I am wondering if someone can help me out. I am in a unique position in the sense that I have a long term independent contract with my Malaysian employer. Because of the nature of the contract we've agreed not to pay EPF. I'm not planning to retire in Malaysia anyways.

I invoice them every month and get my wages credited to Maybank account. For this particular income, it is lower than LHDN's requirement for income tax so I don't pay any. My other income are offshore, so I don't pay income tax either.

My rental is paid for by my employer but the amount is deducted from the salary that is credited to my account. I just spoke to a Maybank rep who told me that when they check my bank activity, it doesn't qualify me for the card that I was enquiring for. So I told her I can get my employer to credit the full amount of my salary to my bank account for 3 months just to prove to them that my salary is above the minimum requirements for the card. Besides I have a service contract and payment slips that clearly states the full amount of my salary before my rental is deducted.

I can't read the rep's mind but by her tone, I can tell she has already disqualified me and she is just sending me the application forms to get me off the phone.

Are there any banks who would consider applications of people in my situation? I mostly freelance, so I have multiple sources of income but locally, my non-EPF and non-taxable income is credited after deducting my rental that is paid for by my employer. If need be, I can ask my employer to transfer me my full salary just for 3 - 6 months to prove to banks of my actual salary but do I really need to go through all that hassle? Why won't salary slips and service contracts be enough as proof of my disposable income?

I am wondering if anybody else is in my situation and how to go about applying for a credit card if we're stuck in our shoes?

This post has been edited by Tutter: Nov 12 2014, 06:42 PM

Thanks for reading my longish post.

By pledging with Fixed Deposit you mean? Does that better my chances of getting a CC?

Okie dokie.

Okay, last question, if you don't mind, because my friend just brought this up to me. He said that he also had a similar experience with Maybank's rep but it could be a language barrier thing. He said after getting his friend to speak with the rep in melei, problem solved.

The rep I spoke to had a melei sounding name but I spoke in English. When I had to repeat myself a couple of times, I tried to explain my situation in melei but when she noticed I was struggling, she spoke in English. So yah, I think chicken and ducks talking to each other would be laughing at us!

Can I just ask, if you're calling bank's customer service for enquiries, is it better to be speaking in melei? Any bank with non-melei speaking customer service? I am just worried my melei is not fluent enough to explain my income situation.

You don't say, ha-ha.

Big thank you to everyone who responded. You guys are superstars!