This was a long time coming, but that doesn’t make it any less painful.
From 16 January 2023, GrabPay will no longer support AXS transactions. This largely means an end to free miles or cashback on taxes, insurance premiums, education expenses, MCST fees, town council fees, utilities bills and the like.
It’s especially unfortunate because MAS seems to be on the cusp of increasing e-wallet annual payment limits to S$100,000, which would have dramatically increased the amount of rewards one could earn on bill payments.
That said, it’s not quite game over.
GrabPay ends support for AXS transactions
As spotted by a MileLion community member last evening, Grab will be adding AXS transactions to its list of unsupported transactions, effective 16 January 2023.
| ❓ Why can’t I use my GrabPay Card at some merchants? |
|
Grab is dedicated to ensuring you have a fuss-free payment experience. However, if you’re unable to use your GrabPay Card at some merchants, it may be because the merchant or entity is unsupported. All merchants have a Merchant Category Code (MCC), which we use to verify the merchant type. You may refer to the list below for the types of merchants and transactions that are not supported:
Please note that we review and update this list on a regular basis. |
There was some hope that only the GrabPay Card would be affected, but a quick check of the PayNow section shows that QR payments via GrabPay Wallet will be nerfed too (for the uninitiated, there’s an option to scan a QR code at AXS machines or on e-AXS and pay via GrabPay Wallet).
Is it game over?
Not quite.
Don’t get me wrong. The loss of GrabPay support for AXS is a gut punch, insofar as it removes all possibility of earning free miles or cashback wherever cards are not accepted, such as:
- Corporate tax
- Income tax
- MCST fees
- Property tax
However, where Mastercard payments are accepted, you can still top-up your GrabPay account with a miles or cashback earning card, then pay with your GrabPay Mastercard to accomplish the same end. Examples include:
- Hospital bills
- Insurance premiums (not all insurers accept card payments, but some do e.g. AIA & Singlife; I’ve been paying my MINDEF Group Term Life plan premiums with cards every year)
- Season parking
- School fees
- Town council fees
- Utilities
There may be some additional inconvenience involved, in cases where you need to travel down to a physical location to swipe your card. But so long as there’s an option to pay with a card, not all hope is lost.
What would truly be game over is:
- GrabPay adding the abovementioned transactions to its “naughty list” of unsupported payments (unlikely)
- American Express excluding GrabPay top-ups from earning rewards on the AMEX HighFlyer Card or AMEX True Cashback Card (probably only a matter of time)
What should you do now?
What’s your best course of action now? It depends:
- If your bills are already due, then you should absolutely top-up your GrabPay account and make payment before 16 January comes round
- If your bills are not yet due, then I don’t think prepaying a whole year’s worth of bills is worth saving 1.5% (or earning 1.8 mpd), especially given how high interest rates are now. That’d be penny wise, pound foolish.
For those who have already topped up significant funds to their GrabPay wallet, remember that all funds originating from credit cards are considered non-transferrable balances, and cannot be sent back to a bank account. My advice would be to liquidate as much as you can via AXS bill payments, otherwise hope that you’re still able to pay bills via the GrabPay Card directly as mentioned in the previous section.
In terms of which cards to use for GrabPay top-ups, I’m sure you know the drill by now.
| 💳 Cards for GrabPay Top-Ups | ||
| Card | Earn Rate | Remarks |
 AMEX HighFlyer CardApply |
1.8 mpd | Only for owners of SMEs |
 AMEX True Cashback CardApply |
1.5% cashback | No cap |
You’ll notice I’ve removed the UOB Absolute Cashback Card, even though there’s still one day to go till 15 January 2023, when the earn rate gets nerfed from 1.7% cashback to 0.3% cashback. My opinion is that it’s too risky to top-up now, since your transaction may only post after the deadline. If you want cashback, use the AMEX True Cashback Card instead.
Can you still earn miles on bill payments?
Going forward, the only way to earn miles on bill payments where cards are not accepted would be to use a payment service like CardUp or Citi PayAll. These charge a small fee in exchange for earning rewards.
| Provider | Fee | Cost Per Mile |
 Pay + Earn |
2.5% | 1.52-2.50 |
 |
2.25% (code: GET225) S$30 off first payment with code: MILELION |
1.38-1.83 |
 |
2% | 1.1 cents (promo till 31 Jan 23, T&Cs apply) |
 |
1.9% | 1.36-1.9 (only for SC cards) |
Whether or not the fee makes sense depends on how much you value a mile. I personally would consider options that let me buy miles at less than 1.5 cents apiece, but your situation may differ.
It sure can’t beat free though!
Conclusion
From 16 January 2023, GrabPay will end support for AXS transactions, which closes the door for free miles or cashback on a significant number of bill payments. There’s still time for a last burst of fire, though I’d encourage you to carefully weigh the opportunity cost of locking up funds in prepayments. With interest rates being what they are now, you should be able to put that money to better use elsewhere.
If it’s any silver lining, you can continue to earn free miles or cashback on non-AXS bills where Mastercard is an accepted form of payment. Just how long that’s the case remains to be seen, but well, make hay while you can.
GrabPay: inching ever closer towards the grave.
“GrabPay: inching ever closer towards the grave.”.
Yep. At this stage Grab is like a 100-year old, who is blind, has multiple organ failure, and requires daily dialysis. Like such a person, the demise of Grab is very imminent.
Also, I don’t understand the final use-case above of topping up Grab to use the Grab Mastercard. For those places that accept mastercard wouldn’t you just use some other mastercard (like UOB or Citi) and earn 1.3 or 1.4pmd directly? The *only* case I can see for using Grab Mastercard is if you specifically wanted cash back.
Those use cases are typically excluded from rewards on those cards.
Of course. Silly me!
moot point as grab top ups are considered as quasi-cash facilities and excluded from earning miles typically — leaving amex cashback to be the only viable option.
Hey Aaron, could you share how to pay for MINDEF group term life premiums via CC? Can’t seem to find the option in the customer portal…
every year when my premium is due i get an auto generated email. this includes a link to make payment, and card is one of the options
I don’t see it too, could you share that with us? I asked their CSO and they mentioned that MINDEF insurance is not included.
the link is a personalised one that brings you straight to the payment page. i last received mine in september 2022.
Are your premiums paid on an annual or monthly basis? Mine is paid on a monthly basis and I don’t get any personalised link for payment.
I pay on annual basis
So….What’s the best way now still earn some miles/cashback while paying credit card bills via AXS (or others)?
Was there even official communication from Grab regarding this nerf? I don’t recall being notified of this change via their app. Aren’t SG financial institutions mandated by MAS to provide “adequate notice” to customers?
What’s the best alternative now to earn rewards from AXS payments?
So if the flow goes CB->Grab Wallet->AXS-onlin–>Credit Card bill payment with paynow
Is there a daily limit? coz i can do more then 5K a day.
5K per day per account
to be more specific, it is 5K per day per card. Using the same card on another account without work.
Are there any limitations to prepayment of credit card? If I remember correctly, there is no cashback if prepay outstanding balance of AMEX TC if its before statement date? Or is AMEX the only issuer with this limitation.
Lets say you prepay and max out $30k limit on Grabpay via AXS with Highflyer card, thats like 54k miles.
30k at 4% pa is $1.2k, or $100 per mth, prepaying taxes 4 mths in advance = $400
Either way simi not worth it?
$400 gets you 54k miles = $0.007cpm
$1200 gets you $0.022cpm
*Assuming you fly premium cabins with $0.04 cpm
the problem with valuing your miles at 4 cpm is that you’re implicitly saying you would have paid cash for business class seats, even if you didn’t have miles. most of us wouldn’t say that, and so a valuation of 1.5-2 cpm is a lot more reasonable.
Hey bro, I just tried to pay tax using grabpay master card through AXS app and grabpay card has been blocked so time to update this article to reflect reality on the ground. I have also verified with grab agent and they confirmed that garb pay and grabpay master card have been removed from AXS. That is the nail on The Coffin bro.
Isn’t that what the article already says?
Looks like someone didn’t read the article. 🤣
Didnt receive any notification.. until i tried to pay axs today and goggle what’s going on and found this article.. now i have $5000 stuck in my grab wallet.. what a bunch of croonies at grab.
You can request to refund it to your account. I did that and Grab allowed it
How did you request it?
Any idea why the exclusions? Is it the bank charges on grab? Axs charges?
who’s losing out ? Besides the customer
It seems like insurance payment (AIA) with the GPMC is also not possible
Did something happen with amex high flyer? Topped up grab with amex high flyer on 14 jan (before the nerf). High flyer points were credited on 14 Jan then clawed back on 17 Jan! So 0 points from grab topup! I checked the amex website and it doesn’t seem like the t&c were updated? Any idea what’s happening? Does grab top up count towards the $5000 spend for bonus miles for new card holders?
Sorry, really stupid mistake on my part, I didn’t know the points automatically transfer
SAM kiosks, while having a smaller scope of bills, should presumably still work? I recall those take Mastercard.