Is the Alliance Bank Visa Signature cashback credit card it worth boosting with RM600 sign-up and RM900 spend campaigns?

Today, let us talk about stretching your Ringgit further by stacking your various cashback, discounts, points, and promotional campaigns, using the Alliance Visa Signature credit card as the point of discussion.

If you're not familiar with stacking (double-dipping) benefits, let's start with some examples. Now, instead of paying cash when making a purchase, we can swipe our card instead for additional benefits like points or discounts or cashback offered by the bank. However, as smart consumers, we can also make the same purchase using our eWallet, reloaded from a credit card, and include our loyalty cards so we get rewards from:

1. our eWallet (e.g. buy RM50 petrol voucher for RM47 in Shopee, Lazada, etc.)
2. our credit card (points / discounts / cashback, e.g. 8% cashback)
3. our loyalty card (e.g. Petron, BonusLink) so we get those loyalty benefits too

Another example is paying via Fave when you see a 5% cashback sign on the payment counter, and you link your credit card to Fave as the payment method (or even Grab, TNG, etc.), so you get that additional 5% Fave cashback.

Let's move on to the Alliance Visa Signature cashback card. This is one card that I do not recommend, as the best cashback you can ever get is RM55.50 by spending exactly RM3,000. If you end up only spending RM2,000 or below, then you only get a max of RM5.50 in cashback! This is because the 5% cashback on this card is only applicable to your amount spent between RM2,001-3,000:

However, let's see if two additional campaigns by the bank helps redeem this card's reputation - namely the RM600 cashback new-to-bank acquisition campaign and the RM900 cashback spend campaign.

This RM600 cashback campaign is not easy to cash-in, as you need to perform at least 5 x RM80 swipes for RM50 cashback, and/or spend a total of RM2,500 for RM150 cashback, to collect RM200 cashback each month for 3 months (this translates to a 8% cashback). Alliance and Hong Leong bank's acquisition campaigns simply cannot be compared to Citi or HSBC credit card sign-up offers, which reward you with up to RM1,000 as a cash bonus, rather than a mediocre cashback on the back of high spend amounts. In this case, your reward is up to 8% cashback for your spend for up to RM600 in cashback, which is a completely different ball game. Secondly, it's not even a straight through 8% cashback, as there is a fair chance you may miss out on the cashback if you ended up spending less than RM2,500 for the month!

What is the maximum effective cashback if you spent exactly RM2,500 and qualified for the RM200 cashback? The answer is RM25 + RM5.50 + RM200 = RM230.50 = 9.22% cashback.

Next up is the RM900 cashback spend campaign, which is on-going until end March 2023:

The RM900 cashback spend campaign offers you another RM100 cashback each month for 3 months, if you spend above RM1,000 in groceries and dining, and another RM100 cashback each month if you spend above RM2,000 in travel and overseas categories, or RM200 if you spend above RM3,000.

For the average Malaysian, these are lofty spend targets to meet, and the having to spend RM4,000 each month to claw back RM300 in cashback, translates to only an effective 7.5% cashback rate.

What if we combine this with the above? Which spend provides the best cashback rate? Is it RM2,500 with RM500 in grocery/dining and RM2,000 in travel/overseas? Or should you max out and spend RM4,000? Let's check it out:

If you spend RM4,000, total cashback = RM100 for grocery/dining, RM200 for travel/overseas, RM200 for acquisition campaign, RM55.50 for VS cashback = RM360.50 = 13.88% cashback.

If you spend RM2,500 as per above, total cashback = RM30 for grocery/dining, RM100 for travel/overseas, RM200 for acquisition campaign, RM30.50 for VS cashback = RM360.50 = 14.42% cashback.

If you spend RM1,001 exclusively on grocery/dining, total cashback = RM100 for grocery/dining, RM50 for acquisition campaign, RM0.50 for VS cashback = RM150.50 = 15.05% cashback.

If you spend RM501 exclusively on grocery/dining, total cashback = RM30 for grocery/dining, RM50 for acquisition campaign, RM0.25 for VS cashback = RM80.25 = 16.05% cashback.

Get this - the less you spend, the more cashback you actually earn! Also, spending RM500 a month on groceries/dining in RM80 amounts each time is a much likelier scenario than spending over RM3,000 a month on travel/overseas spend, every month for 3 months!

Verdict - the card isn't great by itself, but if you've signed-up for it, then the best cashback rate you can get is 16.05% for 3 months, by double-dipping the sign-up and spend campaigns and spending RM500 each month on grocery/dining. I would cancel the card once the campaign cashback is received though, as the remaining run-of-the-mill benefits really aren't competitive in today's market!