How to be a smart credit card user? There is a good article with lots of valid points. It’s by someone whose articles I read every week. I think his articles are good and helps us to become better in financial management. Here’s that article in TheStar by Mark Reijman (co-founder and managing director of CompareHero.my) Mark gave us 10 points. Here’s one extra point to think about: Enjoy it. Little luxury before flight. Easier these days Yea, Premium Lounges in many airports including international ones provide the access to some food, drinks and relaxation before we fly, even if we are not buying a Business Class seat.
Another advice that I would personally give is NOT to hold too many different cards from different banks. I know, the rewards from each banks are different. However, we just to have to choose the one which is most applicable to us. The reason is because it is not easy to manage when we have too many cards and we may overspend simply because we have extra credits from another card that we have not used for some time. At this moment, I have credit cards from three banks and I am cancelling one soon. Even three seems too many for me currently. Perhaps one Visa and one Mastercard is enough. Some offers like buy one drink, free another drink or buy one movie ticket and get another movie ticket free? The only catch is that we need to DRINK more or WATCH more. Haha. Now imagine it’s THREE BANKS with 3 offers?
In his final point, Mark shared that we should not be blinded by ‘status’ cards. For example, platinum, gold etc. I beg to add a bit. As long as we follow his other 9 advice in the article, then for no.10, we should still get a premium card. The reason is because there are now many banks offering premium cards for FREE. (free annual fee) and yet the premium cards (usually known as Visa Infinite, World Mastercard or others) would offer more benefits to the user. I have given one example above (Premium Lounge access) but these premium cards usually also come with higher insurance coverage when we buy our flight tickets and even invitation to some exclusive events or offers which is usually FREE. Work harder, climb the corporate ladder and get one. It’s worth the effort, really. Do read his article in full again if you missed it just now.
written on 1 Oct 2017
Next suggested article: Stay strong. Shed the depreciating debts
