Standard Chartered rebrands X Card the Journey Card – 45k sign-up bonus and up to 3 mpd

Back in July 2019, Standard Chartered launched the X Card in Singapore, to much fanfare, with an unprecedented 100,000 miles sign-up bonus, though the headline deal was withdrawn after less than a week, over a month early, and replaced with a less attractive 60,000 miles bonus.

That wasn’t the last of the cards woes – since then the card has offered few perks, and has had to resort to waiving its “mandatory” S$695.50 (more recently S$702) annual fee just to keep members on board in subsequent years, with two complimentary lounge visits being its only major benefit.

First-year fee-waiver then became a permanent option for this card in late 2022.

The X Card is now the Journey Card

Finally Standard Chartered has chosen a more permanent market segment for the X Card, today rebranding it the Journey Credit Card, with a S$30,000 income requirement (down from S$80,000), and an annual fee of S$194.40 – more typical for an entry-level general spend option in Singapore.

The card will switch from being a Visa Infinite to a Visa Signature product, and it’s no longer metal but instead “printed on carbon neutral plastic”.

The card will continue to earn an uncapped 1.2 mpd for local spend and 2 mpd for overseas spend, as it does now, while two Priority Pass lounge visits per year will also remain part of the deal.

The card will retain 10 loyalty programme transfer partners including KrisFlyer, though the transfer ratios to many of these (e.g. Qatar Privilege Club) are not attractive and mean earning less than the advertised mpd rates.

The card now most closely resembles the Citi PremierMiles product in our view, though that one has a wider range of transfer partners at the standard transfer ratios, and allows conversion to Asia Miles.

Complimentary travel insurance with the card remains, but coverage is reduced from S$1 million to S$500,000 from 1st September 2023. Current policy wording is available here.

Existing X Card members will be able to continue to use their card until it is due for renewal, with full FAQs regarding the switch available here.

3 mpd bonus category

The Journey Card is offering a 3 mpd bonus category for online transport, online food delivery and online grocery shopping between now and the end of 2023, however this is capped at S$1,000 spend per statement month.

Registration is not required – all cardholders are eligible (including existing X Card members). Eligible online spend by MCC with example merchants are provided below.

• Grocery/food-stores with MCCs 5411, 5462, 5499 and 5921
  (E.g. NTUC FairPrice Online, NTUC FairPrice app, Lazada Redmart, Watson’s Singapore and Nespresso Singapore)
• Food deliveries with MCCs 5811, 5812 and 5814
  (E.g. Foodpanda, Deliveroo, McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza, Chilli Api Catering and Qi Ji Catering)
• Transport merchants with MCCs 4111, 4121, 4411 and 4789
  (E.g.Grab, Gojek, Cabcharge Asia, Tada, Ryde Technologies, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Easybook.com)

This bonus may be useful if you’re already maxing out the various 4 mpd or 6 mpd limits on your other credit cards for online spend in these categories.

Full terms and conditions for the offer are available here (see Part 2).

Up to 45,000 miles sign-up bonus

A new sign-up bonus is offering up to 25,000 miles for up to S$5,000 spend (an additional 5 mpd for the first S$5,000 spend) in the first 30 days, plus you’ll receive an additional 10,000 miles if you voluntarily pay the first year annual fee of S$194.40.

This is available from 19th May 2023 to 30th September 2023 for new-to-bank applicants for the Journey Card, which Standard Chartered defines as those who haven’t held a principal credit card with the bank for the last 12 months.

Journey Card Up to 45K Miles Acquisition Promotion

Do note that Standard Chartered is also tagging on an additional 10,000 miles here, applicable if you make the relevant S$5,000 bonus spend in foreign currency (+2 mpd, for 7 mpd total) – but that might be a big ask if you don’t have travel plans coming up.

For most of our readers, the bonus including annual fee payment will max out at 35,000 miles, and for those who don’t want to pay the annual fee for 10,000 miles it’s more likely 25,000 miles.

Here’s how the effective total earn rates look by spend category during the sign-up promotion, including the regular earn rates which are still applicable.

The sign-up bonus miles are credited to your account two months after your card approval month. If you wish to pay the first year annual fee of S$194.40, the additional 10,000 bonus miles will be credited within 60 working days (around 12 weeks) of card activation.

Full terms and conditions for the sign-up bonus are available here.

Zero-fee FCY transactions

The Journey Card is also offering zero FCY fee for overseas spend made and posted in the months of:

• June 2023
• July 2023
• November 2023
• December 2023

This will offer you full cashback on the bank’s steep 3.5% FCY fee for overseas transactions made during these months.

Cashback will be credited to your card account as follows.

This is actually a good deal – an uncapped 2 mpd on FCY transactions for spend in four months with no additional fees.

Let’s hope Standard Chartered repeats this for Journey cardholders in subsequent years.

Full terms and conditions are available here.

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What a ‘Journey’ for the Standard Chartered X Card, which has finally found its place as an entry-level S$30k income product with a more palatable S$194.40 annual fee, waivable in year one (at least), with this rebranding as the Journey Credit Card.

The card’s other features remain largely the same, including two annual Priority Pass visits and regular uncapped earn rates of 1.2 mpd / 2 mpd.

If you’re currently holding the X Card you can continue to use it until it expires, including all the new Journey card features like the 3 mpd bonus miles for online spend promotion for the rest of 2023.

Finally, if you’re new-to-bank there’s up to 35,000 bonus miles to be had if you sign up now, with 5 mpd / 7 mpd on up to S$5,000 spend in the first 30 days, but the true bonus here over regular earn rates is really only 19,000 miles.

(Cover Photo: EDITION Hotels)