I rarely spend time reading the flyers enclosed with the the monthly bills from the card companies. You see, I am a certified plasticman, i.e., I pay 95% of my transactions using plastic money – popularly known as credit card. As of my last count, I have six active credit cards: two from Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI Express Card and BPI Express Credit Mastercard), two from Citbank (one Visa and one Mastercard),one from Banco de Oro (American Express ) and one from Metrobank (Mastercard). I called up Union Bank to cancel the card they issued to me as a pre-selected customer being an alumni of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. You see, they sent a machine-generated letter billing me for the annual fee despite the fact that I have not used it since it was sent to me a year ago. The annual membership dues would eat a considerable chunk of my budget and I feel that I am fine with my six active cards.
The flyers that are enclosed with the monthly bills contain the details of the mechanics of the credit card companies' promotional campaigns to encourage patronage of their cards. It is their way of saying to use their credit card more often and we will have these and that for free. Since I seldom read these flyers, I did not know that I let golden chances passed me by . For instance, my wife was telling me that if we purchase using BPI Credit Card above a certain amount, we can have a free food from Chow King. But this freebie was not that attractive to me. I told my wife that the credit card companies will not give away freebies that are expensive such that it would drain their budget for promotional activities. Maybe the serving of the food would only be good for one person.
I think that the rewards points being earned from using the credit cards which entitle cardholders to get free selected products (I was able to get watches, folding chairs, electric fans, etc…) is already enough.
It was an officemate who asked me if I had started to take advantage of the freebie from Citibank: FREE MOVIE PASS. I said no, not yet. I felt my eyes widened when I heard about it the first time. When I received my monthly bill from Citibank last month, I decided to read the flyer about it. It was then that I learned that Citibank is bringing back this year what they considered as a blockbuster in 2009: GET FREE MOVIE PASSES ALL YEAR ROUND, the flyer's title line said. In the finer line under it, it says, just spend at least P1,500.00 in a single receipt purchase starting March 1, 2010. To redeem, surrender valid charge slips at Ayala, Eastwood, Robinsons, Shangri-La or SM Cinemas.
I felt I lost several golden chances after I read that the promo was “on” the whole year of 2009. You see, since January 2009 till February 2010, I drove to Bacolor, Pampanga three times a week for the tapings of “May Bukas Pa”. For this period, I used my credit cards for the purchase of gasoline I used in my car! Sayang!
As the price of a movie ticket has considerably gone up, this freebie from Citibank is very valuable! And since I use credit cards for almost 95% of my purchases, I guess I have to change my personal pattern of using my six credit cards. You see, as a true and tried credit card user, I believe that the credit card is simply a tool for the convenience of not bringing cash in shopping. Most importantly however, it should not be used beyond one's capacity to pay. In my case, I pay all the monthly dues for all the six cards on time within the paying period, otherwise the interests and penalties will tremendously high and expensive.
Before this free movie pass freebie from Citibank, I assigned my six cards to specific days of the month: from day 1 to day 8 – I use BPI cards, from day 9 to day 16 – I use my AMEX, from day 17 to day 25 – I use my Citibank mastercard and from day 26 to day 31 – I use my Metrobank Mastercard. For all my utilities (Meralco, Smart, Sun etc…) I use my Citibank Visa. The reason for having this schedule is that the cards have different payment period. But now, with the Citibank free movie ticket promo, I guess I will use only my Citibank cards every day!
Last saturday, my family was so excited to watch the movie “The Back Up Plan” starring Jennifer Lopez at SM Fairview using for our Citibank purchases for the first time! I hope that you are also aware of this freebie!
