We’re about to pronounce a time of death on Asia’s first numberless physical card—the GrabPay Card. It will officially be discontinued on 1 June 2024.
A numberless card functions just like a regular credit or debit card, but it doesn’t have your card details embossed onto its surface. This is better for security because even if someone gets hold of your card, they can’t access your information.
If you’ve been using the GrabPay Card because you love the security of a physical numberless card, I’ve found 2 alternatives for you.
P.S. You can continue earning GrabRewards points on all eligible online and in-store transactions both locally and overseas with your GrabPay Card until May 31.
What’s the Benefit of a Numberless Physical Card?
If you lose your card (which has happened to me 4 times), you really have nothing to worry about since there are no card details for people to steal or use. In the case of the GrabPay Card, all your card details are securely stored within the Grab app.
Considering the number of times my wife and I have lost our credit card, that’s actually a pretty good benefit. Usually, when we lose our cards, we only realise it 2 days later, and then we have to go through the tedious process of cancelling, reapplying, and updating our new card details on all platforms.
We also have to check our transaction history to make sure no one made any purchases while our cards were missing. With a numberless physical card, we wouldn’t have any of those problems.
If you’re looking for a numberless physical card to use after the GrabPay Card gets discontinued, here are 2 alternatives.
Alternative 1: Trust Credit Card
The Trust Card is a Visa credit card that Trust Bank (a digital bank) offers.
Just like the GrabPay card, the physical card is numberless, and all your details are stored safely within your Trust app. As an added level of security, the money in your Trust account is safeguarded by Standard Chartered Bank with S$100k SDIC protection.
Side note: Get up to 3.00% p.a. interest on your savings with Trust+
I’ll get to the card-specific benefits in a moment, but I want to share an amazing benefit of using Trust Bank—the high interest rate. Trust Bank has an account called Trust+, that offers you 2.5% p.a. interest on your savings while remaining totally liquid. All you have to do is make at least 5 monthly card spends and be an NTUC Union Member. Easy.
If you keep S$100,000 in your Trust+ account, that interest increases to 3.0% p.a.—that almost matches the fixed deposit and T-bill rates you’ll find today, and you don’t have to lock up your money. Here’s our full review of the Trust account.
Now, I can get to the benefits of the Trust Card itself.
ALSO READ: Could Trust+ Be Better Than Fixed Deposits or T-Bills?
Up to 21% savings on groceries and food at FairPrice Group
If you’re a frequent shopper at FairPrice (who isn’t?), then you probably know that you can earn Linkpoints as you spend, and these Linkpoints can offset the cost of your purchases.
When you pay for your groceries at FairPrice with your Trust Card, you get rewarded with up to 21% in savings via Linkpoints. For reference, 100 Linkpoints = S$1.
Here’s a breakdown of how to achieve 21% in savings:
| Base Rate | Monthly Bonus | Quarterly Bonus | Annual Bonus | Total Savings |
| 2.5% | 4.0% | 12.5% | 2.0% | 21% |
For more details, check out Trust Bank’s page on how to earn Linkpoints.
You also enjoy savings at various partner merchants with the Trust Card.
- Up to 20% savings on fuel purchases at Caltex
- S$2 off KFC (first 5,000 redemptions)
- S$2 off at Starbucks (8,000 redemptions per month)
- S$5 off foodpanda delivery (2,000 redemptions per month)
- Up to 50% off Vui Premium
- And a whole lot more
If you sign up today, you can get a S$10 FairPrice E-Voucher.
Alternative 2: Hugo Debit Card
The Hugo card is offered by Hugosave. It’s another Visa, but this one’s a debit card. Like the GrabPay Card and Trust Card, it is a numberless physical card, and your details are all stored within the Hugo app.
Initially, I was ambivalent about the Hugo Card because I’ve never really heard of Hugosave, and I don’t like putting my savings with companies I’m not familiar with. But rest easy because all your funds in your Hugo account are held by DBS Bank—and it doesn’t really get any safer than that.
The Hugosave website does a terrible job of telling you exactly what it is that they do. You could spend 1 hour looking through every page and still have no idea what they are offering. But after lots of digging, I realised it’s actually an interesting and unique idea.
Invest your spare change automatically
Here’s the crux of it: as you spend with your Hugosave debit card, your transactions are rounded up to the nearest dollar, and any spare change is automatically invested in a precious metal of your choice (gold, silver, or platinum).
This is what it could look like:
You order a Teh-O Peng at the hawker centre: S$1.70 (roundup S$0.30)
So you’ll pay S$2 instead of S$1.70, and the S$0.30 gets invested in Gold automatically.
It doesn’t sound like much, but if you make 5 transactions a day, 365 days a year, you could end up investing S$547.50.
5 transactions with 5 roundups of S$0.30 = S$1.50 per day
S$1.50 X 365 days = S$547.50 invested in a year
This helps you save without feeling the pinch. Over time, your tiny investments may turn into a substantial amount.
However, this “investing hack” is not really for me because if I wanted to invest in gold, I’d just buy it through my through my broker. But I think the Hugosave debit card is a great way for noobies to get into the habit of investing consistently.
ALSO READ: Gold Prices Hit Record High—How to Invest in Gold in Singapore (2024)
Should I Switch to a Numberless Card?
If, like me, you lose your card often or have concerns about security, then there’s really no reason not to! Especially with the Trust Card, which has such a compelling offer for anyone who shops at FairPrice (which would be all of us).
Know anyone who’s looking for a numberless card? Share this article with them!
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