It's true. Credit card can land people into massive debt if they are not paid on time. On the flipside, if you have financial discipline, I would say use your card and never your cash. The cash rebates and benefits offered by some cards can really go a long way in helping your family's finances and giving more for baby. Using diapers as a scenario, if you use 4 packs(say it cost $20/pack) per month for 1 years, a card that gives you 4.5% discount can provide you with a cash rebate of $43.20. That's 2 containers of free pineapple tarts every CNY...yummzzz! Below are some cards I would recommend:
1) OCBC Frank Card: The main attractive of this card is the 6% cash rebate given for all online shopping and Nets Flash Pay top-ups. How do you save? You can use Nets Flash pay at some merchants including supermarkets and Watsons for Diapers, milk powder and daily groceries. Nets Flash pay can also be used as an Ezlink card for MRT/Bus rides. You can get savings on your online purchases, including online bill payments (Telco bills, HDB parking)
Drawbacks? You need to spend $500 a month to enjoy the rebates. Also, the Nets Flash pay is not as widely used, is limited to $50 per top up for this card, and top up facility is limited to MRT/LRT fare, SMRT/SBST Buses fare, ERP and EPS (CEPAS-enabled car parks only.
Rebate is limited to $60 a month. Spending $1000 online or via Nets Flash Pay per month will max out the cash rebate.
2) Bank of China Family Card: Min 4.5% cash rebate if you spend at any supermarkets(Diapers/Milk powders) or Guardian Health and Beauty (Vitamins/Medicines/Hygiene), POPULAR Bookstore (Make Baby smart!), Toys 'R' Us (Make Baby love you!) and Watsons. Total monthly cash rebate is capped at S$100. Spending $2000/mth will max out the cash rebate.
3) Standard Chartered Manhattan Card: You get 3% cash rebate if you spend more than $3000 in a single billing month, capped at $200 cash rebate a quarter. Spending $6666/mth will max out your cash rebate for the quarter. This card is ideal for large purchases i.e. Hospitalization/Delivery fees, Cordlife, re-doing baby's room.
4) Standard Chartered Bonus$aver Card: You get 1.88% p/a interest on your saving account with them, up to $25,000, when you spend $500 monthly on the card (potential interest of approximately $39/mth). On top of that, you get your usual saving account interest rate (pittance at this current point).
Game Plan: So what's the strategy? What I do is to use credit card as a form of payment where possible and use the Bonus$aver first to hit $500. That will give you 7.8% discount ($39/$500). When I finish spending $500, I will use Frank Card if the shop uses Nets Flash Pay and if not, i will still use it to hit $500/mth min spend. Online purchases and bill payments are done using Frank Card. As mentioned above, sometimes i wont have enough $ in my Nets Flash Pay at supermarkets (therefore the transaction cant go through), and that's where the Bank of China Family Card comes into play.
For large purchases, Manhattan Card will be the way to pay(upcoming delivery fees for baby will be via this mean). Any other further purchases will be paid using my other credit cards that usually gives me 1%-2% in cash or points rebate.
So there you have it, my secrets to spending and getting rewarded.
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