percysmith

Sorry yes I'm lazy. Any card better than Platinum also works (Advance, Premier) as well as HSBC Diamond Unionpay.

Actually I haven't made a recommendation for that before.
Don't apply for Octopus card, that doesn't earn miles for CCB promotions like 939
Basic Unionpay Dual Currency doesn't have welcome gift
Leaves two CUP cards - the AIA CUP with $500 cash rebate welcome gift for $8,000 spending, and the Pui Ching CUP with $400 cash rebate welcome gift for $4,000 spending.
Don't get irked by the spending quota - cos for CCB welcome offers (and welcome offer only - not bonus points or cash rebate or for anything else) - CCB counts your tax payments (just reconfirmed with a CCB CUP line CS just now). So go for the AIA.

To be honest I haven't redeemed AM out of CCB CUPs yet. So I don't know am I stuck to the AM number I filled in on application.
CCB Visas let you credit other people (at least, those of same surname).

BTW, Instant Travel Club not available for CCB CUPs, only Visas and MCs.

dannyhk

Many thanks, very helpful as always. In that case will apply for AIA CUP for both my wife and myself. Any idea how large a credit limit CCB will approve? (my wife has another massive tax bill to pay in April).

Also should BEA World Mastercard replace BEA Plat on the Wiki list of best cards? Same earnings rate as the Plat card, but no need to pay any redemption fee (at least according to section of Web site on "Overseas Spending Reward")

percysmith

They were stingy at first, but my second CUP in May came with 2.5 times my monthly income. This was in addition to the 2.5 times I already (no combined limit) had so I've 5 times monthly income with them now.


True, and they've $4/mile on overseas spending too
However you need to keep 0.5M TRB with payroll to open SupremeGold (and 1M TRB without http://www.hkbea.com/FileManager/EN/...2020110705.pdf) (think you need BEA Private Bank for non-SG World - I'm not going to go there).
But then again I've been told they don't charge the fee for not keeping 0.5M/1M.

Same for HSBC Premier (good for turning RC into Avios and KF) - again you can get away with TRB<$1M at start http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...ow.php?id=4782 and ongoing.
But you have to get yearly fee waivers - at branch. A more labour intensive version of stating an annual fee and then waiving it.

I can't reduce this form of hongkie behaviour into a neat set of FT posts that others can repeat. So I rather not go there.

percysmith

(Unless you're keeping the card for RMB4/mile spending on restaurant on hotels. I only charged only low four-digits to my Unionpay RMB a/c for 2013)

I've repaid my balance and redeemed all the points in it (to my parents, took 10 days but there were holidays...). I thought a branch visit was mandatory to terminate the card.

Turns out you can just fax them a self-composed fax to 2771 2482.

My time with them wasn't bad. Bit stingy on the credit limit and sparse on promos. Now that the $4 local spend earn rate is gone I'll churn it for welcome offer.

dannyhk

So its no problem to have two Unionpay cards with CCB? And you get a higher credit limit? Just wondering if I should apply for both the basic Unionpay card and AIA one together? (Pui Ching is only for alumni, plus the Website is all in Chinese). My wife has a 400k tax bill coming up, and I can't see them giving us a big enough credit limit to pay that on one card.

Alternatively, although its much more labour intensive, I suppose its okay to put through as much as the credit limit allows, pay off immediately with HSBC, and then repeat as many times as necessary?

percysmith

No help
I applied for basic CUP and Pui Ching* together (I wanted to play 939 promo - 12K quota on a per card basis)
Pui Ching got approved first 2.5 times monthly income
Then a CCB credit dept officer called me and said they won't grant further limit for the basic CUP and I have to reallocate from the Pui Ching or other cards.

The last time I applied for CCB card was a year ago so CCB saw fit to give me fresh credit.

Max all of the HSBC and CCB limits

Say, my HSBC limits (all cards combined) is 50K, CCB is 50K and my tax liability is 130K (I wish), all due Tue 21 Jan (I think my original tax bill was due that day, even tho I wiped it out months ago)

My optimal payment strategy will be
Credit 20K from bank account to HSBC on Fri 17 Jan
Credit 70K from HSBC to CCB on Mon 20 Jan
Credit 130K from CCB to IRD on Tue 20 Jan

And say my next statement date is 15 Feb for both banks so payment date ~12 Mar
Pay 50K from bank account to HSBC on 11 Mar
Pay 50K from HSBC to CCB on 12 Mar

And pay 50K more to HSBC on 12 Apr


* I'm not Pui Ching alumni. I don't think you really have have any relationship with the school http://www.puiching.org/corresponden...4_20131202.pdf

I also have the Diocesan Boys' School and Maryknoll Convent School alumni cards also. I'm particularly proud of my Maryknoll card...

MilesBuzz

I changed my 5x extra bonus RC to Overseas Spending on 2/1/2014 and just called up HSBC to confirm whether it has already been effective. Seems to be quite all right as the CSO did confirm that I had changed my selection to "Overseas Spending" and it will be effective wef 3/1/2014 (yesterday). Nice

So, if my calculation is correct, together with the Winter Promo (max HK$5k per week) and if I got the extra 20 RC for every HK$500 spending (option C), then, altogether, I will obtain 320 RC (including the basic and 5x extra for) or 4,800 miles for HK$5k spending, which translates to 1 mile for every HK$1.04 spending.

PS: percysmith - just want to confirm that there's no minimum transaction required for the 6x RC promo right? Unlike the Winter Promo which requires at least HK$500.

CanucksHKG

I'm not percysmith, but yes - I can confirm normal 6X have no minimum requirement.

percysmith

How did you do this? Call 8228 3308 and register again? My fiance want to change from Dining to Home.

Yes that's correct.

Yes no min. I tested my mother's 6X overseas on USD Visa (no longer accepting new applications) by charging US$10 via Paypal and receiving 2RC.

IncyWincy

Hi Percysmith, I was wondering about what Milesbuzz said above...
"So, if my calculation is correct, together with the Winter Promo (max HK$5k per week) and if I got the extra 20 RC for every HK$500 spending (option C), then, altogether, I will obtain 320 RC (including the basic and 5x extra for) or 4,800 miles for HK$5k spending, which translates to 1 mile for every HK$1.04 spending."

Just need to check in order to max out - I drew the third option (the lowest one) - am I right that if I were to spend about HK 3000 per week in Times Square for 7 weeks that just about maxes it out?

Thank you very much.

LchChester

Because Milesbuzz is going after overseas spending (20RC per HKD$500 equivalent spending vs 30RC per HKD$500 eligible spending).

Yes you are right... depends on if you hold a premier credit card, which gives you a RC200 higher maximum cap (RC1400 vs RC1200), i.e. approximately one extra week of spending.

percysmith

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

Incywincy: yes that's right. With last (seventh) week being 2,000 not 3,000

3,000 spending x 30/500 earn rate x 6 weeks + 2,000 x 30/500 earn rate x 1 week = 1,200 non-Premier max

How do you plan to spend $3,000/week at Times Square for almost 7 weeks?
No Mannings, TS Watson almost always out of coupon
So Broadway? CitySuper? LC?? Or MS???

IncyWincy

Thank you LchChester. I do have a Premier Card. So it will be nearly 8 helpings at HK 3k per week. Right?

IncyWincy

To be honest, even if there were a Mannings I won't find that much to spend on, likewise for Watsons. I imagine shopping at Fortress, Broadway? Buy a phone, a laptop, camera, dehumidifier....

MilesBuzz

I went to register online at:
https://www.hsbc.com.hk/1/2/hk/cards..._PWS_F_REWS_EN