spend of S$800

Last but not least, the CIMB Visa Signature Card has a relatively high minimum monthly spend of S$800. While fair enough, this minimum spend requirement isn’t exactly shocking or anything, but S$800 can definitely be a lot to some cardmembers if you live alone, control your spending way below that amount, or don’t have any dependents to support.

Other cashback cards with a similar minimum spend requirement include the Maybank Family & Friends Card, the Citi Cash Back Card, the OCBC Frank Card, the OCBC 365 Card, and the POSB Everyday Card. 

To CIMB Visa Signature’s credit, the S$800 monthly spend might seem like a tall order at first, but it’s also a common requirement amongst many cashback credit cards. So, it's not really an outlier.

💡 Fun fact: Of course, this S$800 minimum spend is nowhere near the UOB One Card’s highest minimum monthly spend of S$2,000. That’s only if you want to hit its maximum cashback rate.

What charges or fees should you look out for?

• Annual fee: N/A
• Late payment fee: S$100
• Minimum monthly payment: 3% of outstanding balance or S$50, whichever is higher, plus any outstanding overdue amount
• Interest on purchases: 27.8% p.a. subjected to compounding if charges are not repaid in full
• Interest on cash advance: 28% p.a. subjected to compounding 
• Cash advance fee: 8% of withdrawal amount or S$15, whichever is higher
• Foreign transaction fee: 3% (1% by Mastercard/Visa, 2% by CIMB Bank Berhad)
• Dynamic currency conversion fee: 1%
  
  

Eligibility criteria

• At least 21 years old
• Annual income requirement for Singaporeans/PRs: S$30,000

How to apply?

Click on the ‘Apply Now’ button on this page and complete the application form on SingSaver site. You might need to prepare the following documents for the application process:

• Front and back of NRIC/Passport/Employment Pass/Proof of Residence 
• For Salaried Employees:
  • Latest computerised payslip, or
  •  Latest 12 months’ CPF Contribution History Statement, or
  • Latest Income Tax of Notice of Assessment and latest 12 months’ CPF Contribution History Statement / latest months' computerised payslip
• For Self-employed: Last 2 years' Income Tax Notice of Assessment and last 3 months’ bank statement
• For Commission-based Earners: Last 2 years' Income Tax Notice of Assessment or latest 12 months’ CPF Contribution History Statement

Should you get the CIMB Visa Signature Card?

Based on all that we’ve covered so far, the answer should be fairly clear: if you fall into any of the aforementioned demographic groups, the CIMB Visa Signature Card will be a great cashback card to add to your collection.

I mean, its 10% bonus cashback rate is hard to match; but if you have no interest in its eligible spend categories, this accelerated rate will become useless anyway, resulting in you earning a measly 0.2% cashback on all other spend.

You should also be able to satisfy the S$800 minimum monthly spend too! If not, your spending efforts will be all for nought.