Where do you get this news ?

This is the quote from thestar.com.my at the time of writing

"* 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."

It stated all cards ... no mention about FFL cards only. Anyone doubting me can check out thestar.com.my.

Interesting on how this thread has suddenly 'liven' up.

Don't take the news negatively. Although I would admit that the public reacted negatively to this idea several years back when it was implemented, what was visible was how banks very going all out to make sure service levels were good. Customers suddenly became choosy coz they don't want to simply hold too many cards and banks have no choice but to make the customers happy all round. You have excellent CS, good products and attractive promotions abound.

And it was easier to do so back then coz you don't see people holding to an absurd amount of cards back then. Banks with bad cc products were quickly ignored by the public and the banks have no choice but to relook at their products and make it better.

One more thing ... we may the only country in this world doing this but seriously I have been to countries where credit card usage is just beyond control / living on credit. All it takes for the economy to go wrong and everyone's life just went topsy turvy - we should learn from that and avoid that scenario. Even at the expense of making a lot of people unhappy coz they have to cancel their credit cards.

Oh well ... I don't work for the banks. (Just a disclaimer)

This post has been edited by hye: Oct 23 2009, 10:36 PM

In Japan ciggies are wayyy overpriced but you still see smoking like nobody's business.

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Added on October 23, 2009, 10:38 pmI second ya. Even myself need to cut a few cards as well but I have been planning to do that so the news making it compelling for me to do so.

This post has been edited by hye: Oct 23 2009, 10:38 PM

Man ! I feel old coz suddenly everyone is asking me as reference to this era.
I'm actually amused by everyone's assumption on the service fee - the golden question ... did or did not the banks waive this fee?

The answer is NO with the exception of only 1 bank. (And it was not one of the local banks)
Here's the cc landscape back then .... no FFL cards, product range was limited (remember the problem with customers not wanting multiple cards?), crappy cc products were shunned by the public and I remember Citibank CS was very polite and attentive to your needs. And AMBank CS (remember they were nowhere on the cc map in Malaysia) ... were extra attentive, heck I remembered they spent 1 hour just attending and providing with all sort of advice!

To the notion that everyone thinks that banks will waive the service fee .... I'm neutral on that.
Probably they'll do it to their good customers and the rest they are better off cutting them. What will happen in this period is that not only consumers will hold less cards but will also spend less "credit" facility thus indirectly affecting the retailers who all this while enjoyed the consumers "credit" spending as well. I don't think banks will go against this directive on the service fee coz it's a political suicide if they don't but the option to waive (more like pay on behalf of the consumer to the govt) is always open. Then again ... waiving it for a lot of customers will cost a bomb coz they have to recoup this from the customer somehow and they have to give it like every year to the customer. Let's see, assuming the banks waive this off then the banks would need to make sure the customer spends at least RM2k before breaking even on the service fee waiver.

I disagree that Najib wants to make the service as one of the major revenues for the govt - I reiterate ... it is to discourage excessive credit to the consumer. It's the beginning of the long re-education drive to educate the public on respecting credit facility. Look at the recent economic crisis - it is a form of abuse on excessive credit but on a larger scale. I know some people will be upset about the service fee and thinks Najib wants money for BN/govt - grow up guys! (in 1997 ... google to see who was the Finance Minister who announced this move) Just to note - I'm neutral on politics, I'm just stating my personal opinion over what makes perfect sense. I can accept it if someone disagree with me and please accept my apologies as I have stated it without any malice to anyone.

What I think could happen in the time to come is that banks will refocus on growing the debit cards segment instead coz the merchant infrastructure is already there (i'm sure everyone will agree in 1997 there were less merchants in Malaysia accepting cc compared to now) - just capitalise on it lah. (There was no debit cards offerings back in 1997)

BTW ... there's 1 bank which currently rewards you for using their debit/ATM cards. (No prize for guessing who it is)

This post has been edited by hye: Oct 24 2009, 07:30 PM

Not really. Even back then when FFL cards have yet to exist in the market, you could still get your AF waived. It is just that most of the time the qualifier would be whether or not you have been using your card regularly and generously + paying it generously as well. (I didn't say payment in full but certainly not someone who pays only minimum every month) These days it is just so easy to get an AF waiver - it looks as if the banks are just eager to make their customer base numbers look good only.

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Added on October 25, 2009, 12:11 amThank you .... yes you are right. It is not about making money for the govt as the main angle is the education that it brings. It may be crude and not the best approach but enough to kick start a change.

This post has been edited by hye: Oct 25 2009, 12:15 AM

Let's look at it this way ... the official copy of the speech and the article in thestar stated that the RM50 service tax applies to all credit cards.
Even earlier on there was a statement from a banker in OCBC where he was concerned about this RM50 service fee - OCBC have no FFL cards you know.

RM 100 will be charged to you. The calculations for the service fee depends on how many primary cards you hold - even if you hold 10 cards but 1 combine limit, you'll be charged as per card (RM500) and not 1service fee. You don't have to pay as a supplementary card holder but your principal would need to bear it for you.

Since you bought it up ... yeah it can be a little confusing for this card. Likely by virtue of one of its feature as a credit card it will be imposed the service fee. However, I think freezing new applications was due to the over popularity of the card itself - the bank could have freaked out seeing how people were structuring their spending to be only on Fridays and maxed out the rebate quickly.

Hahahaha ...

When it was last implemented ... the service fee was charged @ the anniversary of the card. However ... that was then, so don't flame me if something else happen. Anyway, why bother taking the risk ? If you are able to cancel the card already then do so before the service fee get charged!

Please quote your source so that we could verify your claims. Your news is a little weird.

This post has been edited by hye: Oct 26 2009, 02:17 PM

I told you guys it could happen! I just smiled reading this thread readers reaction to the service tax.

It should be unaffected as the bank will migrate the points over - you'll lose your points if you cancel your card prior to redemption.

In today's TheStar, Najib already said that they won't review the fee so soon ... means they will go ahead with this plan coz it seems the gov needs the RM50 million! Gosh ! Gov got no money after years of public funds wastage and buying RM40k laptops. (I just need to rub it in)

This post has been edited by hye: Nov 1 2009, 09:20 AM

HLB isn't in my list of favorite banks as well and let's see how banks who normally fare low in the cc chain will react next to the massive card cancellation going on now in the industry.

Well we can expect banks to beef up the cc products and CS soon as they need to work harder to retain / obtain new customers now.
Cancelled 2 cards yesterday and received standard response ...
"Sir, can you please reconsider your decision to cancel the card ? We are still communicating with Bank Negara on the new guideline .... "

I said, "Whatever it is you are doing, nothing is firm yet. I would like to insist on my card termination". And the rest is history ....

I wanted to mention this as well but I did not want to sound racist or anything similar to that. (I'm all for interracial co-existance or better still marriage) Yeah ... even if the HLB staff could speak English, there are times where you will encounter broken English being spoken to you by their CS! It is in my strong opinion that the bank's image is being represented through it's front line staff and the bank should be careful on who they put in their front line, ask anyone from the hospitality industry.

HLB is not alone in this and other banks are equally guilty @ this. Just got a call (mistaken me for someone else) from Alliance bank this afternoon and the caller immediately irates me with poor customer interaction skills. Right from the beginning demands me to answer her questions .... eh I mean, you're the one who called me up - I think I should be the one asking questions. If anyone wants to benchmark then call up HSBC bank CS and then make a comparison to any other banks in Malaysia - you'll see what I mean with the high level of customer interaction skill that HSBC has that make others looks poor.

This post has been edited by hye: Nov 5 2009, 03:25 PM

Let's see whether banks will make an official announcement of the service tax. Until then, I will avoid speculations that banks will give the RM50 as a direct or indirect waiver. Coz anything can happen ... last time it was only UOB who did this several years back, now they are the first one (apparently based on the earlier post in this forum) who announced that they will not pay this tax on behalf of their customers .... their Premier Customers are not spared.

This post has been edited by hye: Nov 6 2009, 11:03 PM

I encounter this problem all the time and 9/10 times after asking the cashier to select the "credit" function then the transaction goes through. There are occasions that the merchant terminal does not support this card. Play the active role in asking the cashier to press / select the correct menu and you should be fine.

You can cancel this card but there are a lot of people out there who wants to apply this card but can't coz it is not available for new application anymore. I'm not advocating this card but you gotta admit, if you plan and time your purchases that 5% rebate on a Friday is pretty attractive and not to mention that 2% rebate on any other days.

This post has been edited by hye: Nov 7 2009, 10:41 PM

The quick answer is yes but it depends whether the petrol station terminal can process this card or not. I can tell you Shell No and Petronas is a Yes but it's always possible if you use the card inside instead of outside.

It's one of the reasons why I don't bother looking @ CIMB / DA cards anymore for quite a while already.

This post has been edited by hye: Nov 8 2009, 10:35 AM

SCB took the product out from it's cards list but the info is still accessible via a direct link.
No idea why SCB did that ... lucky they didn't cancel the product for existing card holders. You can give a call to SCB and see whether they will let you apply.

In most occasions no. Just make sure the termination is done via letter and faxed to the bank / cc card centre. If you do your termination @ the bank, high chance you'll be asked to surrender your card and they will cut it up for you.