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Competitive World of Credit Cards |
“There are some 200 credit cards on the Malaysian market, basically divided into six categories – cash back, rewards, premium, petrol, travel and specialty cards,” observes a spokesperson for Citibank Bhd.
“To get the most benefit as a consumer, you should ask yourself what you want from your credit card, compare what the various cards offer and then choose the one that best suits your needs and spending patterns.”
The most popular cards are those which reward customers with points or a cash rebate, notes a spokesperson for Maybank.
“Our customers can redeem their accumulated TreatsPoints for a range of more than 1000 items at our extensive network of on-the-spot ‘pay with points’ partners, through our online catalogue, at our card centres at selected shopping malls as well as at our contact centre.”
Holders of Public Bank cards generally prefer cash rebates and most cards come with the bank’s unlimited Cash MegaBonus programme which rewards customers with a higher level of cash rebate the more they charge to the card.
“Consumers should look for a card that gives them both savings and discounts,” says Dato’ Chang Kat Kiam, the bank’s senior chief operating officer. “We provide both. The more you spend, the more you save.”
Citibank clients enjoy a wide range of lifestyle privileges including discounts on fine dining, shopping, wellness and beauty services, entertainment and travel. Points can be redeemed for more than 600 catalogue items across a broad range of categories including home, innovation, accessories and wellbeing.
Citi Rewards points can also be used to pay for products and services at some 1400 partner outlets which embrace categories from coffee to electronics and beauty products to petrol.
SPECIAL CAMPAIGNS
Card issuers also craft a variety of incentive campaigns to bring further benefits to cardholders for their loyalty, and also encourage new clients to sign up. Some recently-completed campaigns give an idea of the type of incentives that may be offered.
The Great Maybank Sale campaign ran until the end of September last year and invited all members to earn chances to buy premium branded items for as little as RM8.
Products on offer in the promotion included Buffalo Smart Cookers, Samsonite Asphere Spinner luggage, Smart Tag units with a Touch ’n Go card preloaded with RM700, and Samsung 40” Full HD Smart TVs, Galaxy Grand 2 smartphones and Galaxy Tab 4 tablets.
Depending on the products they chose to aim for, customers earned one chance in the promotion for every cumulative spending of RM100 or RM500. Monthly cumulative spending of RM1000, overseas transactions and the use of Maybank EzyPay earned extra chances in the promotion.
The bank also recently offered the first 1000 new cardholders a Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 camera if they charged more than RM500 to their card within a set period.
Citibank’s Tickets by the Minute 2 Campaign ran until October 15 last year and gave cardholders the chance to win prizes from among two Audi A3 sedans and 1000 sets of a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone and Galaxy Tab3 Lite tablet. Customers had to charge RM50 to their cards to earn a contest ticket. The more tickets held, the greater the chance of winning.
To encourage new cardholders to sign up, Public Bank’s Double Bonus campaign offered RM100 cash back for accumulated spending of RM1000 in a month and RM50 bonus cash back with spending in any of five different merchant categories.
Most merchant discounts and promotions are automatically available to all cardholders, but to participate in campaigns, customers may need to preregister by SMS. This helps card companies track the response to the campaign and means those choosing to participate have a higher chance of winning.
Source: Readers Digest
