Which Bank of China (BOC) credit card is right for you? Here’s an overview of the key features and benefits of each card.
Bank of China may not be the first name that comes to mind for Credit cards, but they’ve got quite the diverse portfolio.
Unfortunately, their website isn’t particularly well-designed, and finding important product details can be a pain. A lot of vital information gets tucked away in the terms and conditions, and many might make a snap decision that it’s just not worth the hassle.
In this post, I’m going to do the heavy lifting and share the lowdown on various Bank of China credit cards, highlighting their key features and benefits.
Best Bank of China credit cards in Singapore
| Best for | Credit card | Key benefit |
| Dining | BOC Family Card | 10% cash rebate on dining |
| Mies chasers | BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard | 2 miles per dollar spent overseas 24/7 concierge service |
| Groceries | BOC Sheng Siong Card | Up to 12% cash rebate at Sheng Siong |
| Online shopping | BOC Qoo10 Credit Cards | Up to 10% Qmoney rebate when shopping on Qoo10 Up to 15% Qmoney rebate for transport |
| Flat cashback without min. spend | BOC Visa Infinite | 1% cashback on all spends |
| Petrol | BOC Zaobao Credit Card | Up to 15% on petrol Up to 5% on dining and department store |
BOC Family Card
- Type: Cashback
- Income requirement: $30,000
- Annual fee: $203.30 (first year free)
The BOC Family Card offers cash rebates on a wide variety of categories, including dining, movies, online spending, supermarkets, hospital bills and public transportation.
| Cash Rebate (Min. spend $800 per billing cycle) | Cap (per billing cycle) | |
| Dining and movies | 10% | $25 |
| Family Club Merchants (e.g Best Denki, POPULAR, Unity, Watsons) | 5% | $25 |
| Public transport | 3% | $25 |
| Supermarkets, online purchases, hospitals | 3% | $25 (Shared with ‘Other categories’) |
| Other categories | 0.3% | $25 (Shared with ‘Supermarkets, online purchases, hospitals’) |
The key draw of this card is its 10% rebate on dining, the highest rate in its market segment. Do note, however, that you’ll have to spend at least $800 per billing cycle (on any category), and there’s a $25 cap on cashback for this category. Therefore, you shouldn’t use this solely as a dining card unless you are willing to earn 10% on the first $250 of dining, and 0.3% on the remaining $550!
The BOC Family Card is less competitive in other categories such as public transport and supermarkets, where you could earn a much higher 8% rebate with the Maybank Family & Friends Card.
Take note: a flat 0.3% cashback is earned if spending per billing cycle is less than $800.
Apply promo code MBSS during application and enjoy all the perks of your new BOC credit card!
BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard
- Type: Miles
- Income requirement: $30,000
- Annual fee: $203.30 (first year free)
The BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard is now a shadow of its former self. Up till June this year, it offered an excellent earn rate of 1.5/3.0 mpd on local/overseas spending. Then came a major devaluation, and its earn rates were slashed to just 1.0/2.0 mpd.
It loses the edge in a market where other miles cards offer at least 1.2/2.0 mpd.
| Local Spending | Overseas Spending | |
| AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | 1.2 | 2.0 (Jun & Dec only) |
| Citi PremierMiles | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| DBS Altitude | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| OCBC 90N | 1.2 | 2.1 |
| UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 | 2.4 |
Moreover, the BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard doesn’t come with any lounge access, and charges a higher-than-average transfer fee of $30.
If you’re looking for a strong miles card, you might want to look elsewhere.
Apply promo code MBSS during application and enjoy all the perks of your new BOC credit card!
BOC Sheng Siong Card
- Type: Cashback
- Income requirement: $30,000
- Annual fee: $32.10
The BOC Sheng Siong co-brand card offers up to 12% cash rebates on groceries, as shown below:
| Cash Rebate | Cap (per billing cycle) | |
| Sheng Siong | 6% rebate Additional 6% rebate with min $600 spend outside of Sheng Siong per billing cycle | $45 for base 6% rebate $30 for additional 6% rebate |
| Overseas Spending | 1.6% | No cap |
| All other spend | 0.3% | No cap |
It’s undoubtedly the best card to use at Sheng Shiong, but if you also shop at other supermarket chains, then the Citi Cash Back Card, Maybank Family and Friends Card, and UOB Delight Card are all options. Do note that the cashback rate on these cards is only 8%.
Apply promo code MBSS during application and enjoy all the perks of your new BOC credit card!
BOC Qoo10 Credit Cards
- Type: Cashback (technically Q money)
- Income requirement: World Mastercard – $30,000 | Platinum Mastercard: None
- Annual fee: World Mastercard – $203.30 (first year free) | Platinum Mastercard: $32.10 (first year free)
If you like shopping on Qoo10, the uniquely-designed Qoo10 co-brand cards might be an interesting one for you.
Cardholders earn Qmoney rebates from their daily spending on transportation, fast food, online shopping, entertainment and overseas spending. Qmoney can then be used to offset the cost of Qoo10 purchases.
This card comes in two varieties: a World Mastercard, and a Platinum Mastercard. The former is a ‘traditional’ credit card with a $30,000 income requirement, and the latter is a lower-tier card intended for students, with no minimum income requirement and a maximum credit limit of $500.
Rebates earned are as follows.
BOC Qoo10 World Mastercard
| Qmoney Rebate (Min Spend $400) | Cap (per billing cycle) | Qmoney Rebate (Min Spend $800) | Cap (per billing cycle) | |
| Qoo10 | 3% | $30 | 10% | $30 |
| Public Transport | 0.3% | $40 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions | 15% | $40 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions |
| Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions | 0.3% | $40 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions | 3% | $40 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions |
| All other transactions | 0.3% | $40 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions | 0.3% | $40 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions |
BOC Qoo10 Platinum Mastercard
| Qmoney Rebate (Min Spend $200) | Cap (per billing cycle) | |
| Qoo10 | 3% | $10 |
| Public Transport | 10% | $20 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions |
| Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions | 3% | $20 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions |
| All other transactions | 0.3% | $20 Total cap for all 3 categories: – Public Transport – Transport, Fast Food, Entertainment, Online and Overseas Transactions – All other transactions |
This would be an excellent choice for online shopping, assuming you did most of it at Qoo10.
Otherwise, the OCBC FRANK card earns 6% cashback on online spending (capped at $25) provided you spend at least $600 per month.This is probably the better option, given the rebate is awarded in cash (versus Qmoney for the Qoo10 card), and covers a much wider range of transactions (versus just Qoo10 for the Qoo10 card).
Apply promo code MBSS during application and enjoy all the perks of your new BOC credit card!
BOC Visa Infinite
- Type: Cashback
- Income requirement: $120,000
- Annual fee: $374.50 (first year free)
The BOC Visa Infinite is the bank’s highest tier card, available only to those who earn at least $120,000 a year. Despite its positioning, its benefits aren’t much to get super excited over.
Cardholders enjoy a flat 1% cash rebate on all purchases made in Singapore (well below the 1.5 to 1.6% offered by other cards like the Citi Cash Back+ Mastercard or the American Express True Cashback Card), and a waiver of the currency exchange fee on overseas transactions (you’ll still pay Visa’s 1% fee).
There are also two free lounge visits a year, but you could get the same with an entry-level card like the Citi PremierMiles Card or DBS Altitude Visa.
If you’re earning at least $120,000 a year, there are cards with much better privileges available, such as the Citi Prestige and the OCBC VOYAGE.
Apply promo code MBSS during application and enjoy all the perks of your new BOC credit card!
BOC Zaobao Credit Card
- Type: Cashback and points
- Income requirement: $30,000
- Annual fee: $203.30
The BOC Zaobao card is an interesting hybrid of a points and cashback card.
Cardmembers will earn cash rebates according to the following table:
| Cash Rebate (Min Spend $600) | Cap (per billing cycle) | |
| Petrol | 15% | $30 Total cap for all 3 categories: 1) Petrol 2) Zaobao & SPH Newspapers and 3) MCST Fees paid through hiLife App |
| Zaobao & SPH Newspapers | 10% | $30 Total cap for all 3 categories: 1) Petrol 2) Zaobao & SPH Newspapers and 3) MCST Fees paid through hiLife App |
| MCST Fees paid through hiLife App | 3% | $30 Total cap for all 3 categories: 1) Petrol 2) Zaobao & SPH Newspapers and 3) MCST Fees paid through hiLife App |
| Dining | 5% | $30 Total cap for all 4 categories: 1) Dining 2) Department Stores 3) Online Spend and 4) Buzz |
| Department Stores | 5% | $30 Total cap for all 4 categories: 1) Dining 2) Department Stores 3) Online Spend and 4) Buzz |
| Online Spend | 3% | $30 Total cap for all 4 categories: 1) Dining 2) Department Stores 3) Online Spend and 4) Buzz |
| Buzz | 10% | $30 Total cap for all 4 categories: 1) Dining 2) Department Stores 3) Online Spend and 4) Buzz |
Any spend in excess of $2,000 per billing cycle will earn 1% rebate.
However, they’ll also earn rewards points on top of cashback:
- 2 BOC point per $1 spent overseas (equivalent to 0.33 miles per dollar)
- 1 BOC point per $1 spent locally (equivalent to 0.17 miles per dollar)
Unfortunately, this represents a rather anaemic return. So for all intents and purposes, you’ll want to take this as a cashback card.
The 15% rebate on petrol is definitely attractive, but since the cashback is capped at $30 and the minimum spend required is $600, you’ll have to spend at least $400 on other categories. The rebate of 5% on dining and department stores is decent, so those may be options to make up the difference.
Apply promo code MBSS during application and enjoy all the perks of your new BOC credit card!
Summing it up
BOC’s internet banking interface and customer service are not as polished as other banks, and you may not receive the same sort of experience you’ve become accustomed to. If you’re willing to put up with this, you’ll find some decent cashback offerings. My picks would be:
- For dining: BOC Family Card
- For groceries: BOC Sheng Siong Card
- For petrol: BOC Zaobao Card
Read these next:
Best Citibank Credit Cards In Singapore (2020)
Best Standard Chartered Credit Cards in Singapore (2020)
Cashback vs Miles vs Rewards: Which Is The Best Type Of Credit Card For You?
Credit Card Welcome Offer (2020): A Comparison of The Best Gifts
Bank of China $martLoan Review (2020)
By Aaron Wong
Aaron started The MileLion to help people travel better for less and impress “chiobu”. He was 50% successful. This is his story.
The post Best Bank Of China Credit Cards In Singapore (2020) appeared first on SingSaver Blog - We Compare, You Save.
