Maybank has updated its terms and conditions relating to Cash Advance and Cash Withdrawals for both its Maybank and Maybank Islamic credit cards. Effective 16 July, the updated clauses classify cryptocurrency transactions as Cash Advance or Cash Withdrawals – officially making crypto purchases liable for cash advance and withdrawal charges.

Prior to this update, Cash Withdrawals/Cash Advance had been quite narrowly defined as a cash withdrawal made by submitting a Cash Withdrawal Draft or any cash. Now, for conventional credit cards, Maybank has expanded the meaning of Cash Withdrawals to include cryptocurrency whereas for Islamic credit cards, cryptocurrency has been included under the definition of Cash Advance. Maybank has also included betting and gaming transactions under its Cash Withdrawal category for conventional cards.

The new definition is laid out as follows: “The use of the Credit Card for the withdrawal of cash or in any form of cash in any currency and the use of Credit Card for the purpose of betting or gaming transactions, including but not limited to purchase of lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting, wagers at race or purchase of travellers cheques, foreign currency, money orders and quasi cash transaction representing a Merchant’s sale of items (including digital currency i.e. cryptocurrency or related/similar to cryptocurrency)”.

Cash Withdrawals/Cash Advance are subject to additional credit card fees, so this means that you will be incurring these charges if you use your credit card on cryptocurrency transactions. Following Maybank’s current fee structure, you will be charged a fee of 5% on the total amount or a minimum of RM18 per transaction, whichever is higher. There will also be a 18%p.a. interest charge to pay, calculated on a daily basis.

Local cardholders have already mentioned being charged this fee when buying cryptocurrency on platforms like Binance, which offers credit cards as one of its payment methods – so it’s likely that Maybank isn’t really introducing something new with these updated terms, but rather just formalising it. Moreover, now that cryptocurrency spend is officially being classed under Cash Withdrawals/Cash Advance, it’s certain that you will not be entitled to any cashback or rewards for these transactions. For the full details on the latest changes to Maybank’s credit card terms and conditions, you can refer to the announcement here.

• TAGS:
• Cash Advance
• Cash Withdrawal
• Credit Card Cash Advance
• Credit Card Cash Withdrawal
• Credit Card Fees
• Credit Card Revisions
• Cryptocurrency
• Maybank
• Maybank Credit Cards
• Maybank Islamic Credit Cards