Best Rewards Credit Cards Malaysia 2026 — Points, Miles & Perks

If your goal is to earn points, collect air miles, or access airport lounges, a rewards credit card is a different animal from a cashback card. Cashback gives you a direct ringgit discount — straightforward, no thinking required. Rewards cards give you a currency (points or miles) that can be worth significantly more per ringgit spent, but only if you redeem them well. Redeem badly and you would have been better off with a flat 1% cashback card.

This guide compares four widely held rewards cards in Malaysia, breaks down what each point is actually worth, and flags the traps that eat into your returns. If you are after straight cashback instead, see the best cashback credit cards guide.

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Quick Comparison#

Earn rates and benefits change periodically. Confirm the latest terms directly with the issuing bank before applying.

Card-by-Card Breakdown#

Maybank 2 Platinum#

The Maybank 2 series is one of the most popular credit card families in Malaysia. The Platinum tier sits at a manageable entry point and targets weekend spenders — the 5x TreatsPoints multiplier applies to weekend dining and all overseas transactions.

What you earn: Base rate of 1 TreatsPoint per RM1 spent. On qualifying weekend dining and overseas spend, you earn 5x — so 5 TreatsPoints per RM1. Other spend earns at the base rate.

What points are worth: TreatsPoints can be redeemed for Maybank catalogue items and vouchers, or converted to airline points via Enrich (Malaysia Airlines), Asia Miles or KrisFlyer. Maybank does not publish the current transfer ratios anywhere we can reach and cite, and the figures circulating on comparison sites disagree with each other by nearly 2x — so we are not printing one. Ask Maybank for the current TreatsPoints-to-Enrich ratio in writing before you take this card as a miles play, because that single number is the entire case for it. What is not in doubt: redeeming for catalogue items or vouchers almost always yields worse value than flights.

Annual fee: waived for life. Maybank's product page states a "Lifetime fee waiver" (read 7 October 2026).

Best for: Weekend diners who eat out regularly on Saturdays and Sundays, and frequent travellers who want to accumulate Enrich Points on a card with a relatively low income requirement.

CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite#

This is CIMB's premium travel-focused card. The income bar is higher (RM150,000 p.a.), but the perks are substantial for people who travel frequently and spend heavily on dining.

What you earn: 5x Bonus Points on travel (flights, hotels, travel agencies), 3x on dining, and 1x on everything else. The travel multiplier includes online travel bookings, which is where most spend happens.

What points are worth: CIMB is the one Malaysian issuer that publishes its transfer rates openly, in a rewards catalogue with a stated validity period, so these are checkable rather than estimated. Per 1,000 airline points: 8,000 Bonus Points to airasia rewards, 12,500 to Enrich, 15,000 to KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, EVA, Avios, Emirates Skywards and Turkish, and 20,000 to Etihad and JAL. CIMB's catalogue shows Flying Blue as "Not Available". Transfers move in blocks of 5,000 and are principal-cardholder only.

CIMB will alternatively convert Bonus Points to cash at 500 points = RM1. That gives you a hard breakeven: 12,500 Bonus Points is either RM25 in guaranteed rebate or 1,000 Enrich Points, so an Enrich Point has to be worth more than 2.5 sen to you for the transfer to make sense. At the 5x travel earn rate the points accumulate quickly, but premium-cabin redemptions still take heavy travel spend over a year or more — the 5x multiplier does not change the transfer ratio.

Source: CIMB Member Rewards Catalogue, redemption period 1 April 2026 – 30 April 2027.

Perks beyond points: Eight complimentary Plaza Premium lounge visits per year — enough to cover most travellers. The card also comes with comprehensive travel insurance covering trip cancellation, baggage delay, and personal accident. These are real benefits, not token inclusions.

Annual fee: RM800. Waiver is typically available for the first year or for meeting annual spend targets. Weigh the eight lounge visits against how often you would actually use them.

Best for: Frequent flyers and business travellers who spend RM3,000+ per month on travel and dining. The lounge visits and travel insurance make this a strong primary card for someone who takes six or more flights a year.

Amex Cash Back Gold#

Correction, 6 August 2026: this entry previously named the “Amex True Cashback” card. That is an American Express Singapore product and is not issued in Malaysia; the Malaysian equivalent is the American Express Cash Back Gold Card, issued in Malaysia by Maybank. Its rate, fee and income figures below are from Maybank's own product page, read on 7 October 2026 (see the 16 October 2026 amendment). Amex cards in Malaysia sit within a broader rewards ecosystem that is worth understanding separately. It functions as a no-fuss default card, but the reason it appears on a rewards list is Amex's broader membership platform — access to Amex-exclusive dining events, presale tickets, and merchant promotions that other issuers do not match.

What you earn: 1% cashback on local spend and 1.5% on overseas spend, with no rebate cap, according to Maybank's product page (read 7 October 2026). Our product database still holds 1.5% for all spend; until that is corrected, the card is listed but not ranked on our best-of lists.

What you do not get: No miles conversion, no lounge access, no travel insurance. This is not a travel card. It is a workhorse for everyday spend where you want a predictable return without tracking bonus categories.

Annual fee: RM70 for the principal card, waived in the first year only. Maybank's page and fee sheet state no spend-based waiver after that.

Best for: People who want a secondary card for non-bonus spend (groceries, utilities, subscriptions) alongside a category-specific rewards card. Also suits anyone whose primary goal is simplicity: two rates (1% local, 1.5% overseas), no categories to track and no rebate cap.

RHB Premier Visa Infinite#

RHB's premium offering targets overseas spenders, and it is by invitation only — RHB states it is applicable to RHB Premier Banking customers exclusively, so it is not a card you apply for on income alone. The overseas multiplier is up to 10x, not the 3x an earlier version of this guide reported, which makes it materially more competitive for anyone who shops internationally — whether that means travelling or buying from overseas merchants online.

What you earn, as published by RHB: up to 10x Loyalty Plus points per RM1 on overseas spend, 3x on hotels and airlines, 3x on duty-free, 3x on dining, 3x online, and 1x on other retail spend. The overseas multiplier is the draw — it applies to any transaction processed in a foreign currency, including online purchases from international retailers.

What points are worth: RHB reward points convert to Enrich and Asia Miles. Conversion ratios are in a similar range to competitors. The up-to-10x overseas earn rate is meaningful for people who spend significantly in foreign currencies, but the base 1x earn rate on domestic spend is unremarkable.

Perks beyond points: unlimited access to selected Plaza Premium Lounge and Aerotel locations in Malaysia and overseas, or alternatively up to 12 complimentary visits a calendar year where the card is activated and you spent at least RM1,000 in the previous calendar month. An earlier version of this guide said four visits a year. Comprehensive travel insurance is also included. Worth noting that CIMB's Preferred offers double the lounge visits.

Annual fee: not stated on RHB's product page, which carries no annual fee figure for this card at all. This guide previously gave RM800 with a first-year waiver; indexed descriptions instead say the card carries no annual fee for life. We could not settle it from a primary source, so treat the fee as unconfirmed and ask RHB directly.

Best for: People who spend heavily overseas — whether through travel or cross-border e-commerce — and want miles accumulation weighted toward foreign currency transactions. If most of your spending is domestic, CIMB Preferred or Maybank 2 Platinum will serve you better.

American Express in Malaysia: How It Fits a Rewards Strategy#

American Express works differently here than in the US, and it trips up a lot of applicants. In Malaysia, Amex consumer cards are issued by Maybank, which is the local American Express issuer. Your application, billing, statements, and customer service all run through Maybank, while the card still carries Amex's global membership benefits. If you already bank with Maybank, that integration can make approval and account management simpler.

The reason Amex earns a place on a rewards list is its Membership Rewards platform and the wider perks, not a market-beating earn rate at every till. Membership Rewards points do not expire while your account stays active and in good standing, which removes the slow-burn expiry pressure that ordinary bank points carry. On top of points, Amex runs cardholder dining events, presale ticket access, and merchant offers that other local issuers do not match.

The trade-off is acceptance. Amex is widely taken at malls, hotels, airlines, and larger retailers, but plenty of smaller local merchants, hawker stalls, and some petrol stations still do not accept it. The practical setup is to treat an Amex as a strong card for big, card-friendly spend and to keep a Visa or Mastercard in the wallet for everywhere else. If you want one card that works literally everywhere, Amex should not be your only card.

Who it suits: Someone who values membership perks and non-expiring points on card-friendly spend, and who is happy carrying a widely accepted backup card for the merchants that decline Amex.

Air Miles: Malaysia's Three Main Transfer Partners#

Here is the part newcomers miss: most Malaysian rewards cards do not earn airline miles directly. They earn bank points (TreatsPoints, Bonus Points, reward points), and you then transfer those points into an airline programme when you are ready to book. Three programmes dominate the local landscape, and the right one depends on where and how you fly.

• Enrich (Malaysia Airlines): the home-team programme, and the most common default for KL-based flyers. Strongest for domestic and regional redemptions on Malaysia Airlines and its oneworld partners.
• Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific): a flexible regional and long-haul option through Cathay and the wider oneworld network, and often good value for premium-cabin redemptions out of the region.
• KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines): useful if you fly Singapore Airlines or Star Alliance, particularly for premium cabins, though popular award seats can be competitive to secure.

The mechanic is the same across all three: accumulate bank points, then convert them at the bank's published transfer ratio into one programme. Ratios and minimum transfer amounts change and occasionally run as limited-time promotions, so confirm the current ratio before you transfer, and transfer with a specific flight in mind rather than speculatively parking points in an airline account.

One rule of thumb decides whether chasing miles is even worth it: miles return the most value on premium-cabin or longer-haul flights. For short economy hops, paying cash and keeping a flat cashback card usually wins on simple arithmetic. Match the card to the redemption you will actually make, not the one in the brochure photo.

Points vs. Miles: Which Should You Chase?#

"Points" and "miles" are often used interchangeably, but they are different currencies with different rules.

Points are the bank's own currency — TreatsPoints, Bonus Points, reward points. They sit in your bank account, they expire (usually after 2–3 years of inactivity), and their value depends entirely on how you redeem them. Catalogue redemptions give you the worst value per point. Airline mile conversions give you the best.

Miles are the airline's currency — Enrich Points, Asia Miles, KrisFlyer miles. Once converted from bank points, they live in your airline loyalty account and follow that programme's rules. They are most valuable redeemed for premium cabin flights and least valuable on short-haul economy. For scale: Malaysia Airlines prices a KL–London Business seat at 108,000 Enrich Points one way on its Enrich Saver chart, and separately sells Enrich Points at RM0.055–0.085 each — so the airline's own pricing puts an upper bound on what any redemption can be worth to you.

The practical answer: If you fly at least a few times a year and are willing to learn one airline programme's redemption chart, convert points to miles and redeem for flights. The per-ringgit return exceeds any cashback card. If you do not fly regularly or cannot be bothered with redemption charts, a flat cashback card will serve you better — see the cashback credit cards guide.

One warning: do not hoard points indefinitely. Bank points expire, and airlines regularly devalue their redemption charts. Accumulate with a specific redemption in mind, then execute.

How to Value a Point Before You Chase It#

A headline multiplier means nothing until you know what a single point is worth to you. The formula is simple: value per point equals the value of what you redeem for, divided by the number of points it costs.

Work a quick example. Say a card earns 1 point per RM1, and the programme lets you transfer 3 bank points into 1 airline mile. If the redemption you actually make values that airline's miles at roughly 3 sen each, then 3 points (RM3 of spend) buys 1 mile worth about 3 sen, an effective return near 1 percent on base spend. Now earn that same point in a 5x bonus category and the effective return moves toward 5 percent. The multiplier only pays off because the underlying redemption holds its value.

Flip the example and the lesson is sharper. Redeem those same points for a catalogue gadget at roughly half a sen per point, and your 5x card quietly returns less than a flat 2 percent cashback card would have, with far more effort. Decide the redemption goal first (a business-class seat, a specific route, a hotel night), price one point against it, and only then pick the card that earns fastest toward that goal. For a like-for-like view of where these cards sit against the wider market, see our ranked best credit cards in Malaysia list.

Hidden Costs That Eat Your Rewards#

Rewards cards look generous on paper. These costs reduce the real return.

Annual fees. An RM800 annual fee means your card must generate more than RM800 in value from points, miles, and perks before you break even. At a base earn rate of 1 point per RM1 — where each point is worth roughly 0.3–0.5 sen in redemption value — you would need to spend over RM160,000 per year just to cover the fee through base points alone. Bonus categories and lounge access close that gap, but the arithmetic matters. If you cannot realistically get the fee waived or justify it through perks, a free-for-life card is the honest choice.

Foreign exchange markup. Overseas transactions earn bonus points, but they can also attract a foreign currency conversion fee, which differs by bank and card; read it in your card's own fee schedule. Factor it into your return calculation. As an assumed illustration, not any bank's figure: say your overseas earn is worth roughly 1.5% in value (the value depends on the multiplier and on what each point is worth when you redeem it) and your card charges a 1% conversion fee; your net benefit is then 0.5%.

Minimum spend thresholds. Some multiplier tiers require minimum monthly spend to activate bonus rates. If the threshold is RM2,000/month and you spend RM1,500, you earn at the base rate — not the advertised multiplier. Read the terms sheet, not the marketing page.

Points expiry. Bank reward points generally expire after 2–3 years, but the clock is anchored differently in each programme and that detail matters more than the headline number. CIMB Bonus Points earned in a quarter expire three years later at the end of that same quarter. HSBC Reward Points are valid for up to three years and expire in the card's anniversary month (HSBC's 2025 rewards terms, clause 22). Enrich Points are valid three years from the month they are credited — not three years from your last activity, so topping up your balance does not rescue older points the way it does in some airline programmes. Enrich Points earned only during Platinum tier status do not expire, even if you are later reclassified to a lower tier (Malaysia Airlines' Enrich terms), and expiring points can be extended by 12 months for RM0.085 each. If you accumulate slowly and forget to redeem, they vanish.

Redemption devaluation. Banks and airlines periodically change how many points or miles are needed for a given reward. A flight that costs 30,000 miles today might cost 40,000 next year. This is not hypothetical — Enrich and Asia Miles have both adjusted their charts in recent years. Redeem sooner rather than later.

The Bottom Line#

The right rewards card depends on where your money goes. If you spend heavily on travel and dining, the CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite gives you the strongest combination of earn rates, lounge access, and travel insurance. If your income does not meet the RM150,000 threshold, the Maybank 2 Platinum offers a solid entry point with weekend dining multipliers and its own Enrich conversion path — though as noted above, Maybank does not publish that ratio, so confirm it before you count on it.

For overseas spenders — people who shop internationally or travel frequently to countries where they pay in foreign currencies — the RHB Premier Visa Infinite earns faster on cross-border transactions, though you should net out the FX conversion fee.

And if you want zero complexity and a predictable return on every ringgit — 1% locally and 1.5% overseas, for RM70 a year after the first — the Amex Cash Back Gold is a sensible default card to pair alongside a category-specific rewards card.

Before applying for any card, check your credit standing. A strong CTOS score and clean CCRIS record make approval more likely and give you leverage to negotiate fee waivers. See our CTOS and CCRIS explainer for how to check yours for free.

Amendment — 30 July 2026. This guide has been corrected. The changes:

• Corrected the CIMB Bonus Points transfer rate. It previously said 2,500–5,000 Bonus Points per 1,000 airline miles. CIMB's own published catalogue rate is 12,500 per 1,000 Enrich Points, and 8,000–20,000 across its partner list. The old figure understated the real cost of a transfer by between 2.5 and 5 times, in the direction that flattered the card.
• Removed the TreatsPoints transfer range (5,000–10,000 per 1,000 miles). Maybank does not publish this where it can be verified.
• Removed the Citi PremierMiles and Citi Prestige references. Citi's Malaysian consumer banking business transferred to UOB effective 1 November 2022; neither card is issued here.
• Corrected the Enrich expiry rule. Enrich Points expire three years from the month they are credited — not after 36 months of inactivity, which is a different mechanic and would have led readers to think that earning new points protects old ones.
• Migrated retired programme names to Enrich Points and airasia points.

Transfer ratios come from the CIMB Member Rewards Catalogue (redemption period 1 April 2026 – 30 April 2027) and Malaysia Airlines' published Enrich terms. Where an issuer does not publish a rate, this guide says so instead of estimating one. Always confirm current terms directly with the issuing bank before applying. money.com.my is not a licensed financial adviser. This guide is informational only and does not constitute financial advice.

This guide is AI-assisted.

Amendment, 16 October 2026. The Amex Cash Back Gold entry still said the card was free for life, earned a flat 0.2%, and needed RM36,000 a year: the 6 August 2026 correction renamed the card but left those figures in place until today. Maybank's own product page and fee sheet, read on 7 October 2026, say the principal card costs RM70 a year, waived in the first year only, earns 1% cashback on local spend and 1.5% overseas, and needs RM30,000 a year. The Maybank 2 Platinum annual fee was given as RM800; Maybank's page states a lifetime fee waiver. The card is issued in Malaysia by Maybank, not American Express, so the section now says so and points to Maybank's page. Maybank 2 Platinum's RM60,000 income figure is confirmed by the same check and is no longer marked unverified. The table, the card sections, the income chart and the closing summary now use those figures. Sources: Maybank's American Express Cash Back Gold and Maybank 2 Platinum product pages and its credit card product disclosure sheet, read 7 October 2026.

Amendment, 6 August 2026. This guide recommended the Amex True Cashback card as “a sensible default card”, described it as free for life with a flat uncapped rate, and used it in the income-requirement chart. True Cashback is an American Express Singapore product and is not issued in Malaysia. The Malaysian equivalent is the American Express Cash Back Gold Card. References have been renamed and the rate, fee and “free for life” claims removed rather than restated, because they described the Singapore card. This is the same failure as the Maybank “SaveUp” error corrected on our savings guide the same day: a Singapore product presented as a Malaysian one.

Amendment, 13 September 2026. The RHB Premier Visa Infinite entry was wrong on every figure we could check against RHB's own product page, and wrong in the card's favour on none of them.

• The overseas earn rate is up to 10x, not 3x. RHB publishes up to 10x Loyalty Plus points per RM1 on overseas spend, with 3x on hotels and airlines, duty-free, dining and online, and 1x on other retail. This guide reported 3x overseas, 2x dining and 1x domestic, understating the card's main selling point by more than three times.
• Lounge access is unlimited at selected Plaza Premium and Aerotel locations, or up to 12 complimentary visits a calendar year where the card is activated and you spent RM1,000 or more in the previous calendar month. This guide said four visits a year.
• The card is by invitation only, available to RHB Premier Banking customers. This guide listed a RM150,000 minimum income as though it were an application criterion, which implies a route into the card that does not exist.
• The annual fee is not published on RHB's product page. This guide stated RM800 with a first-year waiver. We could not confirm that or the competing claim that the card is free for life, so it is now marked unconfirmed rather than asserted.

For the CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite, the lounge entitlement carried no condition in this guide. CIMB's is 8 visits a year capped at 4 per half-year, and requires a minimum spend of RM2,000 within the same calendar month to qualify — a condition that decides whether the benefit exists at all in a given month.

The Maybank 2 Platinum cells still marked unverified had no primary source when this note was written: Maybank's product pages and card terms PDFs timed out from our connection, so we did not restate figures we could not check. (The Maybank figures now shown as from "Maybank's page" were read on 7 October 2026; see the amendment above.) Source for the corrections above: RHB Premier Visa Infinite Credit Card product page, read 13 September 2026.

Amendment, 17 October 2026 (income FAQ). The income FAQ gave "RM36,000-48,000" for mid-tier cards and "RM100,000-150,000" for premium cards. Those generic ranges are not in this guide and were not verified against bank pages, so they are removed; the answer points to each card's own income requirement.

Amendment, 17 October 2026 (rewards FAQ). The first FAQ said the "Maybank 2 Cards (Visa Signature)" earn 5x TreatsPoints on weekends. We could not tie that to a specific non-held card from a bank quote, and this guide's own table marks the Maybank 2 Platinum 5x figure as unverified, so the figure is removed from the FAQ.

Amendment, 17 October 2026 (CIMB partners and points expiry). The "What points are worth" line priced Flying Blue and Etihad at 15,000 Bonus Points per 1,000 partner points. CIMB's Member Rewards Catalogue (page 51) shows Flying Blue as "Not Available" and Etihad at 100,000 Bonus Points per 5,000 Etihad Miles (20,000 per 1,000, the same as Japan Airlines); the line is corrected. The expiry paragraph said HSBC points run "from the date earned"; HSBC's 2025 rewards terms (clause 22) say: "Reward Points earned are valid for up to three (3) years and will be expired on the Participating HSBC Credit Card's anniversary month". It also said Enrich Points do not expire while you hold Platinum tier; Malaysia Airlines' terms say: "Enrich Points earned only during Platinum tier status will not expire even if member is reclassified to a lower tier status." Both are restated. Evidence: docs/verification-log/evidence-batch-b-oct17/evidence.md (lines 184, 186 and 192) and docs/verification-log/evidence-followups-d-oct17/evidence.md.

Amendment, 28 October 2026 (foreign exchange fee range). The foreign exchange paragraph said overseas transactions "typically" attract a conversion fee of 1.0-1.25% of the amount, and the chart note repeated it. We tried the card issuers' pages on 28 October 2026 (Maybank, CIMB, RHB, Hong Leong, Public Bank, AmBank, UOB, HSBC) and none that we could read states a conversion fee. Per our evidence log: maybank2u.com.my, hongleongbank.com.my and the CIMB fee PDF did not connect; cimb.com.my and uob.com.my pages returned 404; rhbgroup.com refused automated reads (403); and the Public Bank, AmBank, hlb.com.my (Hong Leong) and HSBC pages loaded but gave no conversion-fee figure. So the range has no primary source and is removed. The paragraph now says the fee differs by bank and card and points to your card's own fee schedule (a closing sentence that sent readers to our exchange rate tool to see what banks charge on conversions is also removed, because that tool shows BNM reference rates, not card fees), and the 1.5% earn and 1% fee in the worked illustration and its chart are labelled as assumed round numbers, not any bank's figures. The 0.5% net in the illustration is unchanged arithmetic on those assumptions. Evidence: docs/verification-log/batch6-carried-fixes-2026-10-28/evidence.md.

Amendment, 26 October 2026 (income chart). The minimum-income chart plotted the RHB Premier Visa Infinite at RM150,000 a year, and its caption said "both Visa Infinite cards require RM150,000". RHB states the card is by invitation only, for RHB Premier Banking customers (RHB product page, read 13 September 2026; see the amendment of that date), so the RHB bar is removed and the caption now says the card has no income bar. The CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite bar (RM150,000) is also removed, and the source line now points to the comparison table and each card's own section. No other figure changed.

Amendment, 26 October 2026 (RHB overseas multiplier and lounge value). We re-read RHB's Premier Visa Infinite page on 26 October 2026: it still says "Overseas Up to 10x Loyalty Plus points for every RM1 spend". Two lines still used the 3x that the 13 September amendment corrected. Changed: the "What points are worth" line now says the up-to-10x overseas earn rate; the FX-fee example and its chart no longer name a 3x multiplier and now start from an overseas earn worth roughly 1.5%, noting that the value depends on the multiplier and the redemption value of a point (the 1.5%, 1% and 0.5% are unchanged). Removed: the "roughly RM400–RM500" walk-in value of the CIMB Preferred's eight lounge visits, from the lounge card, the annual-fee paragraph and the callout, which also no longer says the card can pay for itself on lounges alone and now notes that a visit needs RM2,000 of spend in the same calendar month, the condition the lounge card and the 13 September 2026 amendment already give. Evidence: docs/verification-log/batch4-content-oct26/evidence.md.