Apple iPad2 for RM999 with Maybankard 2 Amex and On The Spot Redemption

(Article by My Credit Cards: http://creditcardsmalaysia.blogspot.com/ )

My daughter was waiting for the launch of the Apple iPhone 4s because her iPhone 4 was stolen few months back. In my article titled Smartphone My Ass at Ringgit Wise Fool, I mentioned that with the price of an iPhone 4s, one can get an android smartphone together with an Apple iPad2. So I proposed to her that I get her a Samsung W android smartphone and the iPad2 and she agreed to it. Click here to read my article titled Children Smartphone KPop where I mentioned I ended up buying two Samsung Wonder android smartphones. And click here to see photos and videos taken with the Samsung W at 2PM KPop concert recently at Stadium Negara.

Last weekend was the first weekend of December 2011 and as such my Maybankard 2 American Express cash back entitlement starts from zero once again. Most of you would know that we earn 5X Treat Points with the Maybankard 2 AMEX Card and additional 5% cash back on Saturdays and Sundays capped at RM50/month, but if you don't, click here to learn more about the Maybankard 2 Cards.

So, I waited till last weekend to get her the Apple iPad2 from Harvey Norman.

You may ask why Harvey Norman? 

Well, firstly Harvey Norman accept the American Express, so with my Maybankard 2 Amex, I will earn 5X Treats Points and since it was a weekend, I will earn additional RM50 (max cash back per month).

Secondly, with Maybank On The Spot Redemption, you can redeem RM50 Harvey Norman cash voucher for only 9700 Treats Points. This is like as if I have earn 2.577% cash back with my Maybankard 2 Card AMEX when taking into consideration that I earn 5 Treats Points with every ringgit spend with the Maybankard 2 AMEX card. For those of you that don't understand, here is how I calculated the 2.577% cash back:

• Amount spend to earn 9700 Treat Points with MBB 2 AMEX = 9700/5 = RM1940

• Therefore RM50 Harvey Norman cash voucher  = RM50/RM1940 = 2.577%

So with the above consideration, all I had to do was go to Harvey Norman Customer Service and give them one my Maybank credit card to check my Treats Points available for redemption. They will then inform you how many vouchers (or amount in RM) you can redeem and you can then decide how many voucher(s) you want. I chose to redeem nine vouchers or RM450.

After getting my "vouchers" in a letter form from Harvery Norman Customer Service, I took the cheapest Apple iPad2 costing RM1,499 to the counter and the cashier will then deduct the voucher amount of RM450 and I needed to only pay RM1,049. Of course, I paid using my Maybankard 2 American Express to earn 5X TP.

So you may ask, how come I mentioned RM999 for the iPad2 in my titled above? You see, since I swipe more than RM1000 for the iPad2 with my MBB 2 AMEX, Maybank will credit RM50 into my account being the 5% cash back cap for the month. Therefore, the total amount I will end up paying for the Apple iPad2 is RM1,049 - RM50 = RM999 :)

That is not all, Harvey Norman is also currently having a scratch and win contest where you'll be entitled to one ticket when you spend above RM1K. And best of all, you are guaranteed to win minimum RM20 (to be use for your next purchase). So, after I paid for the iPad2 I proceeded to the Customer Service counter once again to claim my ticket and got the minimum RM20. And that is why I chose to only redeem RM450 so that the bill for the iPad2 comes out to be more than RM1K so that I am eligible to enter the contest, I was hoping to win RM1K but instead only managed to get RM20 voucher, haha.

Prior to buying the iPad2, my daughter has also selected the cover she wanted that cost RM239. So I had to make sure that the earlier iPad2 bill did not include this item because now I can use the RM20 I "won" to offset the price. And since I have used up my Maybankard 2 AMEX cash back entitlement for the month, I asked my wife to pay for the iPad2 cover with her own Principal Maybankard 2 AMEX to earn 5% cash back too besides 5X Treats Points :) Click here to read about my wife's Maybankard 2 cards application.

Just for you information, you can also go with 0% installement plan with your American Express credit cards at Harvey Norman. Click here to read my article American Express Promotion 2011 -2012 where I have also provided a list of merchants offering 0% installment with the American Express. 

Other merchants participating in Maybank On The Spot Redemption program are:

MetroJaya (RM50 = 9000TP)

Best Denki

Courts

Robinsons (RM50 = 9000TP)

PK Time Sdn Bhd

Gintell

Watatime

Onking (RM50 = 10000)

HSL (RM50 = 9700TP)

Sony Centres (RM50 = 10000)

Parkson (RM50 = 9300TP)

Mydin (RM50 = 10000TP)

To see the complete list of On The Spot merchants, click here.

And to check what you can redeem with your Treats Points, click here.

Besides On The Spot Redemption where you can redeem for vouchers at the participating merchant's outlets, you can use your Maybankard Treats Points AND American Express Membership Rewards Points to pay for your bills at many participating outlets at 1 Utama Shopping Mall. Click here to read more about RCubed at Maybank site. 

However, for the American Express Membership Rewards, I would think it will be better if you call up Customer Service and convert your Membership Rewards points to cash to offset your monthly statement where 200MR = RM1. For example, if you have 50,000 Membership Rewards Points and your monthly bill comes out to RM1000, you can call American Express Customer Service to convert your 50,000 Membership Reward Points to Cash, i.e. RM250, which will be credited into your AMEX account and you only need to pay RM750 to settle in full.