My Credit Card Strategy for 2022

VTLs have been suspended and travel is once again a medium-sized question mark. I’m stuck with too many miles (watch the video to find out exactly how many) and I don’t foresee my stash being used up over the next couple of years, so it’s going to be another year of cashback for me in 2022.
Besides, cashback cards are so good now with a rate of 5% easily achievable. I’m not going to give up 5% for only 4 miles per dollar.
Primary Card for everyday expenses
UOB EVOL has become my card of choice. Spending $600 a month both satisfies its monthly minimum spend, and hits the maximum cashback cap of $40 a month. While it’s advertised as an 8% cashback card, the effective yield is closer to 6.67% cashback since there are sublimits of $20 on each of the online and contactless categories.
Nonetheless, 6.67% cashback is a generous rate since you can spend on most things either online or through contactless these days.
Mile chasers can replace this with HSBC Revolution which can give 1% cashback on top of 4 mpd.

UOB EVOL
🔥 👍🏼
Get Apple Watch SE 2nd Gen worth S$382* when you sign up now!
Be the first 50 new-to-UOB Credit Cardmembers in the month to sign up and meet a min. monthly spend of S$800 within the first 2 months.
All you need to do is to register for this promotion via an SMS to 77862 before 30 Jun 2023: SMS EVOLGIFT‹space› last 4 alpha-numeric characters of NRIC/passport (eg. EVOLGIFT 123A)
What’s more, enjoy up to S$140 cash credit# when you apply for a UOB One Account.
T&Cs apply.
Terms and conditions
Get 6.67% effective cashback on $600 of spend each month!
Card for mortgage
My mortgage is almost $2,000 a month, and that is the magic number for UOB One’s 5% cashback tier. ipaymy and CardUp both support mortgage payments, so it’s an excellent way to get cashback on an unavoidable expense that normal does not generate any card reward.
ipaymy and CardUp’s fees range between 1.8 to 2.25% or so, and hence you can earn the difference between the cashback you receive and the fees you pay. No brainer.

UOB One
👍🏼
Get a gift worth up to S$490* when you apply now!
- S$350 Grab Vouchers:
Valid till 31 May 2023, for the first 200 new-to-UOB credit card customers who successfully apply and spend a min. of S$1,000 for 2 consecutive months. - Up to S$140 Cash Credit:
Valid till 31 July 2023 for new UOB Deposit customers.
Get 3.33% base cashback if you spend $500, $1,000, or $2,000 a month for three consecutive months. Up to 6.67% additional cashback for Grab, Shopee, and Diary Farm merchants.
Card for excess spending
Once the maximum cashback caps for UOB EVOL and UOB One have been reached, excess spending can be placed on my GrabPay Mastercard which I top up using UOB Absolute. UOB Absolute is one of two cards giving cashback on Grab top ups (the other being Amex True Cashback), and you get more rebates in form of Grab points when you spend using the GrabPay Mastercard. The effective yield is about 2.9%, and it only goes up when you include things like Grab Power Up Challenges and redemption sales.
Card for groceries
Groceries easily get 8% cashback with the Citi Cash Back Card, and I use it to buy $800 to $1,000 worth of vouchers at a time to satisfy the monthly minimum spend for a month. Thereafter, I use the vouchers over the next few months, having already earned 8% cashback. The Mastercard variant of this card can even be paired with the Instarem Amaze for an additional 1% cashback. 9% cashback is too good to pass up.

Citi Cash Back
Please note there are two different promos and select carefully:
🔥 👍🏼
Citi Promo:
- Citi PremierMiles: 30,000 miles
- Citi Prestige: 120,000 points and more
- Citi Rewards: 40,000 points
- Citi Cash Back: S$300 cashback
- Citi SMRT: S$300 cashback
- Tap here to see Citi promos
Until 30th June 2023
Get 8% cashback on groceries and petrol, as well as 6% on dining! Read the review here
Card for big purchases
When I want to buy something substantial – a new laptop, phone, or furniture perhaps – Citi SMRT is the cashback card that handles big purchases handily. Having an annual $12,000 cap instead of a monthly limit, the Citi SMRT card is perhaps the only cashback card giving a high earn rate for large purchases. A useful card to apply and keep on the off-chance you need to buy something expensive for sure.

Citi SMRT
🔥 👍🏼
One of the only high-earn cashback cards with no monthly cap! Gives 5% cashback on online transactions. Read the review here.
Take note of prevailing promotions
Promotions will change the value proposition of cards, and companies can be very generous with their spending promos. DBS, for instance, has been giving as much as 8% in additional cashback on top of its usual card rewards, and that makes the humble 5% LiveFresh card a lot better than the UOB EVOL.
Grab Power Up Challenges too boost the rebates given by the GrabPay Mastercard, so these are things you need to take note of if you do want to get as much card rewards as possible.
Keep up to date on the best cashback/mile cards, financial products, attractive deals, and more tips to maximise your financial wellbeing by subscribing to my Telegram channel.
Subscribe to the channel, then join the group chat. You would often benefit from the tips shared exclusively in the group chat!
Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!
Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opnion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).
Why not use Citibank SMRT for mortgage payment? Also gives 5%.
I don’t think it works