Does the possibility of earning rewards get your heart racing? Let’s take a look at the HSBC Red Mastercard. This rewards card offers up to 4x bonus points when you use it for online transactions, shopping, dining, and overseas transactions.
Rewards cards are ideal for spenders who love to redeem merchandise items, cash vouchers, or e-gift certificates. Whether it’s your first time applying for a credit card or looking for another one for your online purchases, this review is for you.
Let’s look at this card’s key features and terms and conditions to see if it will be as ‘rewarding’ as we hope it will be.
HSBC Red Mastercard Key Features
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How does the HSBC Red Mastercard work?
The HSBC Red Mastercard lets you earn 1 bonus point for every ₱20 you spend. With HSBC Accelerated Rewards, it offers up to 4x bonus points on your local and overseas shopping, dining, and online transactions at participating merchants and establishments. In short, domestic and foreign currency transactions can earn you more points.
According to the terms and conditions, with your monthly accumulated purchases of ₱40,000 across pre-defined merchant categories, you earn the accelerated 4x bonus points. If you exceed the maximum accumulated spend, you still earn a regular 1 bonus point.
Aside from earning points, you also enjoy a 6% Caltex fuel rebate on your first purchase. There’s also a 3% rebate all year round at participating Caltex stations nationwide. This is one of the few credit cards in the Philippines that offers rewards and rebates. You have a rebate cap of ₱20,000 per calendar month.
Meanwhile, the annual fee is also waived for the first year. Other features of this card include cash advance, cash installment plan, card balance transfer, and auto charge for your monthly bills.
HSBC also offers welcome gift promos for new credit cardholders. If you apply from now until December 31, 2022, you will receive a waived annual fee for life upon meeting the required annual accumulated spend of ₱100,000.
What can you redeem from HSBC Red Mastercard?
With your accumulated bonus points, you may use them to redeem e-gift cards or vouchers. So what exactly can you get from your bonus points? You can redeem Zalora e-Gifts and merchandise items like tea creamers, annual fee waivers, and more.
Here are some of the items for redemption and the total number of points needed to redeem them.
| Reward | Points to Redeem |
| One Tree Planted (₱50) | 1,000 points |
| Zalora e-Gift (₱200) | 4,000 points |
| Lazada e-Wallet Credit (₱200) | 4,000 points |
| World Wildlife Fund (₱250) | 5,000 points |
| SM Gift Certificate (₱500) | 10,000 points |
| Rustan’s Department Store Gift Certificate (₱500) | 10,000 points |
| 1,000 Asia Miles | 10,000 points |
| 1,000 KrisFyler (Singapore Airlines) | 10,000 points |
| 1,500 Mabuhay Miles (PAL) | 15,000 points |
| 1837 TWG Modern Tea Tin (100g) | 16,500 points |
| Supplementary Card Annual Fee Waiver | 25,000 points |
| Earl Grey or Chocolate Caviar Tea | 37,900 points |
| Primary Card Annual Fee Waiver | 50,000 points |
| TWG Tea Creamer | 50,000 points |
Check out more items up for redemption at the Red Mastercard Rewards Catalog. To summarize, the HSBC Rewards Catalogue offers limited choices.
Most of the items that you can redeem are e-gift cards and air miles. The most practical thing to do if you’re a principal cardholder is to use your reward points to waive your annual fees.
But it really depends on your spending habits and your priorities. If you can afford to spend more to qualify for the Accelerated Rewards, you can redeem those coveted air miles and have the vacation of a lifetime.
Other options to HSBC Red Mastercard
If you’re unhappy with HSBC Red Mastercard Catalogue and its features, you can explore these credit cards that offer up to 5x rewards points when you spend.
Citi Rewards Card (₱30 = 1 reward point, 3x rewards point on shopping, dining, and booking flights)
Citi Rewards is ideal for your shopping, dining, and flight booking with Cebu Pacific. You can earn 3x rewards points from these transactions.
You can also use Citi Points to pay participating partner merchants and establishments.
Refer to the Rewards Catalog for the list of rewards associated with this card.
Bank of Commerce Classic Mastercard (₱25 = 1 reward point, up to 5X on shopping and dining at participating merchants and establishments)
Bank of Commerce’s entry-level Classic Mastercard offers up to 5x reward points when you shop or dine at participating stores and restaurants using the card.
You earn 1 reward point for every ₱25 you spend. You can exchange these points for merchandise items or GetGo points for air miles.
Refer to the Rewards Catalog for the list of rewards associated with this card.
Citi Grab Credit Card (₱30 = 1 Citi Point, up to 5x points on all Grab spend)
Aside from your welcome gift of ₱2,500 GrabPay credits and ₱2,000 Grab voucher, you earn up to 5x rewards points from your Grab spend.
In addition, you also earn 3x Citi points when you use it for your dining, online subscriptions, and entertainment purchases.
Refer to the Rewards Catalog for the list of rewards associated with this card.
Final thoughts
HSBC Red Mastercard is ideal for spenders who love to earn rewards points and at the same time want to take advantage of the fuel rebates. Rarely you find a credit card that offers both worlds, and if you regularly shop online locally and overseas, this card is worth it.
What’s more, with your accumulated points, you can convert them to airmiles. The only deal breaker is that HSBC offers only limited rewards in the form of merchandise items and vouchers. Other credit cards offer a wide range of options such as Shopee, Grab, MetroMart, to name a few.
However, if you’re after a waived annual fee for life, then you may want to consider applying for this one before the year ends.
Unsure if this is for you? Before filling out the online application form, consider checking the rewards catalog first.
Learn about the things to look out for when choosing a rewards card so that you can get more value for your money and your spending.