Update of My Bank C's Cash Rebate Credit Card

Currently, I am having the cash rebate credit card from Bank C and Bank O. 

 

I just received my new Bank O's card in December 2013 for 1% rebate for whatever retail charges into the card.  I have been holding Bank C's for three years and it provides 5% rebate on petrol, 2% rebate on mobile phone bills & hypermarkets' shopping while only 0.3% rebate on other retail spending.  To optimize the rebate to be received, I have diverted other credit retail charges to Bank O's card to enjoy higher return.

	Spending	Bank C		Bank O		Optimize
		%	Rebate	%	Rebate	%	Rebate
Petrol	3,000	5.0%	150	1.0%	30	5.0%	150
Handphone	700	2.0%	14	1.0%	7	2.0%	14
Hypermarket	3,500	2.0%	70	1.0%	35	2.0%	70
Others	10,000	0.3%	30	1.0%	100	1.0%	100
Total	17,200	1.5%	264	1.0%	172	1.9%	334

As can be seen on the hypothetical spending shown above, after optimization, I shall be able to receive more than RM300 cash rebate per year.  The rebate is yet to consider annual fee and government service tax.

 

Today, I received my new Bank C's card as my existing card is going to expire soon.  As usual, I called up Bank C for annual fee waiver and they rejected my request this time.  Reason being there is no more annual fee waiver promotion for Bank C cash rebate card.  Without annual fee waiver, the picture of my cash rebate will be as follow:

	Spending	Bank C		Bank O		Optimize
		%	Rebate	%	Rebate	%	Rebate
Petrol	3,000	5.0%	150	1.0%	30	5.0%	150
Handphone	700	2.0%	14	1.0%	7	2.0%	14
Hypermarket	3,500	2.0%	70	1.0%	35	2.0%	70
Others	10,000	0.3%	30	1.0%	100	1.0%	100
Total	17,200	1.5%	264	1.0%	172	1.9%	334
- Annual Fee (Principal + Sub)			295		0		295
- Government Service Tax			75		75		150
Net Rebate Received			-106		97		-111

Wow, it looks pretty bad.  At the end of a year, I get nothing but have to top up some more.  Based on this scenario, my decision is very straight forward.  Cancel Bank C's card and divert all charges to Bank O's card which I will get:

	Spending	Bank C		Bank O		Optimize
		%	Rebate	%	Rebate	%	Rebate
Petrol	3,000	5.0%		1.0%	30	5.0%	30
Handphone	700	2.0%		1.0%	7	2.0%	7
Hypermarket	3,500	2.0%		1.0%	35	2.0%	35
Others	10,000	0.3%		1.0%	100	1.0%	100
Total	17,200	0.0%		1.0%	172	1.0%	172
- Annual Fee (Principal + Sub)					0		0
- Government Service Tax					75		75
Net Rebate Received			0		97		97

Yes, the rebate to be received will reduced substantially, but I shall still get back something in terms of "cash discount" rather than "cost up".  I understand that Bank O did provide spending incentive (retail charges over RM10,000 per year) to offset the tax previously.  Not sure whether it is still valid.  Anyhow, the table above is showing the worst case scenario.  Not a bad option after all.