Not really to make ends meet actually. Our ends always meet, Alhamdulillah.
This month however is a bit challenging. My credit cards are overwhelmed with charges of cancelled and last-minute replacement flights for Eid break with refunds, if any, of the former still on the way, thanks to the US war on Iran. In short, if I don't do anything, all of my salary this month will completely go towards settling the credit card balances. So here are my strategies to help ease the financial challenge.
1. Maybank Ezypay plus. From time to time like now, Maybank is running an interest free with zero upfront fee when we convert our purchase to six-month installments. I talked about this before. A new trick that I learnt to maximise this benefit is to perform the conversion on the day your monthly statement is going to be out. This way, the purchase amount will be reversed on the same day, but the first installment will only begin the next day and will be in your next monthly statement because of the processing time. In my case, I managed to reduce the due balance from some RM14k to only RM3k+ after converting the ticket cost of our KUL-RUH journey. So, so good.
2. There is a similar offer here for AlRajhi credit card holders. It is called Tasaheal. However, unlike Maybank, AlRajhi allows conversion to installments after the statement is out, as long as the due balance has not been paid in full. Obviously, the first installment is going to be in the next monthly statement. The offer is not as interesting as Maybank though. I had to pay SAR49 upfront fee plus SAR7.35 VAT and the interest free offer is only for 3-month installments. Well, good enough because I am converting SAR11k+ 😅. I had to otherwise pay some SAR30k for credit card alone this month.
These strategies will allow me some space to breathe. I can also have some cash buffer while waiting for the next few months, which are going to be very interesting because they are summer months where you're going to enjoy paid vacation 😁. Alhamdulillah thumma Alhamdulillah.
