INTRODUCTION
If you are a long time follower of mine, you will know that yours truly, GenX GenY GenZ, is the one and only Credit Card Guru in Malaysia because I only present to you facts supported by calculations/proof and most important of all, I am not paid a sen when I stupidly promote a credit card for free and therefore I am unbiased.
And what I have taught all my followers including My Air Miles Disciples is not to be fooled by cards claiming to offer 8X or 10X Reward Points but one must do 2 things:
- Always determine how much you need to spend to earn 1 air mile – based on the conversion rate of a particulate credit card’s required reward points to 1000 air miles based on how many points you earn with every RM1 spent ; and
- Always read the TnC so that you will not be fooled by the salesperson or a friend or even a relative.
But if you lazy to do above items 1 and 2, then just follow my instructions to the dot on which credit card you need based on your spending pattern. Example, for dining the FREE For Life HLB VI to earn FREE Enrich Points and UOB Visa Infinite for overseas transactions to earn FREE KrisFlyer Miles or Asia Miles.
I have produced an article to tell my followers that UOB Visa Infinite is the best credit card for overseas transactions.
Once again, there are 3 versions of UOB Visa Infinite, i.e. Visa Infinite, Privilege Banking Visa Infinite and Metal Card Visa Infinite, where each has different conversion rate for UNIRinggit to Air Miles.
If you read my message at my Home Page, I have stated that I am moving on from credit cards where I intend to publish more articles about life because as I mentioned previously, cash back credit cards will not make your life any better and most of my followers have been taught what credit cards they are to hold based on their spending pattern.
Having said the above, I was shocked when I found out that my uncle and a good friends did not listened to me but instead to other people! Therefore I reckoned that there are many people out there too who have been fooled by others thinking that the CIMB Travel World Elite MasterCard is the best credit card for overseas because they are under the impression that they will earn so called 10X Bonus Points with every RM1 spent.
CIMB Travel World Elite MasterCard
When the CIMB Travel World Elite was first launched, the annual fee was waived for the 1st year, I did get it and told My Air Miles Disciples who are eligible how to get the card too without any documents.
However, before my CIMB Travel World Elite first year anniversary, CIMB changed the TnC for their Travel credit cards and had monthly Bonus Points capping for this and that categories, thus giving me a headache BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, it kind of made the card useless for me! So I cancel the CIMB Travel World Elite and I even mentioned it in this blog.
Case No.1
Months ago I had dinner with this person and he told me he has the CIMB Travel World Elite because he will earn 10X Bonus Points from overseas transactions. I told him forget about the CIMB Travel World Elite but use his FREE For Life UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite.
I had dinner with him this week and he complained to me that he only earned 100K CIMB Bonus Points from spending more than RM20K in Japan the previous month….. what this means is that he earned less than 5X CIMB Bonus Points per RM1 spent!!!
Case No.2
I told this person years ago to get the Maybank 2 Cards Premier and have not met him for years. Then last week he contacted me as he wanted to redeem his KrisFlyer miles. He then told me that he now has the CIMB Travel World Elite because his Insurance Agent told him that the CIMB Travel World Elite 10X Bonus Points is better than Maybank 2 Cards Premier….. well it may be true today BUT I told him that he should have asked me as he has been fooled by his Insurance Agent!!!
Cons of CIMB Travel World Elite MasterCard
- The CIMB Travel World Elite MasterCard is not FREE if you spend less than RM240K per year. However, there are ways to beg for annual fee waiver if you spend less than RM240K.
- ALL CIMB Credit Cards do not earn any Bonus Points from Recurring Payments which include Auto Debit!!! This is extremely important if you are lazy like me where I auto-debit my monthly insurance premiums. In the case, the UOB Visa Infinite is even better even though you only earn 1X UNIRM.
- ALL CIMB credit cards do not earn you Bonus Points for topping up eWallets! Once again in this case the UOB VI is better as you will earn 1X UNIRM.
- ALL CIMB credit cards only credit the Bonus Points after you make payment and if you if you forgot to make payment towards your CIMB credit card before the Due Date, the Bonus Points will be forfeited! As for the UOB Visa Infinite, the UNIRM earned is credited once transaction is posted.
- Last but not least, the air miles you can earn from CIMB TRavel Word Elite can be less than UOB Visa Infinite.
Conversion of CIMB Travel World Elite Bonus Points to Air Miles
As I mentioned earlier, always determine how many air miles you earn per RM1 spent.
Below is CIMB Bonus Points conversion to 5K air miles.
So from the above, we need 62.5K Bonus Points to convert to 5000 Enrich, that means it is equivalent to 12,500 Bonus Points = 1K Enrich Points.
You will earn:
- 10X Bonus Points1 on Overseas, Airlines* and Duty Free stores
- 2X Bonus Points1 on other local spend
- 1X Bonus Points1 on Local Education, Local Insurance and Local Utilities
Enrich Points
Based on the above, the number of points you can earn is based on the type of spending, below is how much you need to spend to earn 1 Enrich Point:
- 10X – you need to send RM1.25 to earn 1 Enrich Point;
- 2x – you need to send RM6.25 to earn 1 Enrich Point; and
- 1X – you need to; send RM12.50 to earn 1 Enrich Point.
KirsFlyer Miles or Asia Miles
Based on the above image by CIMB, one needs 75K CIMB Bonus Points to convert to 5K KrisFlyer Miles or Asia Miles. This works out to equivalent 15K CIMB Bonus Points = 1K Kf or AM. Therefore:
- 10X – you need to send RM1.50 to earn 1 KF or AM;
- 2x – you need to send RM7.50 to earn 1 KF or AM; and
- 1X – you need to; send RM15 to earn 1 KF.
WAIT, there is capping for the Bonus Points you can earn monthly are based on categories!
In respect to the above table:
For transaction related to Supermarket, Utilities, Professional Services, Automobile, Telecommunications, Insurance and Local Retail, the CIMB Travel World Elite MasterCard is totally useless as it only earns the card holder 1X or 2X Bonus Points. The smart person will use AMEX!
Which AMEX? Well if you have been reading my articles and earning less than RM200K per year, the best credit card for Local Spending is Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX Platinum where you can earn 1 KrisFlyer Mile for every RM2.50 and RM2 spent face to face or online respectively. With this card you will also earn KrisFlyer Miles for Petrol and TNB!!!
Of course there are those who do not read my articles and will say that AMEX is not welcome at most places, well it is their lost for having that mind set and therefore won’t benefit earning more air miles if they do not read my Credit Card 101 Tutorial.
Now the 10X CIMB Bonus Points for Airlines ticket may be good if AMEX is not welcome, BUt there is a cap of 50K CIMB Bonus Points per billing cycle. So the dam card is good for up to RM5K only for buying air tickets!
As for for overseas transactions with the CIMB TWE, the Bonus Points one can earn is lumped together under Retail spending where there is a cap of 100K CIMB Bonus Points per billing cycle. So if you had spent RM10K locally where you can get up to 20K CIMB Bonus Points, it only leaves you with RM8K Overseas spending!!!
Example, a person spends RM8K for AirAsia tickets where AMEX is not welcome), makan RM4K for Local spending and RM15K overseas, below is the total CIMB Bonus Points he/she will earn:
Air tickets RM8K x 10 = 80K Bonus Points BUT there is a cap of 50K Bonus Points.
Local spending RM5K x 2 + Overseas Spending RM15K x 10 = 160K BUT there is a cap of 100K.
In respect to the above, the person will only earn 150K CIMB Bonus Points which can be converted to 12K Enrich Points or 10K KrisFlyer Miles only.
If the same person was holding a HLB Visa Infinite, Maybank Singapore KrisFlyer AMEX and UOB Visa Infinite, he/she will earn the following air miles:
Air tickets costing RM8K using HLB VI since AMEX cannot be used = 2000 Enrich Points.
Makan RM1K using HLB VI = 1000 Enrich Points
RM4K Local Spending with Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX = 1.6K KrisFlyer Miles (assuming no Online where we can earn more).
RM15K overseas using UOB VI (non PB) = 12.5K KrisFlyer Miles or Asia Miles.
Total air miles = 17,1 air miles!!!! Actually with just the UOB Visa Infinite the person would have earned more air miles compared to using CIMB Travel Wolrd Elite MasterCard!!!
CONCLUSION
Always read the TnC of any credit card before applying!!!
Always determine how much you need to spend to earn 1 air mile.
The UOB Visa Infinite first year annual fee is waived and the subsequent years the annual fee is waived with RM50K spending versus CIMB Travel World Elite RM240K spending!!!
If you have the UOB Privilege Banking Visa infinite, it is FREE For Life and you will earn 20% more air miles compared to the normal UOB Visa Infinite.
As shown above, once again, you need to hold the right credit card based on your spending pattern.
So if you are new to my blog here and want to learn which credit cards are good based on your spending pattern, just google GenX GenY GenX + Best Credit Cars in Malaysia, Best Credit Cars for Enrich Points, Best Cash Back Credit Cards, Hong Leong Bank Visa Infinite Review, Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX Review and etc.
If you are my long term follower earning less than 200K per year, you will know that most FREE For Life credit cards are better than most Premium Credit Cards with annual fee. On the other hand,if you are a high network client of several banks, the only cards you need are UOB Metal Card and AMEX Platinum Charge Card (which was ranked the No.1 Best Credit Card in Malaysia for more than a decade by yours truly when I used to pulished my Ultimate Credit Card Showdowns).
GenX GenY GenZ 
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