Maybank Family & Friends Credit Card Review: 2025 Features & Benefits

The Maybank Family and Friends card¹ offers excellent cash back rewards in Singapore, and on some overseas spending in MYR and IDR. In fact, with up to 8% cash back on spending on select categories, it could be your pick for the best Maybank cash back credit card out there.

This Maybank Family and Friends review walks through how the cash back program works, what caps and limits there are, and the fees you have to pay. We'll also introduce the Wise card, a handy travel companion to make seamless card payments when you're overseas.

What is the Maybank Family and Friends credit card?

The Maybank Family and Friends credit card is a cash back card that offers high returns on prearranged spending categories.

You can select 5 categories from a prearranged list, such as dining, groceries, or entertainment. To earn the boosted cash back, you'll need to meet the minimum spend amount for the month. All other spending earns a base cash back rate.

Additionally, if you frequently travel to Malaysia or Indonesia, you'll benefit from an extra cash back bonus on overseas spending in MYR and IDR, regardless of what you’re buying.

Who is this card for?

This card is ideal for those who use their credit card to cover regular, selected spending types, like their weekly grocery bill or transport costs.

Since you must choose specific spending categories, you'll need to confirm that your preferred merchants are included. If they are, you could earn up to S$125 in cash back per month by maximizing the spend across all five categories.

If you are unsure whether you can earn enough cash back to justify using the card, you should consider the potential costs, including interest, penalty charges, and fees like the foreign transaction fee that applies when you travel.

What to look out for when looking for a credit card

The headline of the Maybank Family and Friends card - 8% cash back - is very strong. But as with any financial product, you’ll need to look a little more closely to really assess if it’s the right option for you.

When you’re deciding which card is the best fit for your needs, make sure to look at things like:

• Eligibility rules - including minimum income or employment
• Annual fees - which may be waived for one or more years, but which can add up over time
• Minimum spend - needed to unlock the extra cash back option
• Foreign transaction fees - payable every time you transact in a foreign currency
• Cash advance costs - which push up the cost of using an ATM with your card, particularly if there’s also a foreign transaction fee to cover

We’ll cover the eligibility rules, minimum spend, and ongoing fees for the Maybank Family and Friends card in this guide. It’s also helpful to note that the foreign transaction fee you pay with this card is 3.25%, applied to all overseas spending. There’s a cash advance fee of 8% or 15 SGD, whichever is higher, plus an ATM fee of up to 5 SGD per withdrawal².

These costs can really eat into the cash back you earn - so do remember to add them into your calculations when deciding if the Maybank Family and Friends card is the best choice for you.

If you're looking for more options to get the most out of your spending, you can find a guide to the best credit cards for miles here.

Maybank Family and Friends: Key features and benefits

Here are some of the most important features, benefits, and rules to understand when deciding if the Maybank Family and Friends card is a good fit for your needs.

Eligibility

You can apply for this card as a Singapore citizen or PR, or a foreigner working in Singapore, subject to employment and income rules. Here are the details:

If you’re a foreigner in Singapore, you must have a valid employment pass, and you may need a letter from your employer to support your application.

Cash back on local and overseas spend

When you sign up for your card, you can choose 5 categories to earn 8% cash back on spending. Your options include:

• Beauty & Wellness
• Data Communication & Online TV Streaming
• Dining & Food Delivery
• Entertainment
• Groceries
• Online Shopping
• Pharmacy
• Retail & Pets
• Sports & Sports Apparel
• Transport

In addition to your preferred 5 categories, there’s also a bonus category - spending in MYR and IDR. This applies to your chosen categories and all other spending, as long as you meet the minimum spending levels to earn your cash back in the first place.

How to earn cash back

To earn cash back, you must spend at least 800 SGD on your card in that month. There’s then a monthly cap on the amount you can earn per category of 25 SGD - a total of 150 SGD across all 5 preferred categories and your foreign currency spending.

If you spend less than 800 SGD, you get 0.3% cash back on your spending. Once you have exceeded the 25 SGD per category cash back on any category, your earnings will also revert to this 0.3% level.

Annual fees and waivers

The annual fee for this card is 196.20 SGD (inclusive of GST), waived for the first 3 years. Supplementary cards have no annual fee.

After the 3 years of fee waiver, you can have your annual fees waived on an ongoing basis if you spend at least 18,000 SGD yearly with your card.

Other perks and rewards

At the time of writing, new customers can get a Samsonite-branded travel case as a sign-up gift. To be eligible for this gift, you must spend over 1,300 SGD on the card within the first two months.

Maybank also partners with various local retailers and services to offer discounts and deals. These include offers for dining, services like Grab, and online shopping platforms like Taobao. For the full range of current deals, check the Maybank website.

Using the Maybank Family and Friends card overseas

If you want a credit card for travel use, it’s important to note that cards like this often have foreign transaction fees and use a marked-up exchange rate for overseas purchases.

For the Maybank Family and Friends card, the foreign transaction fee is 3.25%. This means that whenever you spend in a foreign currency, your purchase is converted back to SGD using the network rate plus this fee. The fee is included in the calculation, so you won't see it as a separate line item on your bill.

Even when credit cards offer impressive travel benefits, such as 8% cash back on certain foreign spending, it's crucial to weigh the costs you might incur to see if the benefits are truly worthwhile.

Compare the costs of using a credit card like this against a low-cost international debit card like the Wise card This might take a little bit of math, but it could save you money in the end, depending on how often you transact in foreign currencies.

👀 Looking for a travel card to maximise your overseas spending? See how Wise compares with other multi-currency cards like Revolut and Youtrip in Singapore.

💳 Click here to order a Wise card

Is the Maybank Family and Friends card right for you?

To decide if the Maybank Family and Friends card is right for you, you’ll need to think about your own spending habits and whether you meet the card’s requirements on income and employment.

If you’re eligible for the card, it’s worth thinking about which categories of spend you usually manage with a credit card, to see if you’ll be able to make the most of the cash back opportunity. Weigh up the possible upside in cash back against any fees you might end up paying, including foreign transaction fees and interest, to see if it’s right for you.

Travelling soon? Bring the Wise card along to maximise your foreign currency transactions

While the Maybank Family & Friends Credit Card is an excellent choice for local cash back, it has limitations for overseas spending due to foreign transaction fees and marked-up exchange rates. Consider using your credit card smartly at home, and pop the Wise card in your wallet the next time you’re overseas.

The Wise card lets you spend in 40+ currencies at the mid-market rate including MYR, JPY, CNY, and USD so you know you'll be getting a great deal in over 150+ countries. Simply create a free Wise account, order a card and top-up SGD to get started.

Virtual cards are free and can be added to your Google or Apple Pay wallet, while a physical Wise card can be ordered for a low fee of 8.50 SGD. Having a physical Wise card allows you to make chip and pin payments, as well as 2 free ATM withdrawals to the value of 350 SGD each month, before low fees start.

While abroad, you can choose to spend with directly in SGD and let auto-conversion do the trick, or convert to your desired currency with your Wise account. Either way, you’ll get the exchange rate you see on Google, with low, transparent fees from 0.26%.

💳 Get your Wise card