Maybank Family & Friends Card
Earn 8% cashback for five of your chosen categories.
Maybank Family & Friends Card Overview:
If you’re someone who’s on Team Cashback, Maybank Family & Friends card is the one true pick for you. You can enjoy a high 8% cash rebate over your 5 chosen categories with a minimum monthly spend of S$800 per calendar month. However, there is a S$125 cashback cap each month — split into S$25 per category. You can only change it quarterly so you must carefully choose which category to spend on— preferably the ones you spend on the most.
Check out my TikTok video where I review the Maybank Family & Friends Card— it’s an incredible option for earning cashback on everyday spending, and you can choose the categories you want to earn cashback on!
Eligibility & Fees:
- Minimum Age: 21 years old
- Minimum Annual Income: S$30,000 (locals/PRs); S$60,000 (foreigners)
- Annual Fee: S$180 (First 3 years free), afterwhich, call to request annual fee waiver
Key Benefits:
- Earn 8% cashback for five (5) of your chosen spend categories across ten (10) options.
- Minimum spend is S$800 per calendar month
- Each category has a cashback cap of S$25 (total of S$125 for 5 categories) (which would max out at S$312.50 of spending per category)
- Earn unlimited 0.3% cash rebates on all spends below S$800
- Enjoy 0.3% cashback on your AXS bill payments with no minimum spend required (Cashback is capped at maximum bill payment of S$50 per transaction)
How to Best Optimise it:
Best for 5 Categories You Commonly Spend on
- You have the freedom to choose 5 of the 10 categories and change it every quarter. However, if you don’t make a choice, the default cashback categories will be applied. Do take note of the cashback cap of S$25 per category.
- Eg. If dining is one of my chosen categories, the maximum effective spending would be S$312.50 (S$25 ÷ 8%), earning you S$25 for that category. If you spend beyond S$312.50 in the dining category, you will not earn any more cashback
These are the 10 Categories Option:
Categories | Description |
Groceries (DEFAULT CATEGORY) | NTUC FairPrice/Finest/X-tra, Cold Storage, Giant, Market Place, Jasons, Sheng Siong, DON DON DONKI, HAO Mart, RedMart, Amazon Fresh and all other grocery stores and supermarkets globally |
Transport (DEFAULT CATEGORY) | Petrol stations, EV Charging, Contactless bus and train rides, Limousines, Taxi, Grab/GOJEK rides, other passenger transportation services and automotive related services globally |
Dining & Food Delivery (DEFAULT CATEGORY) | Restaurant dining, Fast Food Eateries(NEW), Foodpanda, Deliveroo globally |
Retail & Pets (DEFAULT CATEGORY) | Online purchases on Marketplace, Apparels, Shoes, Accessories, Leather goods, Luggage and other fashion purchases globally |
Data Communication & Online TV Streaming (DEFAULT CATEGORY) | StarHub, Singtel, M1 Limited, Circles.Life, MyRepublic, Disney+, Netflix and/or other telecommunication, pay television, cable and radio services globally |
Online Shopping | Online purchases on Marketplace, Lazada, Shopee, Taobao, Apparels, Shoes, Accessories, Leather goods, Luggage and other fashion purchases globally |
Entertainment | Bars, Drinking places, Cinemas, Fever, Ticket Master(NEW), Motion Picture Theatres, Theatrical Producers and Ticketing agencies globally |
Pharmacy | Guardian, Watsons, Unity, GNC/LAC, other drug stores and pharmacies globally |
Sports | Sports/Riding apparels, Sporting goods, Bicycle shops, Recreation & sporting camps, Athletic fields, Commercial sports, Professional sport club, Golf courses, Country clubs and Membership (Athletic/Recreation/Sports) globally |
Beauty & Wellness | Massage parlors, Health & beauty spas and Barber shops globally |
- Updated: Maybank added more merchants for categories under Dining, Fashion, Entertainment, and Transportation. MCC 5812 & 5814 (Fast Food) is now included under Dining categories which makes it more easy to use compared before where you have to keep track of whether you are ordering from a fast food or a restaurant. Online Fashion Category is now changed to “Online Shopping” and is much more specific with the commonly used online shopping sites like Lazada, Shopee, and Taobao. Under Transport category, E-Vehicle Charging is now included.
Best To Check the Benefit Optimizer Regularly:
- You can effortlessly monitor your spending across various categories on the Benefit Optimizer, helping you track whether you’ve reached the minimum monthly spending and if you’re staying within the optimal spending for each category.
Any Hacks/Promos:
Instarem amaze Card – a Payment Processor that converts your spending from offline to online
- You may pair it with Instarem amaze Card to convert overseas spending for your 5 chosen categories to online to earn 8% cashback. The benefit of using amaze Card with this card overseas instead of using the card directly is to lower foreign currency charges from 3.25% to 2% while earning the 8% cashback on your overseas transactions.
- Rule of thumb: ONLY use AMAZE for overseas spending on your chosen categories.
- For Overseas Spending:
-
Earn 0.5 InstaPoint/S$1 (capped at 500 IP per month – S$5 cashback. Exclusions apply) -
You can redeem 2,000 InstaPoints for S$20 cashback
-
- Pay in Singapore Dollars abroad (as transactions in FCY is converted by Amaze, you do not incur the credit card usual FCY fees of 3.25%, but you do suffer a 2% FX spread loss)
- Connect up to 5 Mastercard cards
Use my referral code IJUSTTRYLAH or use my link below for extra sign up bonus instarem points
- How to Connect Your Maybank Card to Instarem Amaze for foreign currency transactions:
- Link Your Card: Add your Maybank Family and Friends Card as “payment source” in the Instarem amaze app.
- Set as Default: Make this card your default payment method before doing your foreign currency transactions.
- Pay Contactless or Online: Use the amaze Card in Google Pay or Apple Pay for mobile contactless or online purchases. Transactions will appear in your Maybank statement as Amaze_Merchant Name in Singapore Dollars.
Please note that Amaze charges a fee for SGD transactions above S$1,000 when using a linked card. To avoid fees, we recommend using Amaze only for overseas transactions in the selected categories, as there are no fees for foreign currency transactions.
What to Avoid:
Exclusion List:
a) Payments made to government or government-related agencies or institutions or
statutory boards or for government or government-related services (e.g. court
fees, fines, bail and bonds, tax payments, charges for postal services, charges for
parking lots and garages, payments for intra-government purchases or any other
government services);
b) Betting or gambling transactions;
c) Brokerage/securities transactions;
d) Payment to insurance companies or for insurance premiums;
e) Transactions classified under the following Merchant Category Codes (“MCC”):
- Financial Institutions – Merchandise, Services, and Debt Repayment (MCC 6012)
- Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Non-Fiat Currency (for example: Cryptocurrency), Money Orders (Not Money Transfer), Account Funding (not Stored Value Load), Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment (MCC 6051)
- Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load (MCC 6540);
f) Transactions made via AXS or SAM;
g) FlexiCash, FlexiPay, 0% Interest Instalment Plans, funds transfers, cash advances,
finance charges, late payment charges, annual fees, reversals, interest charges, or
any other miscellaneous charges charged to the Cardmember;
h) Payment of funds to prepaid accounts such as those listed below (the following list is
not exhaustive and Maybank reserves the right to amend the list from time to time
without giving prior notice or reason to any party):
- EZ LINK PTE LTD (FEVO)
- EZ Link
- EZ-LINK*
- EZLINK
- EZ-Link
- EzLink
- EZLINKS.COM
- EZ Link transport
- EZ-LINK (IMAGINE CARD)
- EZ-Link EZ-Reload (ATU)
- BANC DE BINARY
- BANCDEBINARY.COM
- Flashpay ATU
- MB * MONEYBOOKERS.COM
- NETS VCASHCARD
- OANDA ASIA PAC*
- PAYPAL* BIZCONSULTA
- PAYPAL* CAPITALROYA
- SKR*Skrill.com
- SKR*xglobalmarkets.com*
- SKYFX.COM*
- TRANSIT*
- TRANSITLINK*
- TRANSIT LINK*
- WWW.IGMARKETS.COM.SG
- WWW.PLUS500.CO.UK
- WWW.MYEZLINK.COM.SG
- YOUTRIP*
Is it Worth it:
Advantages:
- Up to S$125 cashback per calendar month (S$25 cashback cap for each category)
- Quite versatile and generous cashback for daily spending
- Benefit optimizer is useful for tracking the spending of each category
- Can use with Amaze for overseas transactions to save on fcy fee
Disadvantages:
- High minimum monthly spending required
- Need to track spending by category
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How to choose my categories: To choose your desired Categories, the Cardmember needs to download the Maybank TREATS SG mobile app, then select and confirm the categories on the Benefit Selection page. This choice will apply to the first Lock-In Period (3 months), and no changes can be made once confirmed; You can change the categories quarterly and you may choose depending on your spending needs. The categories will take effect the following month.
- What happens if I cannot hit the minimum spend every month: You can use your card to purchase FairPrice gift cards and spend them at NTUC. This can help you reach the minimum spend requirement. Alternatively, you can prepay your telco or internet bill. Once you’ve met the minimum spend, you can keep your card for future use.
Final Thoughts:
- This is great for families trying to save as much money as possible on necessities since the default categories are really where we spend our money on a daily basis may it be eating out, groceries, transportation, streaming subscriptions like netflix, or even buying at toys r us! To take advantage of the 8% cashback you could receive on your purchases, you might choose to combine your spending and charge it to the Maybank Family & Friends Card if you find yourself spending more than S$800 each month in a variety of categories. You might consider spending a maximum of S$312.50 on each of your selected 8% cashback categories to maximise your cashback.
- With the recent update on additional merchants for specific categories, this makes it a whole lot more inclusive and can be extensively used especially on common everyday spendings.
- If this has benefitted you, without any cost to you, feel free to use my referral link and fill out the google form to help me sustain this blog and create more independent reviews like that so that we can huat together.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
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