Calculating CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum Mastercard and Maybank 2 Cards

Per my previous review, of when to best use the Maybank 2 Cards and pair it with the CIMB Cash Back Platinum Card, here are some further details if you want to get down to nitty-gritty. 

In essence you want to calculate how much an RM / a ringgit spent on your credit card gives you in return, so you can figure out the point or cash back system of the card. 

Firstly let's start with the Maybank 2 Cards. Note I am not considering the 5% cash back on weekends as I want to see what is the value to use your AMEX (not the Visa or Mastercard that comes along) on weekdays. You can redeem e.g. an AEON Big voucher of RM100 for 43,680 points. Since you get 5x points per RM, this normalizes to a spend of RM8,736. Basically from my maths, this equals to returns of RM0.0114 for every RM1 you spend. In percentage that translate for a return of 1.15%. Which in reality is not too bad. Remember this is for weekday spent, as weekend you get 5% cash back, so in reality weekend spend equals to 6.15% which is REALLY good as you get this for ALL things you spend with your AMEX.

 

So what's your take away from the above, to complement your Maybank AMEX for weekday spend, get a card that gives you best returns with a minimum or higher then 1.15% value per RM spent.

So what did I get? I got myself the CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum Mastercard. I never really considered this a strong contender for the 'complemantary' spot, but it has turned out to be a good card. I got the Cash Rebate card when I (long ago) cancelled my Direct Access Credit Card (yes if you recognize this card,  you are probably 33years old and above - hahah) which no longer had much benefits. The CIMB Cash Back Card has turned out to be quite handy, has good promotions from time to time (e.g. Agoda, Lazada and so on. 

Here is a summary of how the CIMB Cash Rebate Card comes in. 

As you can see, for Online spend, it is constantly good. Except for online airline tickets, as I THINK the insurance coverage is limited or non-existent. It delivers pretty well for Groceries and Petrol as well. What I like about the CIMB card (and Maybank Amex 2 Cards) is that there are no tricky terms and conditions to meet, like any minimum spend, any minimum transaction and so on, which is the case for many other cards that claim to offer equal or better cash backs but require you to jump through hoops to be eligible.

From the time to time promotion, CIMB hasn't failed to keep me happy, like the current Enjoy 25% off at www.zalora.com.my with an additional 5%* cash rebate and so on. Also decent deals with hotels. Another thing I noticed (if I'm correct) is CIMB offers up to a max of RM50 cash back for each card, so if I have one primary and one supplementary, we can max up to RM100 cash back.

Have fun, just don't overspend and make sure you settle your bills in full end of the month.
This is part of my Value Tips entry, for more value tips that will save you lots of RM $ click here.