HeyMax Review: Making Missed Credit Card Rewards A Thing Of The Past

Founded in 2023, HeyMax is a Singapore-based travel and loyalty platform that helps you earn and redeem miles through credit card spending and shopping. For example, you can use HeyMax to earn miles on public transport rides and restaurant reservations. You can even convert Max Miles you've earned to Asia Miles. 

HeyMax helps users maximise rewards on their credit cards by recommending the best card to use for spending. Once you've linked your credit cards to HeyMax, you'll be able to see suggestions tailored to your spending based on Merchant Category Codes (MCC). This eliminates the problem of accidentally making a purchase with the wrong credit card, which is an issue anybody juggling multiple credit cards knows all too well. 

Once you've begun collecting Max Miles, you'll be able to sit back and think about how you wish to redeem them for as long as you like since Max Miles never expire. 

Here's a short summary of what you can do with your Max Miles:

• Transfer Max Miles to 28 airlines and hotels (Includes partners like Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Qatar Airways and more)

• Redeem gift cards from major retailers such as Lazada, Grab, Amazon and more

• Redeem flights with HeyMax's FlyAnywhere programme

Max Miles can be traded for miles or points at 28 of the world's leading airline loyalty programmes at a 1:1 ratio. HeyMax does not charge transfer fees. Here’s the latest list of transfer partners involved.

While HeyMax offers direct 1:1 transfers for some airline and hotel partners, it will take them some time to reach their 2027 target of having all 50 airline and hotel partners on board. If your desired hotel or airline is not on their Direct Transfer model, this would mean having to put up with HeyMax's somewhat tedious Cash For Miles model. 

This involves a 4-step process as follows:

1. Fill out a redemption form manually (remember those?)

2. Wait for your virtual Visa debit card to be issued 

3. Visit your desired airline/hotel’s official portal to purchase miles/points

4. Wait for your miles/points to be credited, which may take anywhere from a couple of minutes to a few days

Alternatively, you can use your Max Miles to redeem gift cards at a conversion rate of 100 Max Miles to S$1 gift card value. Not the best conversion rate, but might still make for a good way to mop up leftover Max Miles.

You can also use your Max Miles to book flights or hotels directly through HeyMax’s platform. It’s simple, convenient, and doesn’t require signing up for any airline or hotel loyalty programme. But here’s the thing: direct bookings don’t always lead to the best deals.

With direct bookings, the value of your Max Miles is usually fixed at around 0.8 to 1 cent per mile. That means 10,000 miles might get you about S$80 to S$100 off your booking. While that sounds decent, you can get even more value by transferring those miles to a frequent flyer programme like KrisFlyer or Asia Miles. You’ll get a much better deal by doing so, especially for longer flights or business class redemptions.

Here’s an example:

• Booking directly with Max Miles: A S$500 flight might cost you around 50,000 Max Miles.

• Transferring to KrisFlyer: That same 50,000 miles could potentially book you a round-trip to Japan in economy, or even a one-way business class ticket, depending on promo periods and saver awards.

The same applies to hotel stays. Booking a hotel night directly with Max Miles might give you a small discount, but transferring your miles to a hotel programme that offers better redemption rates (like Marriott or Accor) could stretch your rewards further.

In short, booking directly is fine if you want convenience above all, but if your priority is to maximise value, it’s worth taking the extra step to compare your options first. 

>>  MORE: Cashback vs. Travel Rewards: How to Choose

Start your rewards maxing journey by linking your cards to HeyMax. Some popular cards recommended by the platform include Citi PremierMiles Card, UOB PRVI Miles Card and the DBS Altitude Card. HeyMax's partnership with Visa enables it to leverage the card issuer’s secure and renowned network for the linking of credit cards to its platform. Unfortunately, this also means that HeyMax is only able to link up with Visa credit cards at the moment. 

Linking your credit card to HeyMax 

1. Launch the HeyMax app and navigate to the "Cards" tab

2. Tap "Add Card" to begin the linking process.

3. Choose the card(s) you wish to link to HeyMax

4. Verify your card(s)

Don't confuse the above with the process of linking your cards to benefit from HeyMax's Card Maximiser tool. While linking your cards lets you start earning rewards with HeyMax, Card Maximiser is about helping you track your spending and get clarity on rewards earning. 

Linking your credit card to Card Maximiser

1. Access Card Maximiser on your HeyMax app: You can access Card Maximiser through the "View My Cards" button or through the Card icon on the top right of the page.

2. Link your cards: Start linking your card to let HeyMax track transactions, bonus caps and rewards earned. Verify your card to complete the process.