The Amaze gravy train has been chugging along for a while now, but there’s signs that Instarem may be winding down the party soon.
From 1 April 2022, Amaze will be nerfing its cashback, and hard:
- The earn rate for local transactions gets cut to 0.5%
- The quarterly cashback cap gets cut to S$50
- The minimum quarterly spend to earn cashback increases to S$1,500
- The minimum transaction to earn cashback increases to S$10
Fortunately, the two main value propositions of Amaze โ offline to online conversions and zero FCY fees โ remain untouched. That said, the double dipping aspect will be a lot less lucrative going forward.
Amaze changes from 1 April 2022
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| Updated T&Cs |
Here’s a summary of how the Amaze will change from 1 April 2022.
| Till 31 March | From 1 April | |
| Local Spend | 1% | 0.5% |
| FCY Spend | 1% | 1% |
| Min. Spend Per Trxn | S$5 | S$10 |
| Min. Spend Per Quarter | S$500 | S$1,500 |
| Quarterly Cashback Cap | S$100 | S$50 |
Yup, it’s pretty bad.
Foreign currency transactions will continue to earn 1% cashback as before, but the cashback rate on local currency transactions gets halved to 0.5%.
Moreover, the hurdle conditions go up significantly. A minimum transaction size of S$5 is currently required to earn cashback; this doubles to S$10. A minimum overall spend of S$500 per quarter is currently required to earn cashback, this triples to S$1,500.
And to top it off, the reward gets cut. The maximum cashback that can be earned per quarter will be halved from S$100 to S$50.
Should you continue using Amaze?
In short, yes, because the two main use cases for Amaze remain untouched:
- Converting offline transactions into online ones, earning 4 mpd when paired with the DBS Woman’s World Card or Citi Rewards Card
- Converting overseas transactions into SGD at a fair rate with no FCY transaction fees
The combination of (1) and (2) means that Amaze remains hands down the best option to use whenever you’re overseas. 4 mpd with no FCY fees and 1% cashback is a formidable return, even if the cashback now has higher minimum spend requirements and a lower cap.
So long as the banks are willing to offer rewards on Amaze transactions, any cashback earned from Amaze itself is simply the icing on top. And yes, there’s less icing now, but icing is still icing, if you know what I mean.
Recap: Amaze benefits
Here’s a summary of how Amaze works and its key benefits, effective 1 April 2022.
| ๐ณ tl;dr: Amaze card |
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| Sign Up Here |
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Conclusion
From 1 April 2022, Amaze will nerf its cashback programme by cutting the earn rate on local currency transactions, while tightening the minimum spend and cashback caps.
It definitely stings, but so long as banks keep funding the rewards, the Amaze remains hands down the best option to use for overseas spending (and some might argue local too, since the 0.5% cashback is pure profit).
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: enjoy Amaze while it lasts. It’s not yet time to abandon ship, but man, that iceberg keep growing bigger…
I was using both Amaze and Revolut last week in Europe. The revolut rate is slightly (tiny tiny) better than the amaze. Both are great for travel purposes. During weekends, I will be using ICBC travel card though, as if the amaze card also mark up rate during weekends (not mentioned in T&C?)
Check your Amaze transaction emails vs your app closely, especially if you have big ticket transactions since mid March. The SGD amount in the email sent is lower than the SGD you’re eventually charged (shown in the app). Something must have changed (systems upgrade? provider change?) to have triggered this since mid March.
Adam, is the revolut rate better then amaze rate based on the FX rate alone?
Did you include the 1%(or now 0.5%) cashback in that calculation?
Indeed Aaron, we continue to use it precisely because it converts offline spend to online.
It is surely a tad churlish to complain about 1% cashback (which is already measly and negligible considering how much most mile chasers chalk up on their CCs) dropping to 0.5% and whatnot when this is already such a big help.
will definitely continue to use it regardless of cashback or not as purely converting all offline transactions to online and earning 4mpd is the biggest benefit. Dining at a restaurant? just hand the card over to the waiter isntead of walking to the terminal to paywave with UOB PPV. Offline monthly gym memberships? Charge it to the card for 4MPD. Best.
Walking to the terminal to paywave with UOB PPV only earns .4mpd. You need to use PPV via the wallet on your phone to get 4mpd. And of course PPV doesn’t work with Amaze as it is Visa and not MC.
Lol as if nobody already knew that.
Agreed, ever since got this card in end Sept, this card is totally changed my payment pattern, especially for those amount $5 and above.
Plus I only keep one card in my wallet now, linked to DBS first, and then CRM if I exceed the $2k monthly limit. Heck the other cards. Of coz the downside if this is a merchant specific promo like Citibank 15% discount for dining at the restaurant, i will not enjoy it with Amaze. But usually i will just apple pay using the correct bank card and the restaurant will still honor the discount.
Hi all in the community. I saw this updated term and conditions in UOB latest T&C: ” With effect from 1 March 2022, UNI$ will no longer be awarded for transactions with transaction
descriptions โTRANSIT*โ and โAMAZE*”
Does anybody have any data point on UOB cards (PRVI, PPV)… that you still get UNI$ when you pay by Amaze, linked to a UOB card?
I have transactions in the last few days on PRVI and I got the 1.4 miles.
FFS. Wordings as follows:- With effect from 1 March 2022, UNI$ will no longer be awarded for transactions with transaction descriptions โTRANSIT*โ and โAMAZE* TRANSIT*โ.
NOT the same as what you’ve written. Geez.
My experience with FCY on Amaze is that it marks up about 0.8%. I honestly don’t think it’s free conversion.
what currency were you charging in? When i did USD and Euro my rate was pretty close to mid-market.
I have GBP, EUR and CHF. I just went back to check a few of my transactions’ rates against xe.com (as specific to the minute as I can get), I find a mark up range of 0.5% to 0.8% actually, and don’t see a difference between weekdays and weekends. This is a period over last 2 weeks.
thanks for the data points! will monitor carefully for my upcoming bali trip.
Amaze rate is identical to Mastercard rate. It is different (read: can be 0.01-0.03 higher) than xe.com
Also the Mastercard rate changes twice, at most thrice during the day if there’s significant volatility. It generally stays the same throughout the weekend, or at most one change.
I’ve been diligently monitoring almost every transaction since using Amaze. It took about 4 months to figure out the “trend”.
xe.com rate is different with Mastercard rate.
Actually Amex, Mastercard, Visa rates is also not the same at the same time.
I can confirm this. I just charged USD and the rate was 1.372 vs the spot at 1.36 flat.
Sorry Iโm late to the Amaze game but does OCBC Titanium 4MPD works? I just got the card recently and spammed all my transactions on OCBC.
i believe ocbc titanium 4 mpd is only for specific mcc comparedit to DBS womens and citi rewards which gives 4 mpd when paired with Amaze.
of cos benefits of ocbc titanium is the cap is $12K/year useful when purchasing high value items
I thought Amaze converted transactions to Online and OCBC should award 4MPD to online transactions? I guess Iโll need to channel my spending to Citi as I donโt like the 1 year expiry from DBS.
But OCBC Titanium Reward Card online transaction bonus is limited to specific merchant such as Amazon, Lazada, etc. Would converting transactions to overseas shopping mall transaction to online still earn bonus?
lame.
so in retaliation, you got wat you wanted.
they said a big F U and gave u want to want.
u think u can psycho them ah? siao.
Does anyone know whether the overseas transactions using the Amaze card will register as overseas spending or local spending on the linked credit card?