Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card Review: When The Good Life® Becomes The Suite Travel Life

With a 35,000 welcome miles offer, this premium miles credit card is packed with many indulgences. How does it compare to other Visa Infinite Cards?

If you enjoy the finer things in life, you probably want your overseas trips to be as comfortable and pleasing to your senses as possible. And it makes sense that a travel credit card like the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card would be on your radar.

With a hefty annual fee of S$599.50 (including 9% GST w.e.f. 1 Jan 2024) and an exciting 35,000 welcome miles offer, this card is packed with a number of elite indulgences. But can it meet your expectations of a perfect trip? And how does it compare to other Visa Infinite credit cards?

Table of contents

• Overview: Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Credit Card
• Pros of the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Credit Card
• Cons of the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Credit Card
• Other Standard Chartered credit card promotions
• Eligibility, fees & charges
• How to apply?
• Card comparison: Standard Chartered Visa Infinite vs HSBC Visa Infinite
• Should you get the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Credit Card?

What can the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card do for you?

Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card product summary:

• Local spend: Up to 1.4 miles per S$1 spend with min. S$2,000 eligible spend per statement month
• Foreign spend: Up to 3 miles per S$1 spend with min. S$2,000 eligible spend per statement month
• Base miles earn rate: 1 mile per S$1 spend if min. S$2,000 eligible spend is not met
• Receive a welcome gift of 35,000 miles upon card sign-up
• Enjoy 6 complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge visits per year
• Up to S$1 million complimentary travel insurance when you charge your full travel fare to the card
• For Priority Banking customers: Earn 360º Rewards Points on selected mortgage loans current and savings accounts, fixed deposits, and investments with min. S$500 card spend per month 
• 360º Rewards Points never expire
• Annual fee: S$599.50
• Minimum age: 21
• Annual income requirement:
  • Priority/Private Banking customers: S30,000 (Singaporeans/PRs), S$90,000 (Foreigners)
  • Everyone else: S$150,000

*Promos are valid till 31 Dec 2023

Why should you choose the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card?

Pros ✅

#1: Decent bonus miles earn rate on local and overseas spend

If you're in need of a travel card, the SCB Visa Infinite Card doesn't go wrong. Enjoy up to 1.4 miles per S$1 spend locally and up to 3 miles per S$1 spend overseas when you charge all eligible spend to the card. 

And if you're a miles card veteran, you'd know that this miles earn rate is above average compared to its Visa Infinite peer – the HSBC Visa Infinite Card.

	SCB Visa Infinite	HSBC Visa Infinite
Local spend	1.4 mpd	1.25 mpd
Overseas spend	3 mpd	2.25 mpd

However, a huge caveat to this bonus miles earn rate is its high minimum S$2,000 monthly spend – which can be a huge "Debbie Downer" to some.

More on that below.

#2: Complimentary access to 1,300 airport lounges worldwide 

You'd be pleased to know that the SCB Visa Infinite Card is part of the lineup of miles cards offering free airport lounge access. What's more, it gives access to not just any airport lounge – but the prestigious Priority Pass Lounges.

⭐️ Fun fact: Other miles cards with Priority Pass access include HSBC Visa Infinite, Citi PremierMiles, DBS Visa Altitude, Citi Prestige, and Standard Chartered's very own Journey Card.

In total, the SCB Visa Infinite Card comes with six complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits per year. Apart from unlimited airport lounge access, six visits per year is one of the most visits you can get with any credit card. Needless to say, you'll definitely be enjoying the luxe travel life.

Do note, however, that bringing a guest along will count as using one of your complimentary visits each time. Thus, you'll be effectively redeeming two complimentary visits during that one visit.

Should you use up all your visits for the year, each subsequent member and guest fee will cost US$35 per visit.

You can activate your Priority Pass membership here.

#3: Up to S$1 million complimentary travel insurance coverage 

With up to S$1,000,000 in coverage, the SCB Visa Infinite Card automatically covers you with travel insurance when you charge the whole trip to your card. Insured by Allianz Travel, you'll be covered in the following:

• Up to S$1 million for death and total permanent disablement
• Up to S$50,000 for overseas medical expenses and up to S$500 for emergency dental charges
• Up to S$100,000 for emergency medical assistance, evacuation, and repatriation
• Up to S$1,000 for baggage delay and up to S$5,000 for baggage loss

You can refer to the policy benefit for a more comprehensive outline.

#4: Welcome gift of 35,000 bonus miles

As a token of appreciation, Standard Chartered rewards new SCB Visa Infinite cardholders with 35,000 bonus welcome miles upon signing up. In case you were wondering, this is more than enough to redeem a Singapore Airlines Economy Advantage Award Ticket to Bali (30,000 KrisFlyer miles)!

Unfortunately, the downside is that you can't waive your annual fee. You'll still need to pay the full S$599.50 to qualify.

#5: Live The Good Life® with these travel privileges

Redeem exclusive luxury hotel benefits under the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection at your favourite hotel brands like Mandarin Oriental, Park Hyatt, Aman Resorts, and Six Senses Resorts. The list of perks includes:

• Best available rate guarantee
• Automatic room upgrade upon arrival, subject to availability
• Complimentary in-room Wi-Fi
• Complimentary continental breakfast daily
• US$25 F&B credits
• VIP Guest status
• 3pm check-out upon request

Apart from luxury hotels, nothing beats the convenience and assurance of 24/7 access to exclusive Concierge service when travelling overseas. To request a service, simply get in touch with the Visa Infinite Customer Centre online.

#6: Earn 360º Rewards Points on taxes and bills

Want to earn rewards points while paying your taxes, bills, and other financial products? Look no further because thanks to the SCB Visa Infinite Card, you can start earning 360º Rewards Points on your income tax without a hitch!

Furthermore, if you're a Priority Banking customer with Standard Chartered, you can even earn 360º Rewards Points on selected mortgage loans current and savings accounts, fixed deposits, and investments with minimum S$500 spend on your Visa Infinite Card.

Best of all, 360º Rewards Points never expire either; so you won't have to race against time just to clock your points.

360º Rewards Points can be redeemed in blocks as air miles, cashback, or other available SCB products found online. The transfer fee from 360º Rewards Points to KrisFlyer miles is S$27.

In general, the SCB Visa Infinite Card is prioritised with a more favourable conversion rate from 360º Rewards Points to air miles. However, earlier this year, Standard Chartered has since ceased the eligibility of points transfer from non-Visa Infinite cards to Visa Infinite cards.

You can no longer pool your points together from other SCB cards onto the Visa Infinite Card to take advantage of its better conversion.

Cons ❌

#1: Minimum S$2,000 monthly spend to qualify for bonus miles

Even though the accelerated 1.4 mpd and 3 mpd sounds fantastic in theory, they come at a price.

In contrast to other miles cards, the SCB Visa Infinite Card requires a minimum S$2,000 eligible spend per statement month to qualify for these bonus miles earn rates. Otherwise, all spends below S$2,000 will earn 1 mpd only, which is a shame honestly.

So unless you're confident about hitting this monthly spend requirement or have a big-ticket item/payment coming up, you might want to hold off getting this card for the time being.

See also: How to Maximise Miles Earned on Your Big Ticket Spending

#2: Hefty annual fee

On average, credit card annual fees cost S$194.40 per year with the possibility of one- or two-year annual fee waivers – complimentary from the bank.

See also: Credit Card Annual Fee Waiver Guide By Banks

However, the SCB Visa Infinite Card not only comes with a heftier annual fee of S$599.50, but it's strictly non-waivable. So there's really no avoiding forking out this fee every year if you want to retain your Visa Infinite card membership. 

Additionally, you need to pay the annual fee to qualify for the 35,000 welcome bonus miles anyway. This results in your cost of miles amounting to 1.98 cents per mile, which might not be worth it if we're comparing it to other cheaper methods to acquire miles.

That said, remember how we mentioned you can earn 360º Rewards Points on your income tax? Well, turns out the SCB Visa Infinite Tax Payment service is a fairly cheap way to earn Rewards Points (and hence miles) too!

Under this service, SCB Visa Infinite cardholders can "buy" miles at around 1.14 cents per mile. So truth be told, using the SCB Visa Infinite Card is a pretty cost-effective way to earn miles after all! (But that's only if you know how to game SCB's services to your advantage well.)

#3: Hefty annual income requirement

Although the SCB Visa Infinite Card doesn't function by invite only, its annual income requirement more than makes up for it. 👀 If you earn at least S$150,000 in annual income, this card is all yours.

Otherwise, if you're a Priority or Private Banking customer with Standard Chartered, you can also get this coveted Visa Infinite Card at a major income requirement discount of only S$30,000 per year. (And that's obviously because you already need S$200,000 in deposits and/or investments to qualify for Priority Banking, so we rest our case.) 

Other Standard Chartered credit card promotions to consider

What charges or fees should you look out for?

• Annual fee: S$599.50 (w.e.f. 1 Jan 2024)
• Late payment charge: S$100
• Minimum monthly payment: S$50 or 1% of principal plus all other outstanding balances, interest, fees, and charges
• Overlimit fee: S$40
• Interest on purchases: 26.9% p.a. or a minimum charge of S$2.50
• Interest on cash advance: 29.9% p.a.
• Cash advance fee: 6% of amount or S$15, whichever is higher
• Foreign currency transaction fee: 3.5%
• Dynamic currency conversion fee: 1%
  
  

Eligibility criteria

• At least 21 years old
• Minimum annual income requirement:
  • Priority/Private Banking clients: S$30,000 (Singaporeans/PRs), S$90,000 (Foreigners)
  • Everyone else: S$150,000

How to apply?

1. Click any of the ‘Apply Now’ button on this page
2. Complete the application form on SingSaver site.
3. You might need to prepare the following documents for the application process:

• Front and back of NRIC/Passport/Employment Pass/Proof of billing address
• For Salaried employees (Any 1 from below):
  • Most recent computerised payslip
  • Latest 6 months' CPF Statement
  • Latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment and latest computerised payslip/ latest 6 months' CPF Statement
• For Self-employed: Latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment (Be in business for at least 2 years)
• For Commission-based earner (Any 1 from below):
  • Latest 3 months' computerised payslip and latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment
  • Latest 6 months' CPF Statement
  • Latest 3 months' computerised payslip
  • Latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment (For 100% commission earners)

How many miles can you earn?

Here’s an idea of what you can earn with your Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card compared to the HSBC Infinite Card in the first six months of card application.

As a refresher, here are their respective miles earn rates.

	SCB Visa Infinite	HSBC Visa Infinite
Local spend	1.4 mpd	1.25 mpd
Overseas spend	3 mpd	2.25 mpd

So assuming you spend a minimum S$2,000 on eligible spend on either local or overseas spend each month, below is an example of how many miles you can earn in half a year:

*Required to charge a minimum of S$2,000 a month to qualify.

As you can see, the SCB Visa Infinite Card lets you accumulate miles at a faster rate in the first 6 months.

57,400 miles is more than enough to redeem an Economy Saver Award Round-Trip Ticket from Singapore to Tokyo (54,000 miles). Meanwhile, HSBC Visa Infinite Card's 53,500 miles is just shy of that amount, so you'll need to top up an extra 500 miles on your part – which isn't that much anyway. 

To HSBC's merit, their points can be redeemed as miles without needing to pay a conversion fee each time you want to convert your points to miles. This is because cardholders are required to enrol in HSBC’s Mileage Program, which costs S$43.20 in membership annually.

Should you get the SCB Visa Infinite Card?

If nothing less than luxury travel suits you, the SCB Visa Infinite Card serves it to you on a silver platter, with its exceptional privileges and preferential rates.

While premium travel cards offer similar privileges (HSBC Visa Infinite has complimentary one-way limousine airport transfer, for instance), the SCB Visa Infinite Card gives a wider range of lifestyle benefits both at home and overseas.

Consider this credit card if you travel frequently and want a smaller pool of choices for hotels, restaurants, and travel insurance. And if you spend over S$2,000 on your trips each month, the generous earn rate of 3 miles per S$1 on overseas spend lets you stack miles quickly.