Yes, you can. However, insurance premiums are typically excluded from most credit cards’ cashback, miles, or rewards programs. Be sure to check your bank’s Terms and Conditions for transactions that do not qualify for credit card benefits. You should also check with your insurance provider if they accept credit card payments.

Some insurance providers can accept payment from credit cards directly, while some require you to submit a credit card authorisation form in order to make the payment using a credit card. Be sure to check if credit card payment is allowed for your policy type. If preferred, you can also check with the insurer if you’re able to pay your premiums via monthly instalments with your credit card as well.

Some providers will allow direct debiting of your premiums if they have a partnership with the credit card or bank. For example, the OCBC Great Eastern Cashflo credit card automatically splits your eligible Great Eastern insurance premiums into 3, 6 or 12 month instalments with 0% interest.

You can check your insurance company’s website to find out more about the available payment methods. Generally, most insurers accept credit card payments for specific types of insurance payment. Insurers might also specify which merchant’s credit cards are accepted. For example, some insurance companies might only accept Visa or Mastercard and not American Express credit cards.

Insurers usually specify the type of insurance policies that can accept credit card payments. For example, credit card payments might only be accepted for selected insurance products, payment of first premium for a new insurance application, or paying lump sum premiums. Subsequent premiums for the insurance renewal after your first premium payment, or for single premium plans could be excluded. These inclusions and exclusions vary for each different insurer. 

Do note that even if your insurance premium is eligible for payment by credit card, whether you earn rewards for your credit card payments is a different matter.

Most health insurance premiums can be paid as a lump sum with your credit card. Be sure to check your insurance provider’s Terms and Conditions to see if they accept instalment payments via credit card, and your bank’s Terms and Conditions to see if insurance premiums are eligible to earn cashback, miles or reward points.

Check the Terms and Conditions or the information sheet of the credit card to find the types of spending that is excluded from earning card benefits. For example, the credit card terms and conditions could state that points or cashback will not be awarded for payments to insurance companies (sales, underwriting, and premiums).

There’s only a small handful of credit cards in the market that reward you for insurance premium payments. These include Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card, Maybank Visa Infinite card, BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard and American Express True Cashback card.

With the limited options available for such credit cards, the biggest factor would be deciding between using a cashback or miles credit card. It would also depend on your annual income. If you plan to use this card for more expenses besides paying for insurance premiums, the best card for you will depend on your general spending habits. 

This article will help you compare cashback vs miles vs rewards credit cards to find out which type suits you best.

The first thing to check is whether your insurer accepts credit card payments for your insurance premium. Next, check if your credit card excludes insurance premiums from earning card benefits. When selecting a credit card to use for your insurance payments, you should also look out for: 

• Minimum annual income required to apply for the card 
• Annual fee 
• Cashback cap

You can consider using third party providers such as CardUp and SC EasyBill to earn miles or cashback on insurance. However, this comes with a small fee of about 2% to 2.5%. You will have to decide if the fee is worth the rewards you will receive.

You should check your insurance company’s website to find out more about the payment methods offered. Besides credit cards, these payment methods typically include GIRO, NETS, internet banking, PayNow, cheque and AXS station (offline, online and on mobile).