What’s the best Credit Cards for EZLink / FlashPay Top-up? Lots of banks advertised they have rebate on transport (EZ-link card / FlashPay card), but what is the actual effective rebate?
Effective Rebate
| Card | Advertised | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card + Ez-link imagine Amex Prepaid card | 5%1 | 12.5% (5%1 + 2.5%2 + 5%3) (EZ-Reload only) |
| Ez-link imagine Amex Prepaid card | 5% | 10+X% (5%4 + 5%5 + X%6) |
| OCBC Frank Credit Card | - | 6% (ATU to its flashpay) |
| ANZ Platinum Card | 5%1 | 10% (5%1 + 5%3) (EZ-Reload Only) |
| ANZ Switch Platinum Card | 5%1 | 10% (5%1 + 5%3) (EZ-Reload Only) |
| SCB Bonus$aver | - | 7~8%* |
| UOB One Card | - | Ard 3%* |
| NTUC Plus! Visa Credit Card or Plus! Visa Card |
2% | 1.5% (EZ-Reload only) |
| POSB Everyday Card | 2% | 1.5% (EZ-Reload Only) |
| Citibank SMRT Platinum Visa Card | 2% | 0.87% (EZ-Reload Only) (1.2% or 1.5% for advanced user) |
1: 5% rebate from ANZ Transport Benefits (Valid till 31 Aug 2014, may extend). Minimum S$300 retail spend required, with cap at S$30 per quarter.
2: 2.5% rebate from basic rebate of ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card
3: 5% rebate if you ez-reload from ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card to ez-link purse of Ez-link imagine Amex Prepaid card(Valid till 31 Aug 2014)
4: 5% rebate on total monthly spend on public buses and trains on the ez-link purse (Valid till 31 Aug 2014)
5: 5% rebate on total monthly spend on the Amex purse of S$51 and above (Valid till 31 Aug 2014) (Hint: You could setup EZ-Reload with Amex purse).
6: X% rebate applies when you top-up Amex purse using other credit cards (No more 6% with OCBC Frank Card since Mar 10 2014)
7: 6% rebate from Frank ATU
*: Please check Credit Cards 2014 for Eligibility and Tips for credit cards & savings for tips.
How did we calculate the Effective rebate? The rule is very simple:
([Earned Rebate] – [Fees])/[TopUp]
- EZ-Reload: you need to pay S$0.25 convenience fee each time.
- Let’s take Citibank SMRT card as an example. The default top up amount will be S$30, thus the effective rebate will be: (30 * 1.7% – 0.25) / 30 = 0.87%
- While for an advanced user, they will change the top up amount to S$50, but it’s not easy to eligible to 2% rebate. Thus the effective rebate will be: (50 * 1.7% – 0.25) / 50 = 1.2%
- Top and Tap: you need to pay S$0.90 convenience fee while topping S$100.
- Take OCBC Frank card as an example, if you charged more than S$500 in this month, which includes S$100 to your ez-link card (via Top and Tap), the effective rebate will be: (100 * 6% – 0.90) / 100 = 5.1%
Transport Cards and Ways to Top-up
There are 2 types of transport cards: EZ-link Card and FlashPay Card, both with 16-digits card number.
- EZ-Link Card: Its card number starts from 10, and there will be an EZ-link logo in the card.
- FlashPay Card: Its card number starts from 11, and there will be an FlashPay logo in the card.
Ways to Top-up EZ-Link Card
- EZ-Reload: You could setup auto-topups with any of your Visa / MasterCard
- Top and Tap: You could top-up your ez-link card manually by using EZ-link website and AXS machine (or EZ-link reader).
- EZ-Online: You need to purchase your own EZ-Online reader for this method. For more details, please visit EZ-Online.
- My EZ-Link Mobile: If you have a NFC-enabled Smartphone, you could use My EZ-Link Mobile App to top-up your ez-link by Credit Cards. The convenience fee will be S$0.30.
- Top-up Machines: No convenience fee and cash-only. For more information, visit Islandwide Top-up points
Ways to Top-up FlashPay Card
- Auto Top-Up(ATU) Service: You could setup auto-topups with your DBS/POSB/OCBC/UOB/Maybank Master Card or UOB Visa Card.
- ATU fee of $0.25 per transaction will be waived until 31 Dec 2014
- Only MRT/LRT，public buses，ERP和EPS Cepas2 car parks can lead to auto top-up (other merchants will get “Insufficient fund” problem)
- The minimum required period between 2 ATUs should be no less than 3 days
- OCBC Frank Visa Card ATU: Your OCBC Frank Visa Card comes with FlashPay functionality and its ATU service is activated.
- You could enjoy 6% rebate with minimum S$500 retail spend.
- The rebate from this top-up method depends on Credit Card itself
- Manual Top-up or Cash Top-up
Recommend cards
- For normal users, I would like to recommend NTU Plus! card, POSB Everyday Card, or any card with 2% rebate.
- While for advanced users, who can control their spendings, I would like to recommend ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card or OCBC Frank Card in order to earn more rebate.
At the meanwhile, I would like to recommend Insinc (see below) to you.
Insinc - Get rebate while using ezLink card
