12 best no-annual-fee credit cards in Singapore (2023)

Every year, you call that number on the back of your credit card, fumble with the answering machine's 1,000 options and then finally after lots of hair-pulling frustration get to speak to a real human being in order to request a credit card annual fee waiver.

Rinse and repeat for ALL your cards. Otherwise, cancel your credit card.

Sick of the hassle, you start browsing "no annual fee credit card" articles. However, most articles lead you to credit cards with two or three year annual fee waivers. Umm… that's not exactly a "no annual fee credit card".

When times are bad, banks may tighten their belts and start charging users annual fee despite good banking relationships and prompt and full payments.

If you don't want to be at the mercy of the banks' whims and fancies, here is a list of the real, true blue credit cards with no annual fees-for life.

1. Credit card with no annual fees

There are few credit cards in Singapore with straight up no annual fees. CIMB is best known for their no annual fee credit cards.

Otherwise, your next best option includes digital bank credit cards such as Trust credit card, and digital provider credit cards such as Revolut, GrabPay cards etc.

You’ll also find an assortment of debt consolidation or credit line credit cards with no annual fees such as the Citi Double Cash, Citi Diamond Preferred etc. The majority of these cards don’t come with attractive rewards, miles, or cashback programmes. We will skip those unless they have some kind of benefits for you.

Of course, the trusty old debit cards charge no annual fees as well.

2. CIMB no annual fee credit cards

There are four CIMB credit cards in Singapore with no annual fees. They are namely:

• CIMB World Mastercard
• CIMB Visa Signature
• CIMB Visa Infinite
• CIMB AWSM Card

CIMB World Mastercard

The CIMB World Master is a pretty basic and entry-level cashback credit card suitable for everyday use.

The amount of cashback you get depends on how much you spend:

• Spend below $500, get one per cent unlimited cashback on selected categories
• Spend $500, get two per cent unlimited cashback on selected categories

The selected cashback categories are: wine, dine, online food delivery, movies, digital entertainment, taxi, automobile, and luxury goods. It's a weird mix of categories, but who's complaining when there are that many?

There's also a one per cent unlimited bonus cashback with a minimum spend of $2,500 per month from now till Oct 31, 2023. That means you can get up to three per cent cashback with the CIMB World Mastercard till end October 2023.

This CIMB World Mastercard replaces the well-loved CIMB Platinum MasterCard (ceased May 31, 2021) which offered 10 per cent cashback (capped at $100 a month and $20 per category) with $800/month minimum spend.

Annual fee is free for life, which saves you from having to call them up and beg them to waive annual fees!

CIMB Visa Signature

CIMB Visa Signature offers a very generous 10 per cent cashback (capped at $100 a month and $20 per category) on beauty and wellness, online shopping, groceries, pet shops, vet services and cruises. Almost anyone can benefit from the grocery and online shopping cashback, and if you often go to spas or have a pet, the card becomes even more attractive.

The main drawback is that the minimum spending requirement of $800 is quite high. The good news is that from now Oct 31, 2023, that minimum spend is lowered to $600.

On the bright side, the card charges no annual fees indefinitely, so it is truly free to use.

CIMB Visa Infinite

Th CIMB Visa Infinite is pretty generous with its cashback-on top of a base one per cent cashback, you get an additional one per cent cashback on travel, overseas spending, and online spend in foreign currency. All unlimited (infinite, right?) cashback, of course. The only catches are:

• This card requires you to have an annual income of $120,000, so it's definitely not entry-level.
• The bonus one per cent cashback requires a minimum spend of $2,000/month.

CIMB AWSM Card

The CIMB AWSM Card, on the other hand, is an entry-level credit card with annual income of $18,000 onwards (under 35 years old). You'll earn one per cent unlimited cashback on three categories:

• Dining & entertainment
• Online shopping
• Telecommunications: Singtel, M1, Starhub, Circles.Life, and MyRepublic only

3. Standard Chartered no annual fee credit card

The Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card is a cashback card that gives you six per cent cashback on fast food dining, coffee and toast, digital subscriptions and on your daily commute (Bus/MRT). There's no minimum spend requirement, and of course no annual fees.

4. DBS no annual fee credit card

According to this handy summary of credit card annual fees from DBS, there's only 1 DBS credit card with no annual fees-the SAFRA DBS Card. This card charges no annual fee as long as you are a SAFRA member. With a minimum spend of $500 per month, the card will give you:

• Three per cent cash rebate on your local Mastercard contactless transactions (including bus/train rides via SimplyGo)
• Three per cent cash rebate on online transactions
• 0.3 per cent cash rebate on all other retail transactions

5. HSBC no annual fee credit card

There are two HSBC credit cards with no annual fees.

The HSBC Revolution Credit Card best known for its 10X reward points no longer charges annual fees! You can earn 10X Reward points (equivalent to four miles or 2.5 per cent Cashback) on online purchases and contactless payments, or 1X Reward point for all other types of spending.

Alternatively, the HSBC Premier Mastercard gives you five per cent cash rebate (capped at $150) on dining, groceries, petrol, transport-both locally and overseas -when you spend a minimum of $600 per month.

6. UOB no annual fee credit card

There's only one card in the entire UOB credit card universe that doesn't charge annual fees…the UOB Professionals Platinum Card.

It's largely unheard of, but the UOB Professionals Platinum Card is reserved for members of professional associations such as:

• Alumni Association
• Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA)
• Law Society of Singapore
• Singapore Medical Association (SMA)
• The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES)

You get dining discounts, fuel discount, and UOB$ cashback at selected merchants and retail outlets.

7. OCBC no annual fee credit card

The OCBC Premier Visa Infinite is an exclusive credit card for OCBC Premier Banking customers and doesn't charge its members annual fees.

Benefits include 16 OCBC$ reward points per $5, and 28 OCBC$ reward points per $5 foreign currency spend

8. Grab Pay Card-Mastercard

If none of the above bank-issued credit cards tickled your fancy, you'll find no annual fee cards with digital finance and bank providers such as the GrabPay Card. While you don't get the conventional dining, shopping, or travel benefits like you would with usual credit cards, you get to earn GrabRewards points. However, we should warn you that as of May 8, 2023, your GrabPay card will only earn you GrabRewards Points at F&B merchants-and only selected F&B categories too. Here are their merchant category codes:

• 5811-Caterers, 5451-Dairy Products Stores
• 5814-Fast Food Restaurants
• 5812-Eating places and Restaurants
• 5462-Bakeries
• 5813-Drinking places (Alcoholic Beverages), Bars, Taverns, Cocktail lounges, Nightclubs and Discotheques
• 5441-Candy, Nut and Confectionery Stores.

9. Trust Credit Card

Founded in collaboration with Standard Chartered Bank and NTUC, the new Trust credit card doesn't charge you any annual fees.

Key benefits currently include enjoying up to 21 per cent savings on FairPrice Group (FPG) groceries and food spend when you hit a minimum monthly spend of S$350. The way this is calculated is pretty confusing though, and this rate is only till Oct 31, 2023. Here's a breakdown of how you get 21 per cent, from Trust themselves:

10. Credit cards with one, two, or three years fee waiver

There's a bunch of us out there who only get a credit card to enjoy the credit card sign-up promotion. Shortly after we receive our new Apple Watch or Sony wireless headphones, we cancel the card to restart the one-year countdown until you're considered a new-to-bank customer again, eligible for a new welcome gift.

If that's you, then you aren't going to need a lifetime annual fee waiver anyway. One year is enough, and two or three years should be plenty. In that case, here are some cards with a one, two, or three year annual fee waiver that you can consider getting.

Credit cards with first year annual fee waived

Credit cards with two-year annual fee waiver

Credit cards with three-year annual fee waiver

ALSO READ: Best credit card promotions in Singapore (September to October 2023): Citibank, DBS, HSBC, UOB, and more

This article was first published in MoneySmart.