Marketed as Asia's first numberless card, the new GrabPay card powered by Mastercard is a digital credit card by Grab promoting its users to go cashless especially in this era of Covid-19. But its actually not really a credit card? (Keep reading to find out why)
You can apply for the GrabPay card through the app and you'll be given a a digital credit card once its approved in a couple of days. In some countries like Singapore you can apply for a numberless physical card for an additional fee.
The card raised some questions since there doesn't seem to be any fees aside from the foreign transaction and cross border fees. To add to that everyone who is a Grab member can apply and get easily approved without submitting any documents except for a valid government issued ID.
There are transaction limits associated with the card such as
Single spend limit of PHP 40,000
Daily spend limit of PHP 50,000
Monthly spend limit of PHP 100,000
Annual spend limit of PHP 1.2 million / calendar year
Thats basically a ₱100,000 monthly credit limit which is pretty huge considering the fact that you didn't need to provide any financial documents.
So I decided to try it out myself and used the GrabPay card to pay for some ads on Facebook (note: I had a current balance of ₱500 in my GrabPay Wallet). I put in ₱100 just to see if it goes through. The transaction doesn't go through and I tried this thrice.
Okay so maybe it doesn't support ad spending for some reason and I try it on something more common like online shopping on Shopee. I try to purchase ₱1,000 worth of dog food and the transaction doesn't go through. I get a text message from Grab telling me I have insufficient balance and to top up my wallet to complete my transaction.
I top up another ₱500 and try paying with the GrabPay card details and it goes through! I earn some Grab points and my Grab Wallet gets deducted the amount which is great, but it doesn't really make this a credit card at all.
If this was a credit card then I should be borrowing money or an "utang" from the bank or in this case Grab, instead its more like a debit card since I need a certain balance in my GrabPay Wallet and that balance gets deducted with every purchase.
Loyalty Program
Effective June 15, 2020, GrabCar/GrabFood/GrabMart/GrabExpress/In-store and online payments would be earning points only through GrabPay as shown in the table below.
This is Grab's way of supporting the movement of going cashless meaning you can now only earn Grab points through GrabPay.
Bills pay and purchase of regular load and data packages do not qualify for points earning.
Learn more on Grab transactions/activities that do not earn points here.
Bottom Line
In the end, I wouldn't consider this a credit card and is more of a debit card with rewards. Its not bad or anything, in fact its pretty nice that you get a digital debit card with rewards since debit cards don't usually offer rewards. I just don't get why they would market this as a credit card.
Should you get the card? Absolutely! Its free, has no annual fees, offers you flexibility, plus you get rewards! Theres even a way to get TRIPLE the amount of points and rewards because of this new GrabPay card feature!