One significant benefit is that Diners Club is still the only card that can be used to make CPF top ups and contributions. You won’t earn any Diners Club points, but you don’t have to pay the bill until your next statement’s due date. As long as you pay your Diners Club bills in full and on time, there are no interest or penalty charges.
Also, for some cardholders — small business owners, for example — the limited acceptance is a feature not a bug. They can use it for company travel expenses, in particular. Hotels and airlines generally accept the card, but it’s harder to buy non-business items.
I think Diners Club is accepted in China everywhere UnionPay is accepted, and UnionPay is the largest card network in China. There are also UnionPay cards issued in Singapore now, but in my experience they don’t seem to work well online and overseas.
Members of certain clubs and organizations get good deals on reduced annual fees with Diners Club. And they also have some pretty good cobranded credit cards with good benefits for frequent shoppers at such places as Mustafa and Donki.
The Diners Club Ace credit card (S$500 credit limit) has the lowest income qualification threshold among all credit cards in Singapore. It does have a modest annual fee, but if you use the airport lounge visit and value it then that’s a pretty fair trade. And since it’s Diners Club with a S$500 limit you can build a credit history without getting into too much trouble (limited acceptance, low limit). CIMB’s AWSM credit card is much better overall, but it has a slightly higher minimum income threshold.
Diners Club acceptance is probably going to improve since Discover is now the network parent. Discover is quite strong in the U.S. and is making progress in expanding global acceptance. Wherever Discover is accepted in Singapore and elsewhere, Diners Club is too.
