Grocery credit cards

Yes. As well as getting cashback on other spending categories besides groceries, you may also receive one or more of the following benefits:

• Instant discounts on groceries, or petrol, or Grab rides
• Air miles or other rewards points, possible sign-up bonus points
• Cash or merchandise gift on sign-up or first spending
• Waiver of one or more annual fees
• Extra interest percentage on your savings account at the bank issuing the card

Yes. You may be able to select more than one spending category on which to receive rebates, or the card may automatically give the same percentage rebates on two or more categories.

Here are some typical examples of rebate and discount combinations:

• 8% on groceries plus 8% on dining
• 8% on groceries and 3% on utility bills
• 8% on groceries, dining, petrol and Grab rides, 0.25% on everything else
• 7% groceries and 14% coffee rebates, 14% petrol discount, card doubles as EZ-Reload SMRT card with 2% rebate on auto top-ups
• 5% flat rate on all purchases in any spending category

No. The rebate percentage for groceries can vary from 3% to 8% or more, and you may be able to increase your savings by getting instant discounts of up to 10% on a supermarket’s own-brand products when you pay with your card (making your total savings 18% on part of your shopping).

A single card may also have a range of cashback percentages on groceries, depending on how much you spend. Individual transactions below $10, or total monthly spending below $50, may earn nothing. Spending of up to $400 per month could earn a 3% grocery rebate, while spending over $400 on the same card could see your rebate percentage lift to 5% overall.

Choose the card which gives the best result for your habitual spending pattern and amount, and check the other benefits available with the card, in addition to the grocery cashback.

To get the most out of a grocery cashback credit card, you really need to be across all the details and fine print. From one card to another there will be variations in the rebate percentage given, and within an individual card there may be different cashback rates for different supermarket chains.

As well as this you need to be aware of any monthly, quarterly or annual cap on the amount of cashback you can earn, and whether the cashback percentages are dependent on, or vary with, the amount you spend.

Add to this the extra complications of cash gifts you may receive on sign-up or first purchase (as well as, or instead of, an annual fee waiver) and it quickly becomes apparent that not all grocery cards are created equal. However, it’s almost a certainty that there will be one that suits how often you shop for groceries, where you do your spending and how much you spend.

Annual fees can range from zero to around $195 or more. As usual, higher annual fees normally deliver a higher potential for cashback or other benefits. You need to look at your grocery spending pattern to work out whether you are likely to recover an amount worth more than the annual fee each year.

Watch out for additional costs such as foreign currency transaction fees and high interest charges if you fail to pay off your account balance in full when it falls due.

Many cards have an overall limit, or limit by spending category, on the amount of cashback you can earn monthly, quarterly or annually. For example, there could be a monthly limit of $50 cashback, after which the rebate percentage drops to 0.3%.

However, there are cards which have no limit to the amount of cashback you can receive. If your spending on groceries is particularly high, or if it is irregular (i.e. very low in certain months, very high in others), you need to look for a card with no minimum spend and/or no cashback limit.

Yes, with most cards there is a monthly or quarterly spending target to be reached before the cashback is applied to total spending. Some cards will apply a lower rebate percentage to smaller monthly spending (e.g. below $300), while a higher rate applies to all monthly spending if it exceeds the set target.

If there is a target spending level, it will normally need to be maintained during all three months of the quarter in order to qualify for the cashback.

It depends on the terms and conditions of the individual card. Some offer cashback for spending at all supermarkets, islandwide. So it doesn’t matter where you shop: at Cold Storage, Sheng Siong, Giant, Jasons, Guardian, FairPrice, or elsewhere.

Other cards may limit cashback to supermarkets in both Singapore and Malaysia, while some apply the rebate globally (though it’s unlikely that you will be spending large amounts on groceries while travelling overseas).

A few cards are very specific about where you can shop in order to qualify for the rebate, for example a card for 12% grocery rebates at FairPrice only, provided you have your salary credit going to the bank issuing the card.