How Buy Now Pay Later Works
Buy Now Pay Later platforms pay the full amount to the merchant upfront. You pay the platform back in instalments (e.g. 3 months). This payment is then charged to your credit card.
But there’s a catch: many banks exclude recurring payments or in-house instalments from rewards. Since BNPLs are third-party platforms, they often escape that rule—if you trigger the payments manually.
Different BNPL Platforms have different ways of working and different MCC, therefore these are the most recommended ones that have been tried and tested.
Pro Tips to Maximise Rewards
Check MCC (Merchant Category Code)
Atome usually codes as MCC 5999 (Misc. & Specialty Retail). Some banks allow points for this, others don’t.
Manual Payment = Better Rewards
Avoid auto-deductions—trigger each payment via app to avoid being flagged as “recurring.”
Track Your Caps
Most rewards cards have monthly limits on bonus categories. Use BNPL platforms for high-ticket items within your cap.
Best Cards to Use with Atome
Miles Cards
Best Practice: Manual Payment – Especially with Atome, manually trigger your 2nd and 3rd payments via the app. Auto-payments might be flagged as recurring bills and won’t earn rewards.
You would want to choose to “Pay in 3” as longer installment plans would incur extra charges. There are often vouchers on the app that you can use to offset the cost further.
A quick heads-up for those using these cards: Citi Rewards can be unpredictable — some users report that even after manually triggering their payments, the rewards don’t always get credited, while others have had no issues at all.
Meanwhile, for the DBS Woman’s World Card, even when payments are manually triggered, the transactions might first show up as recurring, but they typically update to online after some time.
- You qualify if: you have no HSBC credit card right now, AND haven't cancelled any HSBC credit card in the last 12 months
- Spend min. S$500 by the end of the month after you're approved. Example: approved in May → spend by 30 June.
- During the application, tick the box to receive marketing messages from HSBC. Don't unsubscribe until your gift arrives — if you do, HSBC can cancel the reward.
- SingSaver will email you a Rewards Redemption Form — check inbox (and spam folder) after applying. Fill it in within 14 days to claim your gift, or you'll lose it.
- Eligible for new main Citi Cardmembers only (no existing Citi card, no Citi card closed in the past 12 months)
- Spend S$800 in the first 2 months of card approval
- You qualify if: you have no Citibank credit card right now AND haven't cancelled any Citi credit card in the last 12 months
- Spend min. S$500 within 30 days of card approval
- SingSaver will email you a Rewards Redemption Form — check inbox (and spam folder) after applying. Fill it in within 14 days to claim your gift, or you'll lose it.
Cashback Cards
Best Card to Use with Grab PayLater
Grab PayLater gives you two main ways to manage your spending: you can either pay the full amount the following month or split your purchase into instalments of 4, 8, or 12 months. The 4-month plan is interest-free, while the longer 8- and 12-month plans come with a small processing fee. Therefore, choose the interest free option. All transactions are tagged under MCC 6540, which is excluded by almost every credit card.
The big catch with Grab PayLater is that payments must go through your GrabPay Wallet balance. This means you’ll need to top up your wallet first, and since credit card top-ups to GrabPay generally don’t earn rewards, you miss out on miles, cashback, or points. In contrast to platforms like Atome, Grab PayLater isn’t ideal for stacking credit card rewards — it works better as a cashflow management tool.
For this, UOB Absolute Cashback Card is on of the very few that offers anything on GrabPay top-ups, though you can only earn 0.3% cashback.
Update: It was reported on my Telegram channel that Shopee PayLater transactions may have been changed under a different MCC (MCC 6540). If this is accurate, there are no cards eligible for rewards on such transactions.
Final Thoughts
When used wisely, BNPL platforms like Atome, Shopee PayLater and Grab PayLater can stretch your cashflow and rack up credit card rewards, while keeping it interest free. The key is knowing which card to use and how to pay.
However, as usual, it is very important to check the Merchant Category Code for every transaction.
