During 2015’s General Elections, some people may have assumed that all the opposition parties were pretty much the same. News flash, they aren’t! In the same way, with so many cashback credit cards on the market, it’s easy to assume that all cashback credit cards work the same way. Unfortunately, they don’t. Here are 4 cashback credit cards and the fine print you may have missed.
American Express True Cashback Credit Card
- Welcome Bonus (min. spend of $5,000 on eligible purchases in 6 months)
- 3.0% Cashback
- Cash Back
- 1.5%
- Cash Back Cap
- Unlimited
What is the cashback rate you can earn and how? 1.5% for all purchases, but not for transactions including interest, charges, fees and balance transfers.
Any minimum spend or maximum cashback cap? No minimum spend, no maximum cashback cap.
How is cashback earned? For the American Express True Cashback Credit Card, cashback earned is rounded off to the nearest dollar before cashback is calculated. The final cashback amount will be calculated according to the exact digits in the first two decimal places.
What does that mean? If Sarah were to use this card to buy something that costs $29.50, this amount would be rounded UP to $30 when calculating cashback. The cashback earned is 1.5% of $30 or $0.45.
If she were to use this card to buy something that costs $29.49, this amount would be rounded DOWN to $29 when calculating cashback. The cashback earned is 1.5% of $29, or $0.435, but because only the exact digits in the first two decimal places are counted, the cashback award is $0.43.
What should you watch out for? Based on the example, even a difference in 1 cent in the price of a product could lead to a difference of 2 cents in the cashback you earn. Depending on how cheap you are, you might want to make sure your bills are able to round up to the nearest dollar when you charge to the American Express True Cashback Credit Card.
How is cashback paid to you? The cashback you earn will be automatically used to offset your monthly statement, but only if your card account is in good standing and not overdue. Cancelling your card will cause you to lose any outstanding cashback earned.
If you are interested in this card, you can easily apply here.
UOB ONE Card
- Rebate on Shopee, Dairy Farm Group, Grab, SP and more
- Up to 10%
- Rebate Cap per quarter
- S$300
- Min. Spend per month
- S$2,000
What is the cashback rate you can earn and how? Up to 5% cashback rebate, but only if you spent $2,000 on the card monthly. Up to 3.33% otherwise.
Any minimum spend or maximum cashback cap? The UOB ONE Card is rather complicated, but basically, you have to spend at least $500 consistently over 3 months if you want to be eligible for the smallest rebate. The maximum cashback you can earn is $300 per quarter.
How is cashback earned? There are three tiers of cashback that you may be able to qualify for, but it requires a minimum monthly spending of $500, $1,000 or $2,000 consistently over 3 months. If you miss the minimum monthly spending for that tier in one month, you only earn the cashback from the lower tier.
What does that mean? Say Sarah uses this card for transactions over three months. She spends $500 in Month 1, $600 in Month 2 and $700 in Month 3. She will earn $50 cashback in Month 4.
But if she spends $400 in Month 1, she will not earn any cashback in Month 4.
What should you watch out for? UOB also requires you to have made at least 3 transactions on the card each calendar month. Not meeting this number of transactions means you don’t get any cash rebates for the quarter.
How is cashback paid to you? Cash rebates earned in one quarter will be used to offset transactions in the following quarter.
Additionally, the card is celebrating its 10-year anniversary, so you save even more now. On top of the 5% rebates you can earn, they are also offering 10% in rebates on mobile payments. This is no small offering, with participating merchants such as FairPrice, SPC, McDonald’s, Uniqlo and Din Tai Fung just to name a few. Here’s what you need to do to qualify:
- Register via SMS (use icon)
- SMS 10<space>NRIC to 77862. Limited to the first 10,000 Principal Cardmemembers.
- Digitise your UOB One Card on your phone (use icon)
- Click here on how to digitalise your card.
- Tap and get rewarded (use icon)
- Tap and pay with your phone on any contactless terminals islandwide from 10 August to 31 October 2017.
On top of this, you will get a $100 cash credit ($80 cash credit for One Card and $20 for One Account) if you apply now.
If you are interested in this card, you can easily apply here.
OCBC 365 Credit Card
.jpg)
- Cashback on Everyday Dining
- 6%
- Cashback Cap per month
- S$80
- Min. Spend per month
- S$800
What is the cashback rate you can earn and how? 6% for all weekend dining transactions locally. 5% (not including other discounts) at all petrol stations. 3% for other selected transactions including online shopping, groceries and telco bills.
Any minimum spend or maximum cashback cap? Minimum monthly spending of $600 required to enjoy cashback rates. If you do not spend $600 in a calendar month, cashback earned is at a rate of 0.3%. There is an $80 cashback cap each calendar month.
How is cashback earned? Cashback earned depends on the type of transaction. Cashback is computed based on 2 decimal places per transaction without rounding.
What does that mean? If Sarah uses this card to spend at a restaurant on the weekend, and charges $50 to it, she should earn $3. However, if she does not spend $600 in that calendar month, she will only earn $0.15.
What should you watch out for? OCBC calculates the cashback earned and transactions posted according to the calendar month. There might be a delay between the transaction date and when the merchant posts it. In other words, you make a transaction on March 31st, but the merchant only informs the bank on April 1st. The transaction will only count towards April, not March. So you should make sure that you’ve spent at least $600 before the end of the month.
How is cashback paid to you? Cashback is automatically credit into your credit card statement in the following month.
If you are interested in this card, you can easily apply here.
Citi Cash Back Credit Card
- Cash Back on Dining, Groceries & Petrol
- Up to 8%
- Total Cash Back Cap, per month
- S$80
- From Shell & Esso
- Up to 20.88% savings
Apply and Spend $500 to get a Nintendo Switch OLED (worth S$549) OR 15,000 KrisFlyer miles (worth one-way ticket to Bali) OR S$300 Cash via PayNow. PLUS stand a chance to win a ROLEX or PlayStation 5!!! T&Cs apply.
What is the cashback rate you can earn and how? 8% on groceries, petrol and dining – basic cashback rate of 0.25% and bonus cashback rate of 7.75%. All other spend earns 0.25%.
Any minimum spend or maximum cashback cap? Minimum retail spend of $888 a month. Maximum bonus cashback is $25 per category per month.
How is cashback earned? Cashback earned is rounded to the nearest two decimal places.
What does that mean? If Sarah used this card to make a purchase of $100 on groceries, she would earn $8. That is, assuming she meets the $888 monthly minimum spend, and hasn’t hit the maximum bonus cashback of $25 per category per month.
What should you watch out for? Other than the relatively high minimum spending amount, also watch out for the maximum bonus cashback for each category. Any spending above $500 a month on groceries, petrol and dining will still earn cashback, but at the basic rate of 0.25%.
How is cashback paid to you? Cashback will automatically be redeemed and credited to your account once it hits $50. There is no expiry date for the cashback rebates.
If you are interested in this card, you can easily apply here.
What other fine print for cashback credit cards have we missed out? Let us know!