Samsung Pay x SimplyGo x Visa Hack

We have finally moved into our new house! Finally got some time to blog and work on some of the article that has been in the draft for the longest time. Anyway, KPO is sharing another hack! Unfortunately, this is only for Samsung Pay users!

I blogged about something similarly previously - Samsung Pay Rewards - Free Active Fast Charging Wireless Charging Stand! The reward is no longer available but you can read more about Samsung Pay Rewards and how it works. In short, it is a tier-based rewards program that awards points based on the number of transactions regardless of the amount.

This has been tried and tested by us for the last few weeks. By now you should have at least heard of SimplyGo, so I will not go into the details. In my opinion, it is much much better than EZ-Link because you no longer have to top up or worry about having insufficient value in the card. In addition, using SimplyGo with credit cards means that you will be able to get the benefits (miles/cashback) that come with the card.

This hack works only for Visa cards due to the difference in implementation as compared to Mastercard. Interestingly, although Mastercard launched earlier and started the trial/beta first (since last year), Visa decided that they have to be different.

Mastercard consolidates the transactions/fares - up to 5 days, or after every 21 transactions, or after a total of $15 is spent, whichever is earlier. On the other hand, transit fares are accumulated on a daily basis for Visa credit cards.

The Hack
To fully maximize the hack, one should have at least 2 Visa cards registered to your Samsung Pay wallet. A typical person should take at least 2 public transport - one to work and the other back home.

Use one Visa card on your way to work and change the transit card to the other Visa card for the next public transport ride. The next day when the transactions are posted, you will be awarded Samsung Rewards Points for each card. This also allows one to reach the Gold tier easily (requires 30 transactions = 2 per day, about 15 working days). If you have more Visa cards, just keep changing them.

The trade-off is you will get a "messy" statement.

Compare the above with the below Mastercard statement.

So will you be willing to go through the trouble?

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
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WhatCard to Use?

Dexter from the WhatCard.sg team reached out and asked if we can do a small post on their "passion project". I went to their site, played around for a few minutes and agreed to it. If you are wondering, this is not sponsored and I agreed to it because I thought this is really quite useful. They are not even charging or selling anything. Anyway, you can read more about them here. 

Forget about which camp (cashback or miles) you belong to. All the credit cards have their own set of rules/T&Cs to follow, rewarding you for certain categories of spendings (e.g. Travel, Online, etc.) and excluding some (e.g. Insurance Premium, Bills, etc.). All these transactions can be categorized by their relevant MCC. What is MCC?

Merchant Category Code (MCC)
MCC is used to classify the business by the type of goods or services it provides. -Wikipedia

An example of the MCC specified in UOB PPV T&Cs

Historically, it has been a pain in the ass to figure out what are the MCC or if your purchases qualify/belong to the relevant category. One of the ways is to call the bank and ask the customer support officer but this requires the transaction to be posted on your card first.

You would think they can do better since if I have not charged to my card, someone else would have done it or they (the banks) will have a portal to search for the MCC based on merchant but nope (we have one now!). Alternatively, one can rely on crowdsourced data on a messy spreadsheet - Credit Card HWZ Compilation. WhatCard also relies on crowdsourced data but it provides a cleaner/neater web interface to help us maximize our spending so that we can use the correct credit card at the right place.

WhatCard
You can search for the merchant directly. I love burger. lol.

Search based on various category.

Search by the type of credit cards - Cashback or Miles

Registration is not required unless you want to contribute back to the community/forum. On a side note, they are still at the beta stage and there will definitely be merchants that have not been added.

Just try it out for yourself!

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

Samsung Pay Rewards - Free Active Fast Charging Wireless Charging Stand!

Updated on 6th May 2018: Unfortunately, the promotion has ended!

KPO is sharing another ridiculously good deal! Unfortunately, this is only for Samsung Pay users!

As Singapore moves towards a cashless society, mobile contactless payment should not be new to anyone. Samsung Pay/Google Pay (previously known as Android Pay)/Apple Pay works similarly to credit/debit cards payWave with the convenience of having all your cards in one device. On top of the usual credit cards rewards/benefits, one can still earn more points/rewards by using mobile contactless payment!

For instance, Milelion recently blogged about the possibility of earning 8 miles per dollar through Citibank-Apple Pay 20X promotion. On the other hand, there is Samsung Pay that rewards users through their own points/rewards system where one will be able to exchange for various items. The return/cashback is slightly difficult to quantify because points are awarded on a transactional basis (not based on spending).

There are 3 reward levels - Bronze (10 points), Silver (20 points), and Gold (30 points). Points are awarded per transaction depending on your level regardless of the amount spent. For instance, if I am a Bronze member and I paid $88 for grocery in NTUC, I will be given 10 points. On the other hand, if CZM is a Gold member and she paid $2 for a Yakun Kopi-C, she will be given 30 points! This is slightly counter-intuitive but if you think about it, we are simply changing the payment method and technically there is no need to further incentivize/reward us. One would need 10 purchases to move from Bronze to Silver and 30 purchases to move from Silver to Gold on that month. The level achieved will be carried over to the next month and you will be required to make the similar amount of purchases to keep the reward level. Remember these are all on top of what the banks are giving, so we are still earning 4 miles per dollar using UOB Visa Platinum and 1.2 miles per dollar through Citi Premier Miles.

Every now and then, Samsung will release new promotions/coupons for users to utilize those points such as Deliveroo promo code, lucky draw, etc. The latest one is a free Samsung Active Fast Charging Wireless Charging Stand (selling at around $98) for just 800 points! This promotion started on 4th May 2018 and will run until 27th May 2018 (while stocks last).

To truly maximize the reward system, one should spend as little as possible and as many times as possible. lol. Everyone needs a cup of coffee everyday right? The number of Kopi-C required or cashback accumulated would be as follows:

	Points	Number of Transaction	Total Cost ($2 per Kopi-C)	Cashback*
Bronze	10	80	$160.00	61%
Silver	20	40	$80.00	123%
Gold	30	26.667	$53.33	184%

*The cashback is based on the retail price of $98 and could be higher if you drink Kopi-O. Hahahaha. Assuming if you do not have sufficient points and would need to accumulate 800 points from start, you will need 44 transactions!

	Points	Number of Transaction	Total Cost ($2 per Kopi-C)	Cumulative Total Points
Bronze	10	10	$20.00	100
Silver	20	30	$60.00	700
Gold	30	4	$8.00	820
		Total Cost	$88.00
		Cashback	111%

Having said that, I am guessing this promotion will probably end much earlier similar to the last promotion where one can exchange 1,800 points for a pair of Cathay movie tickets.

	Points	Number of Transaction	Total Cost ($2 per Kopi-C)	Cashback*
Bronze	10	180	$360.00	7%
Silver	20	90	$180.00	14%
Gold	30	60	$120.00	22%

*The cashback is based on a pair of weekend movie tickets at $13 each and could be lower if you redeem it for weekday movie tickets.

CZM and I have redeemed 1 each. Hope you get yours too :)

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right -->)