Malaysians love a good credit card story — the miles, the cashback, the annual fee waiver you swear you will remember to claim before it expires. But 2026 quietly rewrote a lot of the fine print behind those perks. Some banks are asking for more spend to earn the same "free" ride. Others changed the plumbing entirely without changing what you actually pay. Here is what shifted, bank by bank, and what it means for the card sitting in your wallet right now.
UOB Wants More Spend For Your "Free" Card
From 1 January 2026, UOB Malaysia tied its annual fee waivers to a minimum spend requirement, not just card ownership.
Premium cardholders — think UOB Privilege Banking Visa Infinite, Visa Infinite, Lady's Solitaire, PRVI Miles Elite, and World Card — now need RM50,000 in annual spend to keep the fee waived.
Mid-tier cards like PRVI Miles, Lady's Platinum, ONE Platinum, Preferred, and the Lazada UOB Card need RM20,000. The Lady's Classic and ONE Classic cards need RM15,000.
Miss the threshold and the standard annual fee kicks in, calculated against your card's anniversary year rather than the calendar year. If you have been coasting on a "free forever" card, pull up your last 12 months of statements before the fee quietly lands on the next one.
CIMB Cuts Its e Credit Card Fee — With A Catch
Not every change stings. Effective 1 January 2026, CIMB lowered the annual fee on its e Credit Card (Principal) from RM100 to RM80.
CIMB also rolled out a new annual fee waiver campaign alongside the cut, plus a bonus points requirement for cardholders who want to redeem points toward covering the fee instead of paying cash outright.
It is a small win, but also a reminder that "annual fee" figures are not fixed for life — read the notice your bank emails you instead of assuming last year's terms still apply this year. This sits alongside the wider run of bank fee adjustments Malaysians saw in 2026, most of which moved in the opposite direction.
Islamic Credit Cards Quietly Rebuilt Their Entire Backend
Between October 2025 and January 2026, seven Islamic banks — BSN, HSBC Amanah, AmBank Islamic, RHB Islamic, Maybank Islamic, Public Islamic, and CIMB Islamic — switched their credit card-i contracts from the Ujrah structure to Tawarruq (Commodity Murabahah).
In plain terms: instead of a loan-plus-service-fee setup, your credit limit is now created through a Shariah-compliant chain of commodity trades routed through Bursa Suq Al-Sila, a platform regulated under Bank Negara Malaysia's credit card guidelines.
Nothing you actually pay changes — same effective profit rate, same grace period, same annual fee. What changes is the terminology on your statement: "management fee" becomes "profit charge," and you will start seeing new terms like Bank's Sale Price. If your card was already on Tawarruq (Bank Islam, Bank Muamalat), none of this touches you at all.
AmBank Reshuffles What Counts As A "Good Payer"
From 1 July 2026, AmBank revised its credit card finance charges into three tiers based on payment history rather than a flat rate for everyone.
Settle your minimum payment on time for 12 straight months and you are charged 1.25% monthly, or 15% per annum. Miss that streak but still hit at least 10 of the last 12 months, and it becomes 1.42% monthly, or 17% per annum. Fall short of both and the rate rises to 1.5% monthly, or 18% per annum.
The upshot: your actual interest rate now depends more directly on a rolling 12-month payment record, not just which card you hold. One missed minimum payment can nudge your rate up for a while, which matters if you are the type to occasionally carry a balance instead of paying in full.
Maybank myimpact Cardholders Lose TreatsPoints, Gain A Permanent Perk
Maybank made three changes to its myimpact Credit Cards from 1 January 2026, according to its official announcement.
The 8% cashback on ESG-related spending, previously a promotional feature, is now permanent — capped at RM35 a month. The 0.5% cashback on contactless spending stays unchanged, same cap as before.
The trade-off: myimpact cards stopped earning TreatsPoints on new transactions from that date onward. Points earned before 2026 remain redeemable until they expire, so it is worth clearing your balance rather than letting it lapse quietly.
One bright spot for new applicants — the Maybank Islamic myimpact Ikhwan Mastercard Platinum-i income requirement dropped from RM36,000 to RM24,000 a year, a cut of roughly a third that opens the card to more first-jobbers.
Bank Rakyat Joins The Premium Travel Card Race
Launching from June 2026, the Bank Rakyat World Mastercard Credit Card-i is a Shariah-compliant play for Malaysians who travel often but do not want a six-figure income requirement attached to it.
It offers 5% cashback on hotel, airline, and dining spend (capped at RM1,500 a year), 0% forex markup on overseas transactions, and six complimentary airport lounge visits annually through the Mastercard network.
The minimum annual income requirement sits at RM80,000 — notably lower than most World-tier cards from other banks, which is the whole point of the launch. If your current travel card charges you 1-2% just for spending in a foreign currency, this is worth lining up against your existing wallet.
FAQ
Do any of these changes affect my CCRIS or CTOS record?
No. None of the 2026 changes above — fee revisions, contract conversions, or new card launches — touch your credit report directly. Missed payments still do, as always. If you want to see where you currently stand, here is how to check your CCRIS and CTOS report for free.
Will my Islamic credit card cost more after switching to Tawarruq?
No. Banks and Bank Negara Malaysia have confirmed the effective profit rate, grace period, and annual fee stay identical. Only the contract structure and the statement terminology changed.
How do I know if I will hit UOB's new minimum spend?
Check your last 12 months of transactions against your card's anniversary date, not the calendar year. UOB calculates the requirement based on retail spend within that specific 12-month window.
Is it still worth chasing annual fee waivers in 2026?
Usually, yes — but read the fine print first. Several banks tied waivers to minimum spend or bonus points redemption instead of simply issuing them automatically. Compare that requirement against your actual annual spend before assuming a card is free.
Do these changes apply to both conventional and Islamic cards?
Both, depending on the bank. UOB, CIMB, AmBank, and Maybank's changes apply broadly across their card portfolios. The Tawarruq switch only affects Islamic credit card-i products specifically.
