Spending money is inevitable. Part of achieving robust returns is making your spending work for you. There are many different credit cards in the market today, and Grab has just launched the GrabPay Card (a Mastercard tie-up). With so many payment options, I share my intended strategy for different types of transactions in 2020.
1) Groceries from Fairprice
The preferred mode here is to pay by Fairprice gift card (securing 7.3% cashback - see item 2) or by Citi SMRT card (up to 5% cashback for transactions >= $50, or up to 3% cashback for transactions <$50. A reduction of 0.3% if monthly retail spend is less than $300, hence the "up to".. yes Singapore credit cards are ridiculously complicated like that.)
2) Gift Cards from Fairprice
By using the Citi SMRT card at Kallang Wave Fairprice Xtra only, I get 7.3% cashback, assuming I top up $300 into the gift card each time I go to Kallang Wave (which I do not frequent), or whatever amount to meet the $300 monthly spend requirement for this card. Otherwise, it's 7%, which is alright, but the point is to go to Kallang Wave Mall as infrequently as I can.
3) Public Transport
Quoting from Citi's website: "2% SMRT$ (i.e. cashback) is awarded for EZ-Reload transactions of more than $30. 1% SMRT$ is awarded for EZ-Reload transactions of $30 or less. For monthly statement retail purchases of less than $300, SMRT$ earn rate will be 0.3% less.Citi SMRT card." Grief. Long story short, set EZ-Reload to $50 and earn 2% cashback.
4) Online spend
This one is tricky. It can either go to the Citi Rewards Visa (4 mpd up to $1000 per statement) or to the DBS Woman's World Mastercard - which men can apply for (4 mpd). There's a slightly different rounding policy, because DBS WWMC rounds down to the nearest $5, so my preference here is the CRV, assuming I haven't already maxed it out for item 5 below...
5) Any other place which accepts Mastercard (contactless)
Sometimes, I may need to buy something from Cold Storage or Sheng Shiong. Or Watsons or Guardian. Or any other retail shop. The new GrabPay Card is the winner here. Because I can top-up my GrabPay wallet using the CRV (4mpd up to $1000 per statement - this mechanism might not last...), I can effectively unlock 4mpd by using the GrabPay card at these physical merchants. If they accept Samsung Pay, then better still cos I can triple-dip - I get 4mpd + GrabRewards + Samsung Pay points. The catch? This probably doesn't work for big-ticket items, unless you plan to keep a few thousand dollars in your GrabPay wallet... (see item 6)
6) Any other place which accepts FavePay/GrabPay
Okay, so no credit card accepted... cash or NETS only? Meh. Oh, you take FavePay/GrabPay. Great - here, take my money and let me earn my 4mpd + GrabRewards + Fave Cashback.
7) Big-ticket items
Since GrabPay might not be possible (e.g. transaction limit for contactless?), the best solution is to sign up for a new credit card a few weeks prior. The Amex Rewards card (the white one) is a decent option with a good sign-up bonus for $1500 spend and a very reasonable $53.50 annual fee.
So one big category which I omit is travel. I typically use my US credit card for that purpose (no foreign txn fees, which is proving to be useful in light of the slow but steady upward creep of the same fee for SG credit cards).
The GrabPay card slots itself usefully into a gap in an already-crowded market. There's supposed to be a physical card (numberless!) in the works and that could help to deal with situations where the transaction is higher than the contactless limit, or if the merchant lacks a contactless reader.
What do you think of this strategy? Feel free to share yours in the comments below!
