Maybank adding new rewards exclusions, including utilities

Maybank credit cards have historically had fewer rewards exclusions than other banks, but in recent times they’ve been tightening the noose. 

After cutting rewards for donations to charitable, political and religious organisations, as well as Parking.sg on 1 July 2025, the bank is now making a further round of cuts that come into play from 1 December 2025.

This time, utility bills are the main subject of the crackdown, though there are other new exclusions that close some loopholes for manufactured spending. But while the new list has sparked panic in some quarters, let me assure you: bus and MRT rides and Amaze transactions are not affected!

Maybank adds further reward exclusions from December 2025

From 1 December 2025, Maybank will be excluding the following MCCs and transaction descriptions from earning TREATS Points or cashback.

As you can see, MCC 4900 (Utilities) has now been added to the exclusion list, so there will be no more rewards for SP Utilities or any OEM electricity retailer. In fact, this means that utilities will soon be a universal exclusion by all Singapore banks. The only card that will still reward utilities bills is the Chocolate Visa Debit Card, which earns 1 mpd, subject to an overall cap of 100 miles per month on all bill payments.

MCC 7349 (Cleaning, Maintenance & Janitorial Services) will also be excluded, so be careful with Urban Company, iCondo, SendHelper, Helpling or similar services.

There are new exclusions for several money transfer and quasi-cash MCCs, which you’re unlikely to encounter in day-to-day situations anyway. 

Insurance is not a new exclusion, as Maybank has already excluded MCC 6300 (Insurance) for a long while now. However, it’s adding 5960, 6381 and 6399 just to be more thorough. As before, these exclusions for insurance do not apply to the Maybank Platinum Visa, Maybank Horizon Visa Signature or Maybank Visa Infinite, which will earn rewards up to a specified cap.

Bus and MRT rides are not excluded

While SimplyGo is mentioned as an exclusion, cardholders will still be able to earn miles on bus and MRT rides when they tap their cards at the gantry. Such transactions code as BUS/MRT, under MCC 4111.

The SimplyGo exclusion is meant to exclude rewards for situations where cardholders top-up their EZ-Link cards or SimplyGo wallets using Maybank cards. Again, the idea is to target stored-value facilities, not bus and MRT rides per se.

In fact, you will find similar exclusions for SimplyGo in the DBS and UOB T&Cs— but cardholders earn miles at the gantry just fine.

Amaze transactions are not excluded

Likewise, the mention of Instarem is going to spark a lot of panic, but there’s nothing to be concerned about here.

Instarem was the transaction description used back when it was possible to top-up your Amaze wallet with a credit card. That functionality has long been discontinued, but just to be safe, Maybank has decided to add the exclusion anyway.

Card-linked Amaze transactions code as AMAZE*[Merchant name], and are not affected by this change. You can therefore continue to pair your Maybank XL Rewards Card with Amaze and earn as normal (or the Maybank World Mastercard, though the use cases for such a pairing are negligible).

Conclusion

From 1 December 2025, Maybank will be tightening its rewards exclusions even further by adding utilities and cleaning services, while also shoring up existing exclusions for quasi-cash and insurance transactions. 

While the inclusion of SimplyGo and Instarem may spook some, rest assured that this will not affect bus and MRT rides, as well as card-linked Amaze transactions.

Maybank has also announced some specific changes to the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature, which I’ll cover in a separate article.