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Friday, May 27, 2005

Which credit card to kill?

I have collected more than necessary credit cards. It is time I perform a financial due diligence and rationalise my accounts. Let's see... *opens my card wallet*, I have the following cards:

1) Maybank Gold Visa - since 1996
2) Citibank Gold Visa - since 2004
3) Direct Access Gold MasterCard - since 2003
4) Ikea Friends/Alliance Visa Card - since 2003

In between, I remembered cancelling AMEX and StanChart Mastercard before. Let's take a look at some other facts before I come to a decision:
  1. I have my annual fee waived by Citibank (3 years), Direct Access (lifetime free!) and Alliance (5 years).
  2. My main savings and checking accounts are with Maybank
  3. I shop at least once a quarter at Ikea (yup, me house looks like an Ikea showroom)
  4. Most of my insurance direct debits are with Maybank Visa
  5. I am a frequent user of Maybank2u.com and CitibankOnline
  6. Direct Access gives me a free-for-life of annual fee, provided that I am still a member of a professional body
  7. To me, Maybank cards point redemption SUCKS! One just have to compare with the other cards gift points or just compare with Maybank card gift points of 5 years ago.
  8. Maybank cards give me the best interest free instalment payment schemes as compared to Citibank
  9. Maybank card gives me the highest credit line, but Citibank has recently matched that.
So, which should I cancel? ....Maybank card it is.

Why? Coz of nos. 1 and 7 above. So what if the credit line is high? One should not purchase things on credit and become a bankcrupt (as reported by BNM). Instalment payments? Hey, that's a big trap! Enticing it is, but leads to the financial dark side it does.... (sorry, Star Wars fever, hehe)

My Maybank card's annual fee will be due soon. I should hurry to change all the direct debits asap and redeem whatever miserable gift I can from their "Treats Points". From now on, Direct Access Mastercard shall be primarily used for direct debits, Ikea Visa for petrol and Ikea purchases and all others with the Citibank Visa.

There, down to 3 cards. Woohoo!

Belacan says... "Bye-bye Maybank Visa. It was good while it lasted but now you SUCK!"

22 comments:

mystic said...

Belacan, I used to have lots of cards too but cancelled them after the free first year annual fees and also for financial reasons. Now I only have 2 miserable cards from HSBC-visa & mastercard.:(

Ghostbird said...

Wait till the banks merge again, and soon you might find your existing credit card becomes a Maybank credit card again .MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! The dark side rules again.

fishtail said...

Me, loyal to my Stanchart Visa since Day 1 of my working career. Too loyal to change. Been refusing to accept every other card ... until last week when SSB offered a traveling bag with their Direct Access (lifetime free).

Anonymous said...

Shitty Bank point redemption award choices have gone down hill steadily over the years. I'll cancel my cards when the free-annual-fee years are up and switch to Direct Access.

Anonymous said...

Kill Direct Access also! More cards more debt! 2 cards easier to manage ;)

Keep only IkeaAlliance & Citibank.

S.U.E said...

I only have 2 cards. Never thot of getting more despite all the offer. Why do I need so much anyway. Still, I'm thinking of cancelling one but everytime I called to cancel, they'll reduce my annual fee. This year, I got 75% discount. So how?

So accept lah just in case I need to use it. Sometime the other card can't get thru or anything like that. It has served its purpose too. Not going to tell which card I got the discount hehehe... Or else everyone ask for discount then cannot get oredi :)

Anonymous said...

sedihnya aku. my mother just stopped my father from giving me a credit card.

so now i still carry (a few pieces of) ringgit notes. Sniff. It sucks to be a student. Sometimes.

5xmom.com said...

I have only one. Malaysian Institute of Accountants! (chewah, ada gaya, ada title) and UOB Mastercard gold. Only one. Sometimes, high credit line is useful when you travel overseas.

gutsygal said...

aiyah EON bank free for life aso lah...juz need to spend first month RM200 in n then whole year more than RM1k or sumthin lidat then can dy..
n i tell u a secret...standard chartered bank actually no need to pay annual fee wan if u r loyal cardholder...juz say u wanna waiver n then send a stupid official letter then can dy...they only need the letter coz they r international bank kenot simply automatic waive for u... ^_^ shhh...dun let ppl know i tell u de ah... =P

dizzyguy73 said...

The more cards u keep, the more debts u have! Cards motto "Spent 1st squeeze your pay cheque later". So just keep one card & u can squeeze something else ;) hehehe

Ms One Boobie said...

I hate credit cards.. they are evil..! But now i only have sup cards from MrT .. so i donch mind lah..! the more the merrier.. but i only got like 3 sup cards.. not all.. :)
Oh well.. i never use them either.. so why i bother i donch know. :)

sqkiki said...

GREAT!! really great to heard someone wanna cancel Maybank credit card oso..recently I very tulan with their service liao..Suddenly suspended my old card without inform me..coz they said all old card will replace by new chip card which oledi courier out wan..#&*^@$...I never received their new card ler..not even a letter to inform me the issue of new card..I decided to cancel it oso lah..after redempt all my point lah...

yalor..u can get the better offer at their new hotspot redemption center wor..lesser point to redeem gift ler..I went there liao..and redeem a Fisher Price musicals activities table for SQ liao..hehe

fishtail said...

Thanks Mushroom, for the tip on Stanchart Bank. Yep, I should write them a letter and ask for waiver :)

Yoong Family said...

i used maybank exclusively for many years, until i got hit with these internet charges not by me. It took them months to settle it, and i was quite pissed off by their attitude. So i then changed to Citibank. Those days it was quite decent, now they're slackening and getting arrogant...

shidah said...

yuhooo....your wallet sebijik mcm my hubby le... do all accountant & sewaktu dengannya like that aaa???
bet direct access tu, is ACCA member's punya ka? as for maybank card - my hubby always get the fee waived by giving them a call & bising2....

Primrose said...

Maybank sucks big time. Their monthly statements are so confusing. I'm pro-Citibank though. One visa and one mastercard. Enough lah!

lucia said...

this poor little blogger here has no credit card at all. yep, my salary doesn't qualify me for a credit card. yep, i'm that poor.:(
donations anyone? :)

MooPig said...

My parents use Direct Access cos it's free!! (And I got one too but hardly use- it's for emergency) we get to redeem quite a lot of stuffs too! My Polo hand luggage is free (in a way) thanks to the points! :P

Buaya69 said...

Mystic: hey, you r my role model ler. i want to eventually cut down to visa and master only too, but from 2 diff banks lar.

sexymama: hahaha! we'll cross the bridge when we come to that ;)

fishtail: aik? me anti-SCB pulak. hahaha!

momof2: yes, DA good. gift points also among the best, but i find them costing a bit more points than the other banks.

Skay: eventually, but more likely to kill IkeaAlliance card when the 5 years annual fee waiver is up

Buaya69 said...

sunflower: hmmm, maybe i can use your idea on maybank. muahahahar!

jayelle: hehe, smart mom. *grinz*

Lilian: oi! that sounds like 2 cards ler ;)

mushroom: thanks for the info. ahem,, shittybank sama juga ;)

dizzyguy73: *ahem* needs two hands, right?

MrsT: you mean Mr T has more than 3 cards? fuiyouh!

Msau: hehe, we sama geng wan. i just redeemed a sony clock radio for the room.

simon: i totally, 100%, setuju with you. ;)

shidah: wahlaueh! double standard by Maybank. I called before and asked for waiver but mereka tak layan me pun. more reasons for me to cancel maybank card. *merajuk* ;)

primrose: their stmt is better now after they changed the format a year ago. but yah, I still wanna cancel my maybank card. muahahahar!

lucia: count your blessings. less one evil of the world ;)

eileen: ya, DA has nice giftpoints. as i use my cards often (lazy to bring cash), thus giftpoints are quite important to me. ;)

Dennis Mai said...

Credit cards are like cell phones here in the U.S., every person and their grandma's have them. Starting from 1st year of college, students are bombarded with credit card offerings. Problem is, these kids max out their cards and get charged 20% interest.

Buaya69 said...

dennis: so that's why their bank's profit results are so good ;)

Twinsmom: the force is with you.. ;)