HSBC has just launched a brand new cashback credit card, the HSBC Live+ Card, offering up to 8% bonus cashback on all eligible dining, shopping, entertainment, and petrol spend each month - this enhanced cashback is valid through 31 December 2024 and it will revert to 5% from 01 January 2025. Similar to most cashback credit cards in the market, you will have to jump through a few hoops to get the maximum amount of cashback on eligible categories of spend, but it could be worthwhile if your spending patterns align with the requirements.

Click HERE to apply for the brand new HSBC Live+ Card!

S$250 Cashback Cap per Quarter

Cardholders of the HSBC Live+ Card can a maximum of S$250 worth of cashback each quarter. Assuming you earn all of these on the eligible categories of spend (that offer 8% bonus cashback) only, that's S$3,125 worth of spend per quarter which averages out to slightly over S$1,000 each month. Now if you are a huge spender and you somehow still prefer cashback credit cards, there are better credit cards In Singapore that do not have a cap on the amount of cashback you can earn each month. However, if spending S$1,000 in total each month on Dining, Shopping, Entertainment or Petrol sounds like something you do, you might consider getting the HSBC Live+ Card as getting up to 8% cashback is pretty impressive.

How to Earn Bonus Cashback (up to 8% Cashback)?

In order to earn up to 8% cashback on eligible Dining, Shopping, Entertainment, and Petrol spending, the cardholder will have to charge at least S$600 of eligible purchases per month for all three months in a given quarter - this means that you will have to charge a minimum of S$1,800 in a quarter (S$600 x 3) to benefit from the 8% cashback on eligible categories of spend. For the sake of illustration, a cardholder who spends S$600 on dining in July and August but only S$500 in September will only earn 0.3% cashback for the entire quarter as the minimum spend requirement is not met.

	Maximum Cashback (with Minimum Spend)
Spend Category	Until 31 December 2024	From 01 January 2025
Dining	8.0%	5.0%
Shopping	8.0%	5.0%
Entertainment	8.0%	5.0%
Petrol	5.0%	5.0%
Others	0.3%	0.3%

The 8% bonus cashback is only applicable to eligible Dining, Shopping, and Entertainment spend. Eligible Petrol spend will earn 5% cashback if the minimum spend requirements are met for the quarter.

Since the HSBC Live+ Card only offers up to 8% cashback on eligible spend categories and 0.3% cashback on everything else, it only makes sense to use this card on eligible Dining, Shopping, Entertainment, and Petrol spending. Similar to most banks, the way HSBC determines whether a charge is eligible for the bonus cashback or not is based on the Merchant Category Code (MCC) and you may wish to check out the terms and conditions of this card for the full list of MCCs.

Bonus Cashback Reverts to 5% from 01 January 2025

The 8% cashback on eligible spending is only valid through 31 December 2024 - following which, it will drop to 5% which is still decent but probably not worth jumping through the hoops for. At the time of writing, it is unclear whether HSBC will extend the bonus cashback rate after 31 December 2024.

Sign-up Offer - New Customers Only

Eligible new HSBC customers who apply for the HSBC Live+ Card between 24-30 June 2024 may choose to receive one of the following sign-up gifts - simply sign up for the card using the links in this article and make a minimum spend of S$500 by the end of the following calendar month:

S$300 eVoucher (Redeem from Merchants such as Shopee, Grab); or
Dyson AM07 (worth S$459); or
Sony WF-1000XM5 (worth S$429); or
FLUJO SmartTrax Standing Desk (worth S$699).

All eligible new customers will also receive an additional S$100 cashback on top of the existing reward when they charge at least one qualifying transaction by the end of the month after the date of card approval - this is a HSBC promotion that is valid through 30 September 2024.

Conclusion

From now until 31 December 2024, the HSBC Live+ Card is offering 8% cashback on eligible Dining, Shopping, and Entertainment spending. All other expenses other than Petrol spend (which will earn 5% cashback) charged to the HSBC Live+ Card will earn a miserable 0.3% cashback which makes it rather pointless - there are better credit cards in Singaporeoffering up to 1.7% cashback with no monthly spend requirement. If you do not currently hold a HSBC credit card (the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card does not count) and have not held one in the last 12 months, the sign-up offers for new members can be quite lucrative.