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.