Bank Alfalah credit card or

[gamer11]

is it true that bank Alfalah cc has no annual charges, no chip charges and no sms charges? atleast their helpline confirmed it but what benefit do they get then?
Also which cc is best in terms of ease, usage, benefits/deals, minimum charges, esp security etc
I was considering Faysal and Alfalah cc

 

[ali tayyab]

Bank Alfalah Visa Cards (Silver, Gold, Plat) have none of the charges you mentioned. However from the last year you have to use your card for a minimum amount to be eligible for these benefits. The amount is not much and can be seen in their schedule of charges. Besides that it comes with Visa protection (sends an SMS to verify that it is actually you using it online). HOWEVER it is blocked by default for all international tx be it POS, ATM or online and have to be activated prior to use. Other than that it works just like a normal CC. Using the card gets you orbit points that be spent at orbit mall/ pay bills etc. Alfalah offer several types of card Gold, Plat, Silver depending on your earnings. DO NOT GET their master card. Orbit points do expire so be sure to use them in time. One advantage of Alfalah card is the excellent alfa app. It is much better than the one offered by Faysal for CC customers. Text alerts on purchases are near instantaneous.

Faysal bank offers various types of Master cards. Depending on how much you earn you may qualify up to World card. Faysal has an annual & chip fee. However it can be lowered significantly if you spend a minimum amount. Right now for Platinum card the amount is 300,000 per year; spending this much reduces the annual fee from 8000 to 500. Their cards come with Master card MC Secure which adds a layer of protection to online use. Their cards can be used anywhere from the get go local and intl POS, ATM, Online. Using the card earns you reward points; 1 point = .40 rupees that be spent where applicable (not many places, but free is free). Text alerts can be delayed as much as several hours. I usually get alerts after a couple of hours of spend and i have to think whether this is me or someone else

Might I also suggest you look at Silkbank and HBL

Silkbank offers Visa cards that work somewhat like Faysal master cards in that the annual fee can be waived on certain point spent. They offer (or offered) cash back on each purchase up to to a certain amount on specific types of transaction. Their cards can be used anywhere but online requires activation via phone call (just get it activated once and be done with it). They also offer visa online protection. Why am I recommending them. They offer installments on CC purchase on Daraz and Xiaomi. So if you buy stuff online from daraz conisder silkbank

HBL offers Visa Cards that work like silkbank cards (annual fee waivers on spend). They offer points that can accumulate overtime. Cards can be used anyhwere and come with visa online protection. HBL cards offer discounts on daraz on specific days.

HBL together with Faysal are some of the most flexbile cards I have seen/ used in Pakistan.


PLEASE NOTE:
1. online protection works for sites that support it. Amazon for example does not even ask for a CVV/ 3 digit code let alone any other protection
2. SMS fee for tx is abolished by statebank and is applicable to all cards
3. Points/ orbits/ cash back etc rules may change over time
4. My experiences of text alerts are mine alone and maybe dependent on my network and may have improved by now.

Edit:
I do not work in the banking/ financial industry nor am I affiliated with any of the banks i have mentioned in any possible way
online use of CC requires common sense. If you want to use it to purchase *dubious* content get a prepaid card like MCB Lite etc.
Dont use credit cards to accumulate debt. Pay your bill in full every month. The APR for these can be as high as 40% and is calculated as compound interest

 

[golabucha]

That's why I only use debit card for online internet purchases .credit card you spend more money then you can chew qnd then you end up with interest rate .also the general golden rule for living life is to keep wallet and plastic cards away from reach of your wife .

 

[MrGutsy]

SCB is the best CC in terms of acceptability online. I have used many debit and credit cards in the past and here is my take.
Almost all cards be it a prepaid card/debit card or credit card works in POS inside Pakistan.
For online usage debit cards are the easiest choice but you will definitely need more then 1 bank if you want maximum acceptability. UBL/MCB/HBL are all hit and miss, some work at one retailer but gets denied on another without a reason and the other covers that. Like for me MCB doesn't work on Amazon while UBL does and its vice versa on Microsoft store.
But some merchants or subscriptions only accept credit cards, one example being EA origin's access. If i had to get only 1 credit card it would probably be SCB. They do have annual charges though.

 

[gamer11]

Bank Alfalah Visa Cards (Silver, Gold, Plat) have none of the charges you mentioned. However from the last year you have to use your card for a minimum amount to be eligible for these benefits. The amount is not much and can be seen in their schedule of charges. Besides that it comes with Visa protection (sends an SMS to verify that it is actually you using it online). HOWEVER it is blocked by default for all international tx be it POS, ATM or online and have to be activated prior to use. Other than that it works just like a normal CC. Using the card gets you orbit points that be spent at orbit mall/ pay bills etc. Alfalah offer several types of card Gold, Plat, Silver depending on your earnings. DO NOT GET their master card. Orbit points do expire so be sure to use them in time. One advantage of Alfalah card is the excellent alfa app. It is much better than the one offered by Faysal for CC customers. Text alerts on purchases are near instantaneous.

Faysal bank offers various types of Master cards. Depending on how much you earn you may qualify up to World card. Faysal has an annual & chip fee. However it can be lowered significantly if you spend a minimum amount. Right now for Platinum card the amount is 300,000 per year; spending this much reduces the annual fee from 8000 to 500. Their cards come with Master card MC Secure which adds a layer of protection to online use. Their cards can be used anywhere from the get go local and intl POS, ATM, Online. Using the card earns you reward points; 1 point = .40 rupees that be spent where applicable (not many places, but free is free). Text alerts can be delayed as much as several hours. I usually get alerts after a couple of hours of spend and i have to think whether this is me or someone else

Might I also suggest you look at Silkbank and HBL

Silkbank offers Visa cards that work somewhat like Faysal master cards in that the annual fee can be waived on certain point spent. They offer (or offered) cash back on each purchase up to to a certain amount on specific types of transaction. Their cards can be used anywhere but online requires activation via phone call (just get it activated once and be done with it). They also offer visa online protection. Why am I recommending them. They offer installments on CC purchase on Daraz and Xiaomi. So if you buy stuff online from daraz conisder silkbank

HBL offers Visa Cards that work like silkbank cards (annual fee waivers on spend). They offer points that can accumulate overtime. Cards can be used anyhwere and come with visa online protection. HBL cards offer discounts on daraz on specific days.

HBL together with Faysal are some of the most flexbile cards I have seen/ used in Pakistan.


PLEASE NOTE:
1. online protection works for sites that support it. Amazon for example does not even ask for a CVV/ 3 digit code let alone any other protection
2. SMS fee for tx is abolished by statebank and is applicable to all cards
3. Points/ orbits/ cash back etc rules may change over time
4. My experiences of text alerts are mine alone and maybe dependent on my network and may have improved by now.

Edit:
I do not work in the banking/ financial industry nor am I affiliated with any of the banks i have mentioned in any possible way
online use of CC requires common sense. If you want to use it to purchase *dubious* content get a prepaid card like MCB Lite etc.
Dont use credit cards to accumulate debt. Pay your bill in full every month. The APR for these can be as high as 40% and is calculated as compound interest

which cc would you recommend for most discounts and less to no annual charges (on reasonable spending)
my father already has alfalah and hbl gold cc so I guess I'll skip both of these though I was thinking of Alfalah but then again already have one at home.
I am not sure about daraz installments as there must be extra charges plus processing charges and price more than market price etc