OCBC Titanium Card Features Revision

OCBC had recently made an important announcement to revise its Credit Card features. The revision will be effective beginning from 29th November 2013.  There will be no more 5% rebate on dining, groceries, utility bills and petrol for OCBC Titanium Card.

Instead, OCBC Titanium Card holders can get 1% rebate on total retail spending with no limit. Besides, OCBC Titanium Card will be free for life and thus no more minimum 12 swipes per year requirement for annual fee waiver.

This is really a bad news to all OCBC Titanium Card holders especially those who just got approved. While continue getting 5% rebate until 28th November 2013, many of us will wonder which cards could be the replacement for OCBC Titanium Card?

My suggestion is to get Maybankard Dual, UOB One Card or Hong Leong Wise Credit Card depend on your spending pattern. Of course, we do hope that there will be another new card to be launched by other banks with similar features like the current OCBC Titanium Card.

Hong Leong FD Bonus Interest with Credit Card Application

In addition to the Fabulous FD promotion, Hong Leong is concurrently having another promotion, known as 3% p.a. Additional FD Interest Bonus on FD Placement Credit Card Campaign. The promotion started from 1st July and ends on 30th September 2013.

The promotion is open to all customers who performed the FD placement and sign up with HLB Credit Card during the campaign period. The following customers are eligible to participate:

1. Must be Primary FD account holder with new FD placement of RM 10000 and above on these 2 products, 3 months conventional FD and Fabulous 3 months FD bundling with CASA promotion at 3.3% p.a. 
2. Do not currently hold any valid principal HLB Credit Card and are successfully issued with new principal HLB Credit Card such as Hong Leong Visa and MasterCard Credit Card, but excluding Classic, INGIAFAM, ACCCIM and AMEX Card.

Note: Only valid for credit card application during Campaign Period and credit card approved latest by 31st October 2013 and activated.

The bonus interest will be credited into the cardholder’s credit card account within 45 working days
upon the maturity of the FD placement. The bonus payout is computed based on the first RM 10000 of the FD placement only, regardless of the FD placement amount which may be more than RM 10000.

The cardholder needs to perform 1 retail swipe within 45 days from the HLB Credit Card approval date to get first year annual fee waiver and RM 50 cash rebate which will be credited into the credit card account. If you still do not have a HLB Credit Card, it's a very good time to apply for it.

Citibank Rewards Platinum Card

Citibank introduced its new card, the Citibank Rewards Platinum Card, just one day after Hong Leong Bank launched its Wise Credit Card. It's a card that let you choose how you want to earn your rewards.

The main concept of Citibank Rewards Platinum Card is very similar to Hong Leong's Wise Credit Card and Mach Credit Card, You can choose the Rewards Categories based on your lifestyle and spending habit. You must subscribe to at least 2 Rewards Categories upon your application of the Rewards Platinum Card. All transactions that fall under the rewards categories will earn you 5X Citi Rewards points.

There are total 5 Rewards Categories for you to choose from. Below is the list of merchants for all of the Rewards Categories:

Each subscribed category will receive a maximum total of 60000 points per annum. For all categories except Travel, 5X Citi Rewards points will be awarded for a maximum spend of RM 1000 per month. The Travel category will be awarded 5X Citi Rewards points for a maximum spend of RM 12000 per year. For transactions not under subscribed category, you will continue to enjoy 1X Citi Rewards points except for petrol transactions. Petrol purchases will only earn Rewards points when the Driving Rewards category is selected.

Other than 5X Citi Rewards points, you will be able to earn bonus coupons and entitled to Automatic Protection. To earn bonus coupons, you need to spend RM 24000 or more per year. Upon renewal and payment of your Rewards Platinum Card annual fees, you will be entitled to the 50% off bonus coupons based on the Rewards categories that you have subscribed to. The automatic protection for each category is illustrated as below:

If you apply for Citibank Rewards Platinum Card now, you can enjoy 2 Rewards Categories for free in the first year and get 20000 Citi Rewards points as special welcome offer. The welcome offer or 20,000 Rewards points will be awarded when you spend a minimum of RM 500 within 60 days of your Citibank Rewards Platinum Card approval date.

Hong Leong Wise Credit Card

After the launch of Mach Credit Card in Year 2012, Hong Leong launched its Wise Credit Card today to meet the needs of different customers with different lifestyles across different life stages.

Hong Leong targets to issue 100,000 cards within 3 years as it strengthens its position in the credit card segment. The new card offers flexibility for customers as they are allowed to get 10% cash back based on their preferred categories.

Update:
16/1/13

Just like Mach Credit Card, you can choose 2 out of 10 categories to enjoy the cash back:

No.	Categories	Merchants / Merchant Category Code (MCC)
1	Mobile	Maxis, Celcom, Digi, U Mobile and YES
2	Pharmacies	Watsons, Caring and Eu Yan Sang outlets
3	Groceries	All grocery stores (MCC 5411)
4	Petrol	All petrol stations (MCC 5542)
5	Dining	All dining outlets (MCC 5811, 5812, 5814)
6	Departmental	Parkson, AEON, Isetan, Metrojaya, Robinsons, Tangs, GAMA and Sogo outlets
7	Book Stores	MPH, Popular, Borders, Kinokuniya, Times, Smart and BookXcess stores
8	Utilities	Electricity and Water (MCC 4900)
9	Entertainment	All cinemas (MCC 7832), Ticket Charge, Ticketpro, Red Box and Neway
10	Travel	All airlines (MCC 3000-3299, 4511), hotels (MCC 3501-3999, 7011), tour packages (MCC 4722, 4723)

Currently, the mobile category is given as bonus to customer, so each customer actually gets 2 + 1 = 3 categories. Cash back will be awarded based on Merchant Category Code (MCC) being assigned on each category. With minimum 10 swipes of RM 50 and above every month, customers are able to get 10% cash back in the chosen categories. The cash back is capped at maximum RM 100 monthly.

Annual fee will be waived for the first year with one swipe within 45 days of card approval. For subsequent year, annual fee will be charged as below:

Card Type	Annual Fees		Min Credit Limit
	Main	Supplementary
Gold	RM 160	RM 80	RM 2000
Platinum	RM 300	RM 150	RM 12000

Rebate is calculated according to calendar month and will be credited to customers' account in the following month. Switching of each rebate category is possible with charges of RM 10, latest by 25th of each month and will be reflected in the following month.

The official information about Wise Credit Card is not yet ready in Hong Leong's website. Let's wait and see what are the exact features of the new card.
In conjunction with the launch, new Hong Leong Bank customers who sign up for the Hong Leong Wise Credit Card will receive a waiver for the 1st year annual fee plus a RM50 cash rebate.