@vin_ann,
Yeah but still... *iSh* and i'm still trying to get over the bad Budget 2010. Nothing seems to haf come up well yet; RM9000 personal subsidy is not considered great and dropping income tax brackets from 27% to 26% will only affect the super rich, not the average income earners like us *siGh*

The t&c stated valid for all amex


***From 1/1/2010 RM50 would be charge to each credit card. 5 cards = RM250 to the government

@SeanChang,
Check if it applies to Charge Cards like Diner's & the classic Amex

* To promote prudent spending, a service charge of RM50 a year to be imposed on each principal credit card and charge card; and RM25 a year on each supplementary card, effective from Jan 1, 2010.

@tengcm,
Might I know the source of that? It states Charge Cards too! And implementing a Service Charge on Credit & Charge cards aren't going to make us more prudent, IMHO.

People who are owing the banks $ from not paying their bills will just have to pay more now because there's no way they can cancel their cards. Likewise, it's also applicable to those who's signed on with installment plans on their CCs.

For Amex Gold Credit Card, its state Free for life, no annual fee. but i know bank have the right to change the rules to follow government rules...

hmmm weekend, if i go to 1U, going to Amex counter and ask, giving them a hard time... haha...

okok. thanks.

He got it from Star online.



I second that ! What were they thinking

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Oct 23 2009, 07:42 PM

@vin_ann,
Annual Fees & Service Fees are different fees altogether. Just like U want to purchase a car, u need to pay for insurance + roadtax; they're separate.

And like I'm trying to tell the other forummers over at the CC thread, don't get too excited over this. The banks will need to formulate strategies to see what their next steps are before they can even combat the CC market. If this policy kicks off it's going to be even more competitive because people will think twice before they put in an application for a card, even if it's free.

This is similar to the Service Fee for the ATM cards.

AMEX will need to buckle up real fast. With this, people will start cancelling cards soon, and I believe the majority will hold on to at least one of their Visa and MC, do to their wide acceptance.

@spikey2506,
Yes.. with Amex gaining popularity in their market, I really am keen to see what they're going to do to keep users; and as u've put it, us Malaysians really can't use Amex as our primary card since it's not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard.

Please dont cancel it for Longiness watch and expansive bag gift...after Feb cancel

This post has been edited by arsenal: Oct 23 2009, 08:24 PM

Yeah unfortunately Amex will be rather badly hit, since ppl consolidating their cards will look to cancel their charge cards in particular as it's not as widely accepted.

To top that up, their recent heavy campaigning of the free for life Amex Gold CC is gonna go to dust.

What are you guys planning to do? (assuming no banks come up with response) I'll keep my charge card, and probably 2 other credit cards max.

I probably will switch back to debit card only as my annual spending is not high enough to absorb the service fee at the moment

After all the obstacles gone thru, now I'm thinking whether should I call and ask them to stop processing my AMEX application..

Service fee is RM50. If each RM spent with an Amex is worth about 1 cent (since we get 2 points per RM spent), we'll need an expenditure of RM5k to cover it.

Seriously, considering the low acceptability of Amex, retail doesn't seem like a good ground for them anymore (despite recent efforts). Lots of ppl are gonna cancel it. They'll probably have to refocus on getting their corporate ones out.

And yea, suddenly Maybank's new MasterCard Platinum Debit Card doesn't seem like a bad option at all.

I think I will redeem all my MR points or convert them to cash rebates soon, before I plan to terminate my Amex by December.

Also, I have to forgo the Longines timepiece, as it looks like I will stop my BIG purchase plan next month.

@arsenal,
You're right ! I totally forgot all about that promotion

@ellimist,
RM5k is not tough to spend on the Amex card lah, seriously.

@winner,
See.. at least this new budget oredi helped U save some $

@tinker
Yeah, didn't say it was hard, was just an observation of how much needs to be spent =p

The 2nd part was in reference to ppl consolidating their cards. Especially for ppl who want to have like 1 single card, they'll probably ditch Amex for a visa or mc since the latter ones are more widely accepted.

@ellimist,
Yup you're right. I used to haf only Citibank until about a year or two ago. And since then I've moved onto using Amex. I'm v happy with Amex and with this implementation it's going to be difficult for me to just keep to 1 card *siGh*

needs to figure out what to redeem from Citibank. Still haf about 200k+ points and about 500k+ points on Amex

@tinker
Same here, I doubt I'll be keeping just 1 card. Like you, I'm happy with my Amex, and don't want to lose it. But at the same time, there is a need for the MC/Visa for acceptability.

Or if I really decide to keep just the Amex, I'll probably have to switch over to Debit cards, meh