CIMB's "FORTUNE 10 CONTEST", Want to win 10% p.a on your Current/Savings Account?

Here's another contest coming from the 2nd largest bank in Malaysia. The "Fortune 10 Contest" by CIMB is a promotional campaign to boost new account openings as well as to encourage the pubic to stash save more money into their current and/or savings accounts. The full page advertisement promoting this contest on theStar paper caught my attention especially when it says 10% interest per annum on current and/or savings account balances.

10% p.a...yummy fortune cookies

Kudos to CIMB's promotion team for coming up with a catchy Ad such as the one above. Using 10% per annum as contest price is indeed an attractive proposition for anyone especially when the Fixed Deposit rates are only ranging from 3-4%. 

Nice...very nice indeed...Never the less, lets take a look at what is this competition all about and explore if there is any catch to it.

Participation

Let us take a look into the key terms and condition for participation:

1. Need to register your participation via SMS as shown in Item No.5 under Eligibility section of the Terms and Conditions

2. Participants are entitled to one(1) entry for every RM500 incremental average balance in his/her account based on monthly average balance as compared to "Baseline"

3. "Baseline" is the total average balance as of 31st May 2013 in the participant's account. For new accounts opened from 1st June 2013 - 30 September 2013, the Baseline is zero.

4. "Loyal Multiplier" - Participant with any one of his/her CASA Accounts opened prior to 1 June 2013 will enjoy “Loyalty Multiplier” on the number of qualifying entries during the Contest Period of which the Participant’s qualifying entries will be multiplied by the ‘number of months of participation’. The Participant’s ‘number of months of participation’ would only commence after the date of his/her  registration

5. Contest runs from 1st of June 2013 till 30th September 2013.

6. Only fresh funds added to your savings and/or current account are eligible for computation of entries. Funds that originate from existing account(s) with CIMB Bank Berhad, CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad and/or CIMB Investment Bank Berhad are not considered as fresh funds.

Calculating Entry:

Key Terms to know before reading sample calculation

• Monthly Average Balance (MAB) = Sum of total daily balances for the month / number of days in the month
• Incremental Average Balance (IAB) = Current month's MAB - Baseline

Sample Calculation 

Sample 1 : Existing Client before 31st May 2013, 1 Conventional Account with Loyalty Multiplier

The Loyalty Multiplier helps to boost the number of entries for existing clients who participate in this contest. 

Sample 2 : New Accountholder after 31st May 2013

For other samples of calculation, you can refer to the Terms and Conditions for this contest. Click HERE

Prizes and How to Win?

Monthly Prizes

• Prize : 10% p.a bonus interest on the total monthly IAB in the winners account(s).
• Number of Winners : 2,500 winners / month over the duration of the contest
• How to win : Participants picked from an automated selection system would be required to answer 2 questions via sms in the fastest time possible time. Top 2,500 with the correct answers and the fastest time will be deemed winners for the monthly prize contest. Further details as shown below:

• The 1st Catch : The 10% p.a bonus interest is over the total monthly IAB, NOT over your total amount in the account. E.g : Using Sample 1 from the Calculating Entry section in this post, if you are a monthly winner for the Jun 2013, the bonus interest is 10% p.a out of Total Incremental Average Balance for Jun 2013 which is RM8,000. 
• The 2nd Catch : The maximum bonus interest a winner is entitled to is RM1000.00 only. Hence if your IAB is RM20,000 and so happen that you win, you are only entitled to RM1000.00  from the bonus interest and nothing more.
• The 3rd Catch : Interest from Savings Account and Deposit Account are calculated daily and paid monthly. Putting aside the mechanics of calculating interest, I believe to fully enjoy your 10% bonus interest (or RM1000.00 maximum), you might need to lock in your IAB over a one year period. Do correct me if I am wrong on this.

Grand Prize

• Prize : RM10,000 cash for each winner
• Number of Winners : 10
• How to win : Once again participants are selected from an automated selection system. The first 10 selected participants who answer the questions correctly in the fastest time will be judged as winners. Further details as shown below:

• The 1st Catch : Terms and conditions did not specify how many questions you have to answer in order to win. 
• The 2nd Catch : The charges for SMS-es in this contest are not stated. For contest via SMS, the charges are normally higher then your average phone to phone sms. You might want to check with your service provider on this. 
• The 3rd Catch : The WINNER account must be in "ACTIVE" status as determined solely by CIMB Bank. 

Overall Summary of the Contest

Everyone loves to participate in a contest especially if it offers an attractive prize pool. For CIMB's "FORTUNE 10 CONTEST", this contest offers both pros and cons as listed below

Pros:

1. You're feeling lucky and you think you might stand a chance to win the monthly or grand prize. 

2. You have too much cash in hand and you don't know what to do with it.

3. You're already keeping your cash in a savings/deposit account from a rival bank. Perhaps it is time to move them over to CIMB and give yourself a shot at the grand prize.

4. It's good to save more money instead of spending it.

5. The prizes promoted by the advertisement are indeed attractive, especially for individuals with low risk appetite.

Cons:

1. You are placing your cash in a savings/deposit account that pays of interest less then 1% per year. 

2. What if you don win? There might be opportunity loss for you especially if your cash can be put to better use in other investments.

3. It's good to save more money, I agree with that! But not in a savings of deposit account for goodness sake.

4. This contest benefits the contest organizer more then it benefits the client. I won't explain the details here but if you like to know, drop me an email at sickfreak03@gmail.com

Lastly, do read the full Terms and Conditions of this contest HERE before you actually participate. If you're not sure, do contact the contest organizer for further details. 

Good luck, Cheers and Happy Investing!

P.s : Blogging this post makes me want to have a fortune cookie...hhmm 

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