RHB recently announced a major shakeup in how you earn and redeem points with their credit cards.
If you’re an existing RHB credit cardholder, especially those of you holding the RHB Premier Visa Infinite (which is probably the only good airline miles card in RHB's lineup), these changes are something you need to know about.
What's Happening?
Starting from October 17, 2024, RHB is introducing a new way of categorizing the points you earn on your credit card. Instead of a single pool of points, RHB is splitting your points into two buckets: LoyaltyPlus Points and Loyalty Points.
Why Two Buckets? Think of LoyaltyPlus Points as your premium points – these are the ones you really want to accumulate if you’re aiming for the best value, especially when redeeming airline miles.
Loyalty Points, on the other hand, are your standard points. They’re still valuable, but they’ll cost you more when it comes time to redeem them for rewards like air miles.
How Do You Earn These Points?
LoyaltyPlus Points | Loyalty Points |
Overseas Spend | Dining Spend |
Airline Spend | Local Online Spend |
Hotel Spend | Local General Spend |
Travel Spend |
Simply put, you’ll earn LoyaltyPlus points on eligible overseas spending, local airline purchases, local hotels, and travel-related expenses. Essentially, the more you spend on travel-related categories, the more of these premium points you’ll earn.
As for Loyalty points, these are earned on everything else. Whether you're dining out, shopping online, or paying bills, you’ll be racking up these points.
What’s the Catch?
Here’s where it gets interesting. While earning LoyaltyPlus Points sounds great, it’s not as easy as it used to be. For example, previously, all your points went into a single bucket, but now, your spending habits will determine how your points are categorized. And when it comes to redeeming for airline miles, LoyaltyPlus Points give you a better deal.
Hence, the value of your points depends on how you spend your money. If you frequently spend on travel and overseas purchases, you’re in luck – you’ll be earning more of the higher-value LoyaltyPlus Points. But if most of your spending is in other categories like dining or local shopping, you might find yourself needing more points to get the same rewards as before.
Final Thoughts
Let’s be frank: aside from the recently launched RHB Shell Visa Credit Card, which is a cashback card that I don't cover on Refined Points, RHB has never truly been a major player in the airline miles game, despite offering competitive accrual rates.
This is largely because the RHB Premier Visa Infinite—the only card in their lineup that offers decent airline miles benefits—is a priority-banking card targeted at high net worth individuals. These individuals are more likely to gravitate towards options like the CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite or the UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite.
The recent changes to RHB’s points structure are perplexing, to say the least. The separation of Loyalty Points and LoyaltyPlus Points effectively diminishes the value of the RHB Premier Visa Infinite for local spending, particularly in dining. Given that the vast majority of cardholders likely conduct 90% of their spending locally, the shift to earning primarily Loyalty Points—which do not pool with LoyaltyPlus Points—renders the card much less attractive.
In short, if you’re currently using the RHB Premier Visa Infinite credit card, it might be time to start considering alternatives. Stay tuned for more in-depth analysis of these changes in upcoming articles.
I will also be rewriting my review of the RHB Premier Visa Infinite when time permits, so excuse the outdated information in the meantime.
