Historically speaking, the biggest counterpoint to the low earn rates of American Express cards was “at least they have almost no rewards exclusions”. And it was true. American Express cards earned rewards on pretty much anything you could think of; the bigger problem was whether or not a merchant would accept AMEX!
Sadly, it looks like there’s more to come, with charitable donations and education fees next on the chopping block.
AMEX to exclude donations and education from rewards
Most AMEX cards will cease to earn rewards for tuition fees come 1 October 2023
From 1 October 2023, AMEX will no longer award KrisFlyer miles, STAR$, Membership Rewards or HighFlyer points for transactions relating to education and other non-profit purposes (including charitable donations).
No KrisFlyer miles will be awarded for charges that are not eligible purchases. For charges that are not eligible purchases, please see below:
a) Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date; b) Cash Advance and other cash services; c) Express Cash; d) American Express Travellers Cheque purchases; e) Charges for dishonoured cheques; f) Finance charges – including Line of Credit charges and Credit Card interest charges; g) Late Payment and collection charges; h) Tax refunds from overseas purchases; i) Balance Transfers; j) Instalment plans; k) Annual Card fees; l) Amount billed for purchase of KrisFlyer miles to top-up your miles balance; m) Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost (e.g. SAM kiosks, mobile app, online portal); n) Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channel); o) Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations; p) Payments for the purpose of GrabPay top-ups; q) Payments to utilities merchants (with effect from 12 February 2021); r) Payments to public/restructured hospitals, polyclinics and other public/restructured healthcare institutions and facilities (with effect from 1 October 2022); s) Transactions relating to education and other non-profit purposes (including charitable donations) (with effect from 1 October 2023); t) Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time.
Rewards Exclusions: AMEX CapitaCard
No STAR$® will be awarded for charges that are not eligible purchases. For charges that are not eligible purchases, please see below:
a) Charges that are processed and billed prior to your CapitaStar Member enrolment date or charges that are prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date; b) Cash Advances and other cash services; c) Express Cash; d) American Express Travellers Cheque purchases; e) Charges for dishonoured cheques; f) Finance charges including Line of Credit Charges and Credit Card interest charges; g) Late Payment and collection charges; h) Tax refunds from overseas purchases; i) Balance Transfers; j) Instalment plans; k) Annual Card fees; l) Other credits to your Account; m) Physical CapitaVoucher purchases; n) Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost (e.g. SAM kiosks, mobile app, online portal); o) Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channel); p) Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations; q) Payments for the purpose of GrabPay top-ups r) Payments to utilities merchants (with effect from 12 February 2021) s) Payments to public/restructured hospitals, polyclinics and other public/restructured healthcare institutions and facilities (with effect from 1 October 2022); t) Transactions relating to education and other non-profit purposes (including charitable donations) (with effect from 1 October 2023); u) Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time;
Rewards Exclusions: AMEX Membership Rewards Cards
No Membership Rewards® points will be awarded for charges that are not eligible purchases. For charges that are not eligible purchases, please see below:
a) Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date; b) Cash Advances and other cash services; c) Express Cash; d) American Express Travellers Cheque purchases; e) Charges for dishonoured cheques; f) Finance charges – including Line of Credit Charges and Credit Card interest charges; g) Late payment and collection charges; h) Tax refunds from overseas purchases; i) Balance transfer; j) Instalment plans; k) Annual Card fees and Membership Rewards fees; l) Pay portion billed for a “Pay + Points” rewards, where the Card Member uses points along with paying a specific amount to redeem the reward; m) Amount billed for purchase of Membership Rewards points to top-up your points balance; n) Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost (e.g. SAM kiosks, mobile app, online portal); o) Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channel); p) Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations; q) Payments for the purpose of GrabPay top-ups; r) Payments to utilities merchants (with effect from 12 February 2021); s) Payments to public/restructured hospitals, polyclinics and other public/restructured healthcare institutions and facilities (with effect from 1 October 2022); t) Transactions relating to education and other non-profit purposes (including charitable donations) (with effect from 1 October 2023*); u) Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time.
*This exclusion does not apply to The Centurion® Card and The Platinum Card®
Rewards Exclusions: AMEX HighFlyer Card
No HighFlyer points will be awarded for charges that are not eligible purchases. For charges that are not eligible purchases, please see below:
a) Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date. b) Cash Advance and other cash services. c) Finance charges – including Line of Credit charges and Credit Card interest charges. d) Late payment and collection charges. e) Tax refunds from overseas purchases. f) Balance Transfer. g) Instalment plans, except where American Express determines otherwise. h) Annual membership fees. i) Amount billed for purchase of HighFlyer Points to top-up your points balance. j) Purchase and top-up charges for EZ-Link cards using American Express Cards. k) Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost (e.g. SAM kiosks, mobile app, online portal) (with effect from 4 April 2023); l) Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channel) (with effect from 4 April 2023); m) Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations (with effect from 4 April 2023); n) Payments for the purpose of GrabPay top-ups (with effect from 4 April 2023); o) Payments to utilities merchants (with effect from 4 April 2023); p) Payments to public/restructured hospitals, polyclinics and other public/restructured healthcare institutions and facilities (with effect from 4 April 2023); q) Transactions relating to education and other non-profit purposes (including charitable donations) (with effect from 1 October 2023); r) Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time.
Like previous nerfs to insurance, utilities and public hospitals, there is no impact on the AMEX True Cashback Card. Cardholders will continue to earn 1.5% cashback on charitable donations and education expenses, as before.
An exception has also been carved out for the AMEX Platinum Charge and AMEX Centurion Cards, which will continue to earn Membership Rewards points on charitable donations and education expenses (0.78 mpd for the Platinum Charge, 0.98 mpd for the Centurion).
This mirrors what we’ve seen UOB do, where education fees are excluded from earning rewards on mass market cards, but preserved for high-end cards like the UOB Reserve and UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card. Perhaps the HNWIs will complain if they can’t earn points for boarding schools anymore!
How are donations and education defined?
Donations and education are defined by the following MCC ranges:
🎁 Donations
🎓 Education
8398: Organisations, Charitable and Social Service
8651: Political Organisations
8661: Religious Organisations
8211: Schools, Elementary and Secondary
8220: Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools and Junior Colleges
8241: Schools, Correspondence
8244: Schools, Business and Secretarial
8249: Schools, Trade and Vocational
8299: Schools and Education Services Not Elsewhere classified
I do not know for sure if 8351: Child Care Services falls under the ambit of education, so exercise caution if you use your American Express card for this.
However, enrichment centres like MindChamps and The Learning Lab certainly do, as do all private and public institutions of higher learning, international schools, and online MOOCs like Coursera and Udemy.
If you’re unsure about the MCC of a particular merchant, you can look it up using either of the methods listed below.
Following 1 October 2023, the only option for earning rewards on charitable donations and education expenses will be:
Charitable donations: Maybank cards
Education expenses: Maybank and selected UOB cards
Keep in mind, Maybank was all set to end rewards on donations and education in April this year, before a last-minute change of heart returned things to status quo. Needless to say, these categories are probably living on borrowed time!
Do refer to the guides below for more details (I’ll update them post 1 October 2023 to remove AMEX cards).
From 1 October 2023, American Express will exclude charitable donations and education expenses from earning rewards, with only the AMEX True Cashback Card, AMEX Platinum Charge and AMEX Centurion Card escaping the cull.
I suppose it has been a long time coming, though it’s still an unwelcome development nonetheless.
This was obvious on the email. The exclusions from October were not.
James
8 months ago
Just use uob absolute.
santosh Krishna
7 months ago
AMEX True Cashback Card, – I see it facing the same fate soon, its an entry level card, Platinum – may be they may keep it for sometime, its a high fee paying service , so it might still have some “perks”
After cancelling Plat, the only reason to keep this was to earn some miles for charity donations and medical bills. But now things changing from 1 Oct
You should have seen that email from Amex…. more to come.
With effect from 1 Oct 2023, fees for Foreign Currency Transactions will increase from 2.95% to 3.25%.
This was obvious on the email. The exclusions from October were not.
Just use uob absolute.
AMEX True Cashback Card, – I see it facing the same fate soon, its an entry level card, Platinum – may be they may keep it for sometime, its a high fee paying service , so it might still have some “perks”
Looking at Maybank T&C it seems accrual rate for education is only 20% of standard spend ? Any thoughts?