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Best credit card conversion rate to Asiamiles (HK) - 2014 and prior

Old Nov 29, 2013, 8:45 pm
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Best credit card conversion rate to Asiamiles (HK) - 2014 and prior

Old Jan 19, 2012, 5:00 am
  #16  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: HKG/YVR/LAX
Programs: MPC GR, GC Jade, OZ DM, MVP GO, AA EXP, TK Elite, HH Diamond, Marriot Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 235
Question

Hey guys, I've noticed you guys seem to be using multiple credit card for different purchases and payments. I've just recently got my HK credit card (before I kept using my Canadian credit card every time I was in HK and finally got fed up with paying foreign charge fee) but I'm still a little confused as to how come you guys would need to split different purchases/payments to different cards?

Card that I'm using: 1. AMEX CX Elite 2. BEA Platinum Visa

I've been using my AMEX card the most for all my purchase and most of my bill payments. Only use the BEA at places that does not accept AMEX and to pay my utility gas and electricity bill (since the amex doesn't credit AM on those transaction)

Am I missing out on potentially gaining more AM by just using two credit cards? I'm trying to limit the amount of credit cards I keep in my wallet...
For Canada I only have 1 credit card that I put all purchases on since its $1 for 1 AM but HK seems to be a bit different and have more restrictions on certain transaction that won't be crediting AM.

Thanks for the help!
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Old Jan 19, 2012, 5:54 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by iscor3
I'm still a little confused as to how come you guys would need to split different purchases/payments to different cards?

Card that I'm using: 1. AMEX CX Elite 2. BEA Platinum Visa

I've been using my AMEX card the most for all my purchase and most of my bill payments. Only use the BEA at places that does not accept AMEX and to pay my utility gas and electricity bill (since the amex doesn't credit AM on those transaction)

Am I missing out on potentially gaining more AM by just using two credit cards? I'm trying to limit the amount of credit cards I keep in my wallet...
You're potentially missing out on the following (assuming you never had these cards before):

(I) Overseas: 33% more miles on Fubon Plat ($3/mile) over CX Elite ($4/mile)
(II) Designated travel agents (Lotus, Priceline, Zuji etc): 188% more miles on HSBC 5X* ($2.78/mile)
(III) Supermarket, Dept Store: 167% more miles on Citibank Rewards ($3/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(IV) Dining: 100% more miles on Shacom Plat ($4/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(V) Other spending: Either 100% more miles on WLB Unionpay ($4/mile) or 33% more miles on DBS Black or Fubon Plat at or over $300 on weekends ($6/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(VI) Bill payment (bills you usually pay through PPS - not the autopays I think you're doing with your CX Elite): 33% more miles on Fubon Plat at or over $300 on weekends ($6/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(VII) Octopus AAVS: 33% more miles on Bankcomm Diamond Unionpay over BEA ($8/mile)

*HSBC 5X $2.78/mile can also be applied to (I) Overseas, (III) Supermarket/Dept Store or (IV) Dining (non-hotel only) on enrolment (select one only).


Of course you incur more fees for each card you enrol:

Fubon Plat: $150 flat fee/redemption
Citibank Rewards: $50/5,000 miles (min $50)
Shacom Plat: $10/1,000 miles (min $100)
HSBC: $300 for unlimited redemptions in one year
WLB Unionpay: $50/5,000 miles (min $50)
Bankcomm Unionpay: $100 flat fee/redemption
(DBS Black has no fees)

You've got pretty good coverage with the BEA+CX Elite combo for earning miles. Whether you go for the higher earning cards depends on whether your spend will justify the fee you pay. E.g. for me, a higher-earning dining card really pays for itself.
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Old Jan 19, 2012, 11:22 am
  #18  
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i'd say, barring from purchase protection on the CX AMEX, CX/CX holiday bonus, and promotions that's only for "AMEX" (not from other banks, like DBS), the DBS AMEX trumps it on almost everything,...
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Old Jan 20, 2012, 5:09 am
  #19  
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HSBC Unionpay - Card issued ~22 Dec, spending target accomplished 24 Dec, 300RC received yesterday.
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Old Jan 20, 2012, 5:14 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by kaka
i'd say, barring from purchase protection on the CX AMEX, CX/CX holiday bonus, and promotions that's only for "AMEX" (not from other banks, like DBS), the DBS AMEX trumps it on almost everything,...
The CX Amex is for the Priority Pass, and the $1/mile welcome offer.

You don't use it afterward the welcome offer.

Okay maybe one exception - we need "clean" cards to trick Apple Store online that we've never purchased iPhone4S before. All the useless earn rate cards (Bankcomm Plat, BoC Plat, HSBC Gold) are becoming very useful these two months. They got to be capable of being processed online so Unionpay cards don't count. CX Elite is good for this.
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Old Jan 20, 2012, 5:32 am
  #21  
 
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HSBC Diamond CUP card - applied last Tuesday, received today.

Will use the card over the weekend and will probably get the Welcome Offer on the next statement cycle.
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Old Jan 21, 2012, 1:46 pm
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by kaka
i'd say, barring from purchase protection on the CX AMEX, CX/CX holiday bonus, and promotions that's only for "AMEX" (not from other banks, like DBS), the DBS AMEX trumps it on almost everything,...
Originally Posted by percysmith
You're potentially missing out on the following (assuming you never had these cards before):

(I) Overseas: 33% more miles on Fubon Plat ($3/mile) over CX Elite ($4/mile)
(II) Designated travel agents (Lotus, Priceline, Zuji etc): 188% more miles on HSBC 5X* ($2.78/mile)
(III) Supermarket, Dept Store: 167% more miles on Citibank Rewards ($3/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(IV) Dining: 100% more miles on Shacom Plat ($4/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(V) Other spending: Either 100% more miles on WLB Unionpay ($4/mile) or 33% more miles on DBS Black or Fubon Plat at or over $300 on weekends ($6/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(VI) Bill payment (bills you usually pay through PPS - not the autopays I think you're doing with your CX Elite): 33% more miles on Fubon Plat at or over $300 on weekends ($6/mile) over CX Elite or BEA ($8/mile)
(VII) Octopus AAVS: 33% more miles on Bankcomm Diamond Unionpay over BEA ($8/mile)

*HSBC 5X $2.78/mile can also be applied to (I) Overseas, (III) Supermarket/Dept Store or (IV) Dining (non-hotel only) on enrolment (select one only).


Of course you incur more fees for each card you enrol:

Fubon Plat: $150 flat fee/redemption
Citibank Rewards: $50/5,000 miles (min $50)
Shacom Plat: $10/1,000 miles (min $100)
HSBC: $300 for unlimited redemptions in one year
WLB Unionpay: $50/5,000 miles (min $50)
Bankcomm Unionpay: $100 flat fee/redemption
(DBS Black has no fees)

You've got pretty good coverage with the BEA+CX Elite combo for earning miles. Whether you go for the higher earning cards depends on whether your spend will justify the fee you pay. E.g. for me, a higher-earning dining card really pays for itself.
Thanks guys for your input~ I've applied for the DBS black since I think I will only use the CX Elite for ticket purchase now and just use DBS for everything else. And also a Standard Charter Titanium (just for the mastercard as back up. Yes I know there are not miles for this one but it looked fancy and only using this in case something happens to the visa/amex)
I don't know how you guys do it but keeping 3 credit cards in my wallet and other misc cards is already too much for me!
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Old Jan 22, 2012, 6:05 am
  #23  
 
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Welcome to HKG, where u have one card dedicated for one thing (eg: dining) and another card for other thing (eg: travel agents for tickets purchase
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Old Jan 22, 2012, 9:36 am
  #24  
 
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It would be great if someone designed a smartphone app to keep track of all these offers, so you could input which credit cards you have (i.e. CX Amex + Citibank Premiermiles + HSBC), and when you're in the queue for the cashier/getting the bill at a restaurant, you could check with the app what the best card is for racking up miles.

Surely there's a developer out there who can do that! Please!
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Old Jan 22, 2012, 6:03 pm
  #25  
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
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just for clarity regarding HSBC 5x reward cash ($2.78/mile) promo. The maximum limit is 100k HKD/year base spending on this promotion. I'd use HSBC all the time if they removed this cap but all my spending going back elsewhere.
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Old Jan 22, 2012, 6:35 pm
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by percysmith
HSBC Unionpay - Card issued ~22 Dec, spending target accomplished 24 Dec, 300RC received yesterday.
Did you find erratic bonus reward cash appearing on your HSBC CUP card? All my 3500 HKD spending was in HK as HKD, but for some of my spending it was registered as "overseas" spending (and I have 5x overseas promotion registered) such that I actually got a 5x bonus rewards as well for 2800 hkd worth of purchase.

I'm sure it's a system bug but I'm not going to ask HSBC why... I just want to figure out discreetly to how I got those extra bonus points and maybe continue to use CUP card for HKD spending at those merchants.
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Old Jan 23, 2012, 9:06 pm
  #27  
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Re fakecd - lucky u. I've heard of cases where ppl have been under-awarded 5x on HSBC Unionpay (household category) http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/forum_show.php?id=6379&p=1, your case is the first case of 5x over-awarding.

Then again HSBC is encountering a lot of issues with its Unionpay rollout, anything could happen.
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Old Jan 26, 2012, 8:30 pm
  #28  
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Macau - the good (Westin), the bad (Planet Payment!) and the beautiful (Global Paymnt

Quick summary of DCC in Macau, if you're going there and enjoying Visa card earn rate/discount offers:
  1. "Mark[x] Transaction Currency" may be safe (Westin Macau)
  2. But some banks are not (BNU/Planet Payment)
  3. Surprisingly, Global Payments is safe to use in Macau even if it's not in PRC and Taiwan

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...l#post17894974
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Old Jan 26, 2012, 10:50 pm
  #29  
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Bankcomm (Dual Currency) referral offers

Besides the normal Welcome offers (5000/4000AM for Diamond or Gold card holder), now there's a 1000AM/referral... and a 5000AM bonus for 5-9 referals or 20000AM bonus for 10 referrals. I've gotten the application form but it took them a while to find it at the branch (so far the form is not readily available in the branch or online)

I'm sure Percysmith or myself will be willing to refer you - PM us if you want some kick start.
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Old Jan 27, 2012, 1:28 am
  #30  
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Originally Posted by kaka
Besides the normal Welcome offers (5000/4000AM for Diamond or Gold card holder), now there's a 1000AM/referral... and a 5000AM bonus for 5-9 referals or 20000AM bonus for 10 referrals. I've gotten the application form but it took them a while to find it at the branch (so far the form is not readily available in the branch or online)

I'm sure Percysmith or myself will be willing to refer you - PM us if you want some kick start.
The offer T&C is here: http://www.bankcomm.com.hk/mediafile...f_11203_en.pdf
The form is here: http://www.bankcomm.com.hk/mediafile...f_11202_en.pdf
Hongkongcard.com also has a thread on this here http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...ow.php?id=6477

Full disclosure though - if new customers applied direct http://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/earn/...0007d21c39RCRD they will get 6,000AM...applying through this offer only gets them 5,000AM (referrer gets min 1,000AM, max 30,000AM).

The referrer must somehow compensate the new customer for the miles foregone by using the referral form.

kaka - I'm reading clause 10 of the T&C "10. Referrer choosing Asia Miles will get 1,000 Asia Miles for each successful Referee referred" - referrer earns the basic 1,000AM - my comprehension correct?

Last edited by percysmith; Jan 27, 2012 at 8:18 am
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