Rethinking My Credit Card Usage – 2021

Most, if not all, of the banks have devalued their credit card rewards system because of the pandemic. Because of this, I’m rethinking as to how I’m going to use my credit cards.

The year 2020 has been a harsh year for everyone and banks weren’t exempt from this. While they weren’t hit as hard as the hospitality, tourism, and services industry, the effects of the pandemic have trickled down to the banks’ clients. This is in addition to the effect the pandemic might have on the clients themselves.

Out of all the credit cards I have with different banks, Citi was one of the first to devalue their rewards system, followed by BDO. While Citi was very specific on how their rewards would change going forward, BDO kept everyone in the dark. Aside from an email to ask clients to redeem their points, BDO gave no other information. This irked a lot of BDO’s clients. Although the changes will take place some time later, the bank actually halted redemption early on. So far, BPI and EWB have yet to make any changes on their rewards system. Since I don’t have credit cards aside from these banks, I didn’t look into other banks if there were any changes or not.

BDO

From what I’ve seen, BDO devalued the rewards system of their Mastercard and Visa brands by a lot and their American Express by a tad as well. With the changes, it now takes a spend amount of PHP 67.5 to get 1 airline mile on the American Express Platinum credit card. During multiplier promos, which is usually around x2-x5, this would be around PHP 33.75 – PHP 13.5. Not bad really but because of this, I am reserving the card for promos, either for multipliers or for GCs/cashback.

As for their Diners Club brand, there has been no devaluation so far. However, BDO did remove Mabuhay Miles from their rewards catalog as of January 2021. Still, I’ll continue using my Diners Club Premier for dining transactions, during promos, and when earning Asia Miles.

Citibank

With the changes in Citi’s rewards system, the PremierMiles credit card has certainly been downgraded a lot. From a PHP 30.00/mile to PHP 48.00/mile, I no longer consider the card as the best when it comes to general miles earning so I will probably shelve this soon, specially when Citi PayAll starts charging fees. Another consideration would be when I get charged the annual fee and they are unable to waive it.

As for their Citi Prestige, the rewards system remains the same. Of course, there’s the pending increase in annual fee from PHP 12,000.00 to PHP 18,000.00 so that’s another factor to consider. For now, I’ll continue using the card for transactions that will earn the multipliers.

EastWest

Lastly, EastWest bank’s KF World Mastercard. As of this writing, there hasn’t been any changes to the miles earning of this card. As such, I’ll continue using the card specially on transactions that earn the bonus miles. This card will also serve as a replacement to where I would usually use Citibank’s PremierMiles.

There’s BPI as well but I’ve never really used my card aside from the sign-up bonus promo and a few other promos now and then. At PHP 50.00/mile, it was never a good, miles-earning card to begin with. 

How about you? Rethinking how you use your credit cards might be important at this time. Do share your thoughts on the comments below!