Credit Cards 101: Transaction Date vs Posting Date

When it comes to credit card rewards (and even bonus interest from bank accounts), it pays to know a little bit more about how banks date their transactions. One important thing to recognise is that there is a difference between transaction date and posting date.

Difference between transaction date and posting date

Transaction date, as the name suggests, is the date and time when the transaction takes place. Posting date, on the other hand, is when the transaction is posted.

When you make a transaction with your credit card, the merchant can take up to a few days to post the transaction.

For instance, if you charge a transaction to your card on the 30th of May, the transaction date is 30th May. While most laypeople would expect this to be a transaction done in May, depending on the merchant and which bank’s credit card you are using, the transaction could be posted in the first few days of June instead, making it a June transaction instead for the sake of calculating credit card rewards and/or bonus interest.

This can affect rewards and/or bank interest

This is particularly pertinent for cards that have a monthly minimum spend, and/or cards with a monthly cap on the rewards given. Those who use bank accounts that require spending a certain amount each month for higher interest rates should also take note of this.

If you are using Maybank Family and Friends, for example, and you are short of the S$800 minimum monthly spend on the final day of the month, it may be too late to reach your minimum spend for 8% cashback. As mentioned above, spending done on the final day of the month would only post the next month.

Another example is OCBC 360 which requires at least S$500 to be spent within a calendar month. The transactions must be posted within the month to qualify for that month’s bonus interest.

Posting dates can also work in one’s benefit. For instance, UOB Preferred Platinum Visa has a limit of 2,000 bonus UNI$ (4,000 miles) per calendar month and if you have already maxed out your bonus points for a particular month, you can still try to spend on the final day of each month for transactions to spill over to the next month. Take note that some transactions post within the same day (more on this later).

Policy differs across banks

While most banks go by posting dates for rewards, there are a few notable exceptions. For banks that go by the transaction date, you can expect to spend on the final day and still have your transaction counted for the same month.

For instance, if you are using a DBS yuu Card and are short of the S$600 minimum spend for the month, you can still use your card before the final day of the calendar month ends to reach your minimum spend.

This is what I could gather after scouring through the various terms and conditions of each bank:

Bank / Card Issuer	Credit Card	Bank Account
American Express	Posting Date	Not Applicable
Bank of China	Posting Date	Posting Date
Chocolate Card	Transaction Date	Not Applicable
CIMB	Posting Date	Not applicable
Citibank	Posting Date	Not Applicable
DBS / POSB	Transaction Date	Posting Date
DCS	Posting Date	Not Applicable
HSBC	Posting Date	Not Applicable
MariBank	Posting Date¹	Not Applicable
Maybank	Posting Date	Not Applicable
OCBC	Posting Date	Posting Date
Standard Chartered	Posting Date	Posting Date
Trust Bank	Transaction Date: Trust Cashback Card Posting Date: Trust Link Card	Posting Date
UOB	Posting Date	Posting Date

1. MariBank’s promo takes transactions charged within a month but posted within 7 days after the final day to be that month’s transaction. For example, a transaction that is charged on 31st May 2025 but posts on 5th June 2025 is considered to be a May 2025 transaction.

Same-day posting

If you find yourself in a situation where you need transactions to post quickly, there is still some hope. As far as I can tell, if the merchant uses a particular bank to process its payments, transactions made on physical credit cards of the same bank will post within the same day.

Over the years, the Telegram community have found merchants that could potentially provide same-day posting for a couple of banks:

For OCBC

• NTUC FairPrice
• IKEA
• Ichiban Boshi

For UOB

• Dairy Farm Group (e.g. Giant, Cold Storage, 7-11 etc.)
• SPC/Shell minimarts
• Din Tai Fung
• Sushi Tei

Note that this list is community contributed and things can change since businesses could switch their payments processing bank over time. I will try to keep this list as up to date as possible, so hit me up in the comments or Telegram if you have data points to contribute.

Also, do use the physical credit card instead of Apple Pay or Google Pay as using mobile phone wallets could add some delay to the posting.

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Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.

He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.

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