Best Credit Cards That Pawsitively Reward Pet Owners (2023)

When I became a pet owner, I didn’t know what I was in for.

Not because I wasn’t sure about the responsibilities as a first-time owner but because I wasn’t clear how much I would be spending as I was nursing a rescued kitten then.

Believe it or not, I only had two credit cards then – a UOB Preferred Platinum and a Citibank Cashback Plus card.

And, when the vet fees piled up during the first month, that’s when I knew I should be getting other cards to reap their rewards. If not, it’s a waste, isn’t it?

I could’ve been racking up miles or saving some money through cashback or cash rebates while making sure my pet’s needs were taken care of.

So, what cards are we looking at? Let’s see.

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TL;DR: Best Credit Cards For Pet Ownership

Best cashback cards for pet expenses:

• American Express True Cashback
• CIMB Visa Signature Card
• HSBC Revolution
• Maybank Family & Friends
• OCBC Frank Credit Card
• POSB Everyday
• UOB Absolute Cashback
• UOB EVOL Card

Best miles cards for pet expenses:

• Citi Rewards Card
• DBS Woman’s World
• HSBC Revolution
• Maybank Horizon Visa Signature
• OCBC Titanium Rewards
• UOB Lady’s Card
• UOB Visa Signature
• UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

For this article, I’m only looking at local spending and will not be including foreign currency transactions since most pet expenses are incurred locally.

Pro-tip: Look for a credit card that offers rewards or cashback for spending on pet-related expenses, as they may offer higher rewards or cashback for spending on pet grooming or veterinary services, which can help you save money in the long run. Secondly, there might be credit card offers or privileges at some pet grooming and veterinary clinics, so check with the service provider.

Merchant Category Codes

The Merchant Category Code (MCC) comprises four digits and serves to characterize a merchant’s primary business activities.

In the realm of credit card rewards, MCCs hold significant importance as banks provide bonus miles or cashback based on MCCs. Hence, selecting the appropriate MCC can make all the difference in earning a substantial number of miles on a considerable purchase or ending up with no rewards.

However, regular consumers like us would not be familiar with the MCCs unless we take the effort to memorise their codes before making any purchases.

Here comes a new service called Max, a website launched recently that utilises the Visa Merchant Lookup API to furnish MCCs.

What you need to do is:

1. Set up an account
2. Key in the merchant

And the merchant code would appear just like that.

Isn’t this extremely convenient?

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the cards!

Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored article. The information provided by Seedly serves as an educational piece and is not intended to be personalised investment advice. ​Readers should always do their own due diligence and consider their financial goals before signing up for any products.

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Best Cashback Credit Cards For Pet Expenses & Bills

American Express True Cashback

The American Express True Cashback card offers 3% cashback for the first 6 months on all eligible purchases you make locally and overseas, up to S$5,000 spent in the first 6 months as a welcome bonus.

On top of that, there is an unlimited 1.5% for all eligible purchases, and you can receive this cashback immediately.

This card allows you to earn cashback regardless of whether you purchase your pet supplies and food online or offline.

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CIMB Visa Signature Card

The CIMB Visa Signature card is one to hold if your monthly expenses are at least S$800.

What’s great about this card is that there are no annual fees applied. In fact, all CIMB cards don’t have an annual fee.

Do note that the transactions performed for online shopping do not include pet stores, but you can purchase your pet-related items from any of these e-commerce websites which will still allow you to be eligible under the Online Shopping category: Alibaba, Amazon, Ezbuy & Shopee

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HSBC Revolution Credit Card

The HSBC Revolution is kinda like a powerhouse for both cashback and miles chasers.

If there is one card that you can hold for anything, this is probably the one as it wins in all departments for its versatility.

Similar to the CIMB Visa Signature, there’s also no annual fee applied for this card.

HSBC states that you can get an additional 1% cashback* on your credit card spending with the HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme when you:

Note: The additional 1% HSBC Everyday+ Cashback is capped at $300 (or $500 for HSBC Premier customers) per calendar month.
^*HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme T&Cs apply.
^Eligible transactions refer to posted transactions in SGD made with HSBC credit cards and/or HSBC Everyday Global Debit Card, GIRO bill payments in SGD made via HSBC Everyday Global Account and/or fund transfers from HSBC Everyday Global Account to a non-HSBC account.

Needless to say, this card also works as a miles card.

At 4 mpd for online transactions and contactless payment, you can expect to earn miles rather quickly.

But from January 2024, the HSBC Revolution card’s whitelist will narrow to exclude Travel. Merchants categorized under MCCs 4722 and 7011 will no longer qualify for earning 4 miles per dollar (mpd). As such you will need to find an alternative card for transactions with Klook, Pelago, various online travel agencies (OTAs), as well as Airbnb and specific hotels.

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Maybank Family & Friends

 

It’s not hard to hit a minimum of S$800 per month if you consolidate all your spending on the Maybank Family & Friends Card.

When there’s any urgent need to purchase items for your pet at a retail store, Retail & Pets is an eligible category for you to earn cashback from.

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OCBC Frank Credit Card

OCBC Frank Credit Card is a no-frills card that allows you to reap cashback as long as you meet the minimum spend and did not use it for any excluded merchants.

There’s a catch though. The cashback you can earn is capped at S$25 per month for each spending category, but you can earn up to S$100 cashback per month.

You should make use of the green merchant’s list to get the 2% cashback!

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POSB Everyday

If your pet has a raw or cooked food diet, the POSB Everyday card might just be the card for you because you can get cash rebates for purchasing from the grocers.

Besides, there’s a signup promotion from now till 30 June 2023 where you can get up to S$150 cashback!

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UOB Absolute Cashback

The UOB Absolute Cashback card has what I believe is one of the highest unlimited cashback rates.

You can virtually use it for anything, but just not for Grabpay wallet top-ups because it has been nerfed to 0.3%.

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UOB EVOL Card

 

Say your expenses are low in general, the UOB EVOL Card is one that might be suitable for you.

You can use the card for any pet-related purchases online and in-store (must be mobile contactless) and still be able to get your cashback without having to overspend.

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Best Miles Credit Cards For Pet Expenses & Bills

Pet grooming and vet visits are costly routines for many pet owners, with each trip ranging from at least $30 to $150 for grooming.

As for vet visits, you can expect to spend at least $70 per vet consultation, with some racking up at least a few hundred or a thousand.

When this happens, you might want to use a miles card instead of a cashback card since these bills can be unexpectedly high.

Citi Rewards Credit Card + Amaze

When paired with the Instarem Amaze card, Citi Rewards Credit Card is often compared to the HSBC Revolution credit card.

You can virtually use this card for anything online except these overseas spending: airlines, hotels, car rentals, and other travel transactions.

This would be an easy way of earning 4 mpd on all transactions (except travel) as it converts all offline spending into online transactions when you’re at the vet or groomer’s where you have to make physical payments.

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DBS Woman’s World Credit Card

This is a card designed for those who love to shop online (including the travel category).

If you only purchase pet supplies and food online, this should be the card for you. However, it might not be useful if you use it at the groomer’s or vet clinics.

Though the card is marketed as a Woman’s card, males are welcome to apply for it too!

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Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card

Though it’s 3.2 mpd and not 4 mpd, I’m still listing Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card as it’s useful for the transportation of pets.

Some of us who don’t own a car will have to either call for a taxi or Grab to ferry our pets to and fro.

This will be useful to those who love to earn some miles especially if they engage in ride-hailing services all the time.

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OCBC Titanium Rewards Card

OCBC Titanium Rewards card is good for large expenses as the bonus cap is on an annual basis. While it can be used for most of the popular e-commerce platforms, retail-wise, it’s quite limited.

You would have to check the MCCs before proceeding with any high-value purchases just in case.

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UOB Lady’s Card

If you haven’t heard, the UOB Lady was enhanced earlier this year to allow you to earn 6 mpd instead of 4 mpd!

So far, this is the only card in the market that allows you to do so. It is, however, only available for females.

If you’ve chosen Family as your bonus category and make frequent purchases at groceries to cook for your pets, it’s safe to know that UOB$ merchants like Cold Storage and Giant will still give you miles and bonus points (up to 3.6 mpd).

Similarly, you can switch to Transport if ferrying your furkid is what you do all the time especially if you need to send it for training.

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UOB Visa Signature Card

Excluding UOB$ merchants, the UOB Visa Signature card is pretty much useful when used for contactless payments at the vet or groomer.

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UOB Preferred Platinum Visa

 

Similar to UOB Visa Signature, the UOB Preferred Platinum is great for contactless payment without category exclusions.

It’s no wonder this card is what most people go for when they first started their miles games. I’ve personally used this card for vet visits and I’d say it’s worth getting when I review my monthly statement.

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Best Credit Cards For Pet Insurance

As you might already know, most credit cards do not offer rewards for paying your regular expenses like rent, insurance, income tax, season parking, and condominium maintenance fees, and this includes pet insurance.

But, here’s where services from companies like CardUp, ipaymy, RentHero, and banks like Citibank, Standard Chartered, and UOB come into play.

 

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Afterthoughts

Getting a credit card requires you to be disciplined with the way you spend.

If you haven’t read up on the difference between a cashback and a miles card, it’s probably time for you to do so. After all, pet ownership is a journey and your expenses may or may not increase as your pet ages.

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