New Credit Card - Citi Cash Back+

Saw the following promotion and definitely not passing out on free cash; 

    "Apple AirPods Pro or $350 cash (Citibank credit cards)"

And of course the catch is that you have to be a new-to-bank customer. I had a student clear visa card with Citi ages ago where I canceled last December since student card has limited perks and I wanted a new-to-bank perk. Seeing that it hit SGD350 cash bonus, I jump on it immediately. 

Rationale

The Card that I picked is Citi Cash Back+ which is a no frill, no cap 1.6% cashback card. Initially, I wanted to go after the Citi Cash Back card which gives 8% cashback on groceries/petrol and 6% on dining. However, such good cards usually come with frills such as minimum monthly spend of SGD800 and also cap of cashback at SGD80. This is a little troublesome for me to keep track tbh, thus I went for the no frill. 

Current Cards

My main card is still UOB One card, but I've been spending >SGD1k - <SGD2k which makes me give up quite a bit of cashback since UOB One card is by tier. Now I am keeping track to make sure I spend only around SGD1k on my UOB One card and the rest to the no frills card. 

Consideration

Another factor I considered was my monthly expense.. I projected and plan to spend less this year, ideally charging only <SGD2k monthly is an easily achievable goal but stretching it to <SGD1.5k charges to card. I had a good start with my UOB One card at around < SGD1.2k for Jan.. so another SGD800 on top of my UOB One card of SGD1k easily sustainable at least for now. I can always come back and reapply the cash back card when I see increment of my expenses. 

Cashback Versus Miles

Seeing that I no longer talk about miles.. can see that I am currently in the cashback camp against the miles although I started out in the miles camp. I just see that accumulation of such miles a bit of tedious work.. but I still maintain my DBS Altitude card where I will probably charge large cost items to. Cashback tbh is a quicker relief especially on daily expense.. and also I do think that I am happy flying normal economy class so let's see how it goes eventually. 

Rewards

Of course I picked the cash, hard cold SGD350 by just charging SGD200 to the card (easy-peasy), will post an update once I get the card and get the bonus! I am happy with my cheap Xiaomi wireless earphones for SGD20.. and for expensive ones I still have my over-ear Sony noise-cancelling one. 

I plan to cancel my Standard Chartered card soon to return as a new-to-bank customer in the future as well. 

What's your take on rinsing the new-to-bank bonuses on your non-main cards? I feel that it is still free money, so why not leverage on it. On that note, HSBC has one of the worst service ever, they denied my application without proper reasoning despite my credit score being the highest. #highlynotrecommended. 

Food Deal: Wok Hey

 If you're following me for a bit (although, I'm still new), you'll know that I love food and my expenses are usually towards food. While I try to eat affordable, I also don't limit my upside for yummy food. 

Starting another section under my blog, "Food Deal", on yummy food that I eat and also deals that come along! Wanted to start posting my food reviews.. but then again, who will be interested? Personally, also don't think I have that much time.. 

Anyway! Wok Hey! Was thinking of getting this for lunch but the queue is always a pain and to my joy, they actually have a proper website that allows you to order online for self pick-up.

But why is this on my deal feature? Because it saves you time! Kidding.. Apparently I might already be late to this.. but they have a Member Rewards system. 

5% Returning Voucher

Woot! 5%! But still, every cent saved is every cent that can be compounded. 

However, they're smart to limit the redemption to 30days after your transaction. 

Maybe share your food deal with me~ always love to save an additional cent! 

And do head over to their website and order away here. Btw, I am not affiliate to Wok Hey nor this is a sponsored post. I also don't get any referral, just sharing for everyone's joy!

New Credit Card - Maybank Platinum Visa Card

I am always on the hunt for a new credit card deal; satisfy the condition and get free cash.

Maybank Platinum Visa

Apply Now & Get S$100 Cash Credit

Terms as per their website, as long as you're a new to bank customer; register for a new Maybank Credit Card & CreditAble. You just have to charge SGD250 to your cards for 2 consecutive months and get SGD100 back. 

Why I picked this over other Maybank card? 

This supplements my UOB One card which I plan to spend SGD1,000 on it monthly, and my monthly credit card bills hover around SGD1,300~SGD2,200. Instead of the inconsistency of whether I can hit SGD2,000 on my UOB One, I rather just allocate SGD1,000 to it and charge the rest to my back-up cards. 

Maybank Platinum has upto 3.33% cash rebate as long as you charge a minimum of SGD300 every month for each quarter (3 months), and you'll get SGD30 back. For bigger spender, you can spend SGD1,000 every month for the whole quarter to get SGD100 back.. which doesn't really incentivize you to spend more with Maybank. 

However, concerns I have over this card is mainly if I can get the SGD100 if I don't use the CreditAble account which isn't stated very clearly in the terms and also when will I get the cash credit after 2 consecutive month spend. 

In addition, this card doesn't seem to work with my GPay even though you can use Paywave. 

Honestly, I'm only hopping around credit card deals to get the bonus and will cancel them eventually to return as a "new customer" again. On another note, HSBC rejected my credit application without quoting any valid reason, you can say good-bye to my pathetic business (but still business). 

What's your take on credit card deals? And I still believe best deals come from sites such as SingSaver/SingPromo where you get money/items above the bank promotions. Will be looking forward to hop back into Citi credit card and get some big cash or a new earphones for myself. 

Btw, if anyone is interested in the Maybank card mentioned, do check it out here (not a sponsored post).