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Standard Chartered Visa Infinite: Should You Apply For This “Mass Affluent” Credit Card (Even If You Don’t Meet The $150,000 Minimum Salary Requirement?)

Would you pay $588.50 for 35,000 miles if you have the option to?


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Most credit cards in the market requires you to have an annual income of $30,000. However, there is also a niche segment of cards which are targeted towards affluent customers. These cards tend to have a minimum income requirement, which is usually in the 6-figure range.

One of these cards is the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card. It’s an airmiles card that gives you 1.4 miles per $1 spent (local) or 3 miles per $1 spent (overseas).

Read Also: Why All Singaporeans (Even Cashback Lovers) Should Apply For At Least One Air Miles Card

Here’s a quick review of some of the notable perks offered by this mass affluent credit card.

  • Earn 4 miles (local spent) and 3 miles (overseas spent) per $1 spent. However, there is a minimum spend of $2,000 per month required. Otherwise, you will only earn 1 mile for every $1 spent
  • Enjoy 6 complimentary visits each year with the priority pass lounge programme
  • Complimentary 4 hours yacht hire when you spend a minimum of $75,000 in 2019

In addition, if you apply for the , you will get a free $100 cash (new to bank customers) or free $50 cash (existing bank customers).

If you pay the annual fee of $588.50, which is non-waivable, you will get 35,000 miles. This translates into paying 1.68 cent per mile. There is no string attached here. Simply pay the annual fee and receive the miles.

Here’s the catch though. The Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card has a minimum income requirement of $150,000 per annum.

Do note that this is a limited time offer so if you are reading this article much later from when we first publish it, be sure to take note of what the offers are at the point in time when you apply.

Can You (Successfully) Apply For The Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Even If You Don’t Meet The Minimum Income Requirement?

In the past, testing this theory was a cumbersome process. That’s because we need to fill up the application form, submit it to the bank and wait a few weeks before we know whether we are successful or not.

Apply & Get Instant Approval For Your Standard Chartered Credit Cards

Recently, Standard Chartered announced that they have a real-time onboarding process for their credit cards. This means that if you apply for a Standard Chartered credit card, you can (or as we found out later), or may, get instant approval for your card if you apply using MyInfo.

With this function available, we decided to test out the theory of whether or not we could get card approval for the , even though we did not meet the minimum income criteria.

Here’s the idea. Apply for the card, claim the SingSaver reward ($50 cash since I’m an existing Standard Chartered customer), use it to offset the annual fee of $588.50 and get the 35,000 miles.

Step 1: Apply For  (Through SingSaver)

SingSaver will bring you to a reward redemption page. Fill it in before you proceed with your application with the bank. This is important because you will miss the bonus reward if you apply directly with the bank without first filling this form from SingSaver.

Step 2: Apply Using MyInfo

Once you fill in some basic details with the bank, you will be directed to a page where you will have the option to continue your application for the credit card using MyInfo. Opt for it.

You will be asked to login with your SingPass. Once this is done, your application form will automatically be pre-filled with the details needed (i.e. your income over the past 12 months).

The rest of the form only requires you to fill in/verify basic information. There is no need for you to upload any additional documents (e.g. income statement, copy of identification card) since this is already done via MyInfo.

Instant Approval? Maybe Not

At this point in time, we thought that we would receive either an instant approval or a rejection (since our income was much lower than what is required).

Instead of getting the instant approval or rejection, what we received was an acknowledgement form letting us know that the application has been received, and that it will be processed by the bank.

At this point, one hypothesis that we had was that perhaps our instant approval wasn’t granted because our income submission was much lower than required, and that a human credit analyst will now need to manually review the submission before deciding to reject the application.

To test this hypothesis, we decided to apply for another Standard Chartered Card with another member of our team. This time, we went for a reward card. The Standard Chartered Rewards + Credit Card, which has a minimum income requirement of $30,000 per annum.

Once again, SingSaver gives you an additional bonus reward if you apply for the card through them.

Applying for the card was a breeze using MyInfo. It took us less than 3 minutes to get the entire application done.

This is in contrast to the past, where it could take 10 minutes or more because you had to upload your income statement and IC to your application form in order to apply for a card.

Unfortunately, we were not able to receive instant approval once again.

  • Our application was done without any hassle. We earn for ourselves an additional reward because we applied for both the  and the Standard Chartered Rewards + Credit Card through SingSaver.
  • Using MyInfo to apply for a credit card is very convenient. What used to be a cumbersome process can now be done in 3 minutes.
  • Our application went through successfully to the bank. However, we were not able to receive our cards immediately.
  • An annual salary which is less than $80,000 per annum is unlikely to get you this card. However, we understand from various sources that you may be able to get this card if your income is $80,000 per annum. This is not official. You can give it a try if you want.

Here’s what we think.

We think it makes sense that the bank does not automatically give an instant blanket approval or rejection. The point to note here is that even with real-time, applicants still need to meet the bank assessment criteria which would be based on the information provided by MyInfo.

If an applicant meets the standard underwriting requirements, they may get instant approval for their card. If they don’t, then the bank may manually review the application before they decide to approve, reject or ask for further information.

In our case, we were subsequently rejected for the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card and asked to provide additional information for our Standard Chartered Rewards + Credit Card application.

The was an email received later the same day to tell us our application for the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Card has unfortunately been rejected.

Editor’s Note: Minimum income requirement for this card is $150,000. However, we understand from various sources that it’s possible to get an approval from the bank with an income range of about $80,000 per annum. This isn’t officially confirmed but if you are keen to get this card and earn $80,000 per annum, it’s possible that you can still get this card. Give  and let us know at [email protected] if you are able to get the card without have to hit the minimum income requirement.

Read Also: American Express KrisFlyer Ascend; Citi PremierMiles; UOB PRVI; Standard Chartered Visa Infinite – Which Is The Best AirMiles Card For You?

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