card junkie

I’m a sucker for membership cards. My wallet cardholder already bulging at its seams. Last week, I received my new permanent PriorityClub card. It’s actually one of my hotel cards...ni semua boss I punya pasal. He told me to make the most of my company trips. For PriorityClub, I gain rewards if I stayed at Crowne Plaza hotels or Intercontinental hotels and resorts. Before that, my boss insisted that I join Hyatt Gold Passport club. So I diligently filled in the application form. All this happened during my trip to KK and Kuching last year. And then when it’s time to check-in at the airport, he asked me "Ey ! You don’t have an Enrich card ?" When I grinned sheepishly, he gave me that isk isk look.. "When you get back to the office, go to MAS website and fill the form". Aye aye boss ! Other than those two cards, I already have MarriottRewards (for staying lots of times there because of Forums) and Le Meridien’s Moments card.
Actually, I’m not really into hotel rewards card simply because I seldom travel and I hate sleeping in hotel’s room. Gives me the creeps. However, I have no qualms having other memberships card. For instance, last Friday I applied for a Clarins membership card. I purchase Clarins treatment oil and foot lotion so I might as well apply for the card and collect points every time I buy their products. Let’s see, in cosmetics and fragrance category, I have SK II and L’occitane. I used to have Shiseido You card but I didn’t renew it since I don’t use Shiseido anymore. Once, I applied for The Body Shop’s People card but it’s too exploiting for me to maintain. I have to collect 300 points within 6 months in order for me to get a RM30 rebate. If I don’t have enough 300 points, I can’t carry forward and the points will be forfeited. Zalimnya !! Since I’m not an avid Body Shop user, I refuse to apply for the next one. Not worth it. SK II lets me accumulate my points for a year and at least their redemption scheme is sensible. L’occitane is the best, although their products a bit pricey than Body Shop, I do enjoy 10% discount for every purchase I made and get to accumulate points. If I don’t have enough points to redeem their products, I can have RM10 - 20 rebate for my next purchase.. I don’t exactly remember.
I also have Isetan, Metrojaya and BonusLink cards. Among these three, the easiest for me to accumulate and redeem points is Metrojaya. At one point of time, I went crazy over Somerset Bay and East India clothes and bought them as if there’s no tomorrow. I even bought my bedsheets, pillow cases set, sham cover set, the whole works for my wedding there. To make it even better, I bought my SK II in Metrojaya too. For two years in a row, I received RM100 rebate from Metrojaya. Not bad, huh ? Compared to Isetan, the highest rebate I got so far is RM23 for accumulating more than RM 600 but less than RM 800 within 6 months. For my effort, I receive 3% rebate..Hai kedekutnya Jepun ni.. Last 6 months, I manage to accumulate 1540 Isetan points. That’s my highest and times 5%, I manage a lowly RM77 rebate than Metrojaya. Isetan pun buat perangai macam Body Shop jugak - points to be collected within 6 months. As for BonusLink, I have nothing exciting to buy in Parkson so my points hardly reach 1000 - for every Parkson purchase, I can only accumulate 50% out of it. Furthermore, I don’t like going there cause I hate the chinese version of their grand sale’s song.. I don’t buy Shell petrol for my one and only nationalistic reason. Collecting points in Tesco is not worth it cos I’m able to accumulate points of 25% only...
What else do I have here...aaa yes, my saviour during car breakdowns - AAM card. My car is an old car so having AAM card is really useful when I couldn’t start the car - it’s always batteries problem. I also have hardly-used Mesra, Maxis One Club, Dome, Times Privilege, ING and Mexx cards. Previously before I got married, I used to diligently swipe my Mesra card. Now not anymore ever since I go to the office with mrjones. I don’t know why I received Maxis card, it just came. I applied Dome card after being talked into it by one of the waitresses. Times is because I don’t get discounts from Kinokuniya. Mexx came with Her World magazine for January issue. For Mexx, I can get 10% discount but I never step into that shop, it’s in Berjaya Times Square. I don’t go to BTS beacuse I have no burning desire to be there. I think I will be an avid user of ING card after my baby is born. I also have Clark Hatch card - I applied last September and I plan to freeze my membership due to my pregnancy.
Thank god, I’m not a sucker for credit cards. To date, I have four..banyak la jugak eh..? I have Citibank Silver Visa and Clear Mastercard. I use CTB visa for my shopping and mastercard for bill payments. Nasib baik we are allowed 2 types of card for a bank, kalau tidak, semua kad Citibank I nak apply rasanya... HSBC card is supplementary card from mrjones. I pun tak sangka boleh dapat.. Oh I know why..at one point of time, I love eating at Strudels up to the level that the staffs knew my face and my love for nyonya laksa. And HSBC cardmembers can get 10% discount at Strudels.. He got tired of me pestering for the card just so that I can enjoy 10% discount. Finally, I have Direct Access card because it’s FREE FOR LIFE..no annual fees, sista !! Oh, I use that card for my big ticket purchases because they have 0% Installment Scheme. I bought my digi cam and specs using the 0% plan for smarter personal cash flow management, heh heh..
Last two years, one MBf card sales bozo offered me their Gold card. He called my office phone and after being talked into it, I agreed to apply since they say that it’s free for life and I get to accumulate BonusLink points. When the card did arrive, I am so pissed with the RM2k credit limit. Gold card with RM2k credit limit ? I don’t think so !! Plus, I have to pay annual fees in subsequent years and only have the first year fee waived. @#$ %^&$%$#$#@ salesperson !!! They called me so many times to remind me to activate the card but it all fell on my deaf ears.
Then, the same thing happened to me last year. OCBC offered me their Platinum card called Titanium. They promo me baik punya..I stand to win one of holiday condo in Singapore, rebates for 3G phones, spa offers and if I spend RM6k per year, no annual fee incurred. I kan tak boleh dengar free for life punya annual fee, so I agreed to apply. What do I get in my mail ?? A stoopid Gold OCBC card which I have to pay annually for RM160, this time no first year waiver.. Satu kali lagilah - #&%*$#^?#@ !! What’s with me and these con cardsales ? They reminded me to activate the card once and I acted blur when they called me about it - "what card ?? I don’t receive any ?!" At least they gave me RM6k credit limit compared to MBf. I now sworn off credit cards offers simply because what I ask is what I don’t get. I’m quite happy with my current credit cards anyway so I don’t think I want to add another card to my increasing collection. Okay, maybe if I get another genuine offer of FREE FOR LIFE card, I might consider it cos I’m a suckerrrrrr.......
So now, with those cards plus MyKad, driving license, BCB atm cards, I think I need to buy another boxy wallet cardholder. That I have to wait after August, *wink*