How to Use Your CDC Vouchers in Singapore (2026)

Every Singaporean household has $300 sitting in Singpass right now. It is called the CDC Vouchers 2026 (January) tranche, and it expires on 31 December 2026.

Most households do claim them. The problem is the spending. Vouchers get used on whatever you happen to buy that week, the "no change given" rule quietly forfeits a few dollars per transaction, and almost nobody times their supermarket trip with the return voucher promos.

This guide answers the actual questions people search before spending their CDC Vouchers: where to use them, how to claim if you are not the household head, the supermarket stacking trick, the foreigner and tenant rules, and the gotchas that quietly cost you $20 to $50 per tranche. All amounts and rules are pulled from the official CDC Vouchers Scheme portal.

Table of Contents

1. What is in your CDC Vouchers 2026

2. Who is eligible (and who is not)

3. How to claim your CDC Vouchers (step by step)

4. Where to use CDC Vouchers in 2026

5. The supermarket stacking trick that adds 10% on top

6. How to use CDC Vouchers at NTUC self-checkout and the FairPrice app

7. Can you use CDC Vouchers online?

8. The "no change given" rule and 7 other gotchas

9. Stacking CDC Vouchers with credit cards for max value

1. What is in your CDC Vouchers 2026

The CDC Vouchers Scheme is run by the five Community Development Councils (CDCs) and funded by the government to help households with daily expenses. The 2026 tranche was released on 2 January 2026 and runs until 31 December 2026.

Here is what your household actually gets:

• $150 supermarket vouchers - usable at NTUC FairPrice, Cold Storage, Giant, Sheng Siong, Prime, U Stars, Scarlett and other participating supermarkets
• $150 hawker and heartland merchant vouchers - usable at participating hawker stalls, coffee shops, heartland shops, salons, optical stores and more
• Total per household - $300, regardless of household size
• Expiry - 31 December 2026 (anything unspent is forfeited, no rollover)
• Denominations - $2, $5 and $10 vouchers, you choose how many to apply per transaction

Two important things people get wrong here. The supermarket pile and the hawker pile are separate - you cannot spend supermarket vouchers at the kopitiam, and you cannot pay for groceries with hawker vouchers. And the $300 is per household, not per person, so a 5-person flat and a 1-person flat get the same amount.

There was also an earlier $500 tranche distributed in May 2025 (split $250 supermarket + $250 hawker), which was the first half of the $800 announced in Budget 2025. If you have not touched that one, check whether it is still active - older tranches typically expired 31 December 2025.

2. Who is eligible (and who is not)

The eligibility rule is simple but constantly misunderstood by foreigners, PRs and tenants. Here is the clean version.

You ARE eligible if

• Your household contains at least one Singapore Citizen with a valid residential address in Singapore.
• You live in an HDB flat, condo, landed home or any registered residential address - housing type does not matter.
• You are the resident at that address, even if you do not own the place (renter, family member, child).

You are NOT eligible if

• Your household contains zero Singapore Citizens (i.e. only PRs, work pass holders, foreigners).
• You are a foreign tenant living alone or with other foreigners - even if you pay all the rent.
• You are a Permanent Resident on your own without any Singapore Citizen co-resident.

The household-vs-individual distinction is the big one. CDC Vouchers belong to the household at that address, not to any specific person. So if a Singapore Citizen lives at an address with a foreign domestic worker and three foreign tenants, the entire household gets one set of $300 vouchers - and that set technically belongs to the Singaporean.

The landlord vs tenant headache

This is the question that causes the most arguments on Reddit. If you are a foreign tenant renting from a Singaporean landlord:

• The vouchers are issued in the landlord's household name (because they are the registered Singaporean at the address).
• The landlord can legally claim and keep them - it is not theft, it is the rule.
• In practice, many landlords either share the vouchers with tenants or factor it into the rent. Some don't.
• If you are a tenant and the landlord lives elsewhere, the landlord can still claim the vouchers tied to that address as long as they are listed as the resident.

Honestly, this is messy and unfair-feeling for tenants. But until the scheme changes, the vouchers follow the registered Singaporean resident, not whoever physically lives there.

3. How to claim your CDC Vouchers (step by step)

Claiming takes about 90 seconds if your Singpass is set up. Only one household member needs to do it, and the vouchers cover the entire household.

1. Open Singpass app and log in (or have your password ready for browser login).
2. Go to go.gov.sg/cdcv on your phone or computer.
3. Select "CDC Vouchers Scheme 2026 (January)".
4. Log in with Singpass.
5. Confirm your household address and key in your mobile number.
6. You will receive an SMS with a unique voucher link. The link MUST start with https://voucher.redeem.gov.sg/ - if it starts with anything else, do not click it (scam).
7. Open the link, bookmark it on your phone home screen, and you are ready to spend.

If you do not have Singpass or a smartphone

Walk into any Community Centre (CC) with your NRIC. CCs are open 10am to 6pm daily (2pm to 6pm for void deck CCs), closed on public holidays. Staff will help you claim and either help you spend digitally or print physical vouchers.

If you are overseas or bedridden

You can authorise a non-household member (e.g. a relative, friend, neighbour) to claim on your behalf. They need to bring the original notification letter (if any), a completed Authorisation Form, and supporting documents to a CC. The full hotline number is 6225 5322 if you need help.

What if someone else in my household already claimed?

Only one claim per household per tranche. If your spouse, parent or roommate already claimed, the link is in their phone - you cannot re-claim. They will need to forward the SMS link to you, or you spend together.

4. Where to use CDC Vouchers in 2026

The official rule: look for the teal "CDC Vouchers" decal at hawker stalls and heartland merchants, and the yellow decal at participating supermarkets. If the merchant has the decal, they accept it.

To find specific participating merchants near you, use the official directory at gowhere.gov.sg/cdcvouchers - you can filter by district, voucher type (supermarket vs hawker), and search by postal code.

Here is the practical breakdown of where most households spend.

Supermarkets that accept CDC Vouchers

• NTUC FairPrice (and FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra, FairPrice Xpress, Cheers)
• Cold Storage (and Jasons, Market Place)
• Giant
• Sheng Siong
• Prime Supermarket
• U Stars Supermarket
• Scarlett Supermarket
• Hao Mart, Don Don Donki (selected outlets), Ang Mo Supermart, and most heartland mama shops

You can use supermarket vouchers across all five CDC districts - you are not restricted to the FairPrice in your own district. So if you live in Tampines but work in Raffles Place, the FairPrice at Marina One accepts the same voucher.

Hawker centres and coffee shops

Most NEA-managed hawker centres have a high participation rate, but individual stalls choose whether to accept. The decal is usually stuck on the stall front. The big chains that almost always accept:

• Kopitiam, Koufu, Food Junction, Food Republic and most coffee shop chains
• Most hawker stalls in Maxwell, Old Airport Road, Tiong Bahru, Amoy Street, Tekka, Tampines Round Market, Geylang Serai, Toa Payoh and other major hawker centres
• Coffee shops under Kim San Leng, Broadway, NTUC Foodfare and similar groups

If a hawker stall says they don't accept it, that is their personal choice - the scheme is opt-in for individual stallholders.

Heartland merchants

This is where the hawker/heartland $150 stretches further than people realise. You can use it at:

• Hair salons, barbers and budget hair studios
• Optical shops (specs, contact lens top-ups)
• Provision shops, mama shops and minimarts
• Bakeries, cake shops and traditional kueh stalls
• TCM clinics and reflexology shops
• Tailoring and alteration shops
• Watch repair, key cutting and shoe repair
• Florists and gift shops
• Selected pharmacies (Watsons and Guardian only at participating heartland branches - check the gowhere directory before assuming)

A common mistake is using all $150 of hawker vouchers on food. The smarter move is to set aside $30 to $60 of it for a haircut or new specs - things you would have paid cash for anyway.

5. The supermarket stacking trick that adds 10% on top

Every CDC Vouchers tranche, the major supermarkets run "return voucher" promos that effectively give you 10% back when you spend the CDC vouchers in one go. Almost nobody plans for this. Here is the typical pattern that recurred across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 (January) tranches:

• NTUC FairPrice - spend $60 of CDC Vouchers in one transaction, get a $6 FairPrice return voucher (10% back). Return voucher usually valid for about 6 weeks after the promo ends.
• Cold Storage and Giant - spend $60 of CDC Vouchers, get a $6 return voucher PLUS 600 yuu Points (worth ~$3 or 166 miles) for yuu app members. Total return: roughly 15%.
• Prime Supermarket - spend $80, get a $5 return voucher (about 6.25% back).
• Sheng Siong - typically does not run return-voucher promos but offers Sheng Siong Members Day discounts that can be combined with CDC vouchers if your trip falls on the right day.

The trick: do not chip away at your $150 supermarket vouchers across small weekly trips. Instead, save them for one big bulk shop that hits the $60 minimum spend during a return-voucher promo window.

Check the live promo before your trip. The promos rotate every tranche and the spend windows are usually only 2-3 weeks long. Three places that track this reliably:

• The supermarkets' own promo pages - fairprice.com.sg, coldstorage.com.sg and giant.sg show return-voucher banners on the homepage when active.
• r/singapore - the community thread within 24 hours of voucher release usually surfaces all the active promos.

A worked example: bulk shop $120 worth of groceries during a FairPrice promo. Pay $120 with CDC vouchers (no cash spent). Receive two $6 return vouchers (or one if the cap is per transaction). Use the $6 returns within their validity window on a subsequent shop. Real spending power: $120 + $12 = $132.

Honestly, the return-voucher trick is the single biggest extra value most households leave on the table.

6. How to use CDC Vouchers at NTUC self-checkout and the FairPrice app

CDC vouchers are stored as a unique URL on your phone. There is no app to download. Here is how the actual transaction works at each common scenario.

At a hawker stall or heartland merchant

1. Open your CDC Voucher link on your phone (saved from the SMS).
2. Show the merchant your screen.
3. They scan the QR code displayed in your link using their merchant app, OR they enter the redemption amount manually.
4. Confirm the deduction on your phone.
5. Done. The merchant receives the voucher value, you keep any unused balance.

At NTUC FairPrice manned cashier

1. Tell the cashier you want to pay with CDC vouchers BEFORE they ring up your items (so they can apply it correctly).
2. Open your voucher link on your phone.
3. Show the cashier your QR code - they scan it.
4. They will deduct the exact bill amount up to your remaining voucher balance.
5. If your bill is more than your voucher balance, pay the rest with cash, PayLah, NETS or credit card.

At NTUC FairPrice self-checkout

1. Scan all your items as usual.
2. At payment, look for "CDC/SG60 Vouchers" as a payment method (it is usually the first option on the screen).
3. Tap it and a QR scanner activates on the self-checkout screen.
4. Open your voucher link on your phone, show the QR code to the scanner.
5. The system deducts up to your voucher balance, then shows the remaining amount.
6. Pay the rest with another method or scan another voucher.

The self-checkout flow is faster than the manned cashier and lets you split the bill across multiple vouchers without the cashier needing to do it manually.

In the FairPrice app for delivery / online groceries

You CANNOT use CDC vouchers in the FairPrice app for delivery or click-and-collect orders. The FairPrice app is online; CDC vouchers are physical-store only as of the 2026 (January) tranche. Same restriction applies to RedMart, Cold Storage online and the Giant app.

The exception is in-store self-checkout, which is technically still a physical store transaction. The "FairPrice app" people search for here is actually the in-store payment flow on self-checkout, which is what we covered above.

7. Can you use CDC Vouchers online?

Short answer: no, not as of the 2026 (January) tranche.

CDC Vouchers are designed for in-person redemption. The merchant must scan your QR code in real time, or enter the redemption amount on their merchant app. Online stores cannot do this in the checkout flow.

That means you cannot use CDC vouchers for:

• FairPrice online delivery or click-and-collect
• RedMart, Lazada Mart, Shopee Supermarket
• Giant or Cold Storage delivery
• GrabMart, Foodpanda, Deliveroo, Pickupp
• Watsons or Guardian online stores
• Any online food delivery or e-commerce platform

If you want grocery delivery, the workaround is to buy a physical FairPrice gift voucher with your CDC vouchers in-store, then redeem the gift voucher online. But that is fiddly and most people do not bother.

The simpler move: use CDC vouchers for in-store bulk shopping, and use credit-card-funded apps (with their own promos) for delivery.

8. The "no change given" rule and 7 other gotchas

These are the rules that quietly cost households $20 to $50 per tranche. None of them are well-explained on the official site.

• "No change given" is the big one - if your purchase is $8 and you tap a $10 voucher, the merchant takes the full $10. You forfeit $2. Always pay the closest amount using a combination of $2, $5 and $10 vouchers, then top up the difference with cash, PayLah or card.
• Vouchers cannot be transferred or shared - the link is tied to your household. You cannot forward it to a friend or sell it. Members of your household can spend together by all sharing the same link though.
• Cannot be used for restricted items - alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, infant milk powder (in some return-voucher promos), petrol and diesel are excluded. The cashier system blocks these automatically.
• Hawker vouchers and supermarket vouchers do not interchange - your $150 supermarket voucher cannot be spent at the hawker stall, and vice versa.
• No partial refund if you return an item - if you bought groceries with CDC vouchers and want to return one item, the supermarket usually refunds the value back to your voucher balance, not as cash. Check the store policy before returning.
• Forgetting to claim before expiry - the 2026 (January) tranche must be claimed AND spent by 31 December 2026. Unclaimed and unspent vouchers are forfeited (the money does not roll over to the next tranche).
• Phishing SMS scams - any voucher link that does not start with https://voucher.redeem.gov.sg/ is a scam. Real CDC voucher SMS comes from "gov.sg" or "RedeemSG" sender IDs.
• Splitting one big shop across two stores - if FairPrice is running a $60 spend = $6 return voucher promo and you split your $80 shop across FairPrice ($30) and Sheng Siong ($50), you miss the $6 return. Combine into one shop at the promo store.

The "no change" rule is honestly the dumbest design choice in the scheme. Just plan around it.

9. Stacking CDC Vouchers with credit cards for max value

CDC vouchers cover the first chunk of your bill. Your credit card covers the rest. The cards that earn the most cashback or points on the residual amount:

For credit card sign-up promos that pair well with this stack, see our guide to the best credit card sign-up promotions in Singapore.

If you found this useful, you might also want to read our guides to the new $400 Climate Voucher and the SG Culture Pass - both are free government money most households haven't fully claimed.