Beware the Ides of March: Things to Do Before Good Stuff Go Away With February

A month woefully short even with its extra day this year, February feels like the last month of the good stuff we have enjoyed so far. March is coming, and nerfs are afoot.

Top up your Grab now

The biggest rainclouds that loom would be the various changes and nerfs happening to GrabPay in March, specifically on the card rewards you get on Grab top-ups.

What you can do now

If you have a UOB One card, my previous article lays out the options you have. If you are an Amex cardholder, you might want to maximise your opportunity to earn miles on it now while you can.

Also, Maybank is running a promotion this month that also surprisingly includes Grab top-ups, so that’s something before the stormy weathers ahead.

Having secured your top-up rewards, you can slowly use the Grab credits at your own pace, but remember that you will only get 4 Grab points per dollar in future. Should you have any large purchases in the near future that can be paid for using GrabPay QR or GrabPay MasterCard, now is the time to make those purchases to get 10 Grab points for every dollar before the drastic 60% cut happening on 2nd March.

Redeem your Grab vouchers now

Not only is the earn rate being nerfed, redemption of ride discounts is also made more expensive. $5 GrabFood/ride vouchers are going from 1,900 to 2,500, and $10 ones are going from 3,600 to 5,000. Larger denominations of $15, $20 and $25 are also going away.

What you can do now

Depending on your usage habits, you should redeem some of the ride vouchers now, especially those of higher value if you need more expensive rides or food deliveries, and they’ll be good until 30th June.

90°N cardholder? Suica and AirBnb – do it now

I’m surprised that OCBC has not announced any kind of extension to OCBC 90°N’s various high earn rates which expire on 29 Feb. 8 mpd on AirBnb was really awesome – I clocked almost 100,000 miles for a long-term rental – but you won’t even get the 4 mpd for the other things like flights or foreign spending, or even Netflix once March arrives.

What’s the plan, OCBC – a plain 1.2 mpd with no upside? Ugh.

What you can do now

If you have confirmed trips overseas and have a preference for AirBnb, now it’s the time to lock in your accomodation.

Also, if you are going to Japan and have a relatively modern iPhone, you can consider topping up a virtual Suica card now for 4 mpd. Every iPhone from the 2017 iPhone 8 and iPhone X onwards has Suica capabilities built in. (Update: Suica take about 5 days to post, so you may be too late 😢)

Remember, the 4 or 8 mpd is for posted transactions, so if you spent it on 29th Feb, the transaction is not likely to get bonus miles. Yikes.

Keep up to date on the best cashback/mile cards, financial products, attractive deals, and more tips to maximise your financial wellbeing by subscribing to my Telegram channel.

Subscribe to the channel, then join the group chat. You would often benefit from the tips shared exclusively in the group chat!

Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!

Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opnion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).

Not yet a Citi and/or StanChart card member? Get your sign-up bonuses now

Time to plug some promos again, and it’s truly because I’ve not seen such attractive rewards. I’ve always gotten $30 to $100, so I’m really envious of those who get to enjoy such great promos if they haven’t already gotten themselves a Citibank or StanChart card.

What you can do now

If you don’t have Citibank credit cards, applying for the new Citibank Cashback+ gives you a whopping $350 via PayNow.

If you don’t have Standard Chartered credit cards, applying for one of the four cards gives you a set of AirPods on top of $80 cashback credited to your card. I recommend the Spree card which also gives you 2% cashback on Grab top-ups at the moment.

If you already have these cards, you still get $30 for getting another Citibank card, and $70 ($50 via PayNow, $20 via cashback) for another StanChart card. Pretty generous for literally 10 minutes of work.

My friend’s friend already got the AirPods!