AMEX Excludes GrabPay Top-Ups From Earning Cashback From Certain Cards, Including AMEX True Cashback

Is the AMEX True Cashback Card still the go-to for paying insurance premiums through GrabPay? I guess not.

Have you been happily using your AMEX True Cashback Card to top up your GrabPay so you can earn cashback on your insurance premiums? Well, we have bad news for you.

On 1 March 2023, AMEX announced that changes would be made to the list of eligible purchases to earn cashback and miles. This applies to both The AMEX True Cashback Card and The AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card.

The only key difference between their previous exclusion list is the addition of GrabPay top-ups. This means that you will no longer be able to top-up your GrabPay to earn 1.5% cashback or 1.8 miles for the respective cards.

The new change took effect from 4 April 2023 onwards.

Do note that the AMEX True Cashback Card still lets you earn cashback on your insurance premiums. It just doesn’t grant you cashback if you are paying for your premiums through GrabPay top-ups, as certain insurers do not allow you to make payments with AMEX.

How can I earn cashback on the AMEX True Cashback Card?

On the bright side, you can still continue to earn up to 1.5% cashback on other eligible purchases:

• Travel expenses
• Grocery shopping
• Online shopping 
• Large expenses like home improvement
• Education fees
• Insurance
• Healthcare
• Utilities and Telco

The good thing about this card is that there are no minimum spend and no categories to track to earn cashback. You’re essentially earning cashback on every eligible dollar spent — it’s as simple as that.

What’s more, is that there is also no cap on cashback earned every month. You’ll also be able to get immediate cashback in the same month’s statement. This means you don’t have to wait a full month after making the purchase to enjoy the cashback!

How can I earn miles on the AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card?

• Up to 8.5 HighFlyer points per S$1 spent on all eligible Singapore Airlines Group flights
• 1.8 HighFlyer points per S$1 spent on all other eligible spend

What other cards can give me rewards for insurance premium payments?

Don’t get us wrong. If your insurance company allows you to make premium payments with AMEX, the AMEX True Cashback Credit Card will still let you earn 1.5% on your insurance premiums! But for the unlucky ones, we might have to look for alternative cards to earn rewards.

UOB Absolute Cashback Card

The UOB Absolute Cashback Card allows you to earn 1.7% cashback on insurance premium payments. But similar to The AMEX True Cashback Card, it only applies if the insurance company accepts AMEX as a payment method.

If you want to top up your Grab mobile wallet, you can only earn 0.3% cashback.

Maybank Visa Infinite Card

Most Maybank cards have specifically excluded insurance payments in the terms and conditions of their Maybank’s TREATS programme. However, two cards are exceptions.

The great thing about the Maybank Visa Infinite is that it lets you earn 1.2 mpd on insurance transactions (for payments up to S$3,000 per calendar month), which isn’t too shabby.

The only con to it is that it has a hefty minimum income requirement of S$150,000, making it inaccessible for postgraduates and low or middle-income workers.

Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card

For those who can’t get their hands on the Maybank Visa Infinite, a great alternative is the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature which requires a minimum income of S$30,000 to apply for the card. 

It also earns you 2 mpd on insurance premiums. 

Standard Chartered Prudential Platinum Card

This little-known card is not widely talked about but it does earn you rewards points on insurance premium payments. The name might make you think that it’s just limited to Prudential insurance products, but the terms and conditions do not exclude other insurers.

You’ll earn 1X points per S$1. The 360° Rewards Points earned on your Prudential Card can also be used to offset premiums on eligible Prudential insurance policies.

Standard Chartered Prudential Visa Signature Card

Likewise, the same applies for the Standard Chartered Prudential Visa Signature, with a rate of 1.5 360° Rewards Points per S$1 on insurance payments, where 3,500 360° Rewards Points is equivalent to 1,015 KrisFlyer miles.

However, it's useful to note that Standard Chartered Points 360° Rewards Points can no longer be pooled when redeeming KrisFlyer miles, meaning you cannot combine 360° Rewards Points across all of your Standard Chartered cards when redeeming KrisFlyer miles.

KrisFlyer UOB Debit Card

Do note that while the Krisflyer UOB Credit Card doesn’t earn you anything from insurance transactions, the debit card counterpart does, with a rate of 0.4 mpd.

Source: UOB

If you want to earn bonus miles, you can do so by putting in funds in the account and spending on your credit card. As long as you have a minimum balance of S$1,000 in the account, you’ll earn up to 5 or 6 mpd depending on whether you credit your salary into the account.

Is The AMEX True Cashback Card still worth it?

It’s up to you if you use it for other purchases. But honestly, a 1.5% cashback rate is definitely not the highest rate out there.

For example, the UOB Absolute Cashback card allows you to earn up to 1.7% limitless cashback, the Citi Cash Back+ card earns you 1.6% cashback with no cap, while the DBS Live Fresh lets you earn up to 10% cashback with a cashback cap of S$20 for each category.

But as far as it goes, The AMEX True Cashback Card is a true winner for those looking for fuss-free, unlimited cashback on troublesome categories like insurance, healthcare, and bills.

Read these next:
Best Unlimited Cashback Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)
Card Comparison: UOB Absolute Cashback vs Citi Cash Back+ vs SCB Simply Cash
Card Comparison: AMEX True Cashback vs Citi Cash Back+ vs SCB Simply Cash