Are you still one of those people waiting for bills to drop into your mail box and paying them manually?
Man you are losing out!
Cardup and ipaymy are here to help you earn rewards for payments which you have traditionally been using bank transfers for!
What is Cardup and iPayMy?
CardUp and ipaymy operate in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. They are platforms that enable the payment and collection of big expenses using existing credit cards.
The idea is to use the service in places where cards are not accepted today such as for education fees, taxes and even insurance premiums.
Here are the 2 main benefits of using them:
1. Earn rewards through transactions which are traditionally not eligible
These platforms allow credit cards to be used for payments which are not traditionally used such as rent and insurance.
Insurance premiums are typically excluded by banks from earning rewards, but by using these platforms, you can be earning rewards in the form of miles, cashback or points!
These are in addition to your usual spending! Can you imagine how much more these awards will bring?
2. Automatic scheduling of payments
Another benefit is that they automatically schedule recurring payments so that they go out automatically, without any intervention on your part. It works just like a GIRO!
I love this convenience since I can have a peace of mind without fearing of overlooking any payments and run the risk of late charges.
So now you may wonder, then whats the difference between both of them?
What are the differences between Cardup and iPayMy?
First of all, their rates are similar if not for their on going promotions as seen below.
Do note that terms and conditions apply.
Another difference would be their referral rates (though I would say its not much of a difference but $10 is still more numerically.. referring 5 friends to ipaymy can already earn yourself $50 more than Cardup! )
Why pay insurance premium renewals using Cardup or iPayMy?
Side note that insurers usually allow only first year premium for credit card.
Now let's take a look at this scenario using Cardup for my UOB PRVI Miles Visa Card - if my insurance is $2400/ year, accompanied by the following payments, I can save up to $556 for my flight to Bali!
On the other hand, if I opt for cash back:
Using my UOB ONE Card, if I spend $2000 per month, I get up to $660 per year which is equivalent to about $55 per month! Think about it, you could spend this amount on 5 Mcdonald meals....
Click here to check out this handy tool on their website to see how much you can earn!
How to pay insurance using Cardup?
Cardup has partnered with many insurance providers such as AVIVA and AIA. Even if your insurance provider is not stated in their portal, you could set up your insurance as a new insurance payee within your account.
Then, upload the correct supporting document such as a letter or invoice including the bank account details as well, provided by the insurance company.
They will then conduct their compliance and verification procedures.
By using Cardup to pay for your insurance premiums, you get to earn up to 1.6 miles per dollar OR up to 5% cashback when you spend with air miles cards or cashback cards respectively.
To pay insurance on Cardup simply:
1. Sign up for Cardup. Follow their instructions where there will be a few verifications such as linking of your Singpass account and validating of emails and phone number.
2. Select ‘Insurance’ as seen below.
3. Select your insurance provider. All the recipient information will be filled up automatically. All you have to do is to check the box at the bottom to acknowledge that the information is correct.
4. Type in your insurance premium and select your payment preferences.
5. On the same page, fill up your credit card details. Don't forget this is where you input your promo code too!
6. Review your payment details and confirm your payment. Tada you are done!
How to pay insurance using iPayMy?
1. Log in to your ipaymy
2. Add new supplier and input your insurance provider’s details
3. Enter payment details.
Enter how much you would like to pay your supplier. In the 'Note to Supplier' you should enter your policy number (and NRIC if it is a group policy) provided by your institution.
Please ensure that everything is keyed in correctly so your recipient can identify this payment came from you.
You will need to provide a supporting document, such as policy summary, when scheduling your payment.
4. Schedule Your Payment and you are done!
It can be a one time payment or a recurring one.
Other common uses for bills put to Cardup and iPaymy?
On top of paying for insurance, you could also pay taxes, rents and even condominium maintenance fees!
While ipaymy only separated payments into three categories, it encapsulates all of the payment types offered by Cardup!
Summary and which would I recommend
All in all, I would say that the two platforms are rather similar if not identical in terms of the fundamental service, which is a credit card enabled platform, they provide.
However, I will choose to go with ipaymy as its user interface is much more appealing to me. I signed up for both of them and these are their dashboards respectively:
Cardup's dashboard as shown above
ipaymy dashboard as shown above
However, what I would like to share though is whether the admin fee is really worth it?
I think it eventually bows down to the credit card cash back rates that is offered by your bank. So if the cash back rate is 5%, the cash back you would get from your card can help offset the 2.25% discounted fee and help you save money in the long run!
And as for credit card for miles an insight gained from the Singsaver:
"The gold standard for buying miles is to pay no more than 2 cents each (although some would argue that with the recent KrisFlyer devaluation, the value should be closer to 1.7/1.8 cents), so generally speaking, any option that yields miles below this price is worth considering.
That said, if you have no trips planned in the near future, it’s not a good idea to buy miles speculatively. Miles aren’t a good investment to hold, because they don’t earn interest, they don’t have deposit insurance and their value can only decrease over time.
How far is the near future? That depends on the price you’re paying per mile. If you buy miles at the lowest end of the spectrum (for example, at 1.14 cents each) with the SCB Visa Infinite card, you can afford to hold on to them longer than someone who buys miles through UOB PRVI Pay at 2.1 cents each."
The two platforms also offer lower admin fees for different recipients.
For instance, a payment for IRAS on ipaymy is quoted at a lower rate compared to the other recipients in its portal!
At the end of the day, if you wouldn't mind the hassle of looking through and comparing all the rates for credit card and the various payment recipients, you would benefit the most out of it!
Else, if you are like me, you prefer a more structured platform and not having to sign in to more than one account to pay for my bills, I will go with ipaymy!
Not to forget, I could also earn more money from the referrals!
If you'd like to save premiums on life insurance, do check this video tutorial!
Sources:
https://dollarsandsense.sg/step-by-step-guide-on-how-you-can-get-cashback-from-your-insurance-premium-payments-using-cardup/
https://help.ipaymy.com/en/articles/2515167-how-do-i-make-an-insurance-payment
https://seedly.sg/questions/is-it-worth-it-to-pay-insurance-endowment-premiums-with-cardup-how-do-i-change-my-aia-and-prudential-payment-method-to-cardup-payments-need-some-advice
https://seedly.sg/questions/cardup-vs-ipaymy-which-service-and-platform-is-better-with-lower-fees
https://blog.cardup.co/personal/insurance-premiums-credit-card-cardup