What credit cards should I use overseas?

• For clothes, shoes, or bags, do choose Citibank Rewards Card
• For major spendings like Hotel, do choose UOB Visa Signature. Make sure the monthly spendings above S$1000, but lower than S$2000. Remember to use foreign currency.
• More than S$2000? or less than S$1000? I will use PrePaid cards, which was topped up previously.
• Of course, you can choose ANZ Travel Visa Signature if you just want to make your life easy.

Want to collect miles? Also no problem, you could find more from the following:

• UOB One Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★★★★

  Bank: UOB
  Annual income S$30000 for SC / PR, S$40,000 for Foreigners, or a Fixed Deposit collateral of min S$10,000 is required

  Features: Up to 5% rebate, plus 2.43% interest rate on savings
  Remarks: Need to spend more than S$500, S$1000, S$2000 for every month in a bill quarter (with at least 3 transactions per month) to be eligible for S$50, S$100, S$300 rebate
  Related Article: Tips to achieve continuously min monthly spending

• DBS Live Fresh Visa Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★★★★

  Bank: DBS / POSB
  Annual income S$30,000 for SC / PR, S$45,000 for Foreigners

  Features:
  * 6% Cashback on your online purchases (Till 29 Feb 2016)
  * 3X DBS Points on online, overseas, EZ-Reload & Visa payWave
  * First 5 or 2 years fee waiver

• Citibank Rewards Cards
  
  
  
  Apply Now★★★★★

  Bank: Citibank
  Annual income S$30,000 (Foreigners S$60,000)

  Features:
  * 10X on clothes, shoes, or bags (local & overseas)
  * 10X on department store (local & overseas)
  * 10X on Online Shopping exclude FB, travel, government etc.
  * 10X equals to 3%~4%rebate, or 4 miles
  * Points Expiration - 5 years

• UOB Visa Signature Card
  
  
  
  View Details ★★★★☆

  Bank: UOB
  Annual income S$50000 for SC / PR, S$60,000 for Foreigners, or a Fixed Deposit collateral of min S$20,000 is required

  Features: 10X for paywave, foreign currency spendings (5% rebate or 4 miles)
  Remarks: Minimum S$1000 monthly spending required; 10X is for first S$2000 only, and 10X is calculated based on every S$5
  Expiration: Around 3 years
  Recommend: Frequently traveller, overseas online shopper, mile collectors.

• EZ-Link Imagine Amex Prepaid Card
  
  
  
  View Details ★★★★☆

  Bank: Best Credit Cards - Overseas
  

  Features:
  * Amex Prepaid Card, store up to S$1000 in amex purse.
  * Top-up Amex purse using any Credit Card / Debit Card
  * Top-up EZ-Link purses using either EZ-Reload or Tap and Top
  Promotion: Imagine Card Rebates Promotion (Till Mar 2015)
  * 5% rebate on total monthly spend of a minimum S$50 on the Amex purse, capped at S$5.
  * 2% rebate on total monthly spend of a minimum S$50 on public buses and trains on the ez-link purse, capped at S$2.
  * Both rebates will credited into the Amex purse by the 15th of the following month.
  Where to buy: TransitLink Ticket Offices (Price @ S$15, with S$10 initial value in Amex purse)

• EZ-Link Fevo Prepaid MasterCard
  
  
  
  View Details ★★★★☆

  Bank: Best Credit Cards - Overseas
  

  Features:
  * Prepaid MasterCard, store up to S$1000 in MasterCard purse.
  * Top-up MasterCard purse using any Credit Card / Debit Card
  * Top-up EZ-Link purses using either EZ-Reload or Tap and Top
  Where to buy:
  * Online: Get a Personalized FEVO / special edition FEVO thematic card at S$28
  * M1 Stores: Get M1 Prepaid MasterCard @ S$15 (with S$10 initial value in MasterCard purse)
  Online Portals:
  * Fevo Card: http://www.fevocard.com.sg/
  * M1 Prepaid MasterCard: https://prepaidmastercard.m1.com.sg/

• DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★★★☆

  Bank: DBS / POSB
  Annual income S$80000

  Features:
  * 3 miles per S$1 on all online Flight and Hotel transactions
  * 2 miles per S$1 spent overseas
  * 1.2 miles per S$1 spent locally.
  * Points never expire
  * Priority Pass™ Membership
  * 1 million travel accident insurance coverage
  

• ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★★☆☆

  Bank: ANZ Bank Singapore‎
  Annual income S$60000 (S$90,000 for Foreigners)

  Features:
  * Earn 1.4 travel$ per S$1
  * 2.8 air miles* with every S$1 spent in Australia and New Zealand, or on flights with Qantas and Jestar
  * The best card to pay for income tax
  Recommend: Traveller, mile collectors.

• UOB PRVI Miles Platinum Card
  
  
  
  View Details ★★★☆☆

  Bank: UOB
  Annual income S$80,000, or a Fixed Deposit collateral of minimum S$50,000 is required.

  Key Features:
  * Earn 2.5 miles for every S$1 spent overseas (Earn UNI$6.25 per S$5)
  * Earn 1.6 miles for every S$1 spent locally (Earn UNI$4 per S$5)
  * Bonus 20,000 miles every year if you spend more than S$50,000 per annum
  * Complimentary one-way limousine transfer to the airport
  Eligibility: Annual income 80K, or a Fixed Deposit collateral of minimum S$50,000 is required.
  Expiration: Around 3 years
  Remarks: Amex exchange rate is much worse than Visa / MasterCard.

• SCB Unlimited Cashback Credit Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★★☆☆

  Bank: Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore)
  Annual income S$30,000 (Foreigners S$60,000)

  1.5% cashback on all spend

• Citi Premiermiles American Express® Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★★☆☆

  Bank: Citibank
  Annual income 80K

  Key Features: Earn 2.5 Citi Miles with every S$1 spent on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir, 2 Citi Miles per S$1 spent overseas, and 1.4 Citi Miles with every S$1 spent locally.
  Eligibility: Annual income 80K
  Remarks: Annual fee S$267.50 with FREE 15K miles.
  Expiration: Never

• Citi PremierMiles Visa Card
  
  
  
  View Details Apply Now★★☆☆☆

  Bank: Citibank
  Annual income 50K

  Key Features: Earn 1.2 Citi Miles per S$1 local currency spendings (i.e. 1.2 miles / S$); Earn 2 Citi miles per S$1 foreigner currency spendings (i.e. 2 miles / S$)
  Eligibility: Annual income 50K
  Remarks: Annual fee S$192.6 with FREE 10K miles.
  Expiration: Never

FAQs

Q1: Which currency should I choose when I pay in Foreign country?
At most of time, DO choose foreign currency instead of SGD.
As the SGD payment in foreign countries will introduce Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) or Cardholder Preferred Currency (CPC) is a financial service in which holders of credit cards, when making a payment in a foreign currency, have the cost of a transaction converted to their local currency at the point of sale. It allows customers to see the exact amount their card will be charged, expressed in their own home currency, but the exchange rate is generally less favorable than that offered through their credit card company. In addition, if the card issuer charges a fee for charges made outside of the card holder’s home country, that fee will be added in addition to the DCC fee, despite the fact that the charge was made in the home currency. See here for more details.

Example (UOB Credit Card)

• Transaction Currency: HKD
• Visa Currency Exchange rate: 1 HKD = 0.172743 SGD (as at 11 Jan 2015)
• Transaction Amount: 1390 HKD
• If you pay in HKD, the actual amount charged is: 246.11 SGD (i.e. 2.5% fees)
• If you pay in SGD, the actual amount charged is: 250.68 SGD (i.e. 4.4% fees)

Q2: Which currency should I choose when I pay in overseas shopping sites?
At most of time, the answer is the SAME as Q1, e.g. Amazon.com, GILT etc. But some website (who want to localize their services) may charge SGD without additional charges.
When you spend a big amount of money, it’s better to compare before paying.

Q3: What kinds of fees will be imposed when I pay in foreign currency?
A Visa credit card will normally impose a transaction fee of 1%, while a Master credit card will impose a transaction fee of 0.2%~1.0%. The following fees are for reference only (at 28 Dec 2014) and may change time by time.