Before I start, I have to qualify this. I don’t think Public Bank is the best bank around and I don’t particularly enjoy banking with them because I’ve had quite bad service rendered to me by their staff. A couple of times, mind you, not just once. But because they have the products that I’m interested in, I just bank there.

Anyway, one of the good deals that they’re offering to their credit card holders is the balance transfer program. There are 2 programs available. The first option is a program that charges interest at 0.57% per month (6.88% per annum) on a reducing balance basis. The tenures available are 6 months, 12 months and 24 months.

The second option is a fixed interest rate and you pay the interests upfront in the first month. For a tenure of 6 months, the upfront interest rate is at 1.5% (which works out to just 0.25% per month!). For 12 months, it’s at 2.5% (0.21% a month) and 24 months at 5% (also 0.21% a month).

Take note that unlike many balance transfer plans available in the market today, this one comes with a penalty charge if you do an early settlement. You need to pay the bank RM100 if you pay up before your tenure ends. Also note that any financial guru out there will tell you that the RM100 is worth paying if you are able to completely settle a debt in a shorter period of time. So repay wisely, and don’t fall into the trap of being penny wise, pound foolish.

Hope this little bit of info is useful to those who are looking for cheaper alternatives to settle their credit card debts.

Am I making sense? Maybe the title seems a bit fuzzy, but that’s exactly what one should do in managing debts. One of the debts that most people are stuck with are credit card debts. It’s easy to swipe and sign and forget how much you’ve spent. In case you have over-swiped and are carrying balances in your credit cards, you should check the rate of interest at which you’re charged for owing the bank money.

The standard rate out there is 18% per annum which works out to 1.5% per month. This is not a small charge to be paying on a monthly basis if you’re carrying huge balances. What you can do to reduce your debt is to do a balance transfer to another credit card that offers lower interest rates.

A few banks have been calling to offer their balance transfer programs. Here I’ll share a few so that you are better informed as to which bank offers the lowest rates. The trick is to try to pay up your debt in the shortest duration possible, so most of the rates I’m quoting are for a repayment period of 6 months.

Hong Leong Bank’s generic balance transfer program for a Hong Leong Gold card is 6.99% per annum for an unlimited durating of repayment. It works out to about 0.5825% per month. But wait, it gets better…if you want to repay the amount owing in 6 months, they offer 0.5% per month. Slightly lower but every penny saved is a penny earned.

Similar to Hong Leong Bank, HSBC Bank also offers 0.5% per month on your newly transferred balances, to be repaid in 6 months. The minimum amount required to be transferred is only RM1,000.

Public Bank has a slightly higher rate at 6.88% per annum for up to 24 months of repayments. You need to transfer at least RM3,000 in this program. Alternatively, it also had a fixed interest rate which means you pay the interest one-time in a lump sum. This is to be paid upfront. The fixed rate ranges from 1.5% for a 6-monthly repayment, 2.5% for 12-monthly repayments and 5% for 24-monthly repayments.

OCBC offers one of the best rates around, at 0.38% per month for a 6-month repayment period. The minimum amount to be transferred is RM2,000. If I were to do a balance transfer, this would be my choice.

If you have seen, heard or been offered anything lower than this, be sure to grab it but do read the fine lines and the terms and conditions.

In our country, we have always been credit card fans. In the west however, debit or charge cards are the norm alongside credit cards. We don’t really get offered debit cards here, until right about now.

I can’t be sure who started the ball rolling and why, but it’s really catching on. Now let us be on the same page, debit cards aren’t the same as prepaid cards. The latter require pre-loading of money into the card and once the credit is used up, a top-up is necessary. A debit card is linked to a deposit account, be it a savings or current account with the bank.

I first noticed the existence of such cards by Al Rajhi Bank when they opened their doors to Malaysians. If there were others in the market before Al Rajhi, do correct me. Then I spotted Public Bank’s debit card and recently Maybank just launched their debit card too. These debit cards also act as your ATM cards. In addition, these cards also offer reward point collection as you swipe, just like the credit cards.

To the debt conscious consumers, debit cards may be heaven sent because now we don’t need to carry cash and are still able to swipe a card without creating any debts, not to mention having to pay interest rates on a rolling credit balance. Since a debit card is linked to a deposit account, once swiped, the payment is taken out of the deposit account. It’s the wiser way to spend within your means and not get into financial woes. It has the same benefit of a credit card minus the danger of overspending. What’s not to like about debit cards?

I suspect more and more banks are jumping onto the band wagon to provide their customers with debit cards. I wonder then, what happens to their credit card market if the society suddenly becomes more financial savvy and decide the debit cards are the smarter way to go. Isn’t this killing their credit card business?

I’m not sure how banks may earn from a debit card. Sure it links to a deposit and the more you swipe, the more you need to have in your deposit account. But a deposit account is one where the bank pays interest whilst the credit card is where the bank charges its customers interests. So what do banks get out of issuing debit cards? Are they doing this because they foresee their competitors doing it and they too need to catch up?

That was just a wondering on my part. For me, a debit card would encourage me to terminate the many credit cards that I have. I’m waiting for my bank to issue me one soon…and I’m sure it won’t be a long wait.

I hold way too many credit cards and have been thinking of cutting some of them in an attempt to have less credit to my name. It gets too confusing and I can never get my act together in deciding which one should be my focus in terms of collecting rewards points. But with a new cash rebate card joining my collection of credit cards, it has been the most used card. I prefer cash than points.

But some credit cards do offer nice little perks like sending you a little something for your birthday. I recently got a birthday card from OCBC Bank. The card entitles me to a gift from any Ogawa outlet.

I just collected it over the weekend and here it is, a very comfortable pillow for the neck to be placed onto the head rest in the car. Thank you very much, OCBC!