GrabRewards Grab Points Nerf: From 1 Aug 2022 Grab Will Stop Awarding Points For Credit/Debit Card Transactions

If you use a credit card or debit card with GrabPay, take note.

From Monday 1 Aug 2022, Grab (NASDAQ: GRAB) will stop awarding GrabRewards Points when you make transactions with your debit or credit cards on the Grab app.

Thus, after 1 Aug 2022, you will only be able to earn GrabRewards points when you make transactions using the GrabPay wallet, GrabPay card or Grab PayLater.

Here’s all you need to know!

TL;DR: GrabRewards Grab Points Nerf

What is GrabRewards?

Before we dive into the changes, here’s a little about GrabRewards.

Basically, it is Grab’s loyalty programme that rewards users for making everyday transactions with Grab.

Users can earn GrabRewards points across Grab services, including transport, delivery (food, parcel and grocery) and e-wallet payments across thousands of participating merchants.

GrabRewards Tiers

As a GrabRewards member, you can access certain perks based on your GrabRewards membership tier.

For context, you need to earn this amount of GrabRewards points to unlock each tier:

• Member: 0 points
• Silver: >300 points
• Gold: >1,200 points
• Platinum: >4,500 points.

The earn periods are broken into two parts: [ 1 Jan–30 June ] and [ 1 July–31 Dec ]. The total points earned (exclusions apply) before the end of each period [ 30 June or 31 Dec ] will determine your tier for that period and the six months after.

For example, if you reach 4,500 points on 30 Jun 2022, you’ll become a Platinum member until 31 Dec 2022. If you have 3,000 points on 30 Jun 2022, you’ll be a Gold member until 31 Dec 2022.

Do GrabRewards Points Expire?

Also, as long as you complete one cashless Grab transaction a month, the validity of all your points extends by six months.

As you progress up the tiers, you will unlock more exclusive rewards and benefits – such as priority bookings for your Grab rides, prioritised customer support, preferential airport lounge rates and more.

As these GrabRewards points are worth approximately S$0.002 each, you can earn up to 1.2% back ($0.012/$1) on the Platinum tier.

GrabPay Card Accelerator Categories

In addition, you’ll get 0.8% more back when you spend on the following categories with the GrabPay Card Accelerator programme:

• Dining and Takeouts
• Travel
• Streaming Subscriptions
• Online Games
• Telco Bills.

So do use your GrabPay Mastercard whenever possible if you want to earn these bonus points.

How Do You Use GrabRewards Points?

In case you were wondering, here is how you can use these GrabRewards points:

To find the catalogue, tap on the Rewards icon on your Grab home screen.

Grab to Stop Awarding Grab Points to Credit/Debit Card Payments From 1 Aug 2022

However, when it comes to earning GrabRewards points, Grab will be drawing a line in the sand.

From tomorrow (1 Aug 2022), any payments made using credit or debit cards will NOT earn any GrabRewards points:

This means that from 1 Aug 2022, you will only receive GrabRewards points if you pay using your GrabPay wallet, GrabPay card or Grab PayLater, which relies on the balance in your GrabPay account.

As such, the GrabRewards points you earn are capped by the annual transaction (spend) limit (Based on the calendar year, resets on 1 Jan) of $30,000 a year.

To be clear, you will still receive miles or cashback when you transact on Grab with eligible credit cards.

Should I Stick With GrabPay?

So you might think, should you still stick with GrabPay after these changes?

By removing GrabRewards points from Debit/Credit cards, Grab is trying to convince you to choose their ecosystem.

Charging a $1 fee for GrabPay wallet top-ups made with Visa doesn’t help either.

But, what does Grab offer?

Well, you have to look beyond what Mastercard and Visa have.

It turns out there are cards from American Express that offer you cashback or miles on GrabPay wallet top-ups without the fees.

Best Credit Card To Top Up GrabPay Wallets

At the time of writing, there are only three cards that offer cashback or rewards for topping up your GrabPay wallet.

First, we have the AMEX True Cashback Card with 1.5% cashback and no monthly spending requirement to get cashback.

There’s also the UOB Absolute Cashback Card with 1.7% cashback and no monthly spending requirement to get cashback:

There’s also the Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card which offers a base earn rate of 1.8 miles per dollar. But, that card is only for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) owners.

So with the more accessible combination of the UOB Absolute Cashback Card with 1.7% cashback and GrabPay wallet Platinum tier rewards of up to 2% back in GrabRewards points for eligible transactions, you can get up to 3.7% cashback in total.

That’s pretty decent, but I would like to point out that other cashback credit cards like the DBS Live Fresh Card, OCBC FRANK Card and the UOB EVOL Card offer anywhere from 5% – 8% cashback if you can hit the minimum spend of $600 a month.

Got Questions About Credit Cards?

Why not ask the savvy spenders on our Seedly community credit card group!

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