Review: HSBC Live+ Offers Generous 8% Cashback To New Cardholders, 5% For Existing Ones
Last Updated: 23rd October 2025
With its launch in June 2024, the HSBC Live+ is more than a year old now. Making its debut with a promotional rate of 8% cashback, the card saw considerable interest, even from those who normally prefer miles.
Now, the card gives a significantly lowered 5% cashback to existing cardholders, though 8% cashback is still possible for new cardholders. The question of whether the card is still good thus depends on whether you are an existing cardholder or someone who have yet to apply for the card.
For New Cardholders
The value proposition for new cardholders is very clear because of 3 things that they get:
| Cardholder Status | Reward |
|---|---|
| New HSBC Cardholders | A sign-up reward for new HSBC cardholders (see application box below) |
| New-to-HSBC Live+ cardholders | Upsized 8% cashback for the first 2 calendar quarters |
| New-to-HSBC Live+ cardholders | Simplified spend requirement for the first calendar quarter |
New HSBC cardholders are defined as those without a principal HSBC credit card and have not cancelled any in the last 12 months. These cardholders will enjoy all 3 items above.
For those who have other HSBC cards, you can still apply for the HSBC Live+ card and be considered a new HSBC Live+ cardholder to enjoy the upsized 8% cashback and simplified spend requirements. If your last HSBC card was approved more than 12 months ago, you also enjoy existing cardholder rewards of S$50.
Simplified spend requirement for the first calendar quarter
When your card is approved, you just need to meet the minimum spend of S$1,000 within the calendar quarter of card approval. During this period, there is no monthly minimum spend requirement.
For example, if your card is approved on 6th October, you just need to spend S$1,000 in Q4 of the year (i.e. October, November, December). If your card is approved on 15th November, you would have the rest of November and December to reach this spend amount. You can spend all S$1,000 in a single month, or split it over a couple of months as long as you hit at least S$1,000 within the quarter.
This makes the card very easy to use since you can just charge any amount you wish across the different months as long as you meet a minimum spend of S$1,000 within the quarter your card is approved. You will also be able to spend as much as S$3,125 to get the maximum cashback of S$250 per quarter at 8% cashback. For new cardholders, it is a very convenient card to pick up if you have a large purchase to be done while other cashback/miles cards struggle to give such high rewards on larger amounts of spend.
After the first quarter, the cashback mechanic will require a monthly minimum spend for each quarter.
Upsized 8% cashback for the first two calendar quarters
For cards issued by 31st March 2026, the earn rate of HSBC Live+ will also be upsized with additional 3% cashback on eligible dining, shopping, and entertainment merchants for the first 2 calendar quarters from the card issue date.
If your card is issued in Q4 2025, you will enjoy 8% cashback in Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 (i.e. the months of October 2025 to March 2026) provided you meet the minimum spend requirements.
5% on dining, shopping, entertainment and fuel
The normal earn rate of HSBC Live+ is 5% cashback on certain dining, shopping, entertainment and fuel Merchant Category Codes (MCC). 5% isn’t terrible, but it also isn’t on the higher end of cashback rates.
This rate will apply to existing cardholders as well as new cardholders after their first two quarters.
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A whitelist card
High-earn cards like the HSBC Live+ typically work on a whitelist basis. This means that it has a list of approved Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) that would earn the high earn rate of the card. The utility of such “whitelist cards” thus depends on the categories they work with, and in this regard I find the HSBC Live+ pretty decent.
Whitelist cards tend to require you to suss out the MCC of the place you are making your spend at, so make sure you read this first.
Dining
| Merchant Category Code (MCC) | Description |
|---|---|
| 5811 | Caterers |
| 5812 | Eating Places and Restaurants |
| 5462 | Bakeries |
| 5814 | Fast Food Restaurants |
When it comes to the Dining categories, the great news is that both 5812 and 5814 are listed here. When it comes to the world of MCCs, 5812 refers to Restaurants and Eating Places while 5814 means Fast Food Restaurants. In practice, quite a few places are coded as 5814 even if they have all the trappings and menu prices of a restaurant.
This makes the HSBC Live+ a lot more versatile as a true dining card, though take note that 5813 (relating to venues serving alcohol) is not covered. I would personally be more diligent with using the MCC apps when visiting gastropubs or places that serve alcohol – those may not qualify for 8% cashback.
Shopping
For the list of shopping MCCs, you’d find exactly 16 codes. It’s a relatively scant selection compared to DBS Live Fresh’s very extensive list, though you’d find a few more than OCBC Rewards’ list of MCCs. It’s almost as if HSBC copied and pasted OCBC’s list, added 3 more MCCs (5265, 5309, and 5331) and called it a day.
| Merchant Category Code (MCC) | Description |
|---|---|
| 5262 | Marketplaces |
| 5309 | Duty Free Stores |
| 5310 | Discount Stores |
| 5311 | Departmental Stores |
| 5331 | Variety Stores |
| 5611 | Men’s and Boys’ Clothing and Accessories Stores |
| 5621 | Women’s Ready to Wear Stores |
| 5631 | Women’s Accessory and Specialty Stores |
| 5641 | Children’s and Infants’ Wear Stores |
| 5651 | Family Clothing Stores |
| 5655 | Sports and Riding Apparel Stores |
| 5661 | Shoe Stores |
| 5691 | Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores |
| 5699 | Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Shops |
| 5941 | Sporting Goods Stores |
| 5948 | Luggage or Leather Goods Stores |
Whether this list is sufficient to you depends on your shopping preferences, but to me, there are a few glaring omissions. 5411 (Groceries) isn’t present, so this card isn’t useful for supermarkets. This isn’t too bad considering how we can supplement it with cards like DBS yuu or Citi Cash Back, but that is also provided you can hit the minimum spend on both HSBC Live+ and your grocery card of choice.
5732 (Electronics) and 5712 (furniture) are other common shopping MCCs that are missing. Don’t put your Apple or Challenger spend here since electronics do not get the 5% or 8% cashback of this card, nor would this card be useful for Ikea or Courts expenditure since furniture isn’t covered.
5311 is a useful MCC to have
Thankfully, 5311 is found here, and while it refers to Departmental Store spend, heymax currently also sells vouchers under this code. There seems to be more than 100 different vouchers there, many of which belong to Courts, Ikea, Best Denki etc. and even FairPrice Online, so this expands the utility of HSBC Live+ and overcome its short list of MCCs. Simply buy the vouchers with your HSBC Live+, earn your 5% or 8% cashback, then use those vouchers at the retailer.
Entertainment and Fuel
Lastly, we have the Entertainment category which is an even shorter list. Nonetheless, streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ are covered, and Apple Music and Spotify should fall under 5815. For good measure, there are Record Stores if you want to buy… physical CDs.
| Merchant Category Code (MCC) | Description |
|---|---|
| 4899 | Cable, Satellite and Other Pay Television/Radio/Streaming Services |
| 5735 | Record Stores |
| 5815 | Digital Goods Media – Books, Movies, Digital artwork/images, Music |
| 7832 | Motion Picture Theaters |
Fuel has to be one of the following codes below, and apply only to Caltex or Shell in Singapore only. Once again, note that fuel does not get the boosted 3% cashback and will thus get 5% if the minimum spend is met.
| Merchant Category Code (MCC) | Description |
|---|---|
| MCC 5541 | Service Stations |
| MCC 5542 | Automated Fuel Dispensers |
Low S$600 minimum spend with quarterly cashback mechanic
High-earn cashback cards tend to come with minimum spends, and the HSBC Live+ is no exception. While many such cards like DBS LiveFresh or OCBC 365 have moved to S$800, HSBC Live+ has a reasonable S$600 amount to hit each month for its higher cashback rate.
It does, however, have a quarterly cashback mechanic. This means that you need to hit S$600 per month for 3 consecutive months within a calendar quarter in order to get your 5% or 8% cashback. This is reminiscent of cards like UOB One and Maybank Platinum Visa, and you have to make sure you hit the spend dutifully because a single month missed and you will get a paltry 0.3% cashback on the entire quarter.
The good thing about HSBC Live+ is that you do not need to make sure that your spend is consistent (which UOB One and Maybank Platinum Visa require). If you spend S$600 in July, S$700 in August, and S$1,500 in September, you can get your 5% or 8% cashback across the entire quarter’s eligible spend.
With a cashback cap of S$250 per quarter, you can also put up to S$3,125 of spend per quarter on this card if we assume every dollar earns 8% cashback, or S$5,000 of spend per quarter if we look at 5% cashback.
That’s quite a sizeable amount which is quite rare for cashback cards. A spending of S$600 in July, S$600 in August, and S$1,925 in September is entirely possible to keep within the cashback cap for the HSBC Live+ earn rate. You just need to make sure you hit S$600 of spend per month, and keep your quarterly spend under S$3,125 (for 8% cashback) or S$5,000 (for 5% cashback).
No category spend caps
Another positive thing about the card is that there are no category spend caps. Unlike cards like Maybank Family and Friends which has a cap of S$25 per category, you are free to put all your spend on a single category with HSBC Live+ and get the full cashback rate.
Heavy diner? Put all S$600 (or more) of the card’s minimum spend on your HSBC Live+ and get the full 5% or 8% cashback. Want to buy just HeyMax vouchers or spend on Shopee? You are also free to do so.
ENTERTAINER and Live+ dining programme
Lastly, the card also comes with HSBC’s ENTERTAINER programme which offers perks and benefits for dining, hotels and more. On top of that, HSBC Live+ card also has its own exclusive Live+ dining programme that offers 15% discounts for selected restaurants across Asia. It stacks with your cashback rate, so it’s quite a good deal if you wish to dine at any of the featured places.
The good
- High 8% cashback possible for new cardholders
- Spend requirement is easy for first quarter
- Cashback given on common areas of spend like dining, Shopee, and HeyMax
- Relatively low S$600 min. spend per month
- No sub-limits or category spend caps
The bad
- Shopping MCCs relatively limited (no groceries or electronics aside from using HeyMax as a conduit)
- Quarterly spend mechanic can be troublesome
- 5% cashback may not be as attractive given the requirements
The Verdict
With a strong earn rate for new cardholders on things like easy categories like dining and shopping, the HSBC Live+ is a great card to pick up for easy 8% cashback. This is especially so when the first quarter’s requirement is simplified.
While the card’s shopping MCCs aren’t as comprehensive as one would like, it still helps that some amount of shopping spend can indeed get the 8% cashback. Also, HeyMax vouchers are also a great workaround to expand the card’s utility. It is a very compelling card to pick up at least for the first 2 quarters when the cashback rate is 8%.
Existing cardholders would have to consider how easy it is for them to meet the monthly minimum spend for a quarter to get just 5% cashback. It isn’t the worst of rates, but not something I feel that should require a quarter spend mechanic given how we can get 6% to 8% cashback with other cards like Citi Cash Back, DBS Live Fresh, or Maybank Family & Friends.
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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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