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Do you have multiple credit cards? Do you find managing your credit card bills to be a major pain? You’re not alone. There are others just like you.

Maybe you’ve even considered terminating all your credit cards. But did you follow through? For most people, credit cards are really useful tools. But like all tools, it can be used properly and also misused.

If you’re in the UK, you might want to check out these credit cards from MINT. Mind you, they’re not typical credit cards, but the type that can actually save you quite a lot of money from your other credit cards.

Read the rest of Saving Money With Credit Card Balance Transfers »

I currently use credit cards supplied by one bank. Why? Because frankly, I just don’t see the benefit of having multiple credit cards from numerous financial institutions. Credit card interests are almost identical here in Malaysia, regardless of where you get your credit cards from.

If you have proof that shows otherwise, by all means, please let me know.

Sometimes I envy folks from the US. They have literally hundreds of credit cards to choose from. Talk about having choices! However, having lots of choices means you also have lots of analysing and selection to do. Ideally, you should only pick the most suitable credit card(s) for your lifestyle.

Read the rest of Review: Cash Back Reward Credit Card Calculator »

Or should I say “click-happy”?

I was reading this article on NYT with great interest. I was starting to wonder whether my method of going through my credit card statements overzealous (which means I’m way more paranoid than I think I am), or am I just practising good consumer behaviour?

Everytime I get my credit card statements, I do my own matching process. I keep all credit card related receipts until the writings are faded. I track which purchases have been posted in the statement period and make sure the figures are accurate.

The thing about Internet transactions is that the receipts are virtual, unless you decide to print them out of course. Lucky for my, the credit card I use for online purchases is also virtual in nature. No plastic, no magnetic strip, no chip. It’s just a set of numbers, a CVV code, and expiry date. Effectively making it only usable for online purchases.

Before I stray further, let’s get back to the linked NYT article. Here’s the interesting excerpt from the article that made me read through it’s entirety:

The other day, as I was trying to avoid making eye contact with $168.09 (jeans and a T-shirt) and $40.24 (how can a tank of gas cost that much?), I happened to notice a mysterious $10 charge.

It was for WLI*RESERVATIONREWARDS.CO.

It didn’t ring a bell. Was Reservation Rewards a surcharge for a hotel room? A magazine subscription? Or a digital audio download?

I never thought that it’s possible to actually get charged for an online service without keying in your contact details, credit card number and other important information.

What suprised me was how easy it was for the author (actually it was her husband who initiated it) to get charged for that particular transaction:

I could picture my husband buying tickets online. I could imagine one of those annoying direct-marketing offers popping up. I could even picture him clicking on it. But I couldn’t see him entering a credit card to subscribe.

It turned out he didn’t have to. Tempted by a $10 cash-back award offer (“Good for your next Fandango purchase!”), he had typed in his e-mail address.

Unfortunately, he skipped over the fine print: “By entering my e-mail address as my electronic signature and clicking yes, I authorize Fandango to securely transfer my name, address and credit or debit card information to Reservation Rewards for billing and benefit processing.”

So, be extra careful when you click on “special promotion” buttons or popups. Always read the terms of use and other related policies. If you can’t find any, for the site you’re buying from, I suggest that you find another more reputable vendor to purchase from.

If you have Hong Leong credit cards, I urge you to terminate your subscription. If you have outstanding balances on them, I recommend that you do a balance transfer. If you are contemplating applying for Hong Leong credit cards, I suggest that you don’t. Why? Hong Leong doesn’t respect your rights as a card holder and a customer.

My SO and I were victims of a scratch and win scam almost a year ago. As soon as we’ve discovered that we were conned, we immediately put in a request to Hong Leong to stop the transaction via their useless Dispute Form, along with the Consumer Claims Tribunal reference number, to their so-called Customer Service department.

To sum it up, Hong Leong Customer Service is a fallacy. There’s no such thing. I had to discover this the hard way.

When we submitted the dispute form, the transaction wasn’t even posted yet. They had ample chance to flag it. But what did Hong Leong do? They decided to side with scammers than a long term customer! Hong Long reps even blatantly lied to us by saying that the transaction had already gone through. Why do I say they are liars? Because another rep said that the transaction hasn’t gone through, contradicting what her colleague said earlier. See their incompetence? Even they don’t know what’s going on!

What follows on for months was an endless trail of lies:

• The transaction was allowed to proceed because we need the credit card statement as evidence for the tribunal hearing; Lie! We have the receipts and items from the scammers, and those were enough to be used as evidence
• We just need to pay for the initial purchase price without the interest once we’ve recovered our monies; Lie! Until today, one year after 100% full payment was made for the initial purchase price, Hong Leong still charges the interests
• Hong Leong reps will get in touch to solve this issue; Lie! Nobody from Hong Leong bothered to assist properly. Instead, we were made like slaves trying to contact them and being put on hold for more than 30 minutes at any one attempt

To date, I’ve been waiting for them to give the final decision letter for me to proceed to bring this case to the FMB, for more than two weeks! Still no action, typical Hong Leong incompetence at its finest.

You can find this out by yourselves by trying to contact their so-called Banking Services Division through the contact details provided here.

Even though the interest now stands at almost RM200, I won’t pay a single cent! I’d rather bring this issue to court and let Hong Leong be exposed as the incompetent bank it really is.