Ding, ding, double ding ding.
If you’ve walked into the shop, and heard the familiar ‘ding’ of the PayWave transactions flying through the air, you might not have realised how much money is flying through the air at any one time.
Millions.
And UOB One is here to help you save on some of those hundreds you’re going to spend every month.
Since growing up as a pimply 21-year-old, I’ve been carrying my little passbook to the small branch near my home, to update the live salaries I was getting as a waiter. I would bank in the cash payments I would get from my payments into the ATM, and then hear the little zap of ink moving across the page, stamping the transactions into the passbook.
Ahhh… those were the days. As an older adult now, you probably still hold that twinge of nostalgia about those days where life seemed simpler, and you were happy with the $50 you got in an angbao.
Now you find yourself $580,000 in debt for your home, and wondering how you’re ever going to pay that back.
Or you see the 30 eggs you used to buy for $5.90 in July 2022 suddenly skipping to a $7.20 at the Cold Storage.
You’re scared. What’s happening to the world?
That’s where UOB One is there to save the day.
We’re not being melodramatic.
But it’s true. UOB has always centred on being a bank for the retail customer, over and above what the other 2 local banks in DBS and OCBC offer. Look beyond the $3 PayLah from DBS, or the recent uproar over OCBC’s buying of Great Eastern shares, and you would see
- DBS is more focused on business banking in Singapore
- OCBC is focused on wealth management in the insurance and asset management category in Singapore
Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but having sat through some of their Annual General Meetings, I’ve come to observe the above.
The many options for credit cards
But you do have many options in credit cards. And before getting another one, you might really wonder whether it’s worth jumping through another hoop, just to get yet another credit card.
Let’s look at the basic facts, before we look at whether it’s worth getting.
| Â | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Minimum spend | $500 |
| Ideal grocery shopping places | DFI Retail Group such as Cold Storage, Guardian, Giant |
| Ideal transport | SimplyGo or Grab |
| Ideal dine out | McDonalds (… yes I know it’s not the healthiest, but maybe you’d like to do it for the 10% cashback? Okay that is a joke. Just don’t bring your girlfriend there, and tell her you brought her for the cash back.) |
It’s not easy to spend $500 as a single male living with your parents
I’m a single living with my parents. And it’s hard to hit that amount, unless you’re spending on things such as:
| Â | Spending | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | Averaging $40 at the DFI Group per week, 4 times a month | $160 |
| Monthly transport on SimplyGo | $128 on monthly travel pass | $128 |
| Netflix | $14 | $14 |
| Restaurants | Twice a week, of $15 per meal, meaning $30×4 | $120 |
| Â | Total | $422 |
You’re still not going to hit that amount.
Scan to Pay, and PayNow doesn’t count
Because your Scan to Pay (via PayNow), is not going to count as a transaction. So if you’re a spendthrift like me who eats regularly at hawker centres, and pays by Scan to Pay, those transactions are not going to count towards the $500.
The transactions that do count are those that go through NETS, or PayWave.
Not those that are just via PayNow.
Hacks to get the $500
One way is to offer to pay for your parents power bills, so that you get the cash back (and look like a dutiful son).
At least that’s what I would do.
The other way is to offer to pay for your team’s dinners at the restaurant, so that the transactions count under you, whilst you get the cashback.
Just don’t tell them that.
It’s still the most generous
But if you look at the amount of cashback they are offering, you quickly see that there’s no other comparison in the market.
On a monthly basis, if you spend $500 per month, you can already get $18.90 per month.
But there’s even a quarterly cashback if you hit $500 a month.
The next option is probably the no minimum spend Standard Chartered Simply Cash card, which offers a 1.6% cashback.
How to check whether you’re on track
We would say that the 3 banks have probably the same user-unfriendly on their apps, especially if you compare to the likes of Wise or Revolut, or even Airwallex.
Well, we are Singaporean, and may be a little kiam when it comes to paying for vendors to do better apps.
The nice way to put it is that they are saving for your cashback.
But if you’d like to check on the progress of your spending, you need to do it through a pretty round about way.
First click on accounts.
Then click on the One account.
After that, tap on details (near the top, beside Transactions), where you get to see the monthly tracker.
That way, you can quickly see if you’re on or off track.
Cashback is credited into the linked credit card account on the 3rd of the month
The cashback doesn’t automatically go into the ONE account, but to the account you link it with.
Breathe. This is where it gets a little hard to press.
It’s still the best card in the market, if you’re not chasing miles.
Miles, or cashback? Well, that’s a story for another day.
But if you’ve no time to read, then think about that this way.
Would you spend $100 to get $1, whether it be miles or points? Why spend more money to get $1, when you can spend the same time trying to earn more money?