Monday, November 06, 2006

Rewards Redemption

I am sure most of us have more than one credit card. To get the max out of the card, it is best to concentrate your expenditure in one card so that you are able to accumulate sufficient points for redemption of rewards. Me, I prefer food vouchers. Citibank used to give a good deal. For $560 citidollars, I could get a $20 voucher at Olio restaurant / Dome cafe. Most of the other credit card companies require easily $680 - $780 card dollars for a $20 restaurant voucher. So I happily concentrated my spendings on my citibank. Lo behold, its time for my redemption, finally accumulated substantial reward points... and .... citibank raised their redemption points needed. No more $560 citidollars. It now requires $780 citidollars to redeem the same $20 Dome cafe voucher. Even a $20 sakae sushi voucher required $1000 citidollars! I went to UOB website n checked, their $30 sakae sushi voucher required only $930 uob points and both citibank and UOB have the same computation for their points - every $5 charged to the card gives u 1 reward point.What the $%#*&@!~@

Here are some other obvious ones:

Din Tai Fung $20 voucher = $1000 citibank points OR $750 uob points
Jack's place $20 voucher = $890 citibank points OR $750 uob points

UOB also provided more choice if you have < $500 points. There were more variety for $5 - $15 food vouchers that catered to those with fewer points.

It's just unfair to us consumers when they change and raise their rewards redemption points quietly!! I'm taking my expenditure back to UOB!

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