You're probably wondering why I've taken the liberty to write this review, despite writing in a separate article that you should cancel your CIMB e Card immediately.

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The CIMB e Card has made a significant revision to its Bonus Points earning scheme, meaning that the benefits that made the card stand out in the beginning are effectively removed. 

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Nevertheless, the CIMB e Card still has one minor perk to offer, and you should continue reading on to find out what it is. However, I should emphasize early on that you should only consider obtaining the CIMB e Card if you are in the CIMB ecosystem.

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If you happen to use other credit cards, such as the UOB Visa Infinite or Maybank 2 Cards Premier as your primary daily driver, you should not consider the CIMB e Card at all for airline miles accrual.

I'm taking several points from my article here where I recommended fellow Refined Points followers to cancel the CIMB e Card.

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In my previous analysis of the CIMB e Credit Card, I strongly recommended it to high-income earners for a singular, compelling reason: It's ability to award Bonus Points for e-wallet top-ups.

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Regrettably, this advantage has now been withdrawn. CIMB has declared the discontinuation of Bonus Points for e-wallet reloads, severely diminishing the card's utility. 

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Hence, the only remaining perk of the CIMB e Card is the ability to earn 12X Bonus Points on the 28th of each month. To put this in perspective, even the CIMB Travel World Elite credit card, the premier card for air miles, provides only 10X Bonus Points per RM1 spent. Hence, for a day each month, the CIMB e card's benefits surpassed even the best travel credit cards.

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It's extremely important for you to understand that the CIMB e Card is not meant to be your main credit card for obtaining airline miles. Rather, if properly strategized, you'll see how you can maximize the value of your CIMB e Card.

 

CIMB promotes a rather gimmicky tag which states that you'll earn 12X Bonus Points on the 28th of each month. What this essentially means is that on 28th October, 28th November and so on, you'll earn 12X Bonus Points for every RM1 spent on the following categories:​

• Local Spend via Contactless (PIN transactions earn 1X Points)

• Online Shopping

• Auto-Billing

 

On every other day besides the 28th of each month, you'll instead earn 3X Bonus Points, which is meaningless for CIMB Bonus Points.

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This means that on the 28th of each month, you effectively earn 1 Airline Mile for every RM1.00 spent, given that you require 12,500 Bonus Points for 1,000 Enrich Miles.

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However, there's a catch. CIMB imposes a capping of 20,000 Bonus Points each month. In order to maximize this, you would need to spend RM1666.67 each month to earn 20,000 Bonus Points. I think it's decently logical to spend RM1667 in a single day, if you hold off your monthly purchases until the 28th of each month.

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Now, assuming that you strategize well and spend RM1667 using your CIMB e Card every 28th of each month, this means that in one year, you can earn up to 240,000 Bonus Points.

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With 240,000 Bonus Points, you can redeem for:

• 19,200 Enrich Miles

• 16,000 Air France-KLM, EVA Air Mileage, British Airways Avios, Etihad Airways Miles, Turkish Airways Miles, Qatar Airways Avios, Emirates Skywards and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• 12,000 Japan Airline JAL Mileage Bank

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Personally, this amount of airline miles is insignificant, but decent enough that you can take advantage of what CIMB has to offer. Remember, the important aspect of CIMB credit cards is that points CAN BE POOLED.

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This means that earning Bonus Points via your CIMB Travel credit cards and the CIMB e credit card all pool together into one system. It is for this exact reason the CIMB e Card still retains a glimmer of usefulness in our wallets.