4th March 2013 - 3 min read
Have you come across adverts from banks offering Flexi Payment Plans? These offers are really great way to buy that laptop, smartphone, washing machine or fridge and spread the payment over several months. Read on and we’ll give you the basics:
A Flexi Payment Plan is a programme that allows credit card holders to make purchases and then later convert them into affordable monthly instalments. The interest rates on Flexi Payment Plans are always lower than your standard credit card interest charges.
After you have purchased a retail item with your credit card, you need to contact your credit card issuer and inform them that you wish to transfer that purchase onto a Flexi Payment Plan. You need to do this before the next statement date for your card.
Once the conversion has been approved, the total amount will be blocked, but the amount equivalent to the monthly repayment will be progressively restored to your card’s credit limit.
Yes they can, but the request must be done by the principal cardholder.
Depending on the banks, the minimum amount can be as little as RM500. The maximum amount depends on your available credit balance. Some banks cap the amount at RM30,000 to RM50,000.. The tenure can be as short as three months or as long as three and usually varies in-line with the minimum amount.
This varies from bank to bank. Most banks only allow a single transaction to be converted into flexi payments. However, Citibank and Hong Leong let you transfer multiple transactions onto their Flexi Payment Plans.
Only retail transactions can be converted to the plan. Other transactions such as balance transfers, quasi cash for betting and gaming, cash advance, annual fees and carry forward balances are not applicable.
Most banks do not allow you to make changes to the tenure.
If that happens, you’ll be charged the normal finance charges which can be up to 18% p.a.
Yes, you can apply more than once on the condition that you have available credit limit on your credit card
Some banks charge a penalty of RM50 – RM100 or 5% of the amount.
You’ll figure it out once you read our review here. You can also check out our Flexi Payment Plan page for further information.
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Comments (3)
i want to buy motorcycle amount 8k.. let say i use 50%cash another 50% swipe a credit card.can i change to flexi payment plan?
Will i still get the credit card points, if i swipe full first then convert to flexi payment plan later?
it depends on the card, as some cards/banks may deem EPP/flexi payment transactions to not be eligible for cashback/points. there is usually a distinction between EPP at the point of transaction (usually 0 points/cashback) and converting a transaction to instalments/flexi plan (usually still get cashback/points for the original transaction). the card’s PDS/T&C document will explicitly mention which transactions are not eligible for points/cashback.