By Michelle Tay

IN THE depths of the financial gloom, Maybank yesterday launched its most aggressive credit card campaign to date.

The perks, designed to lighten the load for anxious consumers, are a 10-year annual fee waiver and a $100 cash credit.

Maybank said this offer is in line with its aim to become a major credit card issuer in Singapore in the next five years.

It is not unusual for banks to offer annual waivers of up to three years.

But Maybank is unfazed at the prospect of forgoing a decade's worth of annual fees, which are usually $30 to $180 per cardmember per year.

Maybank's head of cards and payment services, Ms Angie Lee, said the promotion helps as it 'makes sense for customers to place long-term instalment payments or regular bills' on these cards.

It is not the first time that the bank has done something like this in tough times. In July 1998, in the depths of the Asian financial crisis, Maybank offered a seven-year fee waiver on its Gold Visa credit cards.

Ms Helen Neo, Maybank's head of consumer banking, said this new campaign is to help 'with inflation and spenders tightening their belts in the short term'.

'Cardmembers need not worry about 'extras' such as the credit card annual fee for the next 10 years (and) the $100 cash credit will also help offset expenses,' she added.

However, Maybank 'strongly encouraged' cardmembers to donate the cash credit to the Inspire Fund, which helps needy families with schoolgoing children buy a personal computer.

The fund was launched by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore late last year.

It is expected to help about 4,000 students from needy households - whose monthly income is below $1,500 - over the next four years.

Maybank is offering the deal for customers signing up for any Platinum card before Dec 31 this year.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on October 07, 2008.