Timothy Lin

Dear PercySmith,

What do you mean by Asia Miles redemption extended to 30 Jun 14? Will Fubon stop Asia Miles redemption after 30 June 14?

Best,

Tim

percysmith

Literally what it says.
I kid you not.

Fubon HK is only extending Asia Miles redemption to 30 June 2014.

Had this extension not occurred their redemptions would have stopped at the end of this month http://www.fubonbank.com.hk/web/doc/cc_cbp01_c.pdf

They've been extending this continuously since 2009. I think there was one 4-month extension (again from Feb to Jun, before extending it to next next Feb) before.

But we have to take them at their word and prepare to bail in the end of June.

Timothy Lin

Thanks, PercySmith. I just called Fubon CS and he wants me to call at the end of February to find out whether Fubon will discontinue Asia Miles redemption or not.

I hope they will allow Asia Miles redemption since I use Fubon Platinum for overseas spending in Taiwan, Japan and Korea and have accumulated over 1 million bonus points within the past 5 months.

Should they discontinue Asia Miles redemption, I only have HSBC 6X to cover my overseas spending. I typically spend around HKD 40,000/month since my wife is a big spender. Unfortunately HSBC 6X has a cap of HKD 180,000 on overseas spending.

BTW, does any other card offer the same Asia Miles earning capability? I am afraid once Fubon discontinue Asia Miles redemption, I will be forced to use Citi Prestige Card or DBS Black (AMEX + Mastercard) on overseas spending.

dannyhk

Is there any individual expiry date for the bonus points you earn with Fubon? (separate from the expiry date for the scheme as a whole and assuming it does continue past June for Asiamiles and next Feb for the scheme as a whole) Do they expire a couple of years after you earn them (like HSBC)? Or are perpetual and have no expiry date beyond that for the scheme as a whole (like DBS Black)?

And do bill payments count towards "eligible retail spending" for the purposes of the Fubon Welcome offer? I can't find a definition of eligible retail spending on their Web site.

Just wondering if its worth all the hassle to get a Fubon card for the better earning rate on bills? (I can always use BEA World instead, with no redemption fee, at the price of only earning 1 mile/$8 instead)

percysmith

Not unless you change your 6X to overseas.

percysmith

Annual expiry at the end of month after your anniversary month. So we used to take the $250 redemption as a annual fee and try not to redeem in any month other than anniversary month (much like $240 Amex Turbo Program)

Phoned card centre CS, no http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...ow.php?id=6542


Assuming $0.10 per mile
Solving for breakeven number of miles x

BEA x/8 x 0.1 = Fubon x/6 x 0.1 - 250
0.0125x = 0.0167x - 250
x = $59,523

If for bill payment alone, maybe not.

But coupled with overseas earn (esp JP/KR 8X and TW 20X) and welcome offer, might be more interesting.

dannyhk

Many thanks, you're much better at these calculations than me. The maths works for me, since building management fee + rates + electricity bills alone add up to around $80,000 a year alone.

But not so sure worth its doing if the points expire every year. That means I'll have to transfer them over to Asiamiles every year, where the three year clock to use or lose starts ticking immediately. Much prefer credit cards where you can keep the points parked there until you need them (or, at least, longer than a year--I think BEA is 5 years)

Just noticed that this card you highlighted a few pages back also gives 1 mile/HK$6 on Octopus AAVS (although sadly not bill payment). Am I right in thinking that makes it the only option for such a good rate on AAVS apart from the Bankcomm card?

percysmith

Really for you it is a question of whether 3,333.33 miles is worth $250 plus the requirement to redeem them annually.



If AM then Bankcomm Diamond or Citi Prestige.

dannyhk

Sadly, looks like the Dah Sing BA Card is no longer open to new applications. The "Apply Now" button has disappeared from the Web site and when you go into the general online application form for Dah Sing cards, the BA card is no longer available as an option to choose (although the Mileage Plus card is).

Ahh well, looks like it will have to be Bankcomm for my Octopus AAVS (I'm not paying $2,500 for Citi Prestige).

Do the Bankcomm bonus points expire after one year like Fubon?

percysmith

http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...w.php?id=11796 #9
http://www.dahsing.com/tc/pdf/credit...ineform-14.pdf

5 years

dannyhk

Thanks. Very happy to be proved wrong!

svellmann

Went online and (re-) registered my card (for which I'm principle card holder by the way and there's no supplementary card holders) for 6x Dining last week. Received a letter from HSBC yesterday "Thank you for Red Hot Rewards of your choice, 6X Dining is confirmed and effective period is 1. Jan 2014 through 31. Dec 2015. Capped at 180k HKD for the effective period."

Strange indeed, buy got my multiplier back nevertheless. Either way, it still reads as 180k HKD cap for the whole 2 years with no mention of a reset on 1. Jan 2015. Or where did you get this, Percy?

percysmith

svellmann: there is no reset on 1 Jan 2015. I'm sorry if I implied it.

Mafai

Citibank targeted offer: www.citibank.com.hk/earnmiles

Phase 1 Jan 21st-Feb 28th
Phase 2 Mar 1 - Mar 31st
Phase 3 April 1 - April 30th

Target spending X per phase
Every HKD 5,000 over X is 500 miles
Bonus HKD 60,000 over X is 22,000 miles

[Capped at 120,000 miles for 3 phases]

After target X For Local Spending
First HKD 30,000, Basic miles 3,750 ($30,000/8) Plus Extra Miles 3,000 miles (500 miles x 6)
Next HKD 30,000, Basic miles 3,750 ($30,000/8) Plus Extra Miles 22,000 miles
Total HKD 60,000 for 32,000 miles is HKD 1.85 per mile (over target) per Phase

After target X For Overseas Spending (Excluding RMB and Macau)
First HKD 30,000, Basic miles 7,500 ($30,000/4) Plus Extra Miles 3,000 miles (500 miles x 6)
Next HKD 30,000, Basic miles 7,500 ($30,000/4) Plus Extra Miles 22,000 miles
Total HKD 60,000 for 40,000 miles is HKD 1.5 per mile (over target) per Phase

My Question for PercySmith (BTW, thanks for all the great input to this thread!)

How would one play this with cash advance counting as eligible spending. Do i withdraw and pay back same day (via bank transfer) before 2 pm to avoid cash advance fee?

I assume the card needs to have zero balance because cash advance is 4% (5% at citi?) of amount drawn PLUS finance charge on outstanding balance? So withdraw and pay of outstanding balance before 2pm?

If i make cash advance overseas, counted as eligible overseas spending?

Worst case 4% $60,000 for 32,500 or 40,000 miles is still a good deal, assuming Target is not too high?

Thanks in advance.

I know citibank is not the greatest card, but any promo is better than no promo

percysmith

re Mafai

I read about this offer before http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...w.php?id=11724

But didn't crunch the math. I do so now.

(the threshhold spending is ignored. I see figures from 7.4K to 75K threshholdsper phase)

How Citi gets $1.5/mile - on $60,000 incremental overseas spend per phase

500 mile/$5,000 spend: 3,000 miles (capped)
Reaching $60,000: 22,000 miles (fixed reward)
Basic: 60,000/4 = 15,000 miles
= 40,000 miles or $1.5/mile on $60K spend


Your suggestion:
You don't earn any basic points on cash advance
Cash advance (both on the threshhold and the incremental): 4%

Assuming your threshhold is $30K (say):
Cost: (30K+60K)x4% =$3,600
Miles earned = 25,000
Cost per mile: $0.144/mile

Using the lower and upper estimates of the threshhold, your costs are $0.108-$0.216

Unless you have a super low threshhold and a super high valuation of miles (significantly over $0.10) I don't suggest going for it.