Here’s The MileLion’s review of the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, a good option for those who want a cobrand Singapore Airlines card, without dealing with the limited acceptance of American Express.
While I’m not a fan of its debit card sibling, the credit card offers two compelling features:
- an uncapped 3 mpd on Singapore Airlines, Scoot, KrisShop, Kris+, and Pelago
- an uncapped 2.4 mpd on dining, food delivery, online shopping, travel and transport (referred to as “Accelerated Miles”)
It’s certainly true that things used to be better. Prior to June 2025, the Accelerated Miles earn rate was 3 mpd, and the minimum SIA Group spend required to unlock this feature was lower at S$800 (versus S$1,000 today).
Despite these changes, the card remains a solid option for high spenders who regularly exceed the bonus caps on other cards, or for those who value the convenience of using a single card for most of their spending.
 KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card |
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| 🦁 MileLion Verdict | |
| ☑ Take It ☐ Take It Or Leave It ☐ Leave It |
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| What do these ratings mean? |
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| The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card may not be the absolute best in every category, but its uncapped bonuses make it a great choice for big spenders, or those who prefer to stick to a single card for everything. | |
| 👍 The good | 👎 The bad |
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| 💳 Full List of Credit Card Reviews | |
Overview: KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card
Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card.
| KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card |
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| Apply | |||
| Income Req. | S$30,000 p.a. | Points Validity | 3 years |
| Annual Fee | S$196.20 (FYF) |
Min. Transfer |
N/A |
| Miles with Annual Fee |
10,000 | Transfer Partners |
1 |
| FCY Fee | 3.25% | Transfer Fee | N/A |
| Local Earn | 1.2 mpd | Points Pool? | N/A |
| FCY Earn | 1.2 mpd | Lounge Access? | No |
| Special Earn | 3 mpd (SIA Group, Kris+, Pelago) 2.4 mpd (dining, online shopping & travel, transport) |
Airport Limo? | No |
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
Be careful not to confuse the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card with the KrisFlyer UOB Debit Card. The two sport similar designs and names, but the value proposition is altogether different.
| Credit Card |
 Debit Card |
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| Min Income Req. | S$30,000 | N/A |
| Annual Fee | $196.20 | S$54.50 |
| Base Earn Rate | 1.2 mpd | 0.4 mpd |
| Requires KrisFlyer UOB Savings Account? | No | Yes |
Simply put: if you earn enough to qualify for a credit card, there’s very little reason to consider the debit card option.
In fact, the only thing that debit card does that the credit card can’t is to earn miles on insurance premiums — and even then, just 0.4 mpd.
How much must I earn to qualify for a KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card?
The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card has a minimum income requirement of S$30,000 per year, the MAS-mandated minimum.
If you do not meet the minimum income requirement, it may be possible to place a S$10,000 fixed deposit with UOB to get a secured version. Contact your nearest UOB branch for more details.
What welcome offers are available?
While it’s not a welcome offer in the strictest sense, first-time applicants for the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will receive 5,000 bonus miles when they make their first spend of at least S$5.
This bonus is awarded once per account lifetime, so even if you cancel the card and reapply later, you won’t receive it again.
For the avoidance of doubt, this is separate from the first spend bonus offered on the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend and AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card, so you can enjoy both.
How much is the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card’s annual fee?
| Principal Card | Supp. Card | |
| First Year | Free | 1st free, S$98.10 for 2nd onwards |
| Subsequent | S$196.20 | 1st free, S$98.10 for 2nd onwards |
The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card has an annual fee of S$196.20 for the principal cardholder, which is waived for the first year. The first supplementary card is free for life, but the second onwards will cost S$98.10 per year.
Cardholders are awarded 10,000 miles for paying the annual fee on the principal card, which means buying miles at ~1.96 cents each. In my experience, it’s not too difficult to get an annual fee waiver either— refer to the article below for more details.
How many miles do I earn?
| 🇸🇬 SGD Spend | 🌎 FCY Spend | ⭐ Bonus Spend |
| 1.2 mpd | 1.2 mpd | 3 mpd on SIA, Scoot, KrisShop, Kris+, Pelago 2.4 mpd on dining, food delivery, online shopping & travel, transport |
General spend
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card members earn:
- 6 KrisFlyer miles for every S$5 spent in Singapore Dollars
- 6 KrisFlyer miles for every S$5 spent in foreign currency (FCY)
That’s an equivalent earn rate of 1.2 mpd for both.
It’s a bit unusual to see a general spending card without an FCY spending bonus (although to be fair, neither do the AMEX Singapore Airlines cobrand cards), and that puts it at the bottom of the pack. But, as we’ll see in the next section, this isn’t a card you get for general spending.
Kris+, Pelago & SIA Group
The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card earns 15 KrisFlyer miles for every S$5 spent (3 mpd) for spending on:
- Kris+
- Pelago
- SIA Group transactions, defined as:
- Singapore Airlines
- Scoot
- KrisShop
This includes using your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card to pay for taxes and surcharges on a KrisFlyer award redemption, or paying for add-on services with Scoot like luggage, seat selection and meals.
The bonus rate applies to both online and offline transactions, whether in SGD or FCY. No minimum spend is required, and there is no cap on the maximum bonus miles that can be earned.
Accelerated Miles categories
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Cardholders will earn 12 KrisFlyer miles for every S$5 spent (2.4 mpd) on the following transactions:
- Dining and Food Delivery
- Online Shopping
- Online Travel
- Transport
The extra 6 KrisFlyer miles for every S$5 spent (1.2 mpd) above the base rate is referred to as the “Accelerated Miles bonus”, and applies to both SGD and FCY spending.
To be eligible for Accelerated Miles, cardholders must satisfy the following minimum spend on SIA Group transactions.
| September 2022 to March 2023 | S$500 |
| April 2023 to October 2025 | S$800 |
| November 2025 onwards | S$1,000 |
| If you’re not sure when your membership year ends, simply look at the expiry date on your card. For example, if your expiry month is March, then your membership year runs from 1 March to 28 February each year. | |
If the minimum spend is met, Accelerated Miles will be awarded on transactions from the start of the membership year, not just from the time the minimum spend was met.
While you could earn 4 mpd on most of these categories with other cards, the key advantage of the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card is the absence of a cap. This makes it ideal for big ticket purchases that would exceed the cap of other cards like the DBS Woman’s World Card or UOB Lady’s Card.
For more on how the Accelerated Miles feature works, refer to the post below.
How does the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card’s Accelerated Miles feature work?
Dining & Food Delivery
| 5812 | Eating Places and Restaurants |
| 5813 | Bars, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques, Nightclubs and Taverns |
| 5814 | Fast Food Restaurants |
Dining is defined as restaurants, bars, and fast food outlets. It also includes food delivery platforms such as Foodpanda and GrabFood.
However, the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card’s definition of dining is more narrow compared to other cards on the market, and does not include:
- MCC 5811 (Caterers)
- MCC 5441 (Candy, Nut, Confectionery Stores)
- MCC 5462 (Bakeries)
- MCC 5499 (Misc. Food Stores)
Restaurants within hotels may also not qualify for this bonus, to the extent they code as hotel spend.
Online Shopping
| MCC | Examples |
| 4816 |
Computer Network/ Info Services |
| 5262 |
Online Marketplaces |
| 5306 | Unknown- could be a typo |
| 5309 |
Duty Free Stores |
| 5310 |
Discount Stores |
| 5311 |
Department Stores |
| 5331 |
Variety Stores |
| 5399 |
Misc General Merchandise |
| 5611 |
Men’s Clothing |
| 5621 |
Women’s Ready to Wear |
| 5631 |
Women’s Accessories |
| 5641 |
Children’s and Infants’ Wear |
| 5651 |
Family Clothing |
| 5661 |
Shoe Stores |
| 5691 |
Men’s and Women’s Clothing |
| 5699 |
Accessory and Apparel |
| 5732 |
Electronics Stores |
| 5733 |
Music Stores |
| 5735 |
Record Shops |
| 5912 |
Drug Stores and Pharmacies |
| 5942 |
Book Stores |
| 5944 |
Clock, Jewelry, Watch and Silverware Stores |
| 5945 | Game, Toy and Hobby Shops |
| 5946 | Camera and Photographic Supply Stores |
| 5947 | Card, Gift, Novelty and Souvenir Shops |
| 5948 | Leather Goods and Luggage Stores |
| 5949 | Fabric, Needlework, Piece Goods and Sewing Stores |
| 5999 |
Misc. and Specialty Retail |
| 7278 |
Buying/Shopping Clubs |
Online Shopping covers a wide range of MCCs, including Amazon, Ezbuy, Lazada, Shopee, and Taobao for instance. You can also expect most major fashion retailers to be on this list, along with some unexpected ones like MealPal and hosting providers.
The crucial MCCs here are 5311, 5947, 5965 and 5999.
HeyMax gift card purchases code as MCC 5311 (Department Stores), and include a wide range of online and brick-and-mortar merchants such as Amazon, Best Denki, Courts, IKEA, NTUC FairPrice and Pelago.
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| Get 200 Max Miles when you sign up for a HeyMax account and complete one transaction | |
| Sign up here |
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Wogi gift card purchases code as MCC 5947 (Gift Card, Novelty and Souvenir Shops), and cover additional merchants plus eCapitaVouchers- which in turn open the door to bonuses at hundreds of shops across the CapitaMalls portfolio.
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FRx gift card purchases code as MCC 5965 (Direct Marketing- Combination Catalog and Retail Merchant), and can be spent across the entire Frasers Experience portfolio.
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Atome transactions code as MCC 5999 (Misc. and Specialty Retail Stores), and partners include Agoda, Cathay Pacific, EU Holidays, KKday and Trip.com, among others.
Basically, even if a merchant’s MCC is not on the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card’s whitelist, it may still be possible to turn it into an uncapped 2.4 mpd opportunity through one of these platforms.
Online Travel
| Category | Whitelisted Merchants |
| Online Travel |
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Unlike the other categories, Online Travel is not defined by specific MCCs, but rather a specific list of merchants such as Agoda, Booking.com, Hotels.com and Trip.com.
For obvious reasons, the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card can’t explicitly let you earn bonus miles with any airline outside the SIA Group, but you can still book them indirectly through one of these portals instead.
Transport
| MCC | Description |
| 4111 | BUS/MRT rides through SimplyGo only |
| 4121 | Taxi and Limo |
Transport refers to Grab, gojek, Comfort and other taxi operators. It also includes bus and MRT rides paid through SimplyGo (i.e. tapping your card at the gantry).
Do note that you won’t earn any bonus miles (or base miles for that matter) if you use your card to top-up your EZ-Link balance, or pay at the General Ticketing Machines.
What is the FCY fee?
All FCY transactions are subject to a 3.25% fee, so using your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card overseas represents buying miles at an unattractive 2.71 cents apiece- unless of course you spend in its bonus categories.
| 💳 FCY Fees by Issuer and Card Network |
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| Issuer | ↓ MC & Visa | AMEX |
| Standard Chartered | 3.5% | N/A |
| American Express | N/A | 3.25% |
| Citibank | 3.25% | N/A |
| DBS | 3.25% | 3% |
| HSBC | 3.25% | N/A |
| Maybank | 3.25% | N/A |
| OCBC | 3.25% | N/A |
| UOB | 3.25% | 3.25% |
| BOC | 3% | N/A |
| CIMB | 3% | N/A |
When are KrisFlyer miles credited?
The full 3 mpd from Kris+, Pelago and SIA Group transactions will be batched and directly credited to your KrisFlyer account the following month, usually between the 3rd and 5th.
It’s a different story for the Accelerated Miles. Of the 2.4 mpd:
- 1.2 mpd will be credited between the 3rd and 5th of the following calendar month
- The remaining 1.2 mpd will be credited two months after the end of the membership year, assuming the minimum spend on SIA Group transactions has been met
This means you could be waiting as long as 14 months to receive your bonus! The delayed crediting arrangement gives rise to four problems. I’ve expounded on them in this post, but to summarise:
- You’re locked into the card, because all pending bonus miles are forfeited if you cancel.
- Reconciling bonus points will be a nightmare. It’s already hard enough to check transactions on a month to month basis. Imagine doing it for an entire year’s worth.
- Because your pending bonus miles take anywhere from 2-14 months to reach you, you’re especially exposed to devaluation risk. If Singapore Airlines announces an award chart devaluation, other cardholders can rush out to burn their miles before it happens. You can’t, because they’re in limbo.
- Your miles will age at different rates. Some will be credited each month and start their 3-year expiry countdown immediately, the rest will follow in 2-14 months
UOB will argue that this is necessary because there’s no way of knowing, at the point of transaction, whether the cardholder will go on to hit the specified minimum spend required for the bonus. But there surely has to be a better way of doing this, because the current mechanism holds you hostage- if you cancel your card early, you lose your pending bonuses.
How are KrisFlyer miles calculated?
Here’s how you can work out the KrisFlyer miles earned on your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card.
| Regular Local & FCY Spend | Round down transaction to nearest S$5, then divide by 5 and multiply by 6 |
| Kris+, Pelago and SIA Group | Round down transaction to nearest S$5, then divide by 5 and multiply by 15 |
Since all transactions are rounded down to the nearest S$5, the minimum spend required to earn miles is S$5. Anything less than that earns nothing!
A simple illustration: Suppose you spent S$9 on your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card. You might think that’s 10.8 miles (@ 1.2 mpd), but in reality:
- The S$9 is rounded down to S$5
- S$5 is divided by 5 and multiplied by 6 to yield 6 miles
You actually earn 6 miles, which works out to a mere 0.67 mpd.
This is an extreme example, of course, and the effect of rounding gets smaller as your transaction size increases. But it’s exactly why you should think twice about using your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card for small transactions that aren’t in S$5 blocks.
To show how rounding affects you, let’s compare the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card to the Citi PremierMiles Card. On paper, both of them earn the same 1.2 mpd on all local spending. In reality, however, the Citi PremierMiles performs much better because of its favourable rounding policy.
| KrisFlyer UOB 1.2 mpd |
 Citi PremierMiles1.2 mpd |
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| S$5 | 6 miles | 6 miles |
| S$9.99 | 6 miles | 11 miles |
| S$15 | 18 miles | 18 miles |
| S$19.99 | 18 miles | 23 miles |
| S$25 | 30 miles | 30 miles |
| S$29.99 | 30 miles | 35 miles |
| S$35 | 42 miles | 42 miles |
| S$39.99 | 42 miles | 47 miles |
If you’re an Excel geek, here’s the formulas you need to calculate points:
| Regular Local & FCY Spend | =ROUNDDOWN (X/5,0) *6 |
| Kris+, Pelago and SIA Group | =ROUNDDOWN (X/5,0) *15 |
| Where X= Amount Spent |
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For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:
What transactions aren’t eligible for KrisFlyer miles?
A full list of transactions that do not earn KrisFlyer Miles can be found in the T&Cs. I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:
- Amaze
- Charitable Donations
- Education
- Government Services
- GrabPay top-ups
- Insurance
- Real Estate Agents & Managers
- SPC Service Stations
- Utilities
The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will earn miles for CardUp transactions, but at 1.2 mpd, it’s one of the weaker cards you could use.
What do I need to know about KrisFlyer miles?
| ❌ Expiry | ↔️ Pooling | ✈️ Transfer Fee |
| 3 years | N/A | None |
| ⬆️ Min. Transfer | ✈️ No. of Partners | ⏱️ Transfer Time |
| N/A | 1 | Automatically transferred each month |
Expiry
KrisFlyer miles earned on the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will expire at the end of the month, three years after they were earned. For example, KrisFlyer miles credited to an account from 1-31 July 2024 will expire at the end of the day on 31 July 2027.
Cancelling a KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card has no impact on the miles already in your KrisFlyer account.
Pooling
All miles earned on the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will be credited directly to your KrisFlyer account, where they will pool with miles earned from all other sources (be it other credit cards, flights etc.).
Transfer partners & fees
At the risk of stating the obvious, the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card is a cobrand card which does not give you a choice of where to credit your points. If you want to earn points that can be converted into a range of frequent flyer partners, pick a non-cobrand card instead.
All conversions to KrisFlyer are free of charge.
Transfer times
Miles earned on the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card are batched and credited to your KrisFlyer account once a month, usually between the 3rd to 5th.
While direct crediting avoids conversion fees, it does mean the three-year expiry countdown for KrisFlyer miles starts immediately.
Contrast this with non-cobrand cards where you pay conversion fees, but enjoy “two validities”, one on the bank side, and one on the airline side. For example, if I had a UOB PRVI Miles Card:
- My UNI$ are valid for two years
- Once I convert UNI$ to KrisFlyer miles, they’re valid for a further three years
- In total I get five years of validity
This means there’s slightly more time pressure to use your miles, though three years should be plenty for most people.
Other card perks
Instant KrisShopper Insider status
The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card awards instant KrisShopper Insider status, which gives cardholders an extra 2.5 mpd on top of the usual 3 mpd for KrisShop spending.
Registration is required, and can be done via this link. Do note that the upgrade will not be possible if you already have a KrisShopper account.
Status will be upgraded within three months of registration, and valid for a 12-month period following that. You will subsequently need to requalify through regular means, i.e. spending S$5,000 on KrisShop within a membership year.
The T&Cs of the status match can be viewed here.
Discounts for KrisFlyer Experiences
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card members occasionally enjoy a 10% rebate on the number of miles required for selected KrisFlyer Experiences, such as the Singapore F1 Grand Prix.
These are usually offered in extremely limited quantity, so subscribe to The MileLion’s Telegram Channel and get alerted when new deals go live.
Bonus miles with a KrisFlyer UOB Account
The supposed “killer feature” of the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card is its ability to earn a bonus 5-6 mpd when paired with the KrisFlyer UOB account. This sounds phenomenal, but I’d strongly advise against it.
First of all, this account pays a measly 0.05% interest. That’s an almost derisory rate.
Second, the KrisFlyer UOB account caps the bonus miles you can earn at a mere 5% of your monthly average balance.
For example, if you put S$50,000 inside the account, the maximum bonus miles you could earn each month is just 2,500 (5% of 50,000), which you’d hit after spending just S$500 on your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card.
| S$1,000 | 50 miles | S$10 | S$8.33 |
| S$10,000 | 500 miles | S$100 | S$83.33 |
| S$20,000 | 1,000 miles | S$200 | S$166.67 |
| S$50,000 | 2,500 miles | S$500 | S$416.67 |
| S$100,000 | 5,000 miles | S$1,000 | S$833.33 |
This means that unless you have a ridiculously high miles valuation figure, the opportunity cost is simply too high to be worth considering.
To learn more about the KrisFlyer UOB Account, refer to the article below.
Fast track to KrisFlyer Elite Silver
The AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend has a fast track to KrisFlyer Elite Gold, but KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card members will have to settle for KrisFlyer Elite Silver.
Cardmembers who open their cards from 1 May 2022 onwards and spend a minimum of S$5,000 on Singapore Airlines, Scoot or KrisShop within the first card membership year will receive an upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Silver. Pay attention to the “first card membership year” condition; if you miss this opportunity, you cannot try again in the second or subsequent years.
While this is referred to as a fast track, qualifying cardholders will only receive their status upgrade within six weeks from the last month of the membership year. You could hit the qualifying spend on your first day, and still have to wait 13+ months to get your status
Status earned through this “fast track” scheme is only valid for the first year. Subsequently, you’ll have to requalify by flying at least 25,000 elite miles in a 12-month membership period.
KrisFlyer Elite Silver received a small upgrade to benefits in 2024, with members now enjoying:
- A 25% bonus on KrisFlyer miles
- Complimentary Standard Seat selection on Singapore Airlines and Scoot
- Priority check-in
- Priority boarding
- Extra 10kg baggage allowance
- Discounted service fees
Unfortunately, there’s no lounge access nor priority baggage handling.
Scoot privileges
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Cardholders enjoy the following benefits when booking Scoot tickets with their card.
| ✈️ Scoot Privileges for KrisFlyer UOB Cards |
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| For Principal Cardholder | For Companions (on same booking) |
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| Priority Check-in and Boarding | ✅ | ✅ |
| Extra 5kg Luggage Allowance (with purchase of min. 20 kg allowance) |
✅ | ❌ |
| Standard Seat Selection | ✅ | ✅ |
These benefits used to include a one-time booking flexibility waiver, but this was removed in June 2024.
To enjoy these benefits, KrisFlyer UOB Cardholders must book their Scoot tickets using the dedicated Scoot x KrisFlyer UOB portal. If you book your tickets through the public website, or a third-party OTA, it will not be possible to retroactively add the benefits.
If this is your first time making a booking through this portal, you will need to link your KrisFlyer UOB Card to your account, which should only take a minute.
The portal works just like the regular website, only you’ll see a special label reminding you of your complimentary KrisFlyer UOB benefits during the booking process.
For more on this benefit, refer to the article below.
Guide: Scoot benefits for KrisFlyer UOB Credit and Debit Card
KrisShop Privileges
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Cardholders enjoy a single-use promo code KFUOBKS2026 that gives S$20 off a minimum spend of S$120 (before GST).
Unfortunately, there is an extensive brand exclusions list which is so long, you wonder why they didn’t just publish a list of eligible items instead!
2x S$15 Grab voucher to/from Changi Airport
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Cardholders will receive a biannual S$15 Grab voucher valid for rides to/from Changi Airport.
This can be redeemed once per half yearly (i.e. Jan to Jun/ Jul to Dec), with the promo code KFUOBCC. Redemptions are capped at the first 1,000 uses per month.
2x S$15 off Changi WiFi
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Cardholders will receive a biannual S$15 ChangiWiFi voucher.
This can be redeemed once per half yearly (i.e. Jan to Jun/ Jul to Dec). Cardholders can generate a e-redemption code by SMSing KFUOBCC
Redemptions are capped at the first 1,000 uses per month.
Complimentary travel insurance
| Accidental Death | S$500,000 |
| Emergency Medical Assistance | S$50,000 |
| Travel Inconvenience |
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| Policy Wording | |
Customers who use their KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card to book their air tickets will enjoy complimentary personal travel insurance which covers up to S$500,000 for accidental death or permanent disablement, and S$50,000 for emergency medical assistance.
Do note that you must activate your complimentary coverage at least five working days before travel, which can be done via this link.
Summary Review: KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card
If you regularly exceed the bonus caps on specialised spending cards, the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card might be the answer.
The catch is that, for Accelerated Miles categories, 50% of your miles (1.2 mpd) will only arrive 2-14 months later. Still, I can’t think of any other card on the market that will pay out its full bonus rate on a S$30,000 handbag or watch (assuming you buy it online!).
Alternatively, if you’re someone who insists on using one card for everything, then this would be the best form of damage minimisation. I can’t think of any other general spending card with so many different bonus categories: dining, food delivery, online shopping & travel and transport will cover the bases for a lot of people.
Throw in the other perks like the ability to save on KrisFlyer Experiences and the occasional discount on Grab airport rides, and I’d reckon this is a solid “Take it”.