Depends on your spending pattern. I always max out every month, so annual fee is very worth it. It is one of my highest yielding cards even after deducting annual fee, the first being Public Bank VS (after taking into account promo cashback).

However, if you're underutilising the card, depending on your chosen categories, you can adopt a different strategy. For example, if you chose groceries and utilities, you could buy vouchers and overpay utility bills in the last few months, then cancel and use the overpayments during the cooling off period.

Yes, you are right. I opted for utilities categories and pay all my TNB and Syabas via UOB Pay Online to get the 10%.

Most people with the Utilities category have signed up for UOB Pay Online account (its free), so you can split your TNB bills into RM50 amounts. You can also pay Syabas via UOB Pay Online.

The service is pretty quick and reliable, and does not charge any convenience fee (unlike POS Malaysia which charges 2% + GST).

If you're new to HLB Wise, some general tips below:

- Ensure your 10 swipes are done generally 3-4 working days before end of the calendar month. For me, I swipe RM50 x 10 for TNB Bills and Digi / Maxis (via UOB Pay Online) on the day right after my statement date (which is 3rd of the month) via UOB Pay Online. This maximises my cash flow, as I only have to pay on the 23rd of the following month, plus it guarantees my 10% eligibility. I then have RM500 to play with for my other categories.

- A good thing about UOB Pay Online is that it allows you to set up future payments, up to 2 weeks in advance.

- HLB Wise rounding system means you can technically get more than 10% effective cashback (i.e. RM100 for spending RM985) by ensuring you spend an amount ending in RM5 for EACH of your 3 categories (i.e. mobile, plus your 2 chosen categories). For example, my typical monthly spending looks like this:

1. Mobile - RM185

2. Utilities - RM365

3. Dining - RM435 (or as near as possible to RM985 minus categories 1 and 2)

I keep an Excel spreadsheet every month to maximise cashback

- Look out for HLB CC promotions, sometimes they are quite good. For example, there have been a few rounds of 30% weekend dining cashback promos, where you swipe 3x (any amount) during weekdays and stand a chance to get 30% on weekend dining (first come first served, so use for breakfast / lunch to increase chances). During those promos, I used UOB Pay Online to create 3 advance payments of RM0.10 to TNB every Monday just in case I used my card for dining on the weekend. If lucky, I get the 10% standard cashback for dining plus the 30% promo cashback. Win win.

Wow. Major blow to me. Will cancel this card before my December annual fee kicks in. The RM2,000 requirement is very high, especially since there are other cashback cards out there which I will utilise first.

Wise card.

This thread covers most of the main ones https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1798403

I use Maybank VS, which gives me 5% everyday. But annual fee is very high and I'll cancel if I can't meet the RM50k annual spending requirement.

May move to Maybank Ikwan, which is free, but cashback only if pump on Friday and Saturday.

If annual fees can really be waived then I may still retain the card and just shift my condo management fees (1400 per month) to Wise since they hardly earn me cashback. Currently using HLB Fortune for those and only earning 1%. HLB Fortune also requires RM2k per month minimum and excludes Pos Online and govt transactions.

Yes, but it's the RM2000 minimum per month that's hard to fulfil. If you fall short, then you lose all cashback.

Thinking out loud on strategy for new T&C:

1. Swipe RM980 at POS Online (to pay AEON Credit), pay RM20 convenience fee

2. Then if If I swipe RM1,000 per month on WISE chosen categories, get RM100

Total spend is RM2,000, net cashback received is RM80 (i.e. 4% return). Plus, there's the benefit of delaying AEON Credit payment by 1 month.

If annual fee can be waived, then this is still fairly competitive since the highest cashback cards are only around 5% (max 6% for PBB VS).

Haha, I remember those good old days! You are very brave to overpay so much especially since not guaranteed CB.

For HLB Wise, I'm going to overpay one more month (October) under the new system, receive my cashback in Nov, and then cancel before Dec annual fee.

Will transfer my Wise spending to HLB Fortune since its 1% for everything except govt. Easier to monitor, but lower return.

Another potential substitute if cannot hit VS minimum income requirements could be HSBC Amanah M Power Platinum. I hold this card and hardly ever use it, but I think features are as follows

- 0.2% on all local spend
- 2% everyday on petrol and groceries (if total monthly spend is below 2k)
- 8% everyday on petrol and groceries (if above 2k)

The 2k requirement is similar to Wise, but at least you get something if cannot achieve. And 0.2% on the other spend is better than 0.

Just to share more info I just got from CS about the new Wise terms:

1. My annual fee is due in Dec. I asked if it would be charged per normal or if waiver is possible. They said no waiver and if I don't want to pay, then better don't use card near the anniversary date. Guess I'm not as lucky as others .

2. The 2k retail spend covers almost everything except those specifically listed. From 1 August, HLB cards (including my Fortune) changed terms such that government and Jompay are excluded from receiving cashback. However, this exclusion does not apply to Wise 2k retail spend criteria. So, if you spend 1k on Wise categories and 1k on government (including DBKL, LHDN, MPPJ etc) it will fulfil the 2k criteria.

On related note, Pos Online MCC is 9402 (government). Because of this, I did not qualify for cashback on my Fortune card in a August.

Darn, you're in the same boat as me with their strict no-waiver approach.

Hope things will work out when you do your cancellation. I'm so relieved that my AF only due in December. Less headache now that new T&Cs have kicked in.

Yes - This is marked as Grocery MCC and you should get the 10% cashback.

Yes I've tried this before - to my HLB Fortune, HLB CASA and MBB CASA (long ago before I had HLB). Takes 3-5 working days from making the call. But on average 3 days.

Just a heads up if anyone is thinking of cancelling WISE card due to T&C changes. I was randomly reading Standard Chartered thread (currently don't own SCB card, but was bored) and saw they have a RM300 acquisition programme (until 31 Sept - have to search a little to find it) as well as a RM50 + Free TNG (through Ringgitplus). Only eligible for one of the campaigns, not both, depending which channel you apply through.

I applied directly to SCB for the RM300 programme on Friday, for the Gold Cashback Mastercard. Hope my application gets approved within the campaign deadilne, and that it will be a semi-replacement for some of my Wise spending.

I know this is WISE discussion, so head over to the SCB thread if you want to know more. Just thought it could be a substitute worth considering.

Me too. I offered to pay my dad's condo management fee via credit card next month just to use the "no cashback" RM1000 quota haha. My other spending tied up with Fortune card, because also need to spend RM2000 to trigger the 1% cashback, so all my regular monthly expenses stuck there.

I phone various officers about this issue, whether Government is counted as part of RM2000 and they said yes, definitely.

For me I am paying RM1000 Aeon CC through Pos Online so that's why I wanted to confirm with various officers because I don't trust just one.

Anyway, everyone has been very consistent in their answers. So it is fairly safe.

https://www.hlb.com.my/main/news/20160525-0...-rewards-points

Effective 16 June 2016, please be informed that all Government and JomPAY related transactions performed via any Hong Leong Credit Card, shall be excluded from the computation of Rewards Points and awarding of Cash Back.

Yes can overpay, and can also transfer overpayment out into your CASA, even if not HLB. Just need to call CS and no charges.

I do this quite frequently.