Now Less Amazing: Instarem Amaze Cuts Cashback to 0.5%, Lowers Cap, Increases Minimum Spend
Thanks to Joe for highlighting this in the group chat!
It doesn’t seem like an early April’s fool’s prank – not that it would be an amusing one – but Instarem is halving the cashback amount of the Amaze card from 1% to 0.5% from 1st April 2022 onwards. The maximum amount of cashback earned per quarter is going to be S$50, down from S$100.
On top of that, the minimum spend needs to be S$1,500 in a calendar quarter, up from S$500, and each transaction now needs to be at least S$10 to qualify.
This follows the change earlier this year where more MCCs were added to its cashback exclusion list.
Changes
| Before 1st April 2022 | 1st April 2022 Onwards | |
| Cashback Rate | 1% | 0.5% for SGD transactions 1% for non-SGD transactions |
| Cashback Cap | S$100 per quarter | S$50 per quarter |
| Minimum Spend Per Quarter | S$500 per quarter | S$1,500 per quarter |
| Minimum Spend Per Transaction | S$5 | S$10 |
While these are pretty significant downgrades, they are not entirely unexpected (see: “the ugly” in my Instarem Amaze review) and Amaze will no doubt continue to see use owing to the fact that the cashback is awarded on top of one’s credit card rewards. I have also found it entirely convenient to have multiple cards linked to one number, allowing me to streamline the number of cards I bring out.
What would be more devastating is if banks themselves started to exclude Amaze transactions. So far, that hasn’t happened, apart from UOB curiously excluding Amaze transactions involving specifically Transit. It may be because Instarem is funding the additional cashback on their own, so banks probably don’t mind it that much, although we have yet to see if banks care that Amaze changes each transaction to online even if you use the card physically in stores. It’s particularly useful for cards that give bonus points on online transaction, and so far all is quiet whether banks have moved to change that.
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