Introduction

For more than a decade I have mentioned that FREE is the Best, especially when it comes to credit cards.

GenX’s quote:

“FREE IS THE BEST”

The above quote has been copied by many credit card bloggers and Youtubers without giving credit to me. However, over the years, I have come to accept the fact that many people will read my articles and learn from me but never give me any credit. Normal lah and eventually those who are self-centered, ungrateful, greedy and selfish people will be punished by the universe.

But for those of you, my grateful long time die hard followers (another quote of mine which several people will use to pretend that they are me), today I am going to teach you about 2 CIMB credit cards to compliment your Hong Leong Bank Visa Infinite (to earn Enrich Points only) and/or Maybank Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Platinum AMEX.

If you have yet to read my Comprehensive Tutorial On Credit Cards To Earn Enrich Points, please click here before you proceed so that you have a better understanding on how to optimize earning air miles with credit cards.

CIMB actually have another 2 Credit cards called Travel World MasterCard and Travel World Elite MasterCard that also earn you air miles; but these 2 said cards have annual fees which are only waived in full if you spend more than RM120K or RM240K. Moreover, today, these 2 said credit cards in this paragraph are a joke for Local Spending!!! Seriously, if one can spend more than RM100K per year locally, there are other Super Premier Credit Cards that are better.

So what I am telling you, my long time die hard followers, is that the FREE FOR LIFE CIMB Travel Platinum MasterCard is as good as the CIMB Travel World MasterCard or CIMB Travel World Elite MasterCard for LOCAL SPENDING!!

In respect to the above, because the CIMB Travel Platinum Credit Card is FREE FOR LIFE, you must have it! Why? Because (1) the moment you are unemployed for whatever reason, you may not be eligible for any new credit card from a card issuer which you do not hold a credit cards and (2) you will not be charged a sen for annual fee if you do not use the card (as for the RM25 SST, donate lah to the government so that they can provide services to the Rakyat).

CIMB Credit Card TnC

All my long time die hard followers know that we must always read the TnC for any credit card we are applying or we are holding. TnC also changes with time and therefore we must also read the latest announcements from the card issuers.

And there are two BIG difference between CIMB Credit Cards’ TnC compared to other card issuers:

1. if you forget to pay before the Due Date, you will not be entitled to any CIMB Bonus Points regardless if you spend RM10 or RM100K with your CIMB credit card! Below are part of CIMB Credit Card’s TnC.

The Bonus Points earned by the Credit Cardholder for the current month
statement will not be awarded to Credit Cardholder if the Credit Cardholder
fails to make the minimum payment due by the payment due date as stated in
the Credit Cardholder’s previous month statement

2. Autodebit transactions also do not earn any CIMB Bonus Points! And Autodebit includes Insurance Premiums!!! Once again below are part of CIMB credit card’s TnC.

“Auto billing transaction” means a payment facility that automatically charges the Cardholder’s bill payment(s) such as but not limited to utility(ies) and/or insurance/takaful to the Cardholder’s card as and when the payment(s) is due. Auto billing transaction is tagged with recurring payment indicator assigned to a merchant by Acquiring Bank”.

In respect to the above, please refer to Clause 4 (g) of CIMB Credit Card TnC (below is Clause 4 copied and paste here for your easy reference):

4. Retail spending transaction shall mean purchase transactions for goods and
   services including online purchases for goods and services incurred for
   personal consumption and not for business and shall not include betting or
   gaming or any investment transactions. For the avoidance of doubt the
   following transactions shall also not be treated as eligible retail spending
   transactions for the purposes of earning Bonus Points:-
   (a) Cash advances, cash withdrawals, cash deposits and/or betting or
   gaming transactions;
   (b) Retail transactions in respect of purchases of petrol, diesel and any other
   purchases made at the petrol kiosk;
   (c) Retail transactions which are disputed by the Cardholder;
   (d) Transactions made using prepaid credit balance which is the amount paid
   into the Cardholder’s credit card account minus any amount used on credit
   by the Cardholder. For example, if a Cardholder’s original credit limit is
   RM50,000 and he/she uses RM10,000 from the credit limit and then pays
   RM30,000 into the credit card account, the balance of RM20,000 paid
   (RM30,000 payment minus RM10,000 utilization) is the prepaid credit
   balance. If the same Cardholder does not use his/her credit card at all but
   pays RM20,000 into the credit card account, the RM20,000 is the prepaid
   credit balance;
   Member Rewards T&C Updated 18 September 2024 16
   (e) Payment of the annual fees or service charges, delivery charges, cash
   payments, card replacement fee, government service tax, dispute
   charges, fraud charges, interest/finance/profit charges/facility charges for
   CIMB Islamic Credit Card, cash advance fees, processing fees, or any
   other kind of fees and/or penalties whether imposed by CIMB or
   otherwise;
   (f) Instalment payment plan transactions;
   (g) Auto billing / direct debit / recurring transactions (not applicable to
   Merchant Credit Card and e Credit Card);
   (h) Payments to charity under designated MCC 8398-Charitable and social
   service organisations (not applicable to CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite-i
   Credit Card);
   (i) Any government related payments under designated MCC below: –
   9211 Court costs, including alimony and child support
   9222 Fines
   9223 Bail and bond payments
   9311 Tax payments
   9399 Government services
   9402 Postal services – government only
   9405 Intra-Government Purchases-Government only
   (j) JomPAY, FPX and/or Duitnow QR transactions.
   (k) E-wallet transaction under designated MCC 6540.
   

So from the above, besides auto-debit for Insurance Premiums and maybe even utility bills, CIMB Rewards Credit Cards also earn nothing from Petrol, Charity, Installment Plans and topping up eWallets. Take note and don’t be a fool like others who use their CIMB credit card for these said transactions (unless you get an email informing you that there is a promo, e.g. topping up eWallet).

So now that you know what transactions you should avoid with your CIMB credit cards and that you must settle the Statement Balance prior to the Due Date, I shall now begin your first lesson on CIMB Credit Cards.

Click here to Page 2 to learn about earning air miles with CIMB Credit Cards