Best CX credit card ?
 

Hey guys

I'm with *A, and mostly flying United Airlines, but there are many destinations I want to travel to, but *A carriers can not take me there. So I'm thinking of getting a stauts from a OneWorld carrier, now my choices are narrowed down to AA and CX, I prefer going with CX, because I feel the asian bond and I will live in Asia for most of my life. Plus Asian Miles are very close to CX Macro Polo Club.

I got some questions for you guys:

1) Internationally, what's the best credit card associated with CX Macro Polo Club? Which one is the best rewarding and brings you the most benefits?

2) If I join Macro Polo Club with my asian miles attached to it, would it expire if I don't fly enough CX within a year, or a certain period?


Thanks ! Any answer, reply is greatly appreciated !! ^

2) Every point you earn with Asia Miles has an expiration time attached with, and not related with your flying pattern (unlike AA)

I just want to rekindle this thread.

With Amex going 15 points to 1 mile instead of the previous 12, Amex is now pretty terrible value for miles. I'm thinking about cancelling my Platinum Card because below $160,000 spending per year with the Turbo programme I get 1 mile for $7.5. Above $160,000 spending its even worse with only 1 mile for every $15. Yeah they have some 5X and 10X rewards shops but I don't shop at those places. Most (or all?) of the hotel food benefits I get are duplicated by my HSBC Visa Plat or Premier Mastercard.

Why pay $5,500 per year for that rate when I get $8 for 1 mile for free from CX Amex for standard local spending.

It seems that SCB Amex is marginally better than CX Amex but even that has been devalued because of the conversion rate change (though maybe still better than CX overall, what do people think)? Also, what does the SCB Amex cost in annual fees?

What's the best rate available for those who spend most of their money in HK$ locally? I'm talking about a permanent conversion rate, not an introductory offer that disappears after a few months.

What are you guys out there using to maximise your CC spending miles?

I hold a HSBC Premier Mastercard, a CitiPremier Miles Visa, and a CX Amex. The Amex and Citi both give 1AM/$8 for local spending as the base position. The HSBC is 1AM/$15. My spending tends to get spread around depending on the promos in place.

At the moment HSBC is offering me a $1/38 cash-back on spending at major HK retail outlets (Wellcome/PnS/Mannings/etc) so that's where those go just because 2.5% cash back is better than any miles deal. Everything else is going to Citi because they have a targetted promo at the moment which offers me slightly better miles on a tiered basis depending on a personalised spending target, but even without that it would be my default card because there is no expiry on the miles whereas the Amex transfers automatically and hence immediately goes into the AM 3-year expiry. The exception to that is in the case of travel or major purchases where I value the insurance then I try to use the Amex if possible. The Amex remains free because I am CX Silver. The other exceptions are where the card offers a significant discount in dining or other establishments - then that card gets used regardless of the miles impact.

At the moment, I am still using my SCB Amex Card simply because of the still-hard-to-beat 6x bonus points when you use it for overseas transactions and selected travel agents in HKG. I bought many tickets from that particular TA with the SCB Amex card because of that benefit; for example: I just authorized around $13k of tickets from HKG, which is equivalent to slightly more than 5k miles for that single transaction. Not to mention that at the moment (till end of the month), SCB Amex still has that Double Miles Promotion for local transactions, which is equivalent to 4x bonus points and the redemption rate is still at $12=1AM; free of charge.

As for other transactions in which Amex is not accepted, then, I will still use the Citibank Premier Miles; except for Dining transactions, which will go to the DBS Master Card, because of the 3x bonus points. Occasionally, when the DBS Black Card has some value-for-money promotions (like at the end of last year), I will also use it once-in-a-while.

These 4 are my most frequently used cards nowadays.

I try to use my SCB Amex as much as I can when I am away from HK, as I don't think anything else offers HK$2.5->1AM.

Whilst in HK, I try to use my DBS Amex for everything (including paying bills online), other than that (or where they don't accept Amex), I use my HSBC Plat Visa or Premier Mastercard or DBS Visa (for dining).

I thought the DBS Black card was one of the best for local and overseas spending? $6/mile for local and $4/mile for overseas and there is no time limit or conversion fee.

SCB Amex is better?

Definitely.

It has been 6 reward points for every HK$1 spent overseas for a long time.

It used to be 12 reward points => 1AM (i.e. HK$2 => 1 AM), with a conversion fee of HKD 100 per 10000 AM.

Now it is 15 reward points => 1AM (i.e. HK$2.5 => 1 AM - still a bargain if you ask me), with a conversion fee of HKD 300 no matter how many points you transfer to AM.

There is a time limit for the reward points (I think it's 3 years), which I think is a reasonable interval for us to convert our reward points into AM!;)

That's precisely why I am still holding on to the SCB Amex Card despite the devaluation of the miles end of last year.

In fact, since I usually convert > 30k miles (usually every half a year), so, the lower conversion fee actually works to my benefit.

I agree that SCB's AMEX is pretty slick for overseas spending, I try to use it where possible.

Regarding AMEX Plat... I used it heavily when I first got the card with the 3 months 10x pts welcome period. With turbo program it's still considered good deal compare with rival HSBC Plat/Premier. I actually kinda hate using my Premier MC unless there's a dinning benefits. But don't forget that with AMEX Plat you get deep discounted perks for Maxim's group and at bars at LKF. It really depends on how you spend your $$... I enjoy using my Free friday shows as a buddies movie night with AMEX too. (your Cathay-AMEX Elite annual fee would also be waived as long as you hold a Plat or higher... i'm not there yet...)

One thing i'm confused: how do you get 2.5% cash back? My SCB Plat only gets me 1% cash rebate with no caps which i thought was the slickest...

I always wonder what is overseas spending. Does it mean I am physically overseas and swipe a card or does it also include stuff I buy online in other currencies (like books, software, whatever) from a non-HK merchant.

Seems like the best base rate for local spend is CX Amex which is $8/1 mile and best base rate for overseas spend is SCB Amex which is $2.5/1 mile.

Are there any annual fees related to SCB Amex?

I think I'm not going to renew my Amex Plat because it's a waste, I don't make my annual fee back in discounts and it's certainly not worth it for the miles. Not really worth it for prestige either, they're not difficult to get.

I am not getting your bit on local spending:

as per http://hk.dbs.com/en/consumer/credit...lackcard_e.htm
DBS Amex has a rate of 1 AsiaMile per 6 HKD spent. So I am using that one for all my local spending. I got the card in a period where they waived the annual fee.

As I do not have SCB cards, I can use either Citibank, CX Amex or DBS Amex for oversees spending. All earn 1 AsiaMile per 4 HKD spent.
Only difference is that transactions in Chinese RMB do not count as foreign spending at Citibank and I find it pretty hard to use Amex in China.

Oversea spending normally is classified as non HKD, non local merchant transaction (with the exception of some cards, e.g. Citi Premier Miles also exclude RMB / MOP based transactions)
Best Oversea : SCB Amex (HKD 2.5/Mile w/HKD 300 handling fee)
Best Oversea w/o fee: DBS Black AMEX / CX AMEX Plat / Citi Premier Miles (HKD 4/Mile)
Best Local Dining : DBS Visa / Master (HKD 4/Mile w/ HKD 100 handling fee)
Best Local Spend : DBS Amex (HKD 6/Mile)
Yes, but you have no problem waiving it (I called at early this month and it is waived in 10 minutes after checking your particulars)
Note that SCB Amex force you to take their Visa / Master Card when you sign-up your AMEX, so the better deal will be

1. Sign up Normal SCB Credit Cards and take the normal Welcome Offer
2. Sign up Amex

(They used to provide AMEX welcome gift to everyone, no longer for now ... )

I just went on the SCB website and the only thing holding me back from applying for the Amex card is the fact that you need to sign up to their Mastercard as well!

So I have 2 addtional cards with worry about and the they only waive the annual fee for the first year.

Really do not want to get the additional Mastercard, is there any way I can apply only for the Amex?

Me too. I don't mind an extra Visa, but I really don't want an extra MC because I already have 2 MC which I can't get rid of and definitely don't want a third as well.

However, the form only allows the option of choosing a MC and does not offer the option of a Visa. Someone else mentioned a Visa card is possible instead of MC? How?