In my previous article titled Thank You - Guide To My Credit Cards Blog, I have mentioned that as of December 2010, I had less than 10,000 hits and in July this year it reached 100,000 page views. As of today, my page views have surpassed the 300,000 mark thanks to your support.
Soon, 2011 we be coming to an end, and I believe we will see card issuers launching better benefits credit cards in the year of the dragon 2012.
So for this post, I will just once again highlight the my previous articles and for the fun of it give them the title of The Best Credit Cards for 2011:
The Best Overall Cash Back Credit Card for local spending is no other than the Maybankard 2 American Express Card (minimum income RM30K/year) launched in early 2011 where we can earn up to RM600/year in cash back PLUS unlimited 5X Treats Points which work out to be approximately 2.5% cash back for any transactions. However, this only applies if the merchant accept AMEX. With 5X TP for any transaction, we only need to spend RM2K a year with the MBB 2 AMEX card to earn 10,000 TP to offset the single RM50 GST for both the cards; and, if you had spent the RM2K on Saturdays and Sundays, you'll end up earning RM50 :)
The Best Cash Back Cards for Petrol are the OCBC Titanium MasterCard (minimum income RM36K/year) and UOB One Card (minimum income RM24K/year) where we can earn 5% cash back every day of the year at all petrol stations and the cash back credited into the card account every month.
The Best Credit Card for Movies and Coffee is the Citibank Clear Card (minimum income RM24K/year) which gives you free movie tickets every Fridays ( at TGV, GSC and Cathay Cineplexes) and free drinks at Coffee Bean.
The Best Credit Card for KLIA, LCCT and worldwide Airport Lounges of course is no other than the Standard Chartered Bank Visa Infinite which grants you unlimited free access to airport lounges.
The Best Credit Card for Overseas Transaction is the newly launched Maybank Visa Infinite where it earns you 5X Treats Points every day anywhere on planet earth except Malaysia where it still earns you 2X Treats Points.
The Best Credit Card for buying Coach Madison handbags are UOB Credit Cards where the cardholder earns 5% SMART$ Cash in addition to standard reward points or cash back with the card.
The Best Money for Luxury credit card to use for purchasing luxury stuff ( like jewelry at Poh Kong, Wah Chan, and Tomei, Rolex watches, Hermes, Louis Vuitton Neverfull. Delightful, Artsy, Palermo, Totally shoulder bags and Speedy handbag ) is the Maybankard 2 AMEX.
The Best Money for Luxury credit card to use for purchasing luxury stuff ( like jewelry at Poh Kong, Wah Chan, and Tomei, Rolex watches, Hermes, Louis Vuitton Neverfull. Delightful, Artsy, Palermo, Totally shoulder bags and Speedy handbag ) is the Maybankard 2 AMEX.
The Best Credit Cards for buying Chocolates and Liquor ( like Louis XIII or Eiffel Tower XO ) at Eraman Duty Free are CIMB and Direct Access World MasterCard, Visa Infinite and Visa Signature which are considered as Premier Credit Cards and ranked higher than Platinum Credit Cards. For Zon Duty Free, Citibank PremierMiles credit card enjoy 20% discount for liquor.
The Best Credit Cards for Education Bills and Hospital Bills are CIMB and RHB credit cards with 0% Installment Plans.
The Best Credit Card for Balance Transfer Plan is with the CIMB Balance Transfer Plan for their non-Islamic credit cards because a new separate account is created for the 0% 6 months Balance Transfer Plan where one only needs to pay 5% monthly for the 1st 5 months; and, thus allowing the balance 95% to guarantee earn us pocket money when we deposit it in Fixed Deposit :)
The Best Credit Cards for Travel Insurance Coverage are Hong Leong Bank Visa Signature, HSBC Visa Signature, Citibank PremierMiles and Citibank Platinum credit cards where it also comes with Medical Insurance.
The Best Cash Back Debit Card in Malaysia is the Alliance Bank Premier Visa Debit Card where you can earn 2% cash back for any transactions capped at RM180/month. I can also say that the Alliance Platinum credit card is the best credit card for spending RM5K/month at places that does not accept AMEX and this card also allows you unlimited FREE entry into KLIA Plaza Premium Lounge.
The Best Credit Card for Enrich Point Redemption are Maybank World MasterCard followed by Maybank Visa Infinite very close by for local spending.
The Best Credit Cards for 0% 6 Months Installment Promotion Plan are by RHB credit card and AmBank Credit Card which allows the cardholder to convert retail transactions to 0% installment. You can also use your Maybank issued American Express credit cards for 0% installment plans at Poh Kong, Tomei, Harvey Norman, Courts Mydin and etc,
As you can observe from above, I have mentioned cards issued by most of the main commercial banks and foreign bank - Alliance Bank, AmBank, CIMB Bank, Citibank, Hong Leong Bank, HSBC Bank, Maybank, OCBC Bank, RHB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UOB Bank. And for the banks not mentioned, it is because I don't have cards issued by them or have no interest to add them to My Credit Cards collection, hahaha. There is no one credit card that is The Best of The Best but different card has different benefit(s) and also disadvantages;. and that's why I "need" to have so many cards to optimize my earnings from my credit cards usage ( and to be Master of all Credit Card Swiper ). Of course, you can also call me a Credit Card No.8 Fool since I am paying damn a lot of GST and happy for no apparent reason when I get a card ending with the number No.8, hahaha.
The Best Credit Card for Enrich Point Redemption are Maybank World MasterCard followed by Maybank Visa Infinite very close by for local spending.
The Best Credit Cards for 0% 6 Months Installment Promotion Plan are by RHB credit card and AmBank Credit Card which allows the cardholder to convert retail transactions to 0% installment. You can also use your Maybank issued American Express credit cards for 0% installment plans at Poh Kong, Tomei, Harvey Norman, Courts Mydin and etc,
As you can observe from above, I have mentioned cards issued by most of the main commercial banks and foreign bank - Alliance Bank, AmBank, CIMB Bank, Citibank, Hong Leong Bank, HSBC Bank, Maybank, OCBC Bank, RHB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UOB Bank. And for the banks not mentioned, it is because I don't have cards issued by them or have no interest to add them to My Credit Cards collection, hahaha. There is no one credit card that is The Best of The Best but different card has different benefit(s) and also disadvantages;. and that's why I "need" to have so many cards to optimize my earnings from my credit cards usage ( and to be Master of all Credit Card Swiper ). Of course, you can also call me a Credit Card No.8 Fool since I am paying damn a lot of GST and happy for no apparent reason when I get a card ending with the number No.8, hahaha.
Oh yah, The Best Credit Card With Low Interest on Outstanding Balance and pay less interest - NONE, since all credit card charges exorbitant interest rate thus making you poorer as you sleep and a slave to the bank. However, the lucky girls with ANY supplementary credit card, from your stupid boyfriend who is investing in other people's wife and paying all your bills, can consider the supp card as The Best Credit Card, hahaha.
The titled of The Most Insincere Issuer of Credit Card is of course HSBC Bank which requires us to pay money (SMS) to enter their Contests with god knows what terms and conditions (until you read them) and failing to highlight in their advertisements that so called card features like 5X reward points with HSBC Visa Singnature and 6% cash back for petrol and groceries with HSBC MPower Amanah Platinum have expiry date.
And possibly the worst credit card in Malaysia in terms of returns must be OCBC Gold Credit Card where the cardholder earns a miserable 0.2% cash back.
And last but not least, the title of the Most Complicated Credit Card in Malaysia goes to Hong Leong Bank Fortune Visa Cash Back credit card, hahaha.
CONCLUSION
Every since I got the Maybankard 2 Platinum Cards in early 2011, I have been using my Maybankard 2 American Express more frequent than any of My Credit Cards. And since my wife has it too, we have a combined entitlement of RM100 cash back per month. When my wife bought her cake mixer, to produce pretty cakes, costing more than RM1K at Best Denki, we split the bill so that both of us can use our Maybankard 2 AMEX cards to earn the 5% cash back. And best of all, in addition to the 5% cash back, it is so wonderful to see my Treats Points multiple by 5. The best value from your Treats Points is by doing On The Spot Redemption for cash vouchers at participating merchants like at Harvey Norman where I use the vouchers to pay for an Apple iPad2.
And I hope Hong Leong Bank will take my advise and unleash the 3 Dragons mentioned in my "Top Secret" message to HLB management in my article on the Fortune Card; better still, I suggest they make me their Credit Card Division Head so that I can produce The Best Credit Card in 2012 and all of us can earn 8% cash back in the year of the dragon. I even have came out with the design of The Ultimate Credit Card - the white HLB Ultimate 3 Dragons (3 in 1 credit card with AMEX, MasterCard and Visa combined into a single card) which will be ranked higher than Visa Infinite, World MasterCard and AMEX Centurion Black Card :)
OTHER RELATED POST
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The Best Malaysia Premier Credit Cards 2011 In this article I have also mentioned the most prestigious and exclusive credit card in Malaysia.
The Best Malaysia Premier Credit Cards 2011 In this article I have also mentioned the most prestigious and exclusive credit card in Malaysia.
Congratulation!
ReplyDeleteahsiang, thank you!
ReplyDeletejust need ur clarification...
ReplyDeleteThe use of maybankard platinum american express yield 5x treat points rite? But does it means the american express membership rewards point as well? Do you earn the latter or only the former?
MD, to be more specific:
ReplyDeleteOnly the combo Maybankard 2 Cards (where you also be issued either a Visa or MasterCard) American Express credit card earns the cardholder 5X Treat Points.
Maybankard American Express earns the card holder generally earns the cardholder 2XTP.
American Express Charge and Credit Cards (the one without Maybank words) earn Membership Reward Points.
Do you mean that the American express card that comes with the platinum maybankard2 earn u 5x treat points? But the visa or master that comes with maybankard2 only gives u 1x treat points, right?
ReplyDeleteThe Amex in maybankard 2 is a charge card right? Not credit card isn't it?
MD, the Maybankard 2 AMEX is a credit card that comes together with either Visa or MC.
ReplyDeleteAMEX charge card do not have Maybankard words. For further info on AMEX's AMEX please refer to
http://www.americanexpress.com/malaysia/homepage.shtml
Hello, I work in Singapore, and although my basic pay is SGD1000, my OT and allowances often cranks my salary to SGD2000+. However Maybank still rejected my application for their Platinum card. I made an appeal and offered to downgrade to Gold card. but I still want to ask, is it because of my SGD1000 basic salary that they chose to reject?
ReplyDeleteAngel, I got no idea as to how MBB evaluate who qualify for what type of cards. Just be happy you got the MBB 2 Gold and get to earn RM50 cash back :) After a year or so, if you do spend a reasonable amount with the card, request for upgrade.
ReplyDeleteGenX.. just to check when MBB gives the two cards, do they combine the treat points collected or do they separate them. For example Amex 100 points and MasterCard 200 OR Amex + MC = 300 treat points?
ReplyDeletemin, the Treats Points Earned are for each individual MBB card is separated in the Statement BUT you can combine them for redemption.
ReplyDeleteFor example, you earn 12000 TP with your MBB2 AMEX, 5000TP with your MBB 2 MasterCard and 3000 TP with your MBB Petronas Visa, you can combine them and redeem for stuff up to 20,000TP.
GenX, sorry for the late reply. i couldn't remember which post i commented on and had to sift through most of your posts again.. hehe.. thanks for letting me know. just applied for the cards today! mostly due to your rave reviews.. maybank should pay you for the promotion.. lol.
ReplyDelete