Which Credit Cards Should You Use for Overseas Spend This December?
- Refined Points
- Dec 15, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
As we head into the peak holiday season, it is worth taking a step back and reassessing which credit card you should be using when swiping overseas. Whether it is a simple meal at a restaurant in London or a far more painful luxury purchase in Paris, the credit card you choose can make a material difference to how much value you extract from that spend.
This article is not meant to debate whether you should be using multi currency prepaid solutions such as Wise, or cashback oriented travel cards like the TNGD Visa Travel Prepaid card. Those products serve a very different audience. This is a focused guide for credit card users who are actively chasing airline miles and want to maximise returns on overseas spend specifically.
In reality, very few people will hold more than one of the cards listed below. However, this ranking is still useful for perspective, especially if you have a habit of prioritising local spend cards throughout the year and forgetting that your best overseas spend card has been sitting quietly in a drawer. That scenario is far more common than most people would like to admit.
I will be ranking these credit cards from best to worst for overseas spend, followed by a section highlighting cards you should actively avoid using overseas.
For avoidance of doubt, invitation only credit cards that require substantial assets under management, typically above RM1 million, such as the UOB Visa Infinite Metal or HSBC Premier Travel World Mastercard, are excluded from this list.
CIMB Travel World Elite
Despite its eye watering annual fee, strict annual fee waiver conditions, and MPR rates that are no longer market leading, the CIMB Travel World Elite continues to see exceptionally strong uptake.
This comes as no surprise. When CIMB reduced the local spend accelerator from 10X to 2X, many predicted that this would mark the beginning of the end for the card.
The reality turned out to be the exact opposite. Based on reliable industry sources the card has been performing spectacularly well, there is currently no credit card in Malaysia’s airline miles landscape that genuinely competes with the CIMB Travel World Elite in its core proposition.
The key differentiator is CIMB’s evergreen 1% Admin FX Fee Waiver. Given that standard FX fees typically sit around 2 to 3%, this immediately reduces your cost of spending overseas. Pair that with a solid MPR rate and you end up with a card that prioritises cost efficiency rather than pure miles accumulation.
For many users, the slightly lower MPR compared to UOB is not a deal breaker. Overseas spend is often about reducing leakage from FX fees, not chasing an all you can eat miles buffet. On that front, the CIMB Travel World Elite remains unmatched.
This makes it Refined Points’ clear top pick for overseas spend. Frankly speaking, there is no real competition in this space today.
UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite
The UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite is not easily accessible. You will need to maintain at least RM500,000 in assets under management, and that requirement is ongoing. Once qualified, however, the card offers 1 MPR on overseas spend, which is the highest attainable MPR within its segment.
There are minor caveats. Transportation related transactions do not earn UNIRM points, which effectively means zero miles on overseas public transport and contactless transit. This is an area where the CIMB Travel World Elite performs better.
That said, as far as overseas spend is concerned, this remains a very strong option.
UOB PRVI Miles Elite
The UOB PRVI Miles Elite takes third place and is likely the most commonly held card among readers due to its accessibility and relatively modest annual income requirement. This is especially true for former Citi PremierMiles cardholders.
The card earns 1 MPR on overseas spend within ASEAN, including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, and 0.83 MPR on all other overseas spend. These rates comfortably beat the CIMB Travel World Elite on paper, assuming you are willing to overlook FX fees.
In 2025, this has been my personal daily driver, allowing me to accumulate a substantial balance of UNIRM points while being based in London, also helped in no small part by my wife’s spending habits in Singapore.
The biggest drawback of the UOB PRVI Miles Elite is not a flaw in the card itself, but rather the existence of the CIMB Travel World Elite. However, for those who do not qualify for the CIMB card, given its RM250,000 income requirement, the PRVI Miles Elite remains a highly compelling alternative at the RM100,000 level.
UOB Visa Infinite
The UOB Visa Infinite is a very solid card in its own right and, according to market sources, continues to perform extremely well.
It ranks slightly below the PRVI Miles Elite simply because it does not offer the 1 MPR ASEAN overseas rate and operates on the Visa network, which carries marginally worse FX fee mechanics.
Nonetheless, with an evergreen 0.83 MPR on overseas spend, cardholders can take comfort in knowing they hold one of the strongest overseas spend cards available.
If you hold both the UOB Visa Infinite and the UOB PRVI Miles Elite, my recommendation is to default your overseas spend to the PRVI Miles Elite, especially since it also unlocks complimentary Grab rides home from the airport for qualifying overseas transactions.
CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite
The CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite is an outstanding local spend card and has become even stronger following the recent introduction of an additional tier in its bonus structure.
Many Refined Points readers hold this card instead of the CIMB Travel World Elite due to the latter’s high annual fee. That decision is entirely reasonable. With no annual fee, a respectable overseas MPR, and a tiered bonus system, the CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite can be a formidable overseas spend card in its own right.
Just be mindful of CIMB’s operational quirks, including the requirement to maintain a certain balance in your CASA account.
For those who hold both cards, I strongly recommend reading my earlier deep dive on whether to use the CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite or CIMB Travel World Elite for overseas spend. In short, you should still default to the Travel World Elite whenever possible due to its 1% FX fee waiver.
Standard Chartered Priority Banking Visa Infinite
This is not a card I would normally expect to feature in such a list, but the numbers speak for themselves. With 0.71 MPR on overseas spend, the Standard Chartered Priority Banking Visa Infinite remains a decent option for those who are not obsessive about maximising miles.
With a large installed base of Priority Banking and Priority Private customers, it continues to hold relevance, although a refresh would be more than welcome at this stage.
Which Credit Cards Should You NOT Use Overseas?
AmBank Enrich Visa Infinite
Despite its Enrich related benefits, the AmBank Enrich Visa Infinite is one of the worst cards you can use for overseas spend.
At a laughable 0.5 MPR, the card struggles to remain relevant in today’s miles landscape.
The UOB PRVI Miles Elite, with a similar income requirement, offers approximately 66% more miles per ringgit and does not lock you into Enrich. There is simply no rational reason to use the AmBank Enrich Visa Infinite overseas unless you are unable to qualify for any other miles card.
RHB Premier Visa Infinite
The RHB Premier Visa Infinite technically offers 1 MPR on Enrich for overseas spend, but that drops sharply to 0.57 MPR if you convert to KrisFlyer. If you are fully committed to Enrich, it may still make sense, but you will need to actively manage LoyaltyPlus and Loyalty points to avoid stranded balances.
For most users, defaulting to UOB’s ecosystem is far simpler and avoids the unnecessary complexity of dual points buckets.
HSBC Premier World Mastercard
When HSBC revamped the Premier World Mastercard, the headline 15X overseas earn rate generated a lot of excitement. On paper, this equates to 1 MPR across Enrich, KrisFlyer, and Asia Miles.
The problem lies in the cap. HSBC limits overseas spend rewards to 185,000 Reward Points until 31 December 2026, which translates to roughly RM12,000 in spend. Having to track a points budget while travelling defeats the purpose entirely.
For meaningful overseas spend, it is far safer to use uncapped alternatives, which is practically every other card in the market.
Hong Leong Bank Visa Infinite and Visa Infinite P
While Hong Leong Bank has made meaningful improvements to its credit card lineup in 2025, its Visa Infinite cards remain poor choices for overseas spend.
Miles are awarded based on merchant category rather than geography, meaning a RM5,000 purchase at Gucci earns the same miles whether it is made in Kuala Lumpur or London. That structure is simply uncompetitive.
The fact that all Hong Leong Visa Infinite cards are tied exclusively to Enrich further limits their appeal.
Anything Maybank
Whether it is the Maybank Visa Infinite, Maybank 2 Cards Premier American Express Reserve, or Maybank World Elite Mastercard, the advice is simple. Do not use them overseas.
Between some of the worst MPR rates in the industry and restrictive TreatsPoints conversion caps, you are genuinely better off using a Wise prepaid card. Unless you enjoy earning valueless rewards, Maybank credit cards should be avoided for overseas spend entirely.
Final Thoughts
None of the information in this article is particularly new, especially for long time readers of Refined Points. Much of this has been discussed across various articles, comparisons, and my newsletters over the months.
That said, this piece was written with newer readers in mind. Every year, especially around the December travel period, I receive messages from readers who are travelling abroad for the first time in a while and are unsure which card they should be using overseas.
Many are surprised to learn that the card they use daily in Malaysia is not necessarily the one they should be swiping in London, Paris, or Tokyo.
Overseas spend is one of the easiest areas to optimise, yet also one of the most commonly overlooked. A single trip can involve five figures of spend across flights, hotels, shopping, and dining. Choosing the wrong card can quietly erase a meaningful amount of value through FX fees, poor earn rates, or restrictive caps.
If there is one takeaway from this article, it is this. Be intentional with your overseas spend. Know which card you are using and why. Even if you only travel once or twice a year, getting this right makes a tangible difference to both your costs and your miles balance.
And if this article helped you rediscover a card you forgot you owned, then it has done exactly what it was meant to do.
