DBS Chromo Card Review
DBS just released DBS Chromo with a decidedly narrow audience – only those under the age of 30 are able to apply. Since you need to be 21 to get a credit card in Singapore, only individuals aged 21 to 29 are able to apply for this card. Sorry millennials, Gen X-ers, and boomers.
But even if you’re Gen Z, should you bother with this card? Read on for a no-cap review full of rizz (sorry I’ll stop).
| Quick Info | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Earn Rate | 1% cashback 3.25X DBS Points per S$5 on local spend (1.3 miles per dollar) | Bonus Earn Rate | 4% cashback on eligible categories |
| Min. Spend | None for base earn rate S$500 for bonus 4% cashback | Spend Cap | S$750 per category for 4% cashback (up to 2 categories) |
| Miles Expiry | No expiry | Tracking | Transaction date Calendar month |
| Apply | – | Annual Fee | S$196.20 (waived for first 5 years) |
Hybrid card: choose up to 5% cashback or 1.3 miles per dollar
DBS Chromo is a hybrid card that allows cardholders to choose between cashback or miles:
| Earn Rate | Cashback | Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 1% cashback (no min spend) | 1.3 miles per dollar (no min spend) |
| Bonus | 4% cashback (S$500 min spend) | None |
| Cap | S$150 cashback per month | None |
While cardholders can technically choose the kind of rewards they want, there really isn’t much of a choice to be made. At just 1.3 miles per dollar, the miles part of this card simply isn’t compelling enough to go up against 5% cashback.
Earn 5% cashback on your top two categories
Depending on your choice of rewards, DBS Chromo earns a base 1% cashback or 1.3 miles per dollar on eligible local spending with no minimum spend.
For those who pick cashback, they can earn an additional 4% cashback on the highest two spending categories if they spend at least S$500 in a calendar month, bringing the total to 5% cashback.
The six bonus categories are:
- Dining
- Travel
- Shopping
- Transport
- Entertainment
- Wellness
There is no need to choose your categories beforehand because DBS simply identifies your two highest eligible categories at the end of each calendar month.
Eligible categories for bonus rewards
The eligible MCCs for the bonus 4% cashback are:
| Category | Eligible MCCs |
|---|---|
| 🍽️ Dining | 5441, 5462, 5499, 5812, 5814 |
| ✈️ Travel | 3000–3308, 3501–3839, 3998, 4411, 4511, 4582, 4722, 4723, 5962, 7011, 7012, 7033 |
| 🛍️ Shopping | 5045, 5193, 5262, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5399, 5621, 5631, 5655, 5661, 5681, 5691, 5699, 5732, 5734, 5941, 5944, 5947, 5948, 5992, 5999 |
| 🚕 Transport | 4011, 4111, 4112, 4121, 4131, 4214, 4215, 4789 |
| 🎮 Entertainment | 4812*, 4814*, 4816*, 4821*, 4899*, 5733, 5735, 5815*, 5816*, 5817, 5818, 5945, 5998, 7032, 7832, 7841, 7911, 7922, 7929, 7932, 7933, 7941, 7991, 7992, 7993, 7994, 7996, 7998, 7999 |
| 🧘 Wellness | 5411, 5912, 5977, 5997, 7230, 7231, 7297, 7298*, 7997*, 8031, 8041, 8049 |
Note that for a few of the MCCs, only selected merchants work:
| Category | MCC | Selected merchants |
|---|---|---|
| 🎮 Entertainment | 4812, 4814, 4816, 4821 | StarHub, Singtel, M1, GOMO, MyRepublic, giga!, Circles.Life |
| 🎮 Entertainment | 4899 | Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, HBO |
| 🎮 Entertainment | 5815 | Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, HBO |
| 🎮 Entertainment | 5816 | PlayStation, Nintendo, Steam, Microsoft/Xbox |
| 🧘 Wellness | 7298, 7997 | Anytime Fitness, ClassPass, Virgin Active, Fitness First, Body Fit Training, True Fitness, 24/7 Fitness, Pure Yoga, REVL Training, True Yoga, Revolution SG |
Wide category definitions
For a card that awards rewards on a whitelist basis, the inclusion of many MCCs in each category makes them much more comprehensive than their name might suggest.
Dining, for instance, supports both 5812 (for restaurants) and 5814 (for fast food restaurants) which are necessary to cover a good mix of eating places. For good measure, it also covers:
- 5462 – Bakeries
- 5441 – Candy and confectionery stores
- 5499 – Convenience and specialty food stores
Travel is similarly broad, covering the usual airlines and hotels, but also 4722 which coveres travel agencies which is notably missing from cards like HSBC Revolution.
Shopping covers quite a ridiculous range of merchants, including:
- 5309, 5310, 5311, 5399 – Department, discount and general merchandise stores
- 5262 – Online marketplaces
- 5621, 5631, 5655, 5681, 5691, 5699 – Clothing, shoes and apparel
- 5045, 5732, 5734 – Electronics, computers and software
- 5941 – Sporting goods
- 5944 – Watches and jewellery
- 5948 – Luggage
- 5992 – Florists
- 5999 – Miscellaneous and specialty retail stores
- 5193 – Florists and nursery stock
- 5947 – Gift, card, novelty and souvenir shops
In particular, 5999 means that Atome transactions can also qualify for this card’s 5% cashback earn rate.
Lastly, the Wellness category includes 5411 for supermarkets on top of massage parlours, selected gyms, and pharmacies. For good measure, it also includes cosmetic stores as well as barber and beauty shops.
S$30 category cap for two categories
There is a catch to the 5% cashback: the additional 4% cashback is capped at S$30 per category per calendar month. This means you will max out the bonus cashback after spending S$750 in each of your top two categories.
With two categories, you can earn the full 5% cashback on up to S$1,500 of spending per month (with S$750 in each category) for S$75 cashback. Anything beyond S$750 in the same category continues earning just the base 1% cashback until you hit S$150 cashback for the calendar month.
S$750 per category for two categories is pretty decent, I guess. It is quite tight for expenditure like travel and bigger shopping expenses, but it should do pretty well for other categories. Category caps are pretty annoying, but since the cap is larger than the minimum spend, it is entirely possible to just use this as a one-category card which makes it more bearable compared to cards that forces cardholders to spend in multiple categories for optimal rewards.
Choose your rewards after the month is over
One rather interesting feature of DBS Chromo is that you don’t actually need to decide between cashback and miles before spending.
Cardholders have until the 10th of the following month to select which reward they want for the previous calendar month’s expenditure.
This makes the otherwise mediocre 1.3 miles per dollar option slightly more useful. If you fail to hit the S$500 minimum spend, for instance, your alternatives are just 1% cashback or 1.3 miles per dollar. 1.3 miles per dollar, though bad, can be significantly better than 1% cashback.
No foreign currency fee… but also no rewards
An increasingly common trend among credit cards is to do away with forex fees. Typically around 3.25%, DBS Chromo joins cards like UOB EVOL and Mari Credit Card to charge no fee for foreign currency transactions.
A bit caveat, however, is that such transactions will not earn rewards for DBS Chromo. They will continue to count towards the S$500 minimum spend, but will not earn cashback or miles.
While having no forex fee is a step in the right direction, it’s much better to be able to earn 5% cashback while incurring around 3.25% fee since that still results in more rewards than fees paid. 0 forex fee cards are dime a dozen these days and not earning rewards on overseas transactions does not make DBS Chromo a particularly attractive card to use overseas.
Different card faces
Youths love customisability, probably, and with DBS Chromo you can pick one of 5 card faces:
Cardholders can also change the design once a month, subject to a fee that will be disclosed when cardholders pick the design.
As someone well into my millennial years, I can’t really speak to how this card design would appeal to people in their twenties. The colours reminds me of the 4th generation iPod nano released in 2008, and even the name “Chromo” seems directly inspired by Apple’s marketing slogan for their colourful music players:
I’m not sure this would resonate with a generation that grew up with smartphones, but as an old millennial I’m very pleased to see this throwback to my youth.
What happens after age 30?
Applicants need to be under 30 to apply for the card, but they can continue to use the card beyond their twenties. The benefits, however, will change 3 months after the cardholder’s 30th birthday:
| Earn Rate | Cashback | Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 1.7% cashback (no min spend) | 1.3 miles per dollar (no min spend) |
| Bonus | None | None |
| Cap | None | None |
The bonus 4% cashback will be gone, while the base cashback rate will increase to 1.7% cashback. It will thus become a plain vanilla 1.7% cashback card with no minimum or max spend requirements.
Compared to close competitors
While I’m very confident the 2008 iPod nano was the inspiration for the card design, it seems certain that Maybank XL released last year influenced much of DBS Chromo’s positioning. The spend categories, rewards mechanics and even the age limits are too similar to be coincidental, even though there are some material differences that could make one card the better choice than the other depending on a person’s spending habits.
On a cursory look, I think Maybank XL is a better card in terms of having no category caps and offering rewards for overseas spend, but DBS Chromo has a much wider range of eligible transactions. A more detailed comparison piece is in order, so stay subscribed for that.
DCS Flex could also be a suitable alternative to look at.
The Good
- Decent 5% cashback with S$500 minimum spend
- Wide category definitions, with top 2 categories automatically picked for bonus cashback
- Atome transactions can earn 5% cashback
- S$750 cap per category is reasonably usable for everyday spending
- Annual fee waived for first 5 years
The Bad
- Only those aged 21 to 29 can apply
- Category caps of S$750 spend (or S$30 cashback) is decent but may be inadequate for larger spending like Travel
- Despite having no forex fee, foreign currency transactions earn no rewards
- Miles rate is uncompetitive, making the hybrid proposition pointless
- Some Entertainment and Wellness MCCs are restricted to selected merchants only
DBS Chromo is a pretty good cashback card, even if I’m not convinced by DBS’ attempt to market it as a flexible cashback-and-miles hybrid. At 1.3 miles per dollar, there is very little reason to choose miles when the alternative is up to 5% cashback. The card should really be evaluated as a cashback card, and on that basis, it does quite decently.
With a relatively low S$500 minimum spend and wide range of MCCs included for the 5% cashback rate, this card can be a very useful cashback card for those whose spending habits fit within the supported categories.
The card is less useful for overseas spending. Waiving the usual forex fee sounds good on paper, but foreign currency transactions earn no rewards at all. Having no forex fees is an increasingly common feature, and competing cards can even earn rewards on top of this.
For someone in their twenties who wants a relatively fuss-free cashback card, DBS Chromo can be a good choice, though it may struggle to stand out against its competitors.
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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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