American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card: All you need to know

American Express and Singapore Airlines have teamed up for a credit card that lets you accumulate KrisFlyer miles as you shop. And if you meet the minimums you can get bonus miles too. But this card doesn’t come cheap and requires additional spending to really take part in its perks. Let’s take a deeper look into how this card works and if it makes sense for you.

How does the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card work?

This credit card doesn’t work too differently from your normal credit card or American Express card. Once you are approved, you are given a credit line you can spend against using the card. The card will work online and offline, wherever American Express is accepted. Just watch out for this last part, as American Express isn’t always accepted everywhere, especially as you travel.

Then after every statement cycle, you are given a bill for your charges. Anything you aren’t able to pay off gets hit with the interest rate.

But there are more charges and fees than just the interest rate with the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card. To spend money abroad, or even to just hold the card comes with charges. Here’s a quick table to break down the standard fees. But if you are tired of paying unnecessary fees for travel credit cards, take a look at how Wise’s multi-currency card stacks up.

Who is eligible for American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card?

To apply for this credit card, you need to be at least 21 years old. And you need to be able to meet the minimum income requirements. For Singapore citizens and PRs, the income requirement is S$ 30,000 annually. For expatriates or those with foreign passports, the income requirement is S$ 60,000 annually.

It is pretty simple to apply for the American Express Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Credit Card. You can apply directly online from the American Express website and upload copies of the ID, address and income proofs. And if you have MyInfo, your information will be populated in.²

What can I do with the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card?

There is almost no limit to what you can do with this card, as long as American Express is accepted. So whether it's daily purchases or large vacations, this card can help make it happen.

There are a few perks that come with holding this American Express card, but the main benefit is the ability to accumulate KrisFlyer miles. Let’s take a look at how that works, as well as the other perks like Singapore Airlines cashback and travel insurance.

American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles

The ability to rack up KrisFlyer miles is one of the more attractive reasons to get this card. But the miles don’t come without some strings attached.

First, you can earn KrisFlyer miles for spending on the card.

You can also get large bonus KrisFlyer miles with promotions and if you meet minimum spending amounts. With your first purchase on the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer card, you get a bonus of 5,000 miles.

Then if you spend a minimum of S$ 5,000 in your first three months you get an extra 8,000 miles. And you get that again if you spend the same amount in the following 3 months. As you continue to spend, you can get additional bonus miles. You also earn miles if you refer friends to the card.³

American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card travel insurance

If you book your full travel using your American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card, you have the ability to get S$ 350,000 worth of travel insurance. If the principal cardholder is traveling, the card will cover spouses and family members as well. The coverage extends to missed connections, flight delays, lost baggage and accidents.⁴

American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card privileges

You can get additional privileges when you use this credit card at Hertz car rental, Grab, and with American Express Selects restaurants. You will also get a cashback of S$ 150 when you spend a minimum of S$ 12,000 onsingaporeair.com.⁵

Overseas spend with American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card

For a card that gives you miles for spending abroad, it sure does make traveling expensive. If you are spending overseas, you are hit with two fees- one is the foreign transaction fee, and the second is the hidden exchange rate fee.

As seen in the fees and charges, with any overseas spend you do with the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Card, you are automatically hit with a 2.95% foreign transaction fee. So whether it's a coffee or a beach bungalow, you will be spending extra just on fees.

Then American Express does something funny with the currency exchange. If you make any purchases in a non-Singapore dollar or non-United States dollar currency, the credit card company converts that currency into US dollar first. Then from the US dollar, it is then converted to Singapore dollar for posting to your account.

In both cases, American Express sets its own exchange rate which is weaker than the ones set by the banks. And in that, American Express is able to take a slice of every conversion from a foreign currency to USD, then USD to Singapore dollar as profit. That means for you, your purchases got more expensive than you realized.

Get your Wise borderless card - a multi-currency account that is on average 7 times cheaper than banks

TheWise multi-currency card doesn’t charge you extra for making foreign currency transactions like American Express does. There is never a foreign transaction fee or a marked up exchange rate. With Wise, you only get charged one low currency conversion fee between .35-1% and then the mid-market exchange rate. That is the exchange rate you see on Google. That’s it.

Along with the low fees, the Wise borderless card lets you hold 40+ currencies in one account that you can use locally as you travel. Plus you can use it for online shopping on global sites like Amazon, Alibaba or Qoo10 with the same low rates. Want to keep track of your spending? With magic push notifications on the award-winning app, Wise has that covered for you too.

So don’t spend extra money just to get miles or pay out of pocket fees. Wise lets you save real money wherever you are in the world, no minimums attached.