How To Get Cashback From Money Transfer
Earning credit card cashback on fund transfers is now possible in Singapore
I’m a huge personal finance nerd. I have never been so happy to discover and share this — earning credit card cashback on money transfers is now possible! Here, I am going to share with you how you can earn 1.5% cashback on virtually everything that you spend your money on.
Before we start, this method is only applicable to those in Singapore.
So, what’s so great about this? Now, imagine investing $1,000 per month with your investment platform (e.g. Syfe); or transferring money to any foreign country such as India, Malaysia, the United States, etc. using platforms like InstaReM.
If you transfer $1,000 per month for a year, earning 1.5% on that cashback would mean getting $180 cashback annually. Now, if you are transferring funds of $2,000, $3,000, $5,000 — you really wouldn’t want to miss this sweet, sweet cashback.
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Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are referral links and if you go through them and sign up, I will earn a referral reward. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the rewards I receive from your usage. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to use it is completely up to you.
Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let’s cut to the chase!
What do you need
The requirements are rather straightforward, here is the list of what you need:
- GrabPay
- American Express True Cashback Card (ATCB) — Provides 1.5% cashback on all transactions, including e-wallet top-ups such as GrabPay
- InstaReM account — to transfer money overseas
First of all, registering for a Grab account is basically free.
Getting an ATCB card can be out of reach for some, do check out the eligibility section of the respective links. Here, I’d highly recommend you to sign-up for the ATCB card via MoneySmart or SingSaver for their sign-up rewards! Not forgetting to mention that the customer support from AMEX is great.
For fund transfer, I’ve had an amazing experience with InstaReM. I’ve been using their service for the past 2 years. To be frank, InstaReM has very competitive fees, and most importantly they have an amazing customer support team that has always been super helpful and patient.
How does it work
So, how to earn at least 1.5% cashback on any spending or fund transfer?
Basically the mechanic (or magic) behind this is pretty simple:
- Use GrabPay’s “Scan To Pay” PayNow feature to pay for all transactions (e.g. our InstaReM money transfer)
- Top-up our GrabPay e-wallet with the transaction amount using ATCB and ATCB only
- ATCB will credit us the cashback on the GrabPay top-ups on your next statement date
Step by step guide
In this section, we are going through the details of how you can earn cashback on money transfers in Singapore using InstaReM as an example. Feel free to use other currency and recipients accordingly.
Do note that this would only work if you pay InstaReM using the PayNow QR method.
Simply follow the steps:
- Register for an InstaReM account
- On your laptop/desktop browser, log in to your InstaReM account and click ‘Send money’
- Add and select a recipient
- Enter your payment amount (e.g. $505) and click ‘Proceed to Payment’
5. Ensure that your payment method is PayNow and click ‘Authorise transfer’
6. OTP verification
7. Proceed to make PayNow payment with your GrabPay mobile app
8. Finally, if InstaReM received your payment, your transaction number status under the ‘History’ tab would be shown as ‘Processing’
Verification for your funds transferred
During your first attempt, InstaReM (or Syfe) might as you to verify your funds transferred from GrabPay via email. Do lookout for the email if you noticed that your transaction is not processed.
Then, simply follow through with their instructions.
What’s the catch
Ha! So you’ve figured it out that there’s no free lunch in this world. Indeed — the only catch here is that GrabPay wallet only allows you to transfer up to $30,000 per year:
Hitting the limit could effectively mean that you will not be able to pay with your GrabPay wallet (though you’ll still be able to use Grab services).
On a side note, since GrabPay top-ups from credit cards are not considered as ‘transferable balance’, it means that you will not earn any cashback from UEN, NRIC, or mobile number PayNow. In short, the proposed method will only work with PayNow QR.
One more thing — in case it is not obvious, do make sure that you always pay the outstanding balance of your credit card statement in full amount; not just the minimum required payment.
Do let me know if I’m missing any important caveats.
What are the alternatives
I hate to break to you, but there are 2 critical pieces of the puzzle that you must own:
- GrabPay
- American Express True Cashback Card (ATCB)
UOB Absolute Cashback Card
As an alternative to the ATCB Card, you could sign up for UOB Absolute Cashback Card for 1.7% cashback instead. I personally prefer the ATCB Card (knowingly I’d sacrifice an extra 0.2% cashback) solely because of the great customer service experience that I’ve had with AMEX.
Wise
Using InstaReM is just an example in this case. Essentially, this method should work on everything that accepts PayNow QR as their payment method. Yes. Everything.
In terms of money transfer providers, the other alternative that I’ve tried is Wise (ex TransferWise). However, Wise only allows you to pay with PayNow QR if you are transferring < $1,000. If you’re transferring a sum greater than $1,000, using InstaReM might be more convenient.
In case you’re wondering about the fee differences — occasionally either one of them would have a slightly better rate than another. There’s just no reliable way of proving which is cheaper at all times.
GrabPay Mastercard (GPMC)
Lastly, I would highly recommend you to get the GrabPay Mastercard. Why? In the scenario whereby the merchant does not offer a PayNow QR payment method, you could still earn cashback by paying with GPMC.
This allows you to earn at least 1.5% cashback on most of your spending (on top of 1.2% effective cashback in Grab points). Do note that not all transactions are qualified to earn GrabReward points.
What else could you earn cashback on
Today, I would tie all of my spending using the GPMC & ATCB combo, or at least until I hit the $30k limit. All of my spending.
Here’s the order that you should look out for while making any payments in Singapore (assuming you’re using ATCB). Always:
- Check if the merchant accepts GrabPay QR — 2.7% cashback
- Else, check if the merchant accepts GrabPay Mastercard — 1.5% to 2.7% cashback depending on transaction type
- Finally, check if the merchant accepts PayNow QR. As long as the merchant accepts PayNow QR, you’re in business for at least a 1.5% cashback
Here are some ideas that you can use this method/combo for (GrabPay + ATCB). Do note that you’ll need GPMC for Mastercard options:
- Fund transfer with InstaReM (as shown in the example above)
- Funding investment platform account, e.g. Syfe (also pay using PayNow QR, similar to what we went through with InstaReM)
- SP Group, electricity, internet bills
- Subscriptions (Netflix, Disney+, etc.)
- Any merchant or business that accepts GrabPay, Mastercard, or PayNow
Closing Thoughts
I’m sorry that this post got a little bit too lengthy. I got too carried away from my excitement. If you happen to know any other interesting tips, do share them!
Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know if you have any questions! Cheers and take care!
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