PSA: Don't Forget To Use Your Credit Card Benefits
- Refined Points
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
This is one of those articles banks probably wish I wouldn’t write, but it needs to be said. We’re closing in on the end of 2025, and whether you’re flying during the peak holiday season or staying put, it’s important to take stock of your annual benefits before they quietly reset on 1 January 2026.
After all, if you’re holding an annual-fee credit card—or simply spend enough abroad to feed banks and schemes with healthy FX fees—you should absolutely make full use of what you’re “paying” for.
Airport Lounge Access Benefits
Let’s start with the benefit Malaysians care about most: lounge access. Almost every premium or semi-premium credit card in Malaysia offers some variation of this perk, and most of these allowances refresh on 1 January every year. That means if you still have unused entries for 2025, now is the time to burn them.
If you’re running on the UOB ecosystem like many Refined Points readers, cardholders of the UOB Visa Infinite or UOB PRVI Miles Elite should keep the UOB Private Lounge at KLIA Terminal 1 on their radar. It’s famously overrated, yes, but an unused lounge entitlement is still wasted value.
Oh and before I forget, if you're using UOB credit cards, don't forget to turn around after checking-in and heading inside the normal Plaza Premium Lounge. UOB cardholders do not have access to Plaza Premium First despite the registration being done right at the PPF doorstep!
I can't imagine the embarrasement here but this must be some top-notch humour from Plaza Premium to place the UOB Private Lounge entry right next to PPF's entrance!
CIMB Travel cardholders—and those with the Maybank World Elite Mastercard on the other hand—should absolutely take advantage of Plaza Premium First while it remains quieter and more exclusive.
Meanwhile, if you're departing from KLIA2, I wouldn't recommend detouring to the Plaza Premium Lounge at Gateway@KLIA2 unless you’re desperate. Its distance from the gates and the fairly weak food and facility offerings make the whole experience hardly worth the walk.
Remember that many Malaysian credit cards also come with global lounge access networks. You might find yourself flying to a place like Helsinki and still be able to stroll into a lounge simply because your card permits it. Always cross-check the list of eligible lounges tied to each card—you’d be surprised how many benefits fly under the radar.
Airport Limo Benefits
Airport limo perks are far less common in Malaysia, but they can offer meaningful value when used properly. Since I hold UOB cards, I’ll start there.
The UOB PRVI Miles Elite and UOB Zenith World Elite sit at the top of the pyramid, offering complimentary Grab ride home vouchers worth RM80 and RM180 respectively. If you hold either card, use those vouchers—not because they’re life-changing, but because they do add up over time.
Standard Chartered Priority Banking Visa Infinite cardholders also enjoy limo benefits, including the option to redeem a KLIA Express ticket, which is useful if you prefer trains over cars.
Now, a word of caution: the complimentary limo perk on the UOB Visa Infinite. On paper, it sounds good. In reality, it requires RM5,000 spend on airlines, hotels and travel agencies—and several readers have reported that the vehicle quality isn’t exactly “limo” anything. If you’ve already crossed the RM5,000 requirement, then by all means claim it. If you haven’t, I’d suggest skipping the entire mechanic and simply booking a Grab Premium. Your sanity will thank you.
On the mass-market end, credit cards with limo perks are extremely limited. The CIMB Travel Platinum Mastercard remains one of the few exceptions, offering 2x complimentary RM65 Grab vouchers per year with minimum spend triggers. If you still have this benefit unclaimed, use it before year-end.
Miscellaneous Benefits
Beyond lounges and airport transfers, the remaining benefits tend to be smaller scale but still worth mentioning—mainly because they often go forgotten.
CIMB In-flight WiFi Cashback - A handy perk if you happen to fly on any airline listed on CIMB’s product page. You’ll receive cashback for WiFi purchases up to a specified cap, though only the principal cardholder qualifies.
50% Off Dining at Shangri-La with AmBank Visa Cards - This is a limited-time perk ending 31 December 2025. If you have an AmBank Visa collecting dust somewhere, this is a good time to revive it for one or two dining outings.
Maybank World Elite Mastercard – Free Night in London or Paris - I debated including this because it’s barely a “benefit” once you read the T&C. The offer ends 31 December 2025 (book and stay), and if you haven’t used it by now, it’s safe to consider it a lost cause. Still, it will be interesting to see what Maybank introduces as a replacement in 2026.
Final Thoughts
As we round off the year, what becomes increasingly clear is how concentrated the meaningful benefits landscape has become. For better or worse, almost every benefit Malaysians actually care about—lounges, limo vouchers, concierge experiences, merchant offers—tends to originate from just two banks: UOB and CIMB.
This isn’t necessarily a good thing. A healthy credit card market thrives on competition, and right now the gap is wider than ever. UOB continues to dominate travel-centric perks and fast-paced points mechanics, while CIMB quietly sustains some of the strongest global lounge access and merchant promo offerings in the country. Meanwhile, many other banks have either stepped back, devalued perks, or introduced benefits so restrictive they become irrelevant in practice.
The result? A credit card ecosystem where genuine differentiation is scarce, and consumers increasingly flock to the same handful of cards simply because the alternatives don’t bother trying.
So before the calendar flips to 2026, take a moment to extract whatever remaining value your cards still hold.
Here’s hoping 2026 brings more innovation and less recycling of the same old benefits. But given industry trends, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
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