Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, but this article contains referral links that allow me to earn referral rewards at no cost to you if you choose to signup with my links, which helps me maintain the blog.
With the sudden transition from working from home to working in the office 50% of the time this year, an increase in transport expenses is an unavoidable outcome.
Coincidentally, the public transport fare hike came just before this, making this increase in expenses sting just a bit more.
Thankfully, a lifeline has been thrown at us.
There’s a great promotion from Revolut that awards up to 20% cashback on public transport expenses to make this transition easier for all of us.
That’s huge, considering that public transport is an unavoidable expense for most people in Singapore.
Needless to say, upon discovering this sweet promotion, I had to share it with all of you.
What Is Revolut?
Revolut started by providing services primarily focusing on money transfers and currency exchange.
Today, they are a financial super-app that has expanded its services to include saving, budget tracking, and just about anything money-related.
I won’t go into the details of everything Revolut is capable of since that’s not the point of this post.
But some popular use cases for Revolut include free international wire transfers and competitive FX rates for foreign spending via their debit card (similar to YouTrip).
The Promotion
This promotion by Revolut has actually been ongoing for a few months since late 2021, so I’m considerably late to the party.
The promotion awards cashback to Revolut customers when they pay for public transport using the Revolut debit card.
Depending on the funding amount and method you used to fund your Revolut account, you will earn 2% or 20% cashback on your public transport expenses.
|
METHOD OF |
AMOUNT TOPPED |
CASHBACK |
|
Bank/Debit |
SGD $300 and above |
20% cashback on |
|
Bank/Debit |
Anything less than |
2% cashback on public |
|
Credit Card |
Any amount |
2% cashback on public |
As you can see, earning 20% cashback on public transport requires you to fund your Revolut account via a bank transfer or debit card of S$300 or more – any other method only earns you 2% cashback.
The $300 top-up requirement may be a turn-off for many people, but it’s not as bad as it sounds.
How It Works
This promotion runs until 30 Sep 2022, but is split into separate and independent periods for each month:
- 1 Aug 2022 – 31 Aug2022
- 1 Sep 2022 – 30 Sep 2022
The participation criteria for this promotion include:
- topping up your Revolut account via bank transfer or debit/credit card, and
- paying for public transport using your Revolut card.
Both participation criteria must be met within the same period of the promotion to be eligible to earn cashback for that period.
That is, you have to top up your Revolut account and spend on public transport with your Revolut card in the same month to qualify for the cashback promotion for that month.
Cashback is earned and awarded on a per-period basis and will be deposited into your Revolut account within 10 business days at the end of each campaign.
Things To Know
Revolut comes with a free Standard plan which is good enough if you simply want to take advantage of this promotion.
There are other paid plans available that come with added features like selected insurance coverage and cashback reward for spending with the Revolut card.
The Revolut card that is required for this promotion is also free, and Revolut provides both a virtual and physical card.
The virtual card is compatible with mobile wallets like Apple Pay, so you don’t really need a physical card.
Per period, the minimum amount of cashback required in order to receive any payout is S$0.10 and the maximum amount is capped at S$10.
Given that cashback is awarded at a rate of 20%, this means that spending $50 on public transport with the Revolut card in a single period will already hit the cashback cap for that period.
Remember that to qualify for the 20% cashback reward, you need to top up your Revolut account via a bank transfer or debit card with at least $300 for each period.
Even if you do spend $300 on public transport each period (month), the cashback you earn will remain capped at $10 for each period.
The thing to note is that you’re only required to make a top-up of $300 to qualify for the promotion, but you’re not required to maintain that balance in your Revolut account to receive the cashback reward.
In other words, you don’t have to leave the whole $300 in your Revolut account if you prefer not to – you’re allowed to withdraw a portion of this back into your bank account.
If you don’t intend to use Revolut for anything else (like me), you can leave only how much you expect to spend on public transport in your Revolut account and withdraw the rest back into your bank account.
This allows you to take advantage of the 20% promotion without having to leave cash idling unnecessarily in your Revolut account.
Click here to view the full terms and conditions governing this promotion.
Step By Step Guide
Step 1: Open A Revolut Account
The first thing you need to do is signup for a Revolut account, which you can do via my referral link here.
This process is fairly straightforward, requiring your personal details and identification.
You’ll need to have some form of identification ready on hand to verify your identity.
Step 2: Get Your Revolut Card
Then, you need to request a Revolut card from your Revolut account.
From the home page, go to “Cards” and click “Add card”.
Here, you’ll have the option of choosing between a physical card and a virtual card.
Both options are free and you’re free to get both a physical and a virtual card if you wish.
However, given that the virtual card is compatible with mobile wallets like Apple Pay, it’s not necessary to get a physical card.
I was able to set up my virtual card on my Apple Pay within minutes of applying for it, and it can be used immediately for SimplyGo transactions.
Step 3: Fund Your Revolut Account
Next, you need to fund your Revolut account.
You can choose to do this via credit card or bank transfer/debit card.
But according to the promotion, the former only awards 2% cashback while the latter awards 20% cashback for amounts of S$300 or more.
So, I’ll be going through the steps for that.
From the home page, click “Add money”.
The default top-up method is likely via your phone’s mobile wallet, so click “Change” and select “Regular bank transfer”.
Then, you’ll be presented with details of a bank account.
Copy these details and log in to your preferred bank’s iBanking platform.
Add a new payee using the details above, noting that the beneficiary name should be your own name.
Once you’ve added this account as a payee, proceed to make a bank transfer (FAST) to this account of at least S$300.
This will fulfil the first eligibility criteria for the promotion.
Step 4: Commute With Your Revolut Card
Finally, once you’ve set up everything above, you’re ready to start commuting with your Revolut card.
If you’re using the virtual card, simply add it to your mobile wallet to pay for public transport via mobile contactless payment.
If you’re using the physical card, tap the card instead.
This fulfils the second and final eligibility criteria for the promotion, allowing you to earn cashback on your public transport expenses.
How To Withdraw
If you’re looking to withdraw cash from your Revolut account, here’s how you do it.
From the home page, click on “Transfer”.
Then, click on “New” at the top right corner and select “Add a bank recipient”.
Here, you’ll need to enter the details of your bank account.
Once that’s done, you’re ready to withdraw cash back into your bank account.
From my experience, withdrawals are processed very quickly – within minutes.
Referral Campaign
Currently, Revolut is also running a referral campaign.
If you’d like to support me, feel free to use my referral link and follow the steps below.
Any support goes a long way in helping me sustain this blog, and it means a lot!
- Sign up for a Revolut account via this link
- Deposit funds of at least S$20 via bank transfer or debit/credit card
- Order a physical card
- Make 3 transactions of at least S$10 each (via virtual or physical card) by 26 Aug
Closing Thoughts
There you have it – everything you need to know about the 20% cashback promotion from Revolut!
Even though I’m in the miles game, 20% cashback is simply too great of a deal to pass up.
Especially so when there aren’t great ways available to earn miles for public transport.
Remember that cashback under this campaign is capped at $10/month, so once your public transport expenditure for the month exceeds $50, you’ll want to revert to your regular payment method.
For me, this is double-dipping on rewards using the GrabPay card.
This Revolut promotion is only temporary, but we might as well take full advantage of it while it’s around.
And who knows, perhaps Revolut will extend this promotion once again as they did before!