Amaze adding 1% fee for SGD transactions above S$1,000

Amaze has announced a new 1% domestic fee on SGD transactions, which takes effect from 1 April 2024. This fee will be imposed on any SGD spend on a card-linked Amaze in excess of S$1,000. 

In conjunction with this new domestic fee, Amaze will also remove its 1% MCC fee for selected SGD transactions including insurance, healthcare and education.

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💳 tl;dr: Amaze Card

Link up to five Mastercard credit/debit cards Overseas transactions are converted into SGD (no FCY transaction fees, but subject to FX spread) and charged to the underlying credit/debit card Transaction MCC remains the same, offline transactions charged to Amaze become online transactions for the underlying credit/debit card Earn 0.5-1 InstaPoints per S$1 spent on FCY transactions of at least S$10 (except exclusion categories), capped at 500 InstaPoints per transaction Redeem InstaPoints for cashback in blocks of 2,000 InstaPoints= S$20

Thankfully, there’s no impact on those using Amaze for overseas transactions. The sting will be felt most by those using Amaze’s “offline-to-online” feature to trigger bonuses on the Citi Rewards Card or KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, in particular the latter.

Amaze adding 1% domestic fee for SGD transactions

From 1 April 2024, Amaze will charge a 1% domestic fee for card-linked SGD transactions in excess of S$1,000 per calendar month. 

• The 1% domestic fee will only apply to that portion of spending which exceeds S$1,000. For example, someone who spends S$1,500 in a month will pay a domestic fee of S$5 (1% of S$500)
• Amaze users will be able to track their cumulative SGD spending in the app, and alerts will be sent via email and push notifications when the S$1,000 threshold is approaching

The S$1,000 limit includes transactions that were subsequently refunded, and where a merchant puts a temporary hold on users’ money before a purchase (such as hotels and rental cars, though I really cannot see a situation where you’d use Amaze for either of these while in Singapore).

For avoidance of doubt, no domestic fee will be charged for wallet-linked SGD transactions. 

Amaze removing 1% MCC fee for most transactions

Amaze currently charges a 1% MCC fee for SGD transactions made with the following MCCs.

From 1 April 2024, the MCC fee will be removed for all of the above except:

• MCC 6540 (Wallet Top-ups)
• MCC 4111 (EZ-Link Wallet Top-ups and TransitLink GTM)

Keep in mind, however, that you’ll still be subject to the domestic fee, so if you used a card-linked Amaze to pay a S$2,000 hospital bill, you’d have to pay a fee of S$10 (1% of S$1,000).

I’m glad to see the MCC fee removed, because it had the ability to spring surprises on you. For example, I recently bought Paradise Dynasty credits using Amaze x Citi Rewards, and ended up paying a 1% fee when it unexpectedly coded as MCC 5999 instead of dining. 

Who is affected?

Since Amaze does not award InstaPoints for SGD transactions, there’s no real reason to use it in Singapore, unless you’re after its offline-to-online feature.

This matters for two cards in particular.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Apply	4 mpd	For online trxns excluding mobile wallet and travel, capped at S$1K per statement month
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	3 mpd	For online shopping, with min. S$800 spend on SIA Group in membership year, no cap

If you’re a Citi Rewards Cardholder, you should be fairly indifferent because the 4 mpd cap is S$1,000 per month, exactly the threshold at which the 1% domestic fee kicks in (and I have to believe that’s a carefully calibrated figure!).

That said, you should take care because there could be situations where you inadvertently trigger it. Remember, the Citi Rewards cap is based on statement month, and it’s very possible to clock S$1,000 spends on both sides of a statement month.

If you’re a KrisFlyer UOB Credit Cardholder, however, then ouch. One of the best reasons to pair this card with Amaze was to trigger its uncapped 3 mpd on online shopping, applicable to the following MCCs:

This includes big-ticket MCCs like jewellery and watches (MCC 5944), luxury bags (MCC 5948) and electronics (MCC 5732). For instance, someone buying a S$10,000 engagement ring would do well to pay with Amaze x KrisFlyer UOB, because such a big transaction would bust the bonus caps on 4-6 mpd cards (assuming you can’t split the cost over multiple cards). 

Should you go ahead and pay the 1% fee in order to earn bonus miles? That depends on what your alternative is. If it’s between Amaze x KrisFlyer UOB or a naked KrisFlyer UOB, then you’re paying an extra 1% to earn an extra 1.8 mpd, which works out to 0.55 cents per mile. I don’t think that’s the worst price in the world to pay.

Of course, if you have higher-earning alternatives like the DBS Vantage (1.5 mpd) or OCBC Premier VOYAGE (1.6 mpd), then the cost per mile increases, but it will still be comfortably below 1 cent per mile. 

If you hold a UOB Lady’s Card or OCBC Titanium Rewards, this change will not affect you since their bonuses do not depend on whether transactions are online or offline. The most I can think of is a very niche use case where you pair Amaze with a UOB Mastercard to “shield” it from earning UOB$, like at Aburi-En or Cold Storage, but that’s about it. 

Conclusion

From 1 April 2024, Amaze will be adding a 1% domestic fee for any SGD spending in excess of S$1,000. It will also be removing the 1% MCC fee for numerous categories including insurance, healthcare and education.

If your primary use case for Amaze is overseas spending, this won’t even affect you. However, if your primary use case for Amaze is offline to online, especially with the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, then this is going to hurt a lot (buy those LV bags overseas!).

Make hay while you can.