There’s a credit card that’s best for weekend spendings – Maybank 2 Gold Cards, or it’s upgraded brother, Maybank 2 Platinum Cards. Either option provides you good cashback for your weekend spending!
Read also: 5 Things to Consider when Choosing a Credit Card [Malaysian Edition]
The Maybank 2 Gold Cards
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✓ 5% cashback on weekend spending. ✓ No minimum spend to enjoy cashback (must be above RM1). ✓ Free for life – no annual fee! | ✖ Not many places accept AMEX. ✖ Cashback is only for weekend spending. ✖ You need to maintain two cards. |
This card is without a doubt one of the best cashback credit card for your weekend shopping. If you spend RM1,000 on your American Express Gold Card on weekends, you’ll will get RM50 in cashback, if it’s a qualifying spend!
How do you get that much in cash back? Read on!
Key Features
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Cards | 2 credit cards are award upon successful application: – Maybank 2 American Express Gold Card; and – Maybank 2 MasterCard Gold Card or Maybank 2 Visa Gold Card |
| Cashback | For Maybank 2 American Express Gold Card only: 5% cash back on Saturdays and Sundays capped at RM50 per month for: – All local and overseas spending (except for government bodies, utilities and eWallet top-ups – more details below). |
| TreatsPoints | For Maybank 2 American Express Gold Card only: 5X TreatsPoints for all weekday spend (except for government bodies and eWallet top-ups)*. *Note: – Except transaction for Maybank 0% EzyPay Instalment Plan, at Education Institutions, Insurance Providers and Utilities (Electric, Gas, Sanitary and Water) will be awarded 1X TreatsPoint. For petrol transactions, 5X TreatsPoints is capped at RM500 per transaction and transaction above RM500 will be awarded 1X TreatsPoint for every RM1 spend. – No TreatPoints are awarded for transactions for Maybank EzyCash, Maybank EzyPay Plus, Cash Treats, Cash Advance, and Balance Transfer; Refunded, disputed, unauthorized or fraudulent retail transactions; Payment of card annual fees, interest charges, late payment fees, cash advance fee; Any other form of service or miscellaneous fees. For Maybank 2 MasterCard Gold Card or Maybank 2 Visa Gold Card 1X TreatsPoints for all weekday spend (except for government bodies and eWallet top-ups). |
| Balance Transfer | 0% – 4.95% p.a. and 0% – 3% one-time upfront handling fee when you transfer from RM1,000 and above for payment terms from 6 to 36 months. |
| Easy Payment Plans | Maybank EzyPay offers payment terms from 3 to 36 months at 0% interest and no one-time upfront handling fee from approved merchants for spending amounts of RM50 and above. |
| Fees and charges | – Annual fee – RM0 (Free for life) – Sales and Service Tax – RM25 / card – Minimum monthly payment – RM25 or 5% of outstanding amount (whichever is higher) – Late payment fee – RM10 or 1% of outstanding amount (up to a maximum of RM100) – Cash withdrawal fee – RM18 or 5% of withdrawal amount (whichever is higher) – Interest rate of cash withdrawals – 18% |
| Requirements | – Minimum annual income – RM30,000 – Minimum age – 21 to 65 years old – Who can apply – Anybody |
How is the cashback calculated?
To get cashback on your purchases, it’s pretty straightforward. You just need to make sure that you make your purchases during the weekend (i.e. Saturday and Sunday) using the Maybank 2 American Express Gold Card.
| Note: The following transactions are not taken into account in the accumulation of Cash Back: – Transactions for Maybank EzyCash, Maybank EzyPay Plus, Cash Treats, Cash Advance, and Balance Transfer; – Payment via JomPAY and FPX; – Refunded, disputed, unauthorized or fraudulent retail transactions; – Payment for transactions, payment of annual card membership fees, interest payments, late payment fees, charges for cash withdrawals; – Only Cash Back amount above RM1.00 will be awarded to Cardmember; – Any other form of service or miscellaneous fees; – Spend on government bodies (i.e. court costs, fines, bail and bond payments, government services, postal and intra-government transactions) and utilities (i.e. electric, gas, sanitary and water); – Reloads performed on e-Wallets. Source: Maybank 2 Cards: 5% Cash Back on weekends – Terms and Conditions |
For a minimum spend of RM1,000, you’ll get an effective cashback of about 5% as illustrated below:
| Expenditure | Amount Spent | Cashback |
|---|---|---|
| Shopee Purchase (direct purchase using credit card as payment method) | RM500.95 | RM25.04* |
| Guardian | RM100.05 | RM5.00 |
| Nando’s | RM50.90 | RM2.54* |
| Jaya Grocer | RM249.00 | RM12.45 |
| Machines | RM99.10 | RM4.95 |
| Total (Effective cash back rate of 4.998%) | RM1000.00 | RM49.98 |
Note: Cashback is calculated based on per transaction and 5% cashback value will be taken based on 2 decimals as it is and will not be rounded up or rounded down.
The effective cashback is however, much lower than of Citibank’s Cash Back MasterCard at 8.04%.
How is the TreatsPoints calculated?
You get 5X TreatsPoints for all weekday spend (except for government bodies and eWallet top-ups) using their Maybank 2 Gold American Express Card, and 1X TreatsPoints for all weekday spend using either their Maybank 2 Gold Visa or MasterCard.
I took the liberty of looking at the TreatsPoints redemption catalog, and computing the effective cashback rate. The winner goes to their 5% weekend cashback feature. To illustrate, let’s take their voucher redemption for example.
It takes 32,000 TreatsPoints for an RM50 voucher at either AeonBig, Lotus’s, KFC, Guardian, Poh Kong or Secret Recipe. That requires you to spend an estimated amount of RM6,400 to accumulate the 32,000 TreatPoints required. If you calculate further, you’ll realise that it’s only giving you a return of 0.78% on your spending!
| Description | Values |
|---|---|
| TreatsPoints Required | 32,000 |
| Points Earned Per Spend (for example) | 5X |
| Amount Required to Spend | RM6,400 (32,000 / 5X) |
| Voucher Worth | RM50 |
| Effective Cash Back Rate | 0.78% (RM50/RM6,400) |
Verdict – Skip the points collection and stick to weekend cashback!
If you are able to plan and make your purchases during the weekend, you’ll be able to get 5% in cashback on your purchases. If you fully maximise it, you will get RM50 cashback per month (for RM1,000 spend), or RM600 cashback per year (for RM12,000 spend). That’s more bang for your buck! Furthermore, it’s free for life.
The only major downside of getting this card is that you need to maintain two cards instead of one. That means double the Sales and Service Tax that you need to pay every year.
Personally, I only use this card on weekends for the cashback. As illustrated above, the TreatsPoints accumulation just isn’t worth it when you count the effective cash back rate, as compared to the 5% weekend cashback feature. So, just stick to using the Maybank 2 Gold American Express Card during the weekend.
Interested to apply?
Should you decide to get this credit card from Maybank, do check out RinggitPlus’s website to see if there are any on-going sign up free gift promotions! It’s always a nice feeling to get a gift just for taking on the card. Do remember to read the terms and conditions on how you can redeem the gift (if any). Some require a minimum spend before you are eligible to claim the free sign up gift.
Questions? Feel free to drop them below.
Or check out my other credit card reviews:
- Citibank Cash Back MasterCard – Still the best cash back credit card out there!
- Standard Chartered Liverpool FC Cashback Credit Card – My New Favourite Cashback Card!
Or my review on RinggitPlus:
