InstaReM's AMAZE MasterCard
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highsulphur
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How do you top up your wallet?
mastercard, not getting anything for the top up.
ekardo
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Might as well use trust or youtrip? Straight 2.5% better than amaze
if im not interested in miles, I should use youtrip instead of revolut/amaze?
how do we get the 2.5%? are you looking at the exchange rate or those cards are also giving some rebate/cashback?
He is making assumption that amaze exchange is much worse.
Isn't the Amaze exchange rate when using the wallet balance (as opposed to linked cards) broadly in line with those of Trust, Revolut, You trip, etc?
ekardo
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isnt amaze exchange rate much worst than Youtrip/trust ?
3.465 is what rate? money changer?
3.394 is Amaze wallet or Amaze+CC rate?
exactly my point
highsulphur
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Do you still get points if you use foreign currency paid from wallet? How do they calculate how much sgd equivalent for purpose of giving the points?
Not sure. I usually just keep S$ in my wallet as there's really no advantage in converting to another currency before spending unless I have a high degree of certainty that the currency will appreciate in the future.
As I noted above, Amaze's FX rate for spend from wallet balance is not too different from those of Revolut, Trust, etc. Plus you get a 1% cashback for spend in the S$10-S$500 range via Instapoints. There was a 4x promo recently.
The advantage of Amaze over Revolut and Trust is that you can switch from wallet spend to linked credit card spend at a click of a button. Sure, the FX rate is poorer, but you can get credit card points. For instance, when I'm traveling, I can use my linked UOB Lady's card for 6mpd on dining. The FX spread over the Mastercard rate is slightly under 2%, but if I use the UOB card directly, it would be 3.25%. But for spending where I can't get any decent points from any of my Mastercard cards that justifies the higher FX spread, then I can switch to spending from the wallet balance. So all I need is a single card (plus the app) for the whole trip.
The only disadvantage of Amaze is that there is no free cash withdrawals from ATMs. I keep a Trust Bank Debit Card for this (ok, 2 cards for the whole trip). I have canceled my Revolut card, as the Trust Debit Card is superior as there is no fee-free ATM withdrawal limit. Never had a Youtrip.
Sure, Revolut may provide a slightly superior FX rate for some of the currencies compared to Amaze (using wallet), but it is insufficient to justify maintaining another app and card.
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There is a reason to keep another app/card. While I was in Korea last year, Amaze card didn't go thru, had to use Revolut. Sometimes these app siao siao one.
It is worse but 2.5% is an assumption you make without data and confuse other people how you get the figure 2.5%.
1. Trust/youtrip/revolut. No rewards.
2. Use amaze with credit cards. Get credit rewards with 1.8% (personal experience) worse exchange rate. Rewards can be up to 8%.
3. Use credit cards directly, 3.25% worse exchange rate for most cards but get rewards up to 8%.
Credit cards rewards is worth all the fees so I will never use revolut/youtrip/trust unless special circumstances.
ekardo
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Likewise, up to 8% is due to special tier or category or card, which equally confuse people too.
I mentioned up to 8% which is not misleading, up to is there for a reason. You mentioned 2.5% which totally confused people how you get such an accurate number with no range mentioned. No point arguing, I rest my case if you think your comment is not confusing people.
Trust Bank debit card is my backup. Also, I do have all the other cards on my Google Pay. Amaze can be siao siao. But I've had the Revolut app fail on me too before (for some reason, couldn't top up wallet for a few hours). When traveling, always good to have backup, and backup to the backup.
For me, Amaze (both wallet plus linked cards) and Trust (for ATM withdrawals) seem cover most situations. I also have my Citi, UOB, OCBC cards for backup both in Google Pay and physical cards hidden in secret compartments.
You get 1% cashback in points, but you will already be out 1.8% from Instarem's spread, and have to deal with Mastercard's lousy FX rate.
Edit: looks like wallet transactions use a different conversion rate.
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