One Card to Rule Them All… Or: “Better Credit Cards for Lazy People”

Are you using a 1.5% cashback card or a 1.2 mpd one because you are just too lazy to bother with all the complicated conditions high earn cards, and somehow can’t find space in your wallet for more than one card? I get it – trying to meet all the silly requirements and using multiple credit cards can be such a chore, but here are some cards that are low on fuss and higher on the rewards.

Top Pick: Amex True Cashback with Grab MasterCard

There are very little options that give you a relatively high earn rate with this little fuss. Simple use your Amex True Cashback Card for 3% cashback on its first $5,000 spend and top up your Grab wallet. You can then use your Grab card for practically anything that accepts credit cards, and then get a further 4 points per dollar (roughly equivalent to 0.8% rebate). This is the most fuss-free “spend anywhere card” I can think of, and perfect for people who just don’t want the trouble of meeting spending requirements.

Earn rate: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Fuss-free: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Amex
True Cashback

 New to Amex

Receive*

3% cashback on first $5,000 of spend (Grab top ups get 1.5% instead)

Pretty decent cashback: OCBC FRANK or DBS LiveFresh

Twins separated at birth, OCBC FRANK and DBS LiveFresh offer pretty similar rewards and identical requirements. If you spend a minimum of $600 within a calendar month, you get 6% (for FRANK) or 5% (for LiveFresh). There is a secondary requirement of having to split your spending between contactless and online transactions in order to get the optimal rates of 6% or 5%.

Keeping track of a minimum spend is a little bit of a fuss, and having to split them between two categories exacerbates the hassle, but even if you spend in a non-optimal manner, say clocking all $600 of spend on contactless payments (which is accepted nearly everywhere that accepts credit cards), you still get a respectable 4.17% rate on FRANK, and 3.33% rate on LiveFresh. That’s still much better than a 1.5% card; just take note to switch cards once you have reached the minimum spending and maximum cashback of these cards.

Maxing the cashback on FRANK then moving to LiveFresh is easy enough to overlook that this is technically a two-card thing.

Earn rate: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Fuss-free: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

4 mpd nearly everywhere: HSBC Revolution or UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

If you’re a miles person and using a card that gives you 1.2 or 1.4 mpd, it’s time to change to something way better like HSBC Revolution or UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, and both are barely more troublesome to use than your existing card.

All you need to do is to spend on contactless transactions, something that is available almost anywhere that accepts credit cards now, or online payments. There aren’t minimum spending to worry about, although the maximum spend you should put on it is $1,000 per month for Revolution and $1,111 per statement for UOB PPV, after which they give a paltry 0.4 mpd.

The only fuss you need to worry about is that you need to make sure the place you are spending at is within one of HSBC’s eligible categories. It’s a rather wide range and nearly a “spend anywhere” card, but I’m sure there are odd situations where the shop’s MCC falls outside of the approved ones:

UOB PPV shares a similar situation with its online spending, and you have to be a little careful whether your online transaction falls into eligible MCCs. For offline contactless, it is also a nearly “spend anywhere” card, but I have absentmindedly used it at certain places which gives UOB’s SMART$ (basically cashback) instead of the miles I was gunning for.

Earn rate: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Fuss-free: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Everyday cards: Maybank Family and Friends or Citi Cash Back

If you can fit these cards into your lifestyle, and it’s probably not all that difficult, you can consider the Maybank Family and Friends or Citi Cash Back cards.

You have to do a little overview of your monthly expenditure: if you can spend $800 a month between dining out, petrol, and groceries, the Citi Cash Back will fit very nicely as your one card giving as high as 6 to 8% cashback.

Maybank FnF’s categories are a little different, and it’s catered more for people with high monthly telco bills.

Both these cards aren’t as fuss free as the others, but their earn rates are the highest you can find now.

Earn rate: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Fuss-free: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Consistent spending: UOB ONE Card

I suppose there is a reason why it’s named the way it is, and I imagine the UOB ONE card is the card of choice for many single card wielding people. You don’t really need to care where and what you spend on, as long as you meet $500, $1,000, or $2,000 of spend per month consecutively for a quarter.

The earn rate for the $500 and $1,000 tiers is 3.33%, while meeting $2,000 a month is a respectable 5%. People who spend $2,000 a month would no doubt find this their One Card to Rule Them All, but I personally find having to clock a consistent spending every month quite difficult.

Earn rate: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 3.33% / ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5%
Fuss-free: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Do you have a single card that you rely on?

Let me know in the comments or Telegram group!

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