SCB Simply Cash Credit Card: Is simple really best?

Note: As of Dec 5, 2022, the Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Credit Card was renamed to the Simply Cash Credit Card along with a card redesign. 

The premise of the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is extremely simple — 1.5 per cent cashback on everything with no minimum spending and no rebate cap.

Okay, so 1.5 per cent doesn’t sound impressive. But most cashback cards require that you fulfil their minimum spending requirements before they’ll grudgingly hand over the rebates. And even so, there’s a limit to how much you can receive. This cashback card promises you won’t have to suffer any of these two scenarios. Let’s find out if it’s worth signing up for.

Best for: Those looking for a fuss-free, anything-goes cashback credit card. With no minimum spend requirements, it’s perfect for students and first jobbers. With no rebate cap, it’s great if you have a big-ticket expense coming up.

1. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card — Summary 

As a fuss-free, anything-goes card, this is as simple as it gets. You get up to 1.5 per cent cashback on all spending, with no cashback cap and no minimum spending requirements.

While the 1.5 per cent cashback rate the card offers isn’t really super high, the card’s strength lies in how uncomplicated it is. If you’re not one to meticulously keep track of your spending in various categories, the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card definitely has its appeal.

However, if you also have the Unlimited$aver account, you can earn an additional bonus cashback of up to $100 per month. The catch? You must have at least $100,000 in your savings account.

2. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card — Fees

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is a beginner-friendly card with a minimum annual income requirement of $30,000. Besides that, the card’s annual fee is also waived for two years while most credit cards offer a one-year fee waiver.

*The effective interest rate is 26.90% per annum (minimum). If full payment is not received by payment due date, finance charges will apply and are calculated on a daily basis at 0.074% from transaction date to payment due date.

3. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card — Minimum spend

One of the best things about this card is that there’s no minimum spend that you need to meet to qualify for cashback.

If you decide to spend only $10 on your card one month, you still get the 1.5 per cent cash rebates. It doesn’t matter what you use the card on, and you don’t have to worry if you’re using it in the right spending categories, as the 1.5 per cent applies to practically everything (there are a few exceptions, like taxes and EZ Link top-ups).

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re going through major (read: very expensive) life changes such as getting married, buying a new home, going on a round-the-world trip to find yourself, this fuss-free credit card will still deliver the same 1.5 per cent rebate on your sky-high expenses.

With most other cashback credit cards, you would bust the rebate cap unless you really dedicate yourself to gaming the system and splitting your expenses. And frankly, who even has time for that!?

4. What happened to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card bonus cashback?

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card offers a standard 1.5 per cent cashback on all spend.

There used to be a way to boost the cashback: Having an Unlimited$aver account with at least $100,000 parked in it. This would then earn you an additional 1.5 per cent in cashback (up to $100 bonus cashback) monthly. Sadly, Standard Chartered no longer offers this account and your Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is stuck at the standard 1.5 per cent cashback rate.

Psst, if you do have $100,000 to put into a savings account anyway, we’d suggest putting the lump sum into one of these high-interest savings accounts to earn greater interest.

5. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card — Exclusions

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is quite honestly as fuss-free as credit cards get. However, here are a few key exclusions that will not earn you any cashback:

• EZ-Link top ups
• Government services
• Parking payments
• Tax payments
• Payments to educational institutions
• Insurance payments
• Betting
• Payments to brokerages
• Cleaning, maintenance services
• Recurring bill payments

It hardly discriminates but if you’re thinking you could earn a steady stream of cashback with recurring bill payments that you charge to your Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card, we’re sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not going to happen.

Also take note that you won’t earn cashback for EZ-Link top ups or any stored value card purchases.

ALSO READ: Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card review: Fuss-free card with no minimum spending requirements

6. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card — Benefits

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is a great fuss-free cashback card, but its benefits mostly end there. The only extra perks it comes with are some shopping and petrol discounts:

• Shopping discount privileges at over 3,000 outlets in Asia with Standard Chartered’s The Good Life Programme, which is open to all SCB credit and debit cardholders. The deals include getting 30 per cent off regular-priced items at Puma, 20 per cent off regular-priced items at Club21, and up to 7 per cent off accommodation worldwide with Agoda.
• If you pump Platinum 98 with Techron fuel, you get 16 per cent instant upfront discount + 5 per cent Standard Chartered rebate + 5 per cent rebate on nett amount charged to your Simply Cash Credit Card.
• If you pump Premium 95 with Techron, Regular 92 with Techron, or Caltex Diesel with Techron fuel, you get 14 per cent instant upfront discount + 5 per cent Standard Chartered Rebate + 5 per cent rebate on nett amount charged to your Simply Cash Credit Card.

7. Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card — Sign-up promo

Thinking of adding the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card to your wallet? Take advantage of the ongoing sign-up promo to get S$330 cash via PayNow, a Nintendo Switch OLED (worth S$549), or an Apple Watch SE, 40mm GPS (worth S$382.50). Here’s how to qualify:

• You must be new to Standard Chartered credit cards (or have cancelled yours more than a year ago)
• Activate your physical card and spend S$500 within 30 days of card approval
• Promotion ends 3o Jun 2023

On top of the promo above, there’s also an ongoing additional S$20 cash bonus promo if you place your credit card on file and make spend a minimum of $20 with any of the following merchants:

• Shopee
• Lazada
• Taobao
• Ezbuy
• Qoo10
• Carousell
• Netflix

Spend $20, get $20 back. Essentially, Standard Chartered is giving you the equivalent of a $20 voucher to these merchants.

8. Should I get the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card?

The Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card is great for beginners who are new to the world of cashback credit cards. You don’t have to think too much about the spending categories and their respective cashback caps or even about hitting a minimum spend requirement.

The no minimum spend requirement is especially great for students and first jobbers who might not be raking up enough monthly expenses to meet the usual requirement ($600 and above) by cashback credit cards to earn bonus rebates. Plus, without the limitations of spending categories, you can earn uncapped cashback on everything from your McDelivery orders to Grab payments.

Speaking of which, if you have a big expense coming up (perhaps, a wedding banquet), you can earn unlimited cashback with the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card. There’s no need to worry about being limited by cashback caps!

9. Alternatives to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card

Standard Chartered’s offering isn’t the only unlimited cashback credit card on the market. American Express, Maybank and even ICBC have entered the fray. But we’ll look at the most mainstream options here:

UOB Absolute Cashback Card – This card has the highest cashback in the market at 1.7 per cent, with lesser exclusions (you can use this card to pay your insurance premiums!) than the Standard Chartered card. The main downside is that it’s an Amex card, so you’ll be hard-pressed to find smaller merchants to accept it.

Citi Cashback+ Mastercard – This card plays second fiddle to the UOB Absolute Cashback card, offering 1.6 per cent cashback. For 0.1 per cent less cashback, you get the benefit of the Mastercard association – a very important thing to note with the existence of the Instarem Amaze Card. This lets you stack an additional 1 per cent cashback.

American Express True Cashback Card – Extremely similar to the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card as both offer 1.5 per cent cashback. Amex True Cashback has the advantage of also offering 3 per cent cashback during the first 6 months of card membership for your first $5,000 worth of spending.

UOB One Card – This card gives more generous rebates on everything, but the main problem is that the minimum spending requirements are high, onerous (you need to hit the target every month in a quarter to qualify for rebates for that quarter) and confusing. If you’re looking for simplicity, avoid this card, unless you are consistently spending exactly $2,000 every month on a specific credit card.

Maybank Platinum Visa Card – Another credit card that offers a flat cash rebate for consistent spending, but with lower spending tiers than the UOB One Card. Get up to 3.33% cashback on all local spending if you spend $300 or $1,000 each month in a quarter. If you don’t mind a wee bit of responsibility and a reasonable minimum spending requirement, consider this card.

Conclusion? For uncomplicated unlimited cashback, the Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card and Amex True are extremely close, and the winner might just be whichever is offering a better credit card sign-up promotion.

P.S. Here’s our MoneySmart credit card ranking rubric

In case you’re wondering, here’s how we decide on our credit card rankings.

This article was first published in MoneySmart.