Dividend Magic

Saving and Investing towards Financial Independence in Malaysia

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Refund from TnG Card (Touch n Go) – Step by Step Guide

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Filed Under: Other, Financial/Life Hacks, Investment 0

This article will serve as a guide on how to get a refund from TnG card in 5 easy steps.

TnG Card FREE Replacement

Before moving on to getting your refunds, I’ve got a PSA here for those of you wanting to get your expiring TnG cards replaced for free. So apparently, 1 month before your TnG card is set to expire, you’re able to get a free replacement.

TnG Card free replacement 1 month

Based on the discussion found on Lowyat forum here in Nov 2024. Unsure if this works currently or if TnG will be discontinuing this but it is worth checking out.

Touch n Go – TnG Refund in 5 Easy Steps

How to Request a Refund from TnG Card (Touch 'n Go)

Today I learnt how you can request a refund from TnG card easily. Decided to figure out how to get back my funds as my IC and also one TnG card expired previously.
I’ll keep the post short.

Confirmed working as of 15 May 2024. I received my refund.

How to Request a Refund from TnG Card (Touch 'n Go)

Step 1 – TnG Refund Page

After getting hold of your TnG card’s serial number, you can head to their Refund page hERE.
Go ahead and Register. You’ll then be brought to this page hERE.

You’ll find your IC(s) listed here with its respective balance if you’ve ever reloaded and used your IC as TnG. Mine looks like this:

Step 2 – Find your TnG Card’s Serial Number

Before initiating the refund, ensure you have your TnG card’s serial number. This number is typically located on the back of your card. Alternatively, if you’ve registered your TnG card via the TnG eWallet app, you can retrieve the serial number there.

Step 3 – Link and Register Cards

Initially, you won’t see any of your TnG cards here, so please go ahead and register them. Look to the fields on your left and you’ll find Cards & Devices > Register Additional Card/Device.

Proceed to key in your card’s serial number.

Step 4 – Request Refund

With your card linked, you can now request a refund. Look to your left again and you’ll see Refunds > Refund Request.

Choose Card Termination as the Refund Request Type.

Then select the card you want to terminate and request a refund from. Reason: Expired Cards
Select how you’d like to receive your refund: Bank Transfer, DuitNow or TnG eWallet.

Step 5 – Done!

And you’re done! This is a pretty straightforward process. After submitting your request, the refund will be processed within 14 to 30 days. For lost or stolen cards, the refundable amount is based on the available balance at the time of the refund form submission.

Please be aware that your card will be terminated, so I only do this for expired ones to get the money out. I hope this helped!

Important Considerations:

  • Registered Users Only: Refunds are exclusively available for users who have registered their TnG cards on the portal.
  • Refund Methods: Ensure that the bank account details provided match the registered card owner’s information. Refunds to third-party accounts are not permitted. For non-Malaysian account holders, refunds over RM100 can be processed via Telegraphic Transfer (TT). Refunds to the TnG eWallet are only applicable for verified accounts.
  • Card Termination: Requesting a refund will result in the termination of the associated TnG card. It’s advisable to only proceed with this for expired or inactive cards.

For further assistance, you can contact Touch ‘n Go via:

In addition to this, you’ll be surprised to find that we still have credit cards that provide us with cashback here in Malaysia – namely the Affin Duo Visa Card. You can read more about the Best Credit Cards in Malaysia here.

Carsome Review – My Experience Buying and Selling My Car with Carsome

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Filed Under: FI/RE, Financial Independence, Financial/Life Hacks, Investment, Other, Travel, food and the finer things in life 9

This is my Carsome Review and my full experience of buying and subsequently selling my car with Carsome. I love cars and I’ve never bought a brand-new vehicle in my life. The car I just sold off was a 21-year-old BMW e46. I got the car back in 2013 and have been using it as my daily drive.

Carsome Review - Buying and selling BMW E46

The reason I had to let go of the car was the extremely high cost of maintenance. I had been consistently spending thousands of ringgit a year for part changes and enough was enough. This is why you shouldn’t ever keep an old continental car as your daily drive.

The options available to me were to sell the BMW and get another newer car or sell the BMW and use Grab. I decided on getting another vehicle as I actually like driving and after doing some simple calculations, owning my own car made more sense.

Carsome Review – Selling my Car to Carsome

I had been getting ads on Instagram from both Carsome and myTukar (now Carro) regularly by this time. Went car-browsing on both sites and spent hours sifting through them.

Some stuff to take note of, myTukar doesn’t accept cars over 20 years old. Carsome does.

Also, both of them gave me much higher prices compared to the local dealers you can find on Mudah. I predict a swift and timely death to 2nd hand car dealers all over Malaysia soon. They just can’t compete anymore.

So, took the plunge, sold my car to Carsome and got the best possible price (it was still a really shit price) and went browsing for my next car at Carsome.

Carsome Review – Buying a Used Car from Carsome.

For years now, I already knew the brand and car model I wanted (it is a hatchback). And that’s about as much as I’d like to disclose about my vehicle for now.

All I had to do was look out for one that had low mileage and was in good condition. I had already done my research on the car with all the known issues and what to look out for. There were only two real choices for me. The hatchback or the very compact and fuel-efficient Perodua Axia. Also a low mileage and good condition one of course.

I was in no rush to sell the car so I think I spent about a month or two just sifting through and browsing cars on Carsome and myTukar. I had about 6 tabs open on my browser every day on cars. The car I wanted came on sale in January on Carsome. It was the model I wanted and it had done about 50k in mileage. The same models were at 80-100k mileage and priced the same on sites like Mudah.

Made the call, went through the process and paid a refundable deposit of RM1,000 for the car. I had the salesperson bring the car over to KL all the way from Johor for a viewing.

Steps to Buying a Secondhand Car

Now I’m sure there are plenty of resources on buying secondhand cars online you can go through. Heck, some of you here may even be veterans and are better at it than I am. But here is what I did.

1. Inspection

One of the reasons I chose Carsome was for its inspection and checking system. There is a detailed report on the problems found on each car listed on their website.

Despite this, the very first thing I did was bring the car to a friend’s workshop and garage for a full inspection. Did an Onboard diagnostic (OBD) to make sure the car wasn’t tampered with. Paid RM150 for the inspection.

We checked for rust at the bottom and made sure no rust was found on the car’s mainframe. We noticed significant rust on the car’s front right absorber and mounting.

The salesperson from Carsome was a really good one and a friend of a friend. He agreed to have the car sent back to their workshop and to change the parts if there were issues found.

2. Test Driving

After waiting for about a week for the car parts to be fitted, I brought along a very kind friend who was a mechanic for the first viewing and test drive. Let him take the wheel and right off the bat, we heard weird sounds coming from the front whenever the car went over a speed bump.

And guess what? It was back to the workshop again! In total, I think I went for 3 test drives because of the sound from the front. Carsome changed: Absorbers, Mounting, Dust Covers, Bearing and even did the alignment for the wheels. At the end of 4 test drives over the span of a month, there was still some sound coming from the front over speed bumps but it was significantly less, I was already feeling really embarrassed for the back and forth and decided to just go ahead with the purchase. I decided that I would refit the parts on my own time later.

I think only companies like Carsome and myTukar will do this for you. If you’re purchasing from a secondhand car dealer, forget it.

3. Loan Application and Payment

I got the salesperson to submit my hire purchase application to a few different banks and settled on CIMB as they offered me the lowest rate at 3.1% for a 7-year loan. The loan came with a few conditions.

  1. Open a savings account with CIMB;
  2. Take the first year’s motor insurance with them; and
  3. Snatch Medz for one year.

Snatch Medz is a sort of life insurance where if I were to die or suffer a total disability, the loan would be paid off. This one cost me RM430 for the first year.

Used my credit card for the deposit, but had a problem increasing my credit limit with Maybank so I had to delay the purchase for another few days. Managed to get it settled eventually so a tip here is to get ahold of your bank earlier if you’ve already decided on the car. Get your points from the deposit! It is worth it.

Also, you may be interested to read about how long of a loan period you should go for, and what is a good way to look at car loans through a personal finance lens here.

Additional Stuff I Asked For

If you’re going to get a vehicle from Carsome or Carro (formerly myTukar), don’t forget to ask for additional freebies!

You can check out Carsome hERE.

Change all faulty parts!

Change in parts that were broken. As mentioned earlier, I got a lot of parts replaced. If you’re getting your car from a dealer like Carsome, you should do your inspection and ask for a change in faulty parts. Ask for everything!

Car plate number interchange

I got a discount for the exchange of my car plate number. I bought my own number through JPJ’s auction and had Carsome replace it at a discount. I think it was around RM200 cheaper to do it through their agent.

Promotions

Always remember to check what promos the dealer is having. It so happened that Carsome was having a TnG wallet promo and I asked for that.

They were also giving an RM1K discount if you sold your car to them and subsequently bought from them afterwards. I qualified for that and got RM1K off as well.

Petrol vouchers

And after getting everything sorted, I got my guy at Carsome to get me petrol vouchers! I got about RM300 worth of it.

End.

So I’ll most likely be using this car for at least another 10 years. Will be keeping it in good condition. I have still yet to buy a new car for myself. This article has taken a pretty sharp turn away from investing, but hey, buying a car costs money and making a good decision here is vital to investing too.

If you’re looking to sell or buy a car, head over to Carsome’s website. I’ve had a good experience with them. I can even get my salesperson to give you a call so drop me an email or a DM on Instagram.

Aaaaand, if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you would’ve noticed me posting pics of another vehicle occasionally. I invested in an old classic car and I’ll be posting much more about it soon!

Maybank 2 Cards Premier – Best Air-miles Card

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Filed Under: Travel, food and the finer things in life, Credit Cards, Other, Other Investments 15

There are two components to Maybank 2 Cards. You get a Visa / Mastercard and an American Express card. 2 cards.

The card we will want to focus on is the Amex card, as it gives 5x Treatspoints per RM1 spent whereas the Visa / Master gives 2x Treatspoints.

To keep it simple – You spend as much as you can with your Amex. The Visa / Master is the fallback card for places that don’t accept Amex.

You can check for the latest promos and register for Maybank cards hERE.

Cashback vs Air-miles

First off, if you’re new to the world of credit cards, allow me to explain. To me, credit cards for the first 10 years of my life were about cashback. I have since yesterday, switched to air-miles mode.

I’ve done the research, I’ve done the numbers. You get a better bang for your buck with the air-miles approach. A caveat: Your spending will need to be in the above the RM36K per annum range.

How to get Maybank 2 Cards Premier

Maybank recently revised the minimum income required for their Maybank 2 Cards Premier to RM100K per annum. Even if you don’t fulfill this requirement, I’ll tell you how you can still get them cards.

I was a little short on the income front. Maybank doesn’t care about your dividend income.

I spoke to my relationship manager in the bank and to my surprise, a simple FD pledge would allow me to get the Premier cards.

So, if you’re short on the income/salary front, talk to someone in the bank. This is not a foolproof method and it goes on a case-by-case basis.

Also to note, if you’re planning on getting the 2 Cards Premier, your existing Treatspoints cannot be carried over. This is because the redemption rate is much more favourable to the premier cards.

Maybank 2 Cards Premier Annual Fees

Now, one last thing before you jump on the premier card bandwagon. Apart from the RM25 mandatory fee from the government, the premier cards have an annual fee of RM800.

The cards are free for the first year. For subsequent years, you’ll need to have an annual spending of RM80,000 to get the fee waived.

You know I’m frugal and there’s no way I have that much of an annual spending every year.

My strategy for this? I am utilizing the 4 free supplementary cards provided by the cards. Combining the spending of all cards should get me to RM80K a year. And yes, Maybank allows you to total up the spending per annum of the principal and supplementary cardholders.

What’s in it for the supplementary cardholders? Well, they get the same 2x or 5x treatspoints as you, the same redemption rate for air miles. Basically, everything is the same for them as supplementary cardholders!

I’ve got the first year to test this out. We’ll see how it goes.
I do solemnly swear that the RM80K target will not cause me to spend more than I usually do.

Meantime, do follow me on Instagram and on Facebook for updates.

End.

As I’m writing this, I feel an unexplainable urge to go on a rampage on the benefits of a credit card. As opposed to cash and debit cards. Instead, I’ll keep myself controlled for now and have a long-ass article on it soon.

I know most of you reading this are masters and sifus at optimising your credit cards. Please do let me know if you have better cards out there to recommend for air-miles and cashback for other readers.

You can check for the latest promos and register for Maybank cards hERE.

BigPay Review – AirAsia’s e-wallet

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Filed Under: Financial Independence, Free Stuff, Other, Travel, food and the finer things in life 8

AirAsia Tony Fernandes

Tony Fernandes was quoted, saying ‘One day, Big Pay will be worth more than AirAsia‘.

I am excited about BigPay and I’m writing this post just as I received my card. Today.

 

Why BigPay?

BigPay

AirAsia BIG Points

Big Pay is by AirAsia, Malaysia’s favourite airline. You and I both know you’ll probably be on an AirAsia flight this year.

You’ll be receiving exclusive AirAsia benefits when you use your BigPay card with AirAsia such as:

1. RM0.00 payment processing fees

2. Discounts on pre-booked check-in luggage and in-flight meals

3. Exclusive early access to AirAsia sales

4. 1 BIG point when you top up RM50 and 1 BIG point for every RM20 spent on BigPay

In my opinion, the RM0 payment processing fee is reason enough to get BigPay.

 

The End of Long Queues for Foreign Currencies

For the serious travellers and not-so-serious ones out there, BigPay is god-sent. Why? Exchange rates.

BigPay touts itself as giving the ‘best’ rates out there, but to be frank, I’d call it competitive.

Queue at Mid Valley Foreign Exchange House
The queue at Mid Valley

Forget the long queues at your favourite foreign exchange outlets. Using BigPay, you’ll receive really competitive rates with no extra fees!

The rates Big Pay uses can be found at Mastercard’s website.

 

Convenience

All it takes is for you to top up your BigPay online, in Malaysia.

Travel abroad to your destination of choice, insert your card into any ATM in that country and voila – Watch the ATM spit out your cirsp foreign currency.

Withdrawals done in Malaysia will be subjected to a fee of RM6 per transaction & overseas withdrawals will be charged at RM10 per transaction.

Besides that, BigPay also allows you to send/receive money to and from friends. Instantly. No fees!

 

Analytics

BigPay also breaks down your expenditure on the app itself. Nifty for people wanting to keep track of their spending.

How to Sign Up for your BigPay Card

Detailed below is how to sign up for your BigPay Card.

Before we continue, remember this referral code: SPUXOYWAI5

You get a free RM10 (as do I) from signing up with the above code.

 

1. How do I get the BigPay app?

You can download BigPay for free directly from the App Store or Google Play Store to get started.

2. How do I sign up for BigPay?

All it takes are 3 easy steps to sign up for BigPay:

i. Fill in your basic personal details

ii. Verify your identity with your IC/passport and a selfie

iii. Add RM20 into your account

3. How much does it cost to sign up for BigPay?

Signing up and getting your card is completely free! You will need to add a minimum of RM20 that will be stored on your card for your usage. We don’t charge any inactivity fee either, so signing up & keeping your BigPay account does not cost you anything.

Using this referral code: SPUXOYWAI5

You get a free RM10 (as do I) from signing up with the above code.

End.

I foresee myself using BigPay long into the future.

Especially every time I travel.

So. Sign up. Get the free RM10 and whip that card/app out whenever you go abroad.

Also, the card is a beaut.

bigpay-airasia

A Review of Funding Societies – P2P Lending in Malaysia

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Filed Under: Investment, Other 20

Funding Societies – Let’s Finance!

So I’ve started investing in P2P financing/loans a few months ago via Funding Societies.

I decided to wait a couple of months before having this post up as I wanted to be sure of the returns as well as the credibility of the site.

And.. So far so good!

I’ve put up RM3,000 as initial capital and, after all the fees, I’ve gotten back RM66.73. My first investment was made on 29 November 2017. This gives me an annualized gain of 13.17% per annum, outperforming my Freedom Fund.

Of course, the risks of financing are higher compared to shares. I’d advise everyone to carefully go through the various businesses’ prospectus before jumping in. And as always, higher returns will mean higher risk on your part as a financier.

 

How does Funding Societies Work?

As an investor, you’ll first have to register an account. More info on signing up below

Once your account is activated, and you’ve deposited some money into your account, you’ll be able to begin financing small businesses in Malaysia.

You’ll typically receive email notifications when investment opportunities become available. Note that you may have to wait a bit for such an opportunity.

The next step is to then decide on the amount to invest, from as little as RM100.

From experience, you can expect to receive your first repayment a month after the funds have been disbursed to the SME.

The Risks

I feel it is important to delve more into the risk part of P2P financing, especially for us as investors.

Funding Societies do themselves vet through the various SME issuers through its rigorous and rigid scorecard-based risk assessment. The tenure of financing is also relatively short (between 1 to 12 months).

Default rates are currently at around 1.5% across the countries Funding Societies operate in – Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Good news though, Malaysia is, at the moment, default-free – 0%.

To further minimize your risk, I would recommend spreading your investments across different loan issuers, should anyone default. A simple example will be investing RM10,000 across 100 different deals. A 1.5% default rate will probably result in a default in 2 deals. Investors will still be able to generate returns from the remaining RM9,800.

 

Signing Up – RM50 BONUS

Signing up to be an Investor is a breeze. Just head over to Funding Societies, and all you need is your IC / passport number, an email, and your mobile number.

Additionally, you’ll receive a bonus RM50 when you sign up with my code j1mwa37p

The terms? You’ll just have to invest a collective amount of RM1,000.

Don’t worry, all the links provided here already has my code embeded.

Alternatively, you may click on this link Funding Societies.

A big thank you in advance!

Funding Societies - Sign up page
Funding Societies – Sign up page

 

Easy to Use Interface

The interface of Funding Societies has changed significantly compared to when I first joined. It is now much easier to get your annualized performance (no more calculating this on your own) and you get to view your net income, after expenses and fees easily.

Funding Societies Malaysia - Interface 1
Funding Societies Malaysia – Interface 1

 

Funding Societies Malaysia - Interface
Funding Societies Malaysia – Interface 2

 

Funding Societies Malaysia - Interface
Funding Societies Malaysia – Interface 3

Funding Societies – Conclusion

I expect great things from Funding Societies in the coming years.

Already they are the largest regional P2P financing platform in Southeast Asia, connecting creditworthy SMEs with retail, high net worth and institutional investors.

Funding Societies is recognized and regulated by Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia and has received various awards and recognition both regionally and globally, including making the prestigious Fintech 250 list and winning the Global SME Excellence Award from the United Nations’ ITU Telecom Unit.

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like lending money to businesses as a bank does, give Funding Societies a go. The business is self-sustaining and is based on the fees they receive from your loan payments. And the returns are commendable.

 

Update (24 Nov 2018)

My investment in Funding Societies so far stands at a cool 13.12%. It’s actually doing better than my share investments.

Also, thank you, everyone, for the referrals. You’re amazing.