For five days last month, American Express ran an exclusive offer on the AMEX True Cashback Card for Milelion readers, where new customers who spent S$500 in the first month received S$285 in vouchers and cashback- an excellent deal.
If you missed out last time, the offer is now back for another five days, from 22-26 February 2021. It’s basically the same deal as before, with a slight change in terms of the vouchers- instead of S$270 in CapitaVouchers, you’ll get S$250 in CapitaVouchers and S$20 in Dairy Farm Group vouchers when you spend S$500 in the first month, together with S$15 cashback.
Read on for the full details.
Milelion Exclusive: AMEX True Cashback Offer
 | ||
| Apply Here | ||
| Income Req. | Annual Fee | Cashback Rate |
| S$30,000 | S$171.20 (first year free) | 1.5%* |
| *3% for the first 6 months, capped at S$5,000 | ||
New American Express customers who apply for an AMEX True Cashback Card through The Milelion by 26 February 2021 and get approved by 12 March 2021 will receive S$250 CapitaVouchers when they spend S$500 in the first month (existing customers get S$40 CapitaVouchers).
| ❓ American Express defines new customers as those who do not hold any principal AMEX card now or in the past 12 months. Corporate/business cards and those issued by DBS/ Citibank/ UOB do not count. |
On top of this, both new and existing customers get S$20 Dairy Farm Group vouchers when they apply through SingPass MyInfo.
| New Customer | Existing Customer | |
| Spend S$500 in first month | S$250 voucher | S$40 voucher |
| Apply via MyInfo | S$20 voucher | S$20 voucher |
| Total | S$270 voucher | S$60 voucher |
AMEX True Cashback Card members will earn 3% cashback on up to S$5,000 spent in the first 6 months of membership, which means your S$500 spend would generate:
- S$250 CapitaVouchers
- S$20 Dairy Farm Group Vouchers (apply via MyInfo)
- S$15 cashback (3% of S$500)
That’s a S$285 return on $500 of spending- a 57% rebate!
The T&C for this offer can be found here.
| ⚠️ Important point to note: From 27 February 2021, the landing page will revert to the BAU offer of S$80 CapitaVouchers with S$500 spend, and the T&C file will be updated accordingly. Do save a copy of the promotion T&Cs for your own reference if you wish. |
Why do you need an AMEX True Cashback Card?
Why would any miles collector need a cashback card?
It’s quite simple: rewards category exclusions. Unfortunately, banks have tightened their T&Cs over the past couple of years, and now it’s virtually impossible to earn rewards points for the following transactions:
- Charitable donations
- Education
- Government transactions
- Insurance
- Utilities
American Express still offers rewards for charitable donations, education and government transactions, and the AMEX True Cashback Card in particular still offers cashback for insurance and utilities.
But what if AMEX isn’t accepted by the merchant? Here’s the other perk: the AMEX True Cashback Card is one of the last cards that offers rewards for GrabPay top-ups.
For example, you could top up your GrabPay balance with the AMEX True Cashback Card and use the GrabPay Mastercard to pay your insurance bill, effectively shaving 1.5% off the premium. Likewise, you could use the GrabPay Mastercard to pay a government agency or educational institution, saving 1.5% in the process.
There are almost no rewards exclusions for the AMEX True Cashback Card, which makes it a very useful “catch-all” solution when other cards don’t earn points/cashback.
Conclusion
While the AMEX True Cashback Card wouldn’t be my first port of call for spending, it’s undeniably got its share of use cases, which will only grow as other banks tighten rewards exclusion categories (the fact that it still earns cashback on GrabPay top-ups makes it a rare breed indeed).
Remember to submit your application by 26 February 2021 if you want to enjoy the bonus CapitaVouchers.
