Rant 928 / Why Can't I Hold All These Cards?

So I got 3 new cards this week, 2 free and 1 cheap.

First was the PAssion card that cost me S$12 for a 5-year membership. The main attraction for me here is the really tiny rebates and discounts it offers for several supermarkets, including Shop N Save.

The rebates are very little: 1 point per dollar spent, and 150 points for a rebate of one dollar.

In other words, S$1 rebate per S$150 spent, excluding all the cents in every transaction.

This alone isn't worth S$12 even if it's over 5 years, but there are also the other little discounts that may become useful over the years.

To recoup my $12, I'll have to spend $150 * 12 = $1800 over 5 years, or an average of $360 a year, or $30 per month at these supermarkets excluding all the coins involved.

Maybe it's not so bad... I spend like $10 a month just on rice alone at Shop N Save.

Second card to arrive was the Maybank ATM card. It didn't actually "arrive" because I went to Maybank to get it.

I initially wanted to get the iSAVvy savings account, but the banker recommended their normal savings account if all I wanted was to set up that fixed deposit.

So I followed his advice, let him set up a SaveUp account for me for free, then applied for the FD a few hours ago.

1.35% p.a. for 2 years! How can anyone interested in fixed deposits in Singapore (aka time deposits) resist? That's even better than Hong Leong's rates unless you're a frickin millionaire!

Furthermore, all bank deposits in most banks here are only insured up to 50,000 SGD, and I care about this little detail that nobody talks about.

I like safety nets.

So even if I'm a millionaire, I wouldn't want to put all my money in a single bank. Heck, I wouldn't place my million in fixed deposits in the first place.

This is just a Maybank ATM card with just above $500 to cover the minimum sum so that I don't get that stupid "monthly service fee".

The difference between this and what would have happened if I opened an iSAVvy savings account is that when the maturity date comes, Maybank will give me the cashier's order for free and not charge me the S$10-15 fee that iSAvvy account holders have to pay.

The pros of the latter includes the free insurance that comes with the account.

The SaveUp account is basically... nothingness. Its list of benefits is emptier than that of my DBS Visa debit card, which has almost nothing.

This feels like a comparison between vacuum and our exosphere.


Finally, my POSB Go! card. Like my DBS Platinum Visa debit card, this POSB Go! Mastercard debit card has almost nothing and charges almost nothing. No annual fee and stuff.

The only regular fee would be the one I'm going to have to pay to have it replaced when it expires.

Best of all, they're both using the same account, so all I need to care about is which card has the less minute discount.

But TBH they're both just glorified ATM cards with different names.

The most important different for me is that the Visa card has healthcare-related discounts while the other has... nothing that the Visa card lacks.

LOL!

This card shall be cancelled when it expires unless something useful is offered exclusively for it.

At least it's free, so I lose nothing.

The healthcare discounts are important because it's becoming a good idea for me to go for health screening regularly for the rest of my life when my parents are either dead or dying from cancer.