Citibank Rewards Visa no longer awards points for GrabPay top-ups

UPDATE 16 Aug 2020: DBS Woman’s World no longer awards 3.6 MPD. AMEX True Cashback is now the only card that officially awards cashback for GrabPay top-ups.

Mile-savvy GrabPay users have been taking in multiple punches for the past year in the form of devaluation and loophole closures. And now, we are just one punch away from a knockout from Grab’s world.

What happened?

Visa has now changed the MCC of GrabPay top-ups to 6051 – Quasi Cash-Merchant. This simply means that we will no longer earn points for top-ups made with Citibank Rewards Visa. This seemed to have happened around 15 or 16 July 2020. I had a top-up done at around 3 p.m. on 16 July and have not receive any points from Citibank after 5 days. I posted about it on Suitesmile’s Instagram page and some of you guys shared that you did not receive points for top-ups between 16 and 18 July.

Recap: What’s so good about GrabPay?

This is for all you guys who are new to the miles game. Skip this if you are not.

You should already know the best cards for each spend category for maximum miles accumulation. But what made GrabPay Mastercard extremely appealing was that it gave us the ability to use only 1 card for all spending. Yes, we love accumulating miles but we hate tracking multiple cards too. By topping up our GrabPay wallet with a card like Citibank Rewards Visa, we would receive at least 4 miles per dollar (MPD). We could then use our GrabPay Mastercard for any spend category as we have already gotten 4 MPD from the top ups.

Which cards used to give the best rewards/cashback?

Let’s take a short trip down memory lane. Over the past couple of years, we enjoyed the following incredible benefits from GrabPay top-ups. All these loopholes have since been closed.

Card	Earn Rate/Cashback	Min. Top-up	Max. Top-up	Max. Miles/Cashback
UOB YOLO	8%	$0	$750	$60
UOB One	10%	$2,000	$2,000	$200
Citibank Rewards Mastercard	7.6 MPD	$0	$500	3,800
Citibank Rewards Visa	4 MPD	$0	$1,000	4,000

Ahhh good times. There was also a very short period of time when it was possible to pay for your credit card bills via GrabPay on AXS online. And we could also top up Revolut and YouTrip using our GrabPay card.

The silver lining

I have been receiving 3.6 MPD for GrabPay top-ups in the past 5 months using my DBS Woman’s World Mastercard. There is no minimum amount required to receive this earn rate but the maximum amount is $2,000 per calendar month. I have gotten a friend to do a test top-up without saving the card details in Grab’s app but it didn’t work. It seems like it only works for saved cards. If you have not been doing so, you may try a test top-up of $10 and see if you receive 18 DBS Points (36 miles) on the 16th of the following month (this is when DBS credits bonus points).

Note: This method is not guaranteed. According to the terms and conditions, you are not supposed to receive points for e-wallet top ups. Even after testing successfully, there is also a chance of not receiving the points on your future top-ups if DBS closes the loophole. However, you will not lose your money either way. The worst case scenario is having too much money in your Grab wallet which you can take your time spending. Fortune favours the brave!

Important notes about this card:

1. Men can apply for it too.

2. Annual income requirement of $80,000 is not strict.

3. Do not apply for the green Woman’s card. The Woman’s World version (pictured above) gives you a better earn rate.

Conclusion

There is really no point topping up with any card offering less than 3 MPD or 5% cashback. You will be better off using the best cards for each spend category. If you do not receive 3.6 MPD for Grab top-ups with DBS Woman’s World, your GrabPay Mastercard is more or less useless right now. Just leave it in your drawer once you have depleted your Grab wallet.

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