1% cashback: Fintech Hay rewards users for small purchases

Despite being a popular incentive for cardholders in the United States, cashback has never really taken off in Australia, particularly not ongoing cashback offers which give customers the opportunity to earn money back over the long term.

Sydney-based fintech Hay has bucked the trend though, putting their own unique spin on cashback with the recent launch of their TinyBig Rewards offer.

Eligible Hay users are able to earn 1% cashback on all of their day-to-day purchases under $10 when they pay using either their Hay Visa prepaid card or with Google Pay or Apple Pay on their smartphone.

There’s no cap on the amount of cashback users can receive on purchases below $10, but there is one catch. In order to activate the offer users will first need to successfully refer a friend to Hay.

While 1% back - perhaps on a $4 coffee - may not seem a lot, Hay’s chief brand and marketing officer, Alex Lloyd says the idea is all about giving Hay’s users the chance to be rewarded over the long term.

“The TinyBig reward is only 1%, but by just using it for things you already purchase like bus or train trips, you can get a few dollars back a month when you combine all those small purchases,” he said.

“That’s almost a free coffee per month, every month, or half your music subscription cost for the year. It’s not a big bonus up front but it all adds up.”

According to Hay, around 40% of the total transactions made by its users are under that $10 figure, with the most common spending categories being eating out, groceries, shopping, transport and coffee.

The fintech also revealed that its top rewards receiver in August earned $3.86, which would come out to over $45 cashback a year if they were to maintain their spending pattern.

Though relatively rare, Hay aren’t alone in offering an ongoing cashback deal:

• HSBC’s Everyday Global Account allows customers to earn 2% cashback on purchases under $100 (capped at $50/month), as long as they also make a minimum $2,000 monthly deposit into the account.

• NAB’s Classic Banking Account (with Platinum Visa Debit Card) comes with a 1% cashback offer (capped at $10/month), though the account also comes with a $10 monthly fee.

• Fellow fintech Revolut offers a cashback offer for its ‘Metal’ users: 0.1% for purchases in Australia and 1% for purchases abroad. However, the Metal tier comes with a $29.99 monthly account fee. 

Launched to the public earlier in the year, over 8,000 users have already signed to become Hay founding members.

Aside from the app and prepaid card, the aspiring neobank is also in the process of developing and rolling out a number of other products and features which have just been outlined in Hay’s roadmap which was launched last week.

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Interested in learning more about Hay? Check out our Hay review for more information about their current products and app features, as well as some of the releases we can expect from the fintech in the near future.