Singapore Expats

Hey everyone,


I need a credit card to pay for employment related spending (entertainment & phone). I get paid back the expenses at the end of the month but my Salary doesn't allow me to offset these costs and still have enough income remaining to live on.

I'm earning below $45k a month. Are there any Banks which issue Credit Cards with less than $45k income for foreigners (I can't provide the $10k starting investment which some banks demand).

Alternatively, are there any Banks which offer overdrafts on Debit cards?

Basically, I need to able to go into the red by around $1.1/1.5k a month, which I can pay back at the end of every month when my company has reimbursed me.

Thanks for any help and advice

lloydosaurus wrote:Hey everyone,


I need a credit card to pay for employment related spending (entertainment & phone). I get paid back the expenses at the end of the month but my Salary doesn't allow me to offset these costs and still have enough income remaining to live on.

I'm earning below $45k a month. Are there any Banks which issue Credit Cards with less than $45k income for foreigners (I can't provide the $10k starting investment which some banks demand).

Alternatively, are there any Banks which offer overdrafts on Debit cards?

Basically, I need to able to go into the red by around $1.1/1.5k a month, which I can pay back at the end of every month when my company has reimbursed me.

Thanks for any help and advice

Have your company GET the credit card. The statement gets sent to them directly and if--knock, knock--you get replaced, they can just pass that card to the replacement.

In my experience , Diners and HSBC provided me my first CCs here in SG when I just started. My salary was below 45K then. But I am not sure what is their threshold now.

nakatago wrote: Have your company GET the credit card. The statement gets sent to them directly

^ Agree. If the company require you to spend the money on corporate matters, then the company should be providing the means to fund it.

Another option is a "corporate" card. It is not really a card where the company pays directly the expenses but it is made available for the employees of the company and usually it is annual fee free with completely no benefits of any kind. Check out with your employer if they offer one.

http://www.wowmanhattan.com.sg/benefits-500.html

Aslo, most Citibank CCs have the threshold of 42k for foreigners.

x9200 wrote:http://www.wowmanhattan.com.sg/benefits-500.html

Aslo, most Citibank CCs have the threshold of 42k for foreigners.

Well, I remember back in the day (2009 or 2010 I believe) I tried to apply for an HSBC Gold CC because it was one of the few that had a low income requirement. Application rejected, though I was above the income requirement. Not sure why. I don't know if Maybank still has a CC with 30K income requirement - they used to have.

Overall though, if it is spending for the company, the company should provide the credit card to you. Otherwise, just say that you don't earn enough to advance that kind of money continuously.

AngMoG wrote:Otherwise, just say that you don't earn enough to advance that kind of money continuously.

Yeah, you literally don't have the money to do it.

These days I find that banks are getting stricters in terms of lending to foreigners.
I used to have a DBS cashline account that I closed early last year. Last month when I tried to open it they said foreigners are not eligible anymore. I also used to have a cheque book account with POSB which is a current account linked to my POSB savings account, which I closed long ago. This time when I tried to reopen it I was told foreigners are not eligible. So I had to open a fresh current account with cheque book facility with UOB.

Some credit card companies dont even give cards to foreigners any more. CIMB for example.

Probably been burned once too often by expats doing runners without paying off their CC bills. They are the ones who screw it for everyone who follows. We've have our fair share of these sorry SOB's on this board over the years.

I would think so. After reading AngMoG's post I checked Maybank and as far as I could see foreigners are now to be earning 60k and more for all their cc products.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Probably been burned once too often by expats doing runners without paying off their CC bills. They are the ones who screw it for everyone who follows. We've have our fair share of these sorry SOB's on this board over the years.

Absolutely. OP - try StanChart as well as Citi. They seem to be ones I get bills for that belong to former tenants who have run away.

I couldn't get a cheque account with MB until I had a M/G with them.

I got my cards from Citi. Im earning above $3.5k a month. The bank has a special credit card which issues separate card statement from other personal credit cards. It is labelled as corporate card but it is not issued by my employer. Useful for reimbursement process.

In any case, you can contact this lad from the bank. 86980201. Recommended by my colleague. He can assist on credit card, personal loans, overdrafts and account opening applications. Hope this helps.

To get the best possible answers related to all your banking and credit card queries, you can refer to any third party financial/banking website. They offer a very neutral perspective along with authentic information.