Affin Bank has announced that it is revising the benefits of its Affin Visa Signature, namely introducing a new cashback cap of either RM50 or RM100 for contactless transactions (with conditions) and doing away with the rewards points benefit for other transactions. These changes are slated to take place starting from 1 September 2021.

The Affin Visa Signature credit card currently allows you to earn 3% cashback on all contactless transactions (excluding government services and charity transactions) up to a monthly cap of RM80. On top of that, it also offers 1x AFFIN Rewards Point for every RM1 PIN-based and “card-not-present” transaction spent.

To clarify, contactless transactions are defined as a payment that is made by tapping your card at the Visa payWave contactless reader; such payments are limited to RM250 or less. Payments that exceed the amount will be considered as PIN-based payments instead as you will need to key in your PIN. Meanwhile, “card-not-present” transactions will include e-commerce, mail order telephone orders, and recurring and standing instructions.

Come 1 September 2021, Affin Bank will increase the already generous monthly cap of RM80 to an even higher limit of RM100 – but at the same time, it is also introducing a tiered cashback structure that is based on the balance of your preceding month’s credit card statement. Following the update, you will need to hit a previous balance of RM8,000 in order to enjoy the new RM100 cashback cap; if your previous balance is less than RM8,000, then you will only be able to earn a maximum of RM50 cashback. In short:

New monthly cashback cap	Details
Up to RM50	Card account with previous balance of less than RM8,000
Up to RM100	Card account with previous balance of RM8,000 and above

With this development, the effective cashback rates of the Affin Visa Signature could be significantly affected depending on your average monthly card usage. At present, the lack of a previous balance requirement means you can earn the full RM80 cashback at a 3% effective cashback when you spend RM2,667 each month. The update, however, will change the new effective cashback rate for the card as such:

Previous balance	Cashback cap	Official cashback rate	Effective cashback rate
Less than RM8,000	RM50	3%	0.625% to 3%
RM8,000 and above	RM100	3%	1.25%

As shown in the table, aiming for the full RM100 cashback will mean that you are actually only gaining an effective cashback rate of at most 1.25% – not to mention having to consistently maintain a previous balance of RM8,000 and above. If you wish to continue earning the full 3% cashback rate, you will need to limit your expenditure to a maximum of RM1,667 and ensure that your previous balance is less than RM8,000. This will, however, mean that you can only obtain a lower maximum cashback of RM50 – a dip compared to the previous cap of RM80 before. The introduction of this tiered cashback cap system based on previous balances follows a similar revision that was made to the popular Affin Duo credit cards earlier this year.

The new cashback mechanism may take a little getting used to as cardholders will need to be extra attentive to their expenses if they wish to fully maximise the benefits of the Affin Visa Signature card. Aside from the changes to the cashback benefits, Affin Bank also said that it will stop awarding AFFIN Rewards Points for PIN-based and “card-not-present” retail transactions. This effectively turns the Affin Visa Signature card into a full cashback credit card (with no Rewards Points benefit) that will solely reward contactless payments that amount to RM250 or less.

To find out more about the changes that are being made to the Affin Visa Signature card starting from 1 September, you can head on over to the FAQ on Affin Bank’s website.

(Source: Affin Bank)

• TAGS:
• Affin Bank
• Affin Bank Credit Cards
• Affin Visa Signature
• Cashback
• Cashback Credit Cards
• Contactless Payments
• Credit Card Revisions
• Rewards Points