'Buying' Miles through Credit Card Annual Fees in Singapore
Almost everyone I know wants to get their credit card annual fees waived but if you are a miles collector (and since you are reading this article, there is a high chance that you are), it is sometimes perfectly sensible (smart even!) to pay the annual fee for your credit cards in order to earn bonus miles on your renewal. With that being said, you should not be paying the annual fees on ALL your credit cards - only those that earns you bonus miles!
From just paying the annual fees, you may essentially purchase 55,000 miles each year for S$1,045.30 for the credit cards listed below. If you do qualify for the Citi Prestige Card (minimum annual income of S$120,000), you may purchase up to 80,000 miles each year for S$1,580.30.
Credit Card Renewal Miles
While this may not be an exhaustive list of all the credit cards that you can earn miles by paying the annual fees in Singapore, they contain some of the most popular ones and I have taken the liberty to sort them by the lowest cost (per 1,000 block of miles). The chart above shows how much 1,000 block of miles cost by simply dividing the annual fee by the number of renewal miles awarded.
Citi PremierMiles American Express® Card
1. Citi PremierMiles American Express® Card
Annual Fee: S$267.50 | Bonus Miles: 15,000
The best card to 'purchase' miles by paying the annual fee is the Citi PremierMiles American Express® Card - S$17.80 per 1,000 Miles.
2. Citi PremierMiles Visa Card
Annual Fee: S$192.60 | Bonus Miles: 10,000
It is also worth getting the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card as you will be able to purchase miles at S$19.30 per 1,000 Miles. Citi Miles (before conversion) have no expiry date. You may also earn up to 10 miles per S$1 if you spend on Kaligo.com.
DBS Altitude Card (AmEx and Visa)
3. DBS Altitude Card (AmEx and Visa)
Annual Fee: S$192.60 | Renewal Miles: 10,000
There are two versions of this card but they each give you 10,000 bonus miles upon annual renewal - S$19.30 for 1,000 Miles. Both card versions are also particularly good if you spend up to S$10,000 each month on airfare and hotels. You may earn up to 6 miles per S$1 on expedia.com.sg.
ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card
4. ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card
Annual Fee: S$200 | Renewal Miles: 10,000
Despite being nerfed, this is still quite a decent card to have if you tend to travel around SEA on budget airlines since it gives you complimentary lounge visits (regardless of airlines). Miles can be purchased by paying the annual fees at S$20 per 1,000 Miles.
Citi Prestige Card
5. Citi Prestige Card
Annual Fee: S$535 | Renewal Miles: 25,000
For the higher-income-earner, the Citi Prestige Card allows you to purchase miles (through renewal) at S$21.40 per 1,000 Miles. This is the least attractive option but most business/first class redemptions on Singapore Airlines still exceed this value tremendously.
Business Class passengers now enjoy complimentary inflight Wi-Fi when traveling on Cathay Pacific.