In September 2023, the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card got a new lease of life as a fee-free option for general spending, boasting one standout feature – an unlimited earn rate of 2.8 mpd on foreign currency transactions, provided you spend at least S$800 on the card within the same calendar month.

Although this change replaced the previous 3.2 mpd rate on dining, petrol, taxis and hotel bookings through Agoda, it certainly simplified the card’s bonus structure. The refreshed benefits also include a 2.8 miles per dollar earn rate on air tickets with any airline, capped at S$10,000 per month.

After an introductory promotion that boosted the earn rate to 3.2 mpd in top-earning categories – an offer also repeated for two months earlier this year – the bank is now reintroducing a similar deal for the next three months.

This can be a very useful miles boost for those already maxing out 4 mpd bonus cards each month, thanks to the uncapped nature of Maybank’s offer, and the generous eligible spend list including the likes of education and insurance payments.

Maybank is once again offering its Horizon Visa Signature cardholders an upsized 3.2 mpd earn rate on FCY spend (uncapped) and air ticket transactions (capped at S$10,000 per calendar month), this time for spend during November 2024, December 2024 and January 2025, subject to a minimum spend of S$800 on the card in the same calendar month.

This promotion includes the festive school holidays, and so it should time nicely with many readers taking year-end overseas trips.

FCY spending applies to both in-person and online transactions, so you can still take advantage of this offer even if you don’t have a trip planned during the next three months.

Here’s how the deal is structured, for both existing and new-to-card customers.

	Upsized Bonus Miles
Spend Period	1 Nov 2024 – 31 Jan 2025
Min. monthly spend	S$800
FCY Spend (uncapped)	2.8 mpd 3.2 mpd
Air Ticket Spend (S$10k per month)	2.8 mpd 3.2 mpd

For both existing and new cardholders, the deal is for a fixed three-month period from 1st November 2024 to 31st January 2025.

The Maybank Horizon Visa Signature (see our updated review) comes with annual fee waiver for the first three years of card membership, subsequently waived from year four onwards with $18,000+ spend in the previous membership year.

The Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card now earns miles at three basic rates, if your total spend on the card is less than $800 in the same calendar month.

Less than S$800 total spend
in same calendar month

Spend Type	Spend Category	Earn Rate
Local	Education Insurance Medical Utilities	0.24 mpd
	Dining Food Delivery Supermarkets Transport Petrol Department Stores Selected Retail Stores Air Tickets Hotels Cruises Travel Packages	1.2 mpd
	All other Local Spend	0.4 mpd
FCY	All FCY Spend	1.2 mpd

Not much to write home about here for low spenders – you can be earning at least these rates or far more with other general and bonus spend cards on the market in Singapore.

On the plus side, the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card is one of the few on the market in Singapore offering miles on spend categories such as Insurance, Utilities, Private Hospitals, Charities and Education, though only at 0.24 mpd.

Local retails spend that earns 1.2 mpd with this card must fall under one of the following specific Merchant Category Codes (MCCs).

The key to this card is unlocking its bonus earn rate of 2.8 mpd on all FCY spend (completely uncapped) and on air tickets in any currency (up to $10,000 per calendar month), and this is the rate that’s hiked to 3.2 mpd during this two-month promotion.

To do so, you’ll need to spend $800 or more on the card (on any eligible transaction), though if you’re looking to benefit from the uncapped FCY spend bonus, hitting the minimum spend is likely to be no issue.

S$800+ total spend
in same calendar month

Spend Type	Spend Category	Earn Rate
Local	Education Insurance Medical Utilities	0.24 mpd
	Dining Food Delivery Supermarkets Transport Petrol Department Stores Selected Retail Stores Hotels Cruises Travel Packages	1.2 mpd
	All other Local Spend	0.4 mpd
FCY	All FCY Spend	2.8 mpd 3.2 mpd
Local or FCY	Air Tickets*	2.8 mpd 3.2 mpd*

* Capped at S$10,000 spend per calendar month, thereafter 1.2 mpd

As you can see it’s the S$800+ spend cardholders that pick up the perks in general with this card, and that’s the focus of this promotion, with FCY spend at a very nice uncapped 3.2 mpd, and air tickets, at a capped 3.2 mpd.

Note that the air tickets MCC definition shown above (4511 and 3000 – 3350) also applies when using this card in that 3.2 mpd bonus category.

To unlock this 3.2 mpd bonus earning deal, you’ll have to make S$800 spend in any eligible category with the card during the same calendar month.

Maybank maintains a list of spend which will not earn TREATS Points and will also not count towards the minimum $800 monthly spend to unlock the enhanced 3.2 mpd earn rate during this offer (or the 2.8 mpd earn rate once this offer is finished).

Some of the most important exclusion categories are:

• NETS and eNETS transactions
• Government or government-related payments
• Betting or gambling transactions
• Grab mobile wallet top-ups and other stored value card purchases or top-ups
• Transactions made via AXS or SAM machines
• Payment of funds to prepaid accounts like EZ-Link and YouTrip

Note that retail transactions charged to the card within a calendar month that are successfully posted to the card account prior to the 6th day of the following calendar month will be counted towards the minimum spend of the month that the transactions are made.

Retail transactions charged to the card which are made within a calendar month that are only posted to the card account after the 6th day of the following month will be counted towards the following month’s minimum spend.

Here are links to the promotion page and the terms and conditions applicable to this bonus miles earning offer.

 8X TREATS Points promo
 8X TREATS Points T&Cs

The main draw for this card is its uncapped 2.8 mpd for all spend in foreign currency, either at point-of-sale (physical) or online, and for this two-month period that’s hiked to 3.2 mpd.

This gives the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card the highest uncapped general spend earn rates for FCY transactions in Singapore during this promotion.

With no exclusions mentioned, this rate should also apply for FCY spend in the Education, Medical, Insurance and Utilities categories, which could be very useful for things like college and university fees.

Here’s how the promotional rate compares to other cards on the market with uncapped FCY earning of more than 2 mpd.

Uncapped FCY earn rates
(1 Nov 2024 – 31 Jan 2025)

Card	FCY Earn Rate
Maybank Horizon VS	3.2 mpd**
SCVI	3.0 mpd*
UOB PRVI Miles	2.4 mpd
HSBC T1	2.4 mpd
DBS Altitude	2.2 mpd
DBS Vantage	2.2 mpd
OCBC Voyage	2.2 mpd
OCBC 90oN	2.1 mpd

* Subject to spending S$2,000+ (any spend) in the same statement month, otherwise 1 mpd
** Subject to spending S$800+ (any spend) in the same calendar month during this promotion, otherwise 2.8 mpd after the promotion, or 1.2 mpd without the minimum spend

The next best option is the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite (SCVI) card, earning 3 mpd for FCY transactions, but that requires a minimum spend of S$2,000 (across all spend) in the same statement cycle, significantly higher than the Horizon Visa Signature’s $800 minimum spend.

The SCVI card (see our recent review) also has a high income requirement of S$150k and an annual fee of S$600, pinning it in a different category to the Horizon Visa Signature’s S$30k income threshold and fee-free for the first three years offering.

Of course it’s worth bearing in mind that many 4 mpd cards on the market in Singapore earn at their bonus rates for FCY spend as well as for local spend, so you should be exhausting these first where possible, subject to the spend category and monthly caps applicable.

For example, online spend in FCY with the DBS WWMC card earns 4 mpd, capped at S$1,500 per month.

If you’re not currently holding the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card, you can currently receive one of the following gifts when you apply as a new-to-bank customer:

• 10,000 KrisFlyer miles (paid as 25,000 TREATS points)
• Samsonite ENOW SPINNER 69/25 EXP (worth S$570)
• S$200 cashback

Maybank defines new-to-bank customers as those who:

• do not have an existing principal Maybank credit card or CreditAble account at the time of application; and
• have not cancelled a principal Maybank credit card or CreditAble account within nine months prior to application

To qualify, you must spend a minimum of S$600 per month for each of the first two consecutive months following card approval.

Whichever gift you choose, it is awarded within only five working days of meeting the spend threshold, which is nice and quick compared to other banks.

Terms and conditions are available here.

The Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card is offering new and existing cardholders an uncapped 3.2 mpd on foreign currency transactions, provided you spend at least $800 on the card in the same calendar month, between 1st November 2024 and 31st January 2025, instead of the regular 2.8 mpd.

That’s a great selling point for those who regularly max out bonus earn rates of up to 4 mpd with other cards on the market, or for large transactions like tuition fees in FCY.

There’s also a generous 3.2 mpd on air ticket spend with any airline, up to $10,000 per calendar month, during the promotion.

The card benefits from being fee-free for the first three years (and probably thereafter for most), but do be aware of lacklustre local earn rates and 12-month points expiry – all covered in our recently updated review of the card.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)