How do we determine the best Singapore petrol credit card? First, it has to offer over 20% savings. Second, it has to offer better perks and privileges.
These are the top 5 best credit cards you can use at Caltex, Esso, and Shell petrol stations in no particular order.
Credit Card/Maximum Fuel Savings | CALTEX | ESSO | SHELL |
Citi Cash Back Card | 5% | 20.88% | 20.88% |
DBS Esso Card | 21.2% | ||
HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card | 20.2% | 5% | 18.3% |
OCBC 365 Credit Card | 22.1% | 20.2% | 5% |
UOB One Card | 5% | 5% | 20.8% |
1. Citi Cash Back Card
Card Association | Mastercard |
Minimum Income Requirement | S$30,000 for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents
S$42,000 for foreigners |
Annual Fee | S$192.60 |
Annual Fee for Supplementary Card | S$96.30 |
Annual Fee Waiver | Yes |
Annual Interest on Payments | 26.9% |
Interest-Free Period | 25 days |
Minimum Monthly Repayment | S$50 or 1% of monthly due + 1% of outstanding installment amount + interest + late payment fee (whichever is higher) |
Key Benefits:
- 20.88% fuel savings at Esso petrol stations compared to other petrol stations
- 5% Esso site discount
- 5% Esso Smiles Card discount
- 4% Citi Card discount
- 8% Citi Cash Back Card cash rebate (applied after Esso and Citi discounts)
- 20.88 fuel savings at Shell petrol stations
- 5% Shell site discount
- 5% Shell Escape discount
- 4% Citi Card discount
- 8% Citi Cash Back Card cash rebate (applied after Shell and Citi discounts)
- 8% cashback on other fuel stations and groceries worldwide
- 0.25% base cashback
- 7.75% bonus cashback
- 6% cashback on restaurants and cafes worldwide
- 0.25% base cashback
- 5.75% bonus cashback
Note: 0.25% base cashback rate applies to all retail purchases. For bonus cash back, there is an S$800 minimum spend. The total cashback you can earn is S$80 across all retail purchases combined per statement month.
Other Perks and Promotions:
- Welcome gift of S$120 cashback when you spend at least S$1,200 during the first three months.
- Up to S$1 million travel insurance when you use the Citi Cash Back Card to pay for airfare at selected airline partners.
2. DBS Esso Card
Card Association | Mastercard |
Minimum Income Requirement | S$30,000 for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents
S$42,000 for foreigners |
Annual Fee | S$192.60 |
Annual Fee for Supplementary Card | S$96.30 |
Annual Fee Waiver | Yes |
Annual Interest on Payments | 26.9% |
Interest-Free Period | 25 days |
Minimum Monthly Repayment | S$50 or 1% of monthly due + 1% of outstanding installment amount + interest + late payment fee (whichever is higher) |
Key Benefits:
- 21.2% fuel savings at Esso petrol stations
- 18% instant discount
- 3.2% additional fuel savings credited to cardholder’s account
- Esso Smiles Driver Rewards Program auto-enrollment
- Earn 1 Smiles point per liter of Synergy fuel
- S$10 instant fuel redemption for only 300 Smiles points
- S$30 instant fuel redemption for only 750 Smiles points
- Other ways to earn Smiles points
- Earn 1 Smiles point per S$10 qualified retail spend
- Earn 100 bonus Smiles points per S$500 qualified retail spend
Note: You can only earn a total of 400 bonus Smiles points (minimum S$2,000 qualified spend required) per month.
Other Perks and Promotions:
- S$100 Esso fuel savings if you spend S$180 per month for three consecutive months from the time of card approval.
- S$60 Esso fuel savings if you spend S$180 in any two of the first three months from the time of card approval.
3. HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card
Card Association | Visa |
Minimum Income Requirement | S$30,000 for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents
S$40,000 for foreigners |
Annual Fee | S$192.60 |
Annual Fee for Supplementary Card | Free |
Annual Fee Waiver | 2 years; minimum annual spend of S$12,500 for a fee waiver on the third year and onwards |
Annual Interest on Payments | 25.9% |
Interest-Free Period | 20 days |
Minimum Monthly Repayment | S$50 or 3% (whichever is higher) |
Key Benefits:
- Up to 21.15% fuel savings at Caltex and Shell petrol stations
- 14% instant discount plus 5% cash rebate at Shell petrol stations
- 5% cashback on other fuel stations
- 5% cash rebate on local dining and groceries
- 1 reward point per S$1 family spend
Note: HSBC Visa Platinum Card requires a minimum monthly spend of S$600 in a calendar quarter (includes all eligible local and overseas spend). You can only earn S$250 cashback in a calendar quarter.
Other Perks and Promotions:
- Great discounts at Shopee’s Mum Club.
- Receive S$30 cashback when you apply online with MyInfo via Singpass.
- Receive S$50 cashback by making only one eligible transaction of any amount within the qualifying period.
- Receive S$120 cashback when you spend a minimum of S$500 within the qualifying period.
4. OCBC 365 Credit Card
Card Association | Visa |
Minimum Income Requirement | S$30,000 for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents
S$45,000 for foreigners |
Annual Fee | S$192.60 |
Annual Fee for Supplementary Card | S$96.30 |
Annual Fee Waiver | 2 years |
Annual Interest on Payments | 26.88% |
Interest-Free Period | 23 days |
Minimum Monthly Repayment | S$50 or 3% (whichever is higher) |
Key Benefits:
- 22.1% fuel savings at Caltex petrol stations (includes 18% instant discount)
- 20.2% fuel savings at Esso petrol stations
- 5% fuel savings at other fuel stations
- 6% savings on local and overseas dining, online food delivery
- 3% savings on local and overseas spend on the following:
- Groceries, online groceries
- Private hire rides (Grab, Gojek, TADA), taxis
- Recurring bills (telco and electricity)
- Online airfare and cruise tickets
- Online hotel accommodations and tour bookings
- 0.3% savings on other purchases
Note: The minimum spend required is S$800 per calendar month. If unable to meet this requirement, you can only earn 0.3% cashback. The monthly cashback cap is S$80 per calendar month.
Other Perks and Promotions:
- Complimentary upgrades and VIP privileges in participating hotels and resorts.
5. UOB One Credit Card
Card Association | Visa |
Minimum Income Requirement | S$30,000 for Singaporean citizens and permanent residents
S$80,000 for foreigners |
Annual Fee | S$192.60 |
Annual Fee for Supplementary Card | S$96.30 (the first card is free) |
Annual Fee Waiver | 2 years |
Annual Interest on Payments | 25.9% |
Interest-Free Period | Available |
Minimum Monthly Repayment | S$50 or 3% (whichever is higher) |
Key Benefits:
- Up to 24% fuel savings at SPC petrol stations
- Up to 20.8% fuel savings at Shell petrol stations
- Up to 10% cash back for online shopping in Shopee
- 5% cash rebate on health and beauty, groceries, and convenience store spend at Dairy Farm Singapore transactions:
- 7-Eleven
- Cold Storage
- Giant
- Guardian
- Jasons
- Jasons Deli
- Marketplace
- 5% cash rebate on Grab (excludes mobile wallet top-ups)
- 5% cash rebate on UOB Travel spend (excludes online, flight-only bookings, and relevant taxes)
- 5% cash rebate on Singapore Power Utilities Bill plus an additional 1% if you qualify for quarterly cashback
Note: UOB One Card 5% cashback on retail spend requires you to spend S$2,000 per month within a calendar quarter to earn the maximum cashback of S$300 per quarter. Suppose you spend S$1,000 or S$500 per month within the qualifying period. In that case, the cashback you can only earn per quarter is S$100 or S$50 (equivalent to a 3.33% rebate rate).
Other Perks and Promotions:
- New Cardholders earn up to S$300 welcome gift after applying for a UOB One Card.
What is the Fuel Price in Singapore?
Buying a car is expensive, and so is the maintenance and running cost – especially fuel. Because of that, credit cards that provide substantial fuel savings are smart to have. In this article, we will tell you the best petrol credit card – Singapore.
For reference, these are the current fuel prices at Singapore petrol stations:
CALTEX | ESSO | SHELL | SPC | SINOPEC | |
92-Octane | $2.53 | $2.48 | None | $2.47 | None |
95-Octane | $2.57 | $2.52 | $2.57 | $2.49 | $2.52 |
98-Octane | None | $2.99 | $3.04 | $2.98 | $2.99 |
98-Octane (Premium) | $3.20 | None | $3.26 | None | $3.12 |
Diesel | $2.09 | $2.05 | $2.09 | $2.03 | $2.05 |
Last Price Change | 16/9/21 | 5/7/21 | 17/9/21 | 7/7/21 | 7/7/21 |
For a better grasp of the context of this article, this is the average maintenance and running cost of owning and driving a car in Singapore:
Average Annual Cost | Notes | |
Petrol | S$2,213 | Car: Honda Jazz 1.3
Distance: 17,500km Fuel Consumption: 5.1L/100km Fuel Cost: S$2.48 |
Parking | S$1,320 | HDB Parking: S$110/mo |
ERP | S$360 | S$30/mo (estimate) |
Road Tax | S$568 | |
Insurance | S$1,500 | S$1,100 to S$2,000 |
Maintenance | S$311 | Honda Jazz 1.3 cheapest service package cost |
Total Annual Cost | S$6,272 | Actual running and maintenance cost is likely higher |
As you can see from the table, pumping fuel is the highest running cost. If you could reduce petrol prices by at least 20%, the savings are easily above S$400. For a private hire driver, the savings are in thousands of dollars each year.
How Petrol Credit Cards in Singapore Work
You can use any credit card to pay for petrol. Not all cards, however, can give you the best savings. If the fuel cost constitutes one of your significant monthly expenses, then you want to have one credit card that can give you great fuel savings.
Typically, when you see petrol credit cards claiming 20% or more savings, more is to read between the lines. In reality, these fantastic savings at Esso, Shell, and other stations are a combination of instant discounts, loyalty card discounts, and others, including the credit card itself.
How to Maximize Fuel Savings with a Petrol Credit Card
Here are some tips on maximizing your fuel savings:
- Have a preferred petrol station. Ideally, it should be close to your home or anywhere that you can go to at a time when you can pump fuel. This tip, while trivial, is still a matter of convenience.
- Choose a Singapore petrol credit card that gives you the most petrol discounts at your preferred petrol station.
- You are more than likely to have several choices of petrol credit cards in which the savings do not vary significantly. In this case, pick one that gives you more rewards in other category spends.
Fuel savings is not only a matter of choosing the cheapest station or availing maximum discounts and cash rebates. Car owners and many drivers also realize that the engine’s condition and driving habit also plays an integral role in fuel economy. By paying attention to these factors, you can indeed reduce your fuel consumption.
The Best Petrol Credit Cards Depend on Preferred Fuel Station
Reducing fuel purchase prices should be a primary concern of car owners and drivers – petrol being the most expensive component of vehicle running costs. For this reason, you want to choose the best credit card that gives you the most petrol discount in Singapore.
Things to Remember:
- All petrol credit cards can only give maximum discounts and cash rebates to selected fuel companies, such as Caltex, Shell, or Esso stations.
- The best credit cards for petrol are those that match your preferred station.
- Keep in mind other fuel-saving techniques, such as driving style, car engine and tire maintenance, and others.
The most important thing you need to consider is to manage your finances. Credit card debts can pile up. And, the longer it takes to pay off a balance, the more you are paying in interest. Usually, the rates range from 25.9% to 26.9% per annum.
You can reduce the interest payments and save hundreds to thousands of dollars by exchanging credit card debts with a personal loan with a much lower APR. Visit Instant Loan and receive up to three free loan quotes with the lowest 1% – 4% interest rate from the country’s top licensed financial institutions.