Be careful with credit card rebate schemes

Thought I should share this with readers of this blog.

I signed up for Citibank Air-Asia & Citibank Shell cards few month ago. They had an offer for FREE RM50 Air Asia voucher, FREE RM50 shell fuel & double rebates up to 10% rebate on shell fuels if signed up during the promo period.
But up til now, I have not received the Air Asia voucher, so I called Citibank to enquire.

I also I enquired more on the rebate rates for the Shell card.
Apparently the rebate rate is only 2.5%...and to get 5% rebate, you need to have carry forward balance above RM4,000.
Then I enquired what is carry forward balance…Apparently this is the amount outstanding not yet paid.
Imagine how shocked I was! For someone who always settles her credit cards bills on time and call to request for waiver of any fees / charges even if its 29 cents, hearing this was atrocious!

Basically the bank is indirectly encouraging you to have credit card debts and not settle it to be entitled for higher rebates!
What the ????
This is horrible policy…and I bet many Malaysians just fall for it…Gosh!!