No minimum spend required, but you will need to fork out $695.50 for the annual fee (1.7 cents per mile)
SingSaver is currently running a sign-up promotion for SCB’s X Card, offering 40,000 miles as a sign-up gift if you pay the $695.50 annual fee, up from the usual 30,000 miles.
This offer effectively lowers the 2.3 cents per mile you would normal pay for to 1.74 cents per mile.
How to apply
The promotion mechanics are pretty straightforward: simply apply through SingSaver’s website. The bonus miles will be credited to your account directly, there is no need to fill up a separate redemption form.
SingSaver promotion -get 40,000 miles instead of the usual 30,000 miles when you pay the annual fee on the SCB X Card
The 40,000 miles will be transferred in the form of 100,000 360° Rewards Points that you can use on 11 different partners (see below).
Note that the annual fee is $695.50 cannot be waived.
An overview of the card:
Income requirement: S$80,000 p.a. (or $30,000 p.a. for Priority Banking customers)
Annual fee: S$695.50 for principal cardmembers, S$107 for supplementary cards
Annual fee gift: 30,000 miles (in the form of 75,000 reward points)
Earn rates: 1.2 mile per dollar spent (mpd) locally; 2.0 mpd overseas
Foreign currency transaction fee: 3.5%
What’s noteworthy is that Standard Chartered also boast of the widest range of airline transfer partners, with 11 partners under its fold. The transfer ratio varies though, so this is what you’ll get with 100,000 360° Rewards Points:
Loyalty Programme
Transfer Ratio
100,000 360° Rewards Points will give you:
Singapore Airlines Krisflyer
2.5:1
40,000 miles
EVA Air Infinity Mileageland
2.5:1
40,000 miles
Air France KLM FlyingBlue
2.5:1
40,000 miles
Qantas Frequent Flyer
2.5:1
40,000 points
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
3:1
33,333 miles
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
3:1
33,333 miles
Etihad Guest
3:1
33,333 miles
United MileagePlus
3.5:1
28,571 miles
Lufthansa Miles & More
3.5:1
28,571 miles
Emirates Skywards
3.5:1
28,571 miles
Accor Live Limitless
5:1
20,000 points
IHG Rewards Club
2.5:1
40,000 points
Best offer seen in 2019: 100,000 bonus miles
Standard Chartered Bank’s famed X Card has created a huge wave last year with its humongous 100,000 bonus miles offer, even though that meant spending $6,000 on the card.
This offer ran out in days, given the ‘overwhelming response’ and SCB even cut short the promotion. But, SCB return a short while later but at a reduced level of 60,000 miles, also at $6,000 minimum spend.
This again, ran out quickly. Since then, it was only the sign-up offer, i.e. 30,000 bonus miles for $695.50, making it poor value from any perspective.
Final thoughts
We have not seen any decent sign-up promotions from SCB in a while since its launch, so I guess this is as good as it can get – for now.
Having said that, without the sign-up bonus, there’s really no reason to have this card. It’s abysmal earn rate of 1.2 or 2.0 mpd for local or overseas spending pales – or at best equals to – other travel-related cards. You can easily find a card that has a much better earn rate, such as the UOB PRVI card at 1.4 mpd for local spend and 2.4 for overseas spend.
So the only upside to this card is probably the fact that you can transfer points to some lesser-known frequent flyer programme, such as Emirates Skywards. Even then, if you really don’t need the miles at this point, maybe it’s a good time to pass.
Standard Chartered bank is offering a 100% conversion bonus for its cardmembers for transferring points into Emirates Skywards miles from now until 8 March 2020.
Standard Chartered Bank X Infinite Visa card
While the promotion is targeted at the X Infinite Visa cardholders, as long as you have a Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) credit card that allows you to earn points, you are eligible for the promotion.
Emirates Skywards programme
Emirates Skywards miles aren’t usually good value due to the number of miles required for redemptions and the fuel surcharges that come with it. Moreover, Emirates doesn’t belong to any alliances, so your options are pretty much limited.
However, with this offer, the awards become a lot more sensible. you can make a number of redemption options that are comparable to what you might normally spend on Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer.
Emirates A380 business class cabin
If you have been converting your SCB 360 Rewards points to Krisflyer all these while, your effective mpd of 1.2 for Krisflyer is now worth 1.7 mpd if you are converting them to Emirates Skywards. Overseas transactions, which gives you 2 mpd if you are converting to Krisflyer, will be effectively 2.9 mpd for Emirates Skywards under this promotion.
For those lucky enough to lap up the 100,000 miles sign-up bonus (in the form of 250,000 360 Rewards points) last year, if you have kept your points, you can now change them for 140,000 Emirates Skywards miles – more than enough for a one-way business class trip to Europe.
Note that Emirates Skywards miles have a validity of 3+ years. Miles earned or transferred expires at the end of your birthday month after the third year mark from the time they are earned.
For example, if your birthday is in June and you earned the miles in February 2020, your miles will expire on 30 June 2023.
What can I use Emirates Skywards miles for?
The obvious answer will be for Emirates flights. Apart from Dubai, Emirates also flies to Melbourne from Singapore, as well as Penang from April 2020.
For 17,500 miles, you can redeem a one-way economy class ticket to Penang from Singapore, but don’t – it’s poor value. Instead, opt up for 27,500 miles in business class, or if you are feeling fancy, 37,500 for first class.
If you want to fly further, you can also opt for business class or first class tickets to Melbourne, at 62,500 and 85,000 miles respectively. This option is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, so the business class is a 2-3-2 configuration, similar to this one that I took from Dubai last year.
Emirates B777-300ER business class
Emirates doesn’t belong to any alliances, but they have a handful of partners you can use the miles on, including Qantas.
Qantas redemptions to Sydney or Melbourne are most useful in business or first class, at 60,000 and 90,000 miles respectively, plus fuel surcharge and taxes.
Qantas first class suite
One shortcoming of using Emirates Skywards programme is the high fuel surcharges you have to shell out.
Final thoughts
If you are a holder of this card and a fan of Emirates, this represent excellent value for redemptions on Emirates, given that there isn’t really many options to redeem Emirates flights from this part of the world.
With the 100% bonus, this offer has also become a much more attractive way of redeeming Emirates tickets, and in some cases, cheaper than using Krisflyer miles to redeem a similar itinerary on Singapore Airlines. The obvious downside is the huge fuel surcharge that comes with redemption, but in some cases, such as a first class experience on the A380, it’s definitely worth every cent.
Miles collectors in Singapore have another reason to celebrate recently – the launch of the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite X Credit Card.
Targeted at millenials, it comes with a very attractive sign-up bonus: 100,000 miles. Of course everyone got slightly excited. Who doesn’t want a (almost) free one-way business class ticket to the US?
Update (1 Aug 2019): Standard Chartered now puts out on their website that the 100,000 miles offer has been fully taken up, and now new applicants can only enjoy up to 60,000 miles.
Because I’m so late in doing this review, here’s what every other travel/airline/miles writer have said about the card so far:
A 100,000 miles sign up bonus is something few of us thought we’d ever see in Singapore, and for those with upcoming big ticket spending, it’s an absolute no-brainer.
I’m sure there’ll be much more to say about the X Card in the days and weeks to come, but in the meantime, be sure to get approved before 31 August if you want to snag the 100,000 miles sign up bonus.
Spending S$6,000 to unlock 100,000 miles gives you 16.7 miles per dollar which is incredible and unheard of in this part of the world! … Unlike most Visa Infinite credit cards in Singapore, the income requirement for this card (for Singaporeans) is S$80,000 this is significantly lower than the S$120,000 average that most credit cards officially require.
Mark, The Shutterwhale
tl;dr – this is a card you probably want to sign up for if you have a chunky expense in the next two months, and then stuff it in the drawer.
The basics
The X Card is a departure from many of the Visa Infinite cards on the market as it is targeted at millennials (read: not much income), and possibly the only Visa Infinite card that requires only S$80,000 annual income. Another plus point about the card is that you can opt for a cash back option instead of miles, but don’t be silly!
An overview of the card:
Income requirement: S$80,000 p.a. (or $30,000 p.a. for Priority Banking customers)
Annual fee: S$695.50 for principal cardmembers, S$107 for supplementary cards
Annual fee gift: 30,000 miles (in the form of 75,000 reward points)
Earn rates: 1.2 mile per dollar spent (mpd) locally; 2.0 mpd overseas
Foreign currency transaction fee: 3.5%
Unfortunately, the card has a non-waivable annual fee of $695.50. While this is pretty hefty, you get a cool 30,000 miles, effectively translating to a cost of 2.31 cents per mile. It’s not clear whether you get any miles, or the same number of miles, for paying the annual fee in subsequent years.
The 100,000 miles gift
This is probably the highest bonus ever being marketed.
Strictly speaking… the bonus is actually 70,000 miles(edit 1 Aug: 30,000 miles for applications after 31 July) and not 100,000 miles, given that you will get the 30,000 miles sign-up bonus in any case as long as you pay the annual fee.
To qualify for the 30,000 + 70,000 30,000 miles promotion, you must:
Apply and receive approval for the X Card between 23 July & 31 August 2019
Activate your X Card within 30 days of approval, and keep your X Card for 6 months after account opening
Make sure the card is in good standing at all times (pay your bills!)
Pay the S$695.50 annual fee
Spend S$6,000 on eligible spend in the first 60 days (no later than 31 Oct 2019)
The first 30,000 miles will be credited as rewards points within 30 days after your card activation, while the next 70,000 miles will be credited by 30 November 2019 if you hit the $6,000 spend.
The good news is, the remaining miles is on top of the base earn rates. So assuming you spend all $6,000 locally, that will mean an additional 7,200 miles on top of the bonuses. Yay!
So what makes a qualify spend towards the $6,000?
As with most cards there are excluded categories of spend, all of which will not count towards the S$6,000 spending requirement.
I’m not a SCB cardholder, but if you do a quick search online it seems like they used to only offer Singapore Airlines Krisflyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles as transfer partners.
However, with the X Card it seemed like they are introducing a whole load of other partners, including Qantas, Lufthansa, Emirates and EVA Air, as well as hotel partners Accor and IHG.
This makes the programme a lot more lucrative, although Mainly Miles has done the hard work and found out that the transfer ratios differ from programme to programme. You might want to hop over there for the details.
The other card perks
Now let’s get to the boring stuff – the other perks that the X Card offers, which is… practically nothing:
2 x Priority Pass visits per membership year (principal cardholders only)
Dining discounts at the Fullerton Hotel and Fullerton Bay Hotel
Exclusive Hotel & Resort Rewards at The St. Regis, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts and Mandarin Oriental
Golf Privileges in Asia Pacific
That’s all. It’s painful for a $700-per-year card, given that my Citi Prestige Mastercard costs $200 less and gives me unlimited Priority Pass lounge access and 25,000 miles. On a cost-per-mile basis that will be cheaper than the X card.
Citi Prestige Mastercard
Of course, this being a Visa Infinite card, it comes with a suite of privileges that Visa offers including the Visa Infinite Concierge service, complimentary hotel nights, and more. Check out the full offering here.
Final thoughts
The headliner for the card – the 100,000 miles sign-up – is probably all the good news this card has to offer. For the annual fee, the perks are really mediocre – you get much better offerings from some of the mid-income level cards out there.
If you have $6,695.50 lying around to burn over the next two months, by all means go and take advantage of this card and get the 100,000 miles. After all, that can power either a one-way business class ticket to US or Europe, a 2.5 return business class trips to Bali.
However, beyond that, cut up the card after you are done. With 1.2 mpd for local spend and 2 mpd for foreign spend, you have plenty of options that will give you more, especially if you are trying to accrue Krisflyer miles.
The only reason why you will want to concentrate your spend on this card is if and only if you want to earn miles on some of the other less common frequent flyer programmes, including Lufthansa’s Miles & More, Qantas Frequent Flyer or Emirates Skywards.
If you need the full terms & conditions, click here.
