Crockfords Tower Resort World Sentosa Island Singapore

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article in whole or part in any form. 

I was in Singapore recently and I stayed at Crockfords Tower, Sentosa Island, Singapore which is one of the six hotels belonging to Resorts World of Genting group. The Crockfords Tower is by invitation only i.e. not open to the general public but cater to Resort World's premier card holders.

   

The journey to Crockfords Tower from Changi International Airport took less than half an hour. Upon reaching the hotel, I was greeted by a very courteous staff and all I had to do was give them my identification card and the check in was a breeze because they had all my particulars in their system.  They gave me a room on the 8th floor and I was like, hmmmm..... lucky number No.8, a good start :)

ENTRY TO ROOM

Upon opening the room door, there is a settee on the left with a study table and TV. On the right you will find the pantry and mini bar.

Credit Card Interest Rates - CC244

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article in whole or part in any form. 

Before you proceed to read this article, I suggest you read my prelude to this 3 part series on Introduction To Credit Cards for Beginners titled Life - Pay Now with Credit Card Earn Later OR Save Now with Fixed Deposit for Retirement (click here).

And after you have read the prelude above, please read the first part of the series Introduction To Credit Cards 2012 - CC101.

INTRODUCTION

The credit card industry is a very lucrative business for banks/credit card issuers as they charge exorbitant interest rates (compared to BLR) for outstanding balances. As such, personally, I try not to have outstanding balances on any of my cards. I use credit cards for convenience and to enjoy the benefits that come along with the cards such as discounts, points redemption, up to 40 days interest free for purchases, etc. I have never paid any annual fees for more than a decade, should any bank not waive my annual fees in full, I would cancel the credit card with that bank as it does not make any sense to pay for services where I can get it for FREE. 

Well, today I am going to repeat again, always pay in full before the Due Date to avoid paying interest to the banks. And why the banks even issue you credit cards for free. 

For today's post, I have incorporated what I have mentioned in my previous articles at My Credit Cards blogspot to come out with what I think is a comprehensive article on matter relating to credit card interest rate and 0% interest rate plans. The best is that you always settle in full your Outstanding Balance prior to the Due Date so you will never need to utilize nor have to worry about any of the below mentioned items.


INTEREST FREE PERIOD 

I am going to repeat here what I mentioned in my 1st article on Credit Card for Beginners.

All credit cards have a Statement Date where all your transactions prior to that date will be accumulated and must be paid before the Payment Due Date otherwise you will be charged interest on the Outstanding Balance after the DUE DATE. The time between the Transaction Date you did a transaction and the Payment Due Date is the interest free period and it is usually about 20-45 days. 


Here is an example:

STATEMENT DATE is on the 10th of every month

PAYMENT DUE DATE is on 30th of every month (plus minus a day or so depending on that month)

Lets say you did a purchase on 7th March 2012, the said transaction shall be due for payment before 30th March 2012, thus you get about 23 days interest free credit. 

To enjoy a longer interest free period, purchase the item on 11th March 2012 (after the STATEMENT DATE) and payment will only be due the following month on 30th April 2012. This means you enjoy more than 40 days interest free credit. If the said purchase was RM10,000, you could have deposit the money in Fixed Deposit for a month and earn interest of approximately RM25 (based on interest 3% PA) for the said purchase.

Please note that Interest Free Period only appliies when you don't have a single sen of outstanding balance. Finance charges are imposed immediately onto all new transactions if you have not settled in full the previous Outstanding Balance prior to the Due Date. 

CREDIT CARD TIERED INTEREST RATES

Free Money From Maybankard and BonusLink for My Wife's SK-II

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article (and images) in whole or part in any form. 


INTRODUCTION

In my previous article titled New Toshiba i5 for RM999 with Maybankard On The Spot Redemption and ENRICH MILES REDEMPTION (click here to read it), I mentioned that Maybankard 2 AMEX  which earns us 5X Treats Points is fantastic as it balloons up Treats Points quickly and I had close to 500,000 Treats Points coupled with the 5X Treats Points I earned with my Maybank Visa Infinite for overseas transactions. Never in my life have I had so many reward points un-redeemed  in my account at any one time. Usually, I would redeem for RM100 cash vouchers once I reached the necessary points for redemption with any of my credit cards.

The Maybankard 2 Cards American Express earns the cardholder 5X Treats Points for any kind of transaction every  single day and on weekends additional 5% cash back but is subjected to a monthly maximum cash rebate of RM50. However, I never use my Maybankard 2 American Express for overseas transactions because there is a conversion fee of 2.5% and sometimes even higher and can go up to 3% effectively because Maybank also charges a 0.5% overseas Admin Fee.

Click here to read my review of the Maybankard 2 Cards.

So, for my overseas transactions, I have been using my Maybankard Visa Infinite ever since I received it on 1.11.11. Reason being, besides the 5X Treats Points that I earn for every ringgit spent for my overseas transaction, the conversion rate is amongst the lowest at 1.25%. And if you were to consider that we can claim RM50 cash voucher with 10,000 Treats Points (which works out to be a  return of 2.5%), I actually earn 1.25% with the Maybankard Visa Infinite.

Click here to read my comprehensive review of the Maybank Visa Infinite.

Based on the annual income requirement, I would not qualify for the Maybankard Visa Infinite because it was launched in the 3rd quarter of 2011 and I became a jobless bum starting 1.1.11. But, my god and lucky star always look out for me and granted me the Maybank Visa Infinite :)

To see some no budget non artistic comic sketches I made up for the Maybankard Visa Infinite, click on below link to the first Chapter of my blog called Master Credit Card Swiper :) And from there you can go and read the remaining 4 chapters, hehe.

Vol.1  Chapter 1 - The Thrill of Chasing after Love of Cards

Maybank Visa and MasterCard overseas conversion fee is the lowest and best for overseas transactions; actually, Maybank MasterCard is the best to use. In my article on Maybankard 2 Cards, I have posted a table prepared by a forummer at LYN by the nickname of jchong where it shows that the Maybank MasterCard overseas conversion fee is approximately 1%. However, the normal MasterCard only earns the cardholder 1X TP and the Platinum 2X TP (which is not too bad since it works out to be approximately 1% returns too) for overseas transactions. The Maybank World MasterCard is a different story all together and is great for those who travel frequently with Malaysia Airlines.

I have previously published several articles on overseas conversion fees of numerous credit cards at my first blog called My Credit Cards. Click on below link to read more:

Overseas Transaction What Credit Card Is The Best? Part II

FREE MONEY FROM OUR CREDIT CARDS

New Toshiba i5 for RM999 with Maybankard On The Spot Redemption and ENRICH MILES REDEMPTION

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article (and images) in whole or part in any form. 


INTRODUCTION

Last year I posted an article at My Credit Cards blogspot that I bought an Apple iPad for RM999 with Maybankard 2 American Express and On The Spot Redemption at Harvey Norman. 

I have been using a close to 3 years old MSI notebook Pentium with 2GB with ATI graphic card connected to a LG 24" LED monitor (since I am half blind, need a huge screen) for editing photos and writing my articles for blogspot. The specs is adequate for writing my articles and doing excel but sometimes I do run out of memory when editing photos. 

About two to three weeks ago I started playing Romance of The Three Kingdom XI and my old MSI notebook would get extremely hot and shut down automatically which really pisses me off when I am in the middle of a battle. Then I adjusted the MSI notebook which sits on my cheapo notebook cooler fan and had no problems for more than a week (no more auto shut down) but it was still hot.

In  my last article titled My Coupe and My Son's Sports Car Paid with My Credit Cards, I mentioned in the Conclusion that I will have extra money after paying my daughter's tuition fee with the income tax refund I will be getting and maybe should use the balance to buy a faster PC. I guess I spoke too soon.

I was playing RTKXI until 3am on Sunday morning and when I woke up at about 10am, I started up my MSI and the moment I played RTKXI, the computer went blank and could not start after that. Well, I guess the ATI graphic card finally KOed. I know having a notebook with graphic card would not last long. I bought 2 units of Dell Vostro Core 2 Duo (one for entertainment and one for work) five years back where one had a graphic card and the other didn't. Well, the one with the graphic card stopped working after the warranty expired. But the same Dell Vostro unit without graphic card is still working fine up to today. I also have an ASUS Celeron without graphic card bought more than 7 years ago which is still working fine but it is damn slow. The thing is, both the notebooks without graphic cards never get hot.

So, I was considering getting a DELL Inspiron 15R with Intel i5 2nd generation (whatever that means), 6GB RAM with graphic card for RM2049. Anyway, I thought I'd pay a visit to Harvey Norman to check out if there are any ACER notebooks for around RM2K with 3 years warranty. And boy, was I surprised to find a Toshiba notebook with Intel i5 (last generation chip), 4GB with ATI graphic card for only RM1,299!! According to the salesgirl they just took it out yesterday morning to display the set and I believe her because while I was there it was initializing set up (my timing was just nice as I got to key in my user name and password as administrator for the notebook). 

My Coupe and My Son's Sports Car paid with My Credit Cards.

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article (and images) in whole or part in any form. 

INTRODUCTION

Those of you who have been following my blog(s) will know that I always mention my eldest son and most recently in my article titled Australia Education, Term Deposit, Savings Account and Credit Cards. Well, I am very proud of my eldest son, he scored 10As for his SPM at the age of 16 and was accepted to a Top 10 Engineering School in USA at the same age without needing his SPM qualification. In this said article, I mentioned my daughter also scored 10 As in last year's SPM and has been accepted to a University in US prior to the SPM results, too. However, I will most probably send her to Australia for her undergraduate degree. 

My eldest son will be in his final year this year, and boy, how time passes by in a blink. It was like only yesterday that my wife and I was with him in the Fall of 2009 for two weeks in USA to spend some quality time together before he entered his Freshman year and adulthood. Like I mentioned in my last article, he had no idea what he wanted to major in when he was in Form 5. Can't really blame him as he was only 15 when he entered Form 5 as I sent him to a private school at the age of 5. When I was 16, I was partying all the time and gila over girls, hahaha.

My son has been on the Dean's list every semester, of which I expect nothing less because my wife and I was too. However, I must salute him because being in the Dean's list in a Top Engineering school, where one is competing among the brightest students from all over the world is not an easy task. And this summer, he was offered an internship at an American company which is hard to come by for foreign students. He'll be flying back to Malaysia early next month and returning to US before he starts his internship in June. He comes back every single break, I guess he misses home, same like me when I was doing my undergraduate degree where I would come back to Malaysia during the winter and summer breaks. There's no place like home.

AUSTRALIA EDUCATION, TERM DEPOSIT, SAVINGS ACCOUNTS and CREDIT CARD INTEREST RATES

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article (and images) in whole or part in any form. 

INTRODUCTION

Back in November last year I published an article titled Children Smartphones KPop (click here to read it) at Ringgit Wise Fool where I mentioned that my eldest daughter who was then midway sitting for her SPM attended her favorite Korean KPOP 2PM concert at Stadium Negara and that I had to rush her to a meet the fans session at KL Hilton right after her Physics exam. And best of all, this old uncle also attended the concert last minute because my wife and youngest daughter also decided they want to attend 2PM Live Concert in Stadium Negara Malaysia.

And in my article titled Before During After, I mentioned that my daughter had taken the SAT I and SAT II exams and applied for entry to Universities in USA before even sitting for her SPM. You guys should read this article because the main content and message of this said article is about taking your medication correctly. 

Well, I am proud (as would any dad) to announce once again that my daughter was accepted into a Top 3 Pharmacy University even before she got her SPM results last month. And if you must know, she got 10 As for her SPM. And the joke is, the only subject she scored an A- was Physics which is supposed to be her strongest subject. I guess while she was sitting for her SPM Physics paper, her  mind was on meeting 2PM at KL Hilton that day. But like I said in my article Children Smartphone KPop, I could not spoil her childhood days by not letting her go to the concert. We are young once only. But then again, the SPM exam was of no significance as she got entry to a World TOP Ranked University with her SAT I and SAT II scores.

Yesterday, while I was updating my Fixed Deposit Page where I would frequently update the latest Fixed Deposit Interest Rates Promotions offered by Malaysia's major commercial banks, one particular offer by OCBC caught my attention. 

OCBC is offering extra 5% interest on top of their current rates for their Foreign Currency 1 Month Time Deposit accounts. See image below.

Louis Vuitton Wallet for My Credit Cards and Wife's too.

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article (and photos) in whole or part in any form. 

INTRODUCTION

Today's post is about wallets and handbags and therefore should interest men and women of Generations  X, Y, Z and previous generations too :) You may be asking, are GenZ into handbags? Well, my youngest daughter, who is turning 12 years old this year, is interested in handbags and will tell her mummy which bag she wants for her Apple iPad, iPod and Samsung Smartphone. 

Last year, I published an article in Ringgit Wise Fool titled Money For Luxury (click here to read it) where I mentioned that I will never buy myself a wallet costing more than RM200. However, my darling wifey on the other hand doesn't mind burning MY money (once in a blue moon lah) on luxury brands and got me a Louis Vuitton Multiple Wallet. However, pity my wife too, she had to "suffer" in silence for close to 18 years where I would only buy her Guess handbags. But my mum and sis would get her Coach handbags from US Premium Outlet Malls. Like I mentioned in my said article above, I only bought my wife her first Louis Vuitton handbag after my cash reserve overshot my first million ringgit mark from my own sweat. And since then, my wife had several Louis Vuitton handbags and few Gucci handbags and many more Coach handbags.

And since I got my first Louis Vuitton item, I started a blog called Money For Luxury (same title as my article at RWF) where I have posted several articles on luxury items such as Louis Vuitton Limited Edition Water Color Speedy, Lady Dior, Rolex and Tag Heuer watches, Mercedes Benz and etc. Click here to my Money For Luxury blogspot. You guys should check it out too, you may learn something about Rolex and Louis XIII :)

But as I mentioned in my Introducing My New Blog GenX GenY GenZ, I shall now post all my articles in a single blog here. 

Maybank Credit Card Promotions and Benefits 2012

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reprint or republish this article in whole or part in any form.

In January 2012, I published a short post on wordpress in regards to Maybankard Credit Card Promotions 2012. Maybank have since updated their website and have listed their year long promotions for their Maybankard credit cards. 

MAYBANKARD CREDIT CARD PROMOTIONS AND BENEFITS 2012

Here are the benefits that we can enjoy with our Maybankard credit cards for 2012:

Credit Card Balance Transfer 2012 - Gone is the best 0% Interest Free Loan.

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com
Please do not reproduce/reprint this article in whole or part in any form. 

If you are new to credit cards, before you proceed to read this article on Balance Transfer, I suggest you read the articles below to have a better understanding of credit cards:

Introduction to Credit Cards for Newbies/Beginners/Idiots.

Prelude : Life - Pay Now with Credit Card Earn Later OR Save Now with Fixed Deposit For Retirement.

CC 101 - Introduction to Credit Cards 2012

CC 224 - Credit Card Interest Rates

CC 318 - Benefits of Credit Cards (coming Soon)

INTRODUCTION

Many of us are in deep shit because we have overspent as a result of our own doing and thank god that some banks are offering 0% interest free Balance Transfer plans. But I would like to reiterate what I posted in my very first post on Balance Transfer at My Credit Cards blogspot titled RM103Billion Credit and Balance Transfer:

Well if you are one of the millions having outstanding balance with your credit card and paying interest of 13.5%-18%, it makes sense to do a balance transfer, thus forking out less on interest payments.

However, if you do a Balance Transfer and then start to use up the available credit which has been transferred to purchase unnecessary things which are not needed for your survival and can't settle in full come payment date, my advise is, you better just cut up the card in half and settle your debt or else you are just going deeper down the shit hole and being a slave to the banks.

All That Counts IS Here And Now

An article by GenX GenY GenZ : http://generationsxyz.blogspot.com

Please do not reproduce/reprint this article in whole or part in any form. 

Today's post is not on credit cards but me blah blah blah.....

If you guys noticed, I have a music video of the song called "Glad You Came" by The Wanted, a British group. Somehow,  I like the first part of the song which goes like this:

The Sun Goes Down

The Stars Come Out

And All That Counts

Is Here And Now

My Universe Will Never Be The Same

I'm Glad You Came  

And then a pause followed by the upbeat music. I guess I have always been a fan of British Boy Band groups ever since my teens. For those of you who are in your prime or "retired" like me having the luxury to laze around, you guys sure or may remember Beatles, Pet Shop Boys, Culture Club and Wham! If you guys don't know any of these groups, then I guess you are just a kid, hahaha

And also for those of you stuck in the Disco era like me, here's Stars On 45 for you to reminisce the Happy Moments when we were young adults in heat  :) 

And my local favorite artist is the late Sudirman who was awarded The No.1 Asian Entertainer/Performer in 1989 and no doubt was, still and always will be The No.1 Artist in Malaysia. Long before the launch of American Idol, we had Bintang RTM, and it was on this reality show that I first witnessed Sudirman perform and was impressed with his level of showmanship.  After winning the title of Bintang RTM, he went on to capture the hearts of all Malaysians. Check out the video below, his fans consist of young to old aunties! He was loved by Malaysians from all walks of life, no other artist in Malaysia has even come close to what he had achieved. The song Hidup Sederhana (Basikal Tua) is one of my favorite songs and too bad I can't find the original music video where the late Yusni Jaafar was riding on the back.