6 Best Supplementary Credit Cards To Gift Your Partner Or Kids

Which six credit cards make for the best supplementary cards, and why.

Best supplementary credit cards on SingSaver: SCB Simply Cash Card | UOB PRVI Miles AMEX Card | UOB One Card | Citi PremierMiles Card | OCBC 365 Card | HSBC Advance Card

Supplementary credit cards allow credit card account holders to share credit card benefits and perks with family members, most commonly their spouses or children. They are also a means to gain additional credit, raising the total credit limit.  

This type of credit card is linked to a primary credit card and typically shares the same reward structure. 

They also allow the supplementary cardmember to enjoy some or all of the same perks and privileges as the primary cardmember, although the degree to which this applies varies somewhat between providers. 

Table of contents

• Advantages of supplementary credit cards
• Disadvantages of supplementary credit cards
• 6 most popular supplementary credit cards

What are the advantages of using supplementary credit cards?

Earn rewards faster

Credit cards accrue rewards as you use them, so the more qualifying transactions you make, the faster you will earn your rewards. 

Typically, supplementary cards have their transactions combined with the primary card’s, boosting the value of qualifying transactions. In this way, supplementary cards can help you earn more rewards at a faster rate.

Reduce annual fees

It is customary for at least the first supplementary credit card to be issued free of charge.

Therefore, instead of applying (and paying for) two primary credit cards of the same type, households may switch one primary card to a supplementary card with no fees instead.

Doing so will result in a reduction of their total annual fees.

As an emergency fund

A supplementary credit card may also be kept as a source of emergency money, to be used when funds are required on short notice.

For example, supplementary cards may be given to children studying overseas to cope with temporary fund shortages, instead of having to call home whenever they run out of money. Look out for a fraud protection feature, in which you can monitor and dispute suspicious charges.

To teach financial concepts

Credit cards don’t work exactly the same way as money does, making them an ideal tool to teach children important financial concepts.

For example, they can be taught the financial concept of credit and debt, which goads them to manage their finances effectively instead of turning to borrow whenever they run out of cash.

As supplementary cards have adjustable credit limits, you can use them to teach children how to set and manage budgets.

To pay for necessary services

Supplying your children with a supplementary card can help them access important services. They can use their supplementary cards to pay for online food delivery or to book ride-hailing services to get to where they need to go safely.

Providing the means to pay for their own food and transport can be helpful in weaning coming-of-age children from relying too much on their parents or helpers, and encourage them towards independence.

What are the downsides of using supplementary credit cards? 

Risk of overspending

It is important to bear in mind that the primary credit card account holder is ultimately liable for the entire credit card balance, regardless of whether the charges were racked up via supplementary cards or not.

Therefore, if your spouse or children fail to exercise financial prudence, they run the risk of racking up a huge bill, which you’ll be on the hook for.

If the supplementary cards and the main card have a shared credit limit, careless spending can also exhaust the credit card limit, which could cause bills and other financial obligations to go unpaid. You may even have to fork out extra admin fees and late fees to rectify the situation.

To help prevent this from happening, it is important to set a credit limit on each supplementary card. Any request to increase this limit must be reviewed by the primary cardmember.

Rewards earned funnelled to primary cardmember

Cashback earned is applied to the main account’s statement balance, while air miles and rewards points are awarded to the main cardmember.

Since they helped to earn these rewards, the supplementary cardmembers may then feel justified in asking for a share of the rewards. However, dividing them up in a fair and equitable manner may be difficult or troublesome.

No increase in rewards due to caps

Some types of rewards, such as cashback, are capped at a fixed amount, and do not increase with the addition of supplementary cards.

If the primary cardmember is already reaching the rewards cap, there’s not much to be gained from adding on supplementary cards, unless they are air miles cards or unlimited cashback cards.

6 popular supplementary credit cards to get

Credit card	Supplementary card annual fee	Noteworthy rewards or perks
Standard Chartered Simply Cash Card Apply Now	First 5 cards free	1.5% cashback on all spends, no cap
UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card Apply Now	First 1 card free S$129.60 per card thereafter	Up to 50,000 miles for new-to-UOB cardmembers who pay the first year annual fee Otherwise, up to 30,000 miles for those who waive first year annual fee Min. spend T&Cs apply respectively Limited redemptions available
UOB One Card UOB One Card Welcome Gift: Get S$350 worth of Grab vouchers if you are the first 200 new-to-UOB credit cardmember and make a min. spend of S$1,000 per month for 2 consecutive months from card approval date. Valid till 31 May 2023. T&Cs apply. New-to-UOB credit card customers who successfully apply before 30 June 2023 will also enjoy up to 15% cashback, capped at S$100 per month for the first 2 quarters. Valid till 30 June 2023. T&Cs apply. Apply Now	First card free, S$97.20 per card thereafter	New-to-UOB cardmembers Spend either S$500, S$1,000 or S$2,000 per month for 3 consecutive months (min. 5 monthly transactions) and earn up to 15% cashback Existing cardmembers Spend either S$500, S$1,000 or S$2,000 per month for 3 consecutive months (min. 5 monthly transactions) and earn up to 10% cashback
Citi PremierMiles Card	Free for life	1.2 miles per dollar on local spends 2 miles per dollar on overseas spends Miles never expire
OCBC 365 Card Apply Now	Free for up to 2 years S$97.20 thereafter	6% cashback on dining, online food delivery, and all petrol 3% cashback on groceries, online travel, transport and recurring telco and electricity bills
HSBC Advance Card Apply Now	First 5 cards free	2.5% cashback when you spend more than S$2,000 per month, capped at S$70 per month Otherwise, 1.5% cashback with no min. spend Extra 1% HSBC Everyday+ cashback when you deposit min. S$2,000 funds into HSBC EGA per month and make 5 eligible transactions per month

Standard Chartered Simply Cash Card

The SCB Unlimited Cashback Card gives you 1.5% cashback on all your spends, so the more transactions you charge to it, the more savings you’ll get.

This is also why this makes a great supplementary card for your family members. Put a copy into the hands of your spouse and children – easy to do as annual fees are waived for up to five supplementary cards – and watch the savings rack up!

UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card

The UOB PRVI Miles credit cards are known for their industry-leading local spend earn rate of 1.4 miles per dollar and 2.4 miles per dollar on overseas spend, including online shopping on overseas websites. It also rewards a remarkable 6 miles per dollar spend on major airlines and hotels via Agoda, Expedia, and UOB Travel.

But amidst all these rewards, perhaps it’s the American Express variant that makes having supplementary cards rewarding. 

See also: Best American Express Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)

You’ll be awarded 50,000 air miles if you pay your primary card's first year's annual fee. Otherwise, you'll still earn 30,000 air miles if you choose to waive it. For context, a return-way Economy Saver Award Ticket from Singapore to Seoul is worth 54,000 KrisFlyer miles already. So by paying the annual fee, you're only 4,000 miles away from redeeming a solo trip to Korea next year. 🤑✈️

Meanwhile, for the supplementary cards, only the annual fees for the first two supplementary cards can be waived. 

 
UOB One Card

The rebate structure may take some working out, but the gist is this: spend at least S$500, S$1,000 or S$2,000 per month for three consecutive months (5 eligible transactions per month), and it will let you earn the maximum 15% quarterly cashback. 

This insane cashback rate is only valid for new-to-UOB cardmembers. Existing members can only earn a maximum rate of 10% cashback.

But overall, keeping your spending up as long as possible will be the most rewarding way to use this card.

If you're struggling to hit the minimum monthly spend quotas, this is where your family members come in: rope them in to add their spending to the pool in order to fulfil the S$500, S$1,000, or S$2,000 monthly spend and get the most cashback possible each quarter. 

 
Citi PremierMiles Card

The Citi PremierMiles Visa Card lets you earn air miles at 1.2 miles per dollar spent locally, and 2 miles per dollar overseas.

And the best part is? All supplementary cards are free for life for Citi PremierMiles, so why not get your spouse and (fiscally responsible) kids a piece each and earn air miles on their spendings too?

💡Pro-tip: The Citi Prestige Card is another option that permits free supplementary cards for life.

And if you’re worried about a glut of miles, don’t: Citi air miles have no expiry date. 

Apply Now

OCBC 365 Card

The OCBC 365 credit card offers up to S$80 cashback each month (or S$960 a year, not bad!), but you’ll have to spend at least S$800 per month to get the cashback.

Despite the slightly higher-than-average minimum monthly spend, some like it for the fact that there is no categorical limit on cashback earning, unlike other cards.

Recruit your family members to help you hit the monthly cap by pooling their transactions, especially if they frequently pay for online food delivery and dining (6% cashback), all petrol (6% cashback), groceries (3% cashback), Grab rides (3% cashback) and utilities bills (3% cashback).

It’s somewhat of a pity that the OCBC 365 supplementary card annual fees are waived only for the first two years. If you really want to save on the annual fee, maybe put your children on rotation with this card.

 
HSBC Advance Card

The HSBC Advance Credit Card gives 1.5% cashback on all your spends, rising to 2.5% when you spend more than S$2,000 a month.

If you can’t quite hit this limit on your own, get your spouse and/or children supplementary cards to pool their purchases. And since you can apply for up to five supplementary cards free, there’s little reason not to.

While your base cashback is capped at S$70 per calendar month, you can earn additional 1% HSBC Everyday+ Cashback for a maximum of 3.5% cashback when you fulfil the following criteria:

• Deposit fresh funds to your HSBC Everyday Global Account every calendar month via salary crediting and/or inward transfers from a non-HSBC bank account (minimum S$2,000 for HSBC Personal Banking customers and S$5,000 for HSBC Premier and Jade customers)
• Perform a minimum of five eligible transactions every calendar month.