Citibank iPad2 giveaway campaign

photo source: http://www.citibank.com.my/



Citibank is currently having another round of promotion, this time with iPad 2s to be won. Their previous promotion dishing out 100 iPads attracted an overwhelming response (Malaysians, sure will grab the opportunity to get something free), so they are now coming back with 200 iPad 2 to be won. This has been running for some time and will end August 7^th, 2011.

There will be 2 drawings per day and applicable for all Citibank credit card holders, provided you sign up at their website. Generally, each RM50 you spend locally with their cards entitles you to 1 entry. For RM50 transacted overseas, you will get 10 entries. There are also a bunch of other methods to get more entries, click below to read through all of them.

Citibank iPad 2 contest

Sounds easy enough, but how many people are you competing with? Will 10 or 100 entries be sufficient to earn you a free iPad2? I wonder..

My verdict: no harm trying, since spending will continue anyway, you may just need to remember to use more of your Citibank credit card during the campaign period..

Public Bank Esso Mobil Gold Credit Card

photo source: http://www.pbebank.com/

Lately I keep hearing the Public Bank Esso-Mobil card being advertised on the radio, so I decided to take a look. At first glance, it seems to be offering quite a good deal to match the Shell Citibank Gold Credit Card at 8% cash rebate. On top of that, there is a RM20 cash back too, if you’re a new Public Bank credit card member.

Another difference that this card has apart from other Public Bank credit cards is the free annual fee, without any conditions. However, as I looked further, there are a lot of hidden criteria to the 8% rebate and RM20 cash back that made me wonder if Public Bank launched this just to remain competitive with other banks.

The RM20 needs you to spend a minimum RM400 within the first 60days of your card approval. And this minimum amount is only on retail purchases, which means your petrol doesn’t count. Unless you’re already planning to get something within the first 2 months, you may tend to buy something totally unnecessary just to get the RM20.

The 8% cash rebate is based on a tiered plan: to reach a rebate of 8%, you need to spend more than RM800 at Esso or Mobil stations (regardless on fuel or purchases at the mart). On top of that, the rebate is capped at RM80 per month. Wait, there’s more..the cap goes down to RM50 per month from September  1^st, 2011 onwards. What happens post August is the additional 3% case rebate given will cease from the earlier mentioned date onwards, so max earning is just 5%.

The only good thing regarding the rebate plan is the fact that there is still a 0.5% Unlimited Case MegaBonus (some fancy name to attract attention?) on all other transactions with the card. Although this is no different than many cards offering 1 point for RM1, something is better than nothing.

My verdict: might be worth getting if you’re a regular (and maybe heavy) user of Esso or Mobil. Otherwise, there is not much value in it. No one I know has it yet, so I’m not sure if there can be a fee waiver to the GST, but if there is, then it could be a good deal for Esso-Mobil patrons.

Surf over here for my post on Citibank Cash Back Platinum Card