If you’ve not gotten a credit card, get this. It might just be the most fuss-free credit card yet.
In November 2022, I had no job. I had been freelancing as a writer, trainer, and facilitator, and was earning about $2500 a month. I didn’t contribute to my CPF because it didn’t make sense to take an already small salary, and make it even smaller.
Issuing me a credit card, even though I had no credit history
Then I started seeing the massive splash of Trust advertisements everywhere.
I signed up for the account and credit card, half expecting them to reject me.
They didn’t. They issued me with a monthly credit of $6000, (bless their soul!) even though I would have looked like a credit risk to most others.
Both Standard Chartered and UOB rejected me.
But since getting their credit card, they have been the best experience, and have consistently notched it up.
They are by far the speediest credit card bank app
If you’ve opened the DBS, UOB, or OCBC bank apps before, you would have likely seen that the apps often seem to choke on your finger’s touches. They take nearly 3 seconds (yes, we counted) before they actually do what you want them to do.
Don’t blame them. Many of these banks are built on a micro-service architecture. This means that their ever-growing number of features are built, one on top of the other. This unfortunately also translates to a slow loading time.
Compare this with Trust. Face ID, or Touch ID, and you’re in within 2 seconds.
Gorgeous interface
As designers ourselves, we were stunned by the level of thought that went into overhauling the Trust interface so that it could be easy to use. In their Version 1, they had a clunky (and ugly) interface that was hard to navigate.
This time, you could see everything, at one glance. Intuitively, you would know where to click to get the function you needed.
But it was also simple. Open your DBS app, and you might be stunned by the sheer amount of options to press. You might have many experiences where you clicked on a feature, expecting to find something, only to go back frustratedly, not getting what you needed.
But with Trust, they have boiled it down to:
I also enjoyed the way they automatically classified the spendings you had.
If you look at apps like UOB’s spend insights, you would quickly notice that it’s not that intuitive.
You might wonder why this is important. Because it’s not just knowledge that is power, but how you use that knowledge which is.
When I started seeing my expenses compared, I was brought to a heightened sense of awareness, and could make the necessary adjustments. For example, I noted that I was spending more than $100 a month on restaurant meals, and promptly vowed to return to the humble hawker centre.
YouTrip? Nah, use Trust for travel instead
But more than just that, they also offer you some nifty FX rates. They report that their rates are those you get off Google.
And that’s why Trust’s credit card is miles and away better than your typical travel solution like YouTrip.
| Â | Trust Credit Card | YouTrip |
|---|---|---|
| Cash upfront? | No, it’s credit | Yes, it’s a debit card |
| Exchange rates | Rates you find on Google | Rates you find on Google |
| Additional fees? | No, unless you split pay, which is 1% of the fees | No fees |
| Convenience | No need to transfer into the app, before making the button to exchange. Just spend! (Which may be scary too) | You have to transfer into the app, before you swap currencies |
Don’t believe me?
Look at my recent trip to Malaysia, where I had a series of transactions for Grab. The rates they offered me were close to the exchange rate you would find on Google at that time.
It simply doesn’t make sense to go through the fuss of something like YouTrip.
Automatically pay
What I find special is also the ability to set when you want to repay. They automatically take the amount from your Trust Savings Account, and then use it to pay the credit card amount.
There’s just no worry there that you will be late with your fees, unlike the recent experience I had with the Citi Premier Miles Credit Card. For that card, it was confusing to have to figure out the billing organisation, then add the 16-digit credit card number, and then key in the amount that you have to pay.
Why do that when you have something like Trust, that automatically takes the money and pays off your credit card?
Fees for Trust Credit Card’s Split Pay function
If you’ve heard of split pay providers like Atome, you would probably know the idea. Pay over 3 split payments over 3 months, at 0% interest. It’s what bigger players like Apple have done, by having you pay for a $2400 laptop over 24 months.
It makes you buy more readily, because you buy even though you don’t have the cash upfront.
For Trust, they charge a fee when you want to split pay. You can only split pay up to $262.
| Time you wish to pay over | Fee for each type of split |
|---|---|
| 3 months | 1% |
| 6 months | 1.5% |
| 12 months | 3.5% |
Some surprisingly good deals
If you’ve used enough credit cards, you would see that it’s not just about the card, but the ecosystem around the card.
That’s why providers like UOB’s One Credit Card, boasting the likes of a 10% cashback on McDonald’s, and the DFI Group (which includes Guardian, Giant, Cold Storage, and 7-11) have been such smash hits.
With Trust, most deals have come from smaller partners.
Again, I’m not someone who actively shops around for coupons, but I can see why it can be important to those people who regularly spend time on these apps.
Nah, the LinkPoints aren’t that worth it
For every advertisement that promotes the Linkpoints, you might not find it that worth it. Essentially it’s $0.01 cash back for every $1 spent. Worth it?
You need to spend $100 just to get $1 off. Is it worth it?
No, not really.
Whilst we could wax lyrical on which kind of spending would get you the most points, we think it’s not a meaningful spending of your time and money to chase the purchase which will get you the most points.
Worth it if you’re integrated into the NTUC ecosystem
At the end of the day, the Trust card leans heavily on your place in the NTUC Fairprice ecosystem. If you’re a big grocery shopper at NTUC you would definitely this useful.
If you’re someone who wants a fuss free way to pay, split pay, and to check one’s spending patterns speedily, Trust offers that.