Getting the Most Out Of Your Credit Cards
By The Boy Who Procrastinates - September 14, 2019
As a cardholder of CIMB VISA Signature (back when it was offering an epic 10% cashback at the start of the year), I have relied heavily on information from online forums, Facebook discussion groups and crowd-sourced Google Sheets to figure out whether a transaction falls nicely under the eligible spending category.
With its t&c revamped in June, the CIMB VISA Signature has certainly fallen from grace in my opinion. Nevertheless, it is heartening to know that we can always count on crowdsourcing for the information we seek.
This is especially so with the invariably vague and indefinite terms and conditions for credit cards and it can frustrating at times, trying to ascertain if your expenditure belongs to a particular category.
Launched in May 2019, WhatCard aims to alleviate this issue through a comprehensive database of Merchant Category Code.
Merchant Category Code (MCC)
On a technical note, the Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit identifier that denotes the type of goods and services provided by merchants or businesses. Credit card issuing banks commonly utilise these assigned codes to track and categorise transactions and award cashback/reward points according to the eligibility of the spending.Even though the world of MCC may seem disconcerting and complicated, the understanding of its mechanism goes a long way towards maximizing your credit card rewards
WhatCard
Built on online crowdsourced resources on MCC, WhatCard.sg functions as a free merchant search engine that allows its users to gather information on the usage of various credit cards that reaps the best rewards.
Simply key in the merchant name in the search box and it will display the best credit cards to use, ranked in the order of the amount of cashback/miles awarded.
For example, the result page displays the list of credit cards that I can use to earn maximum cashback at Cold Storage. It comes with information on the minimum spending per month and the maximum cap for the grocery category.
Furthermore, there is an option to toggle between cashback and miles credit cards so as to cater to different camp.
Furthermore, there is an option to toggle between cashback and miles credit cards so as to cater to different camp.
Even though the project is currently in its beta phase, I understand that the team is working towards expanding and updating the database with quality credit card and merchant information.
WhatCard Community
Credit card enthusiasts can participate in the discussion forum with like-minded people on WhatCard community.A game-changing revelation of earning cashback for payment of taxes and insurance bills was made known to me through a blog post on WhatCard.
I have yet to try it out myself but the gist of it involves the acceptance of Grabpay as one of the payment modes on the AXS app which can be used to pay for taxes and insurance.
Together with crowdsourcing information on the forum, there are certainly more credit card hacks to be discovered on WhatCard. Do give it a try!
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Disclaimer: Kindly note that this is not a sponsored post. The author is in no way affiliated with WhatCard and does not receive any form of remuneration for this post. The Boy who Procrastinates has compiled the information for his own reference, with the hope that it will benefit others as well.
