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Credit card rewards explained

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What is a reward credit card?

A reward credit card is a card that lets you earn reward points for your everyday spending. When you want to redeem points, you can use them for different goods and services, such as cashback, shopping vouchers, gifts, hotel points at a selected hotel, and airline miles from a range of airlines. They can also be used to cover your card's annual fee.

While reward points can be a smart way to benefit from your normal spending, it’s important to understand exactly how the reward programme works. You might find that you're better off getting a card with a lower interest rate or no annual fee.

You have a minimum salary of VND8 million through bank transfer? Apply for a credit card today and receive a cashback of VND1,800,000!

What rewards are available?

There are different rates for earning reward points depending on what you spend on, and also different redemption options you can use your points for. If you’re considering a reward credit card, consider how you’ll spend and what you’d like to redeem the points for. This will help you figure out which reward credit card best suits your needs. Here are some examples of how this can work.

Shopping vouchers

You can receive points for every purchase you make on your credit card, for instance, 1 reward point for every VND1,000 you spend. The points earned can be accumulated and exchanged for vouchers that you can spend in supermarkets and certain stores.

Air miles

If you’re a frequent flyer, it may be worth considering a credit card that earns you air miles on every purchase you make. These miles can then be exchanged for free flights or converted to your preferred frequent flyer programme.

Hotel points

Hotel points act as type of currency that you can spend with the hotel chains. Some credit cards allow you to book rooms by redeeming your reward points into hotel loyalty points. You can then spend the points at a wide range of hotels. 

The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card gives you fast and flexible travel with instant points redemption. Points can be redeemed at airline and hotel partners, and the card comes with extra travel benefits. These include complimentary travel insurance, airport lounge visits and discounted travel services.

Cashback

Some credit cards give you a percentage of what you spend as cashback. For example, if you spend VND100,000 at a supermarket and your card pays 8% cashback for grocery spends, you’ll earn VND8,000. These credit cards generally pay cashback into your account monthly or annually.

Pay with Points

The Pay with Points feature is a service which allows HSBC cardholders to use reward points to make payment for the credit card balance via HSBC Vietnam app. Cardholders can settle payment for any outstanding balance due on card or used for future purchases (“Statement Credits”). The redemption amount can be treated as payment, which will be recorded into your credit card account within 2 working days. Redemption will also immediately increase your available limit.

What to consider before taking a reward credit card

As they offer such rewards, these kinds of credit cards may have higher fees and potentially a higher interest rate. So before taking a reward credit card, you want to be confident you’ll be able to repay your balance in full each month and can also afford to pay the annual fee. If not, you may end up paying more in interest and fees than you earn in rewards.

HSBC has a variety of cards to suit every lifestyle.

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