My new credit card: Petron-BPI MasterCard

I think it was a month before when I received a call from a BPI credit express agent that I will be receiving a Petron-BPI MasterCard in the mail. It came as a surprise since I didn’t apply for it. She assured me that the membership is free for the first year, then it depends on me if I will continue to use it (and pay the annual fee for the following year) or not. This credit card is dubbed as a “full service motorist card” with features such as free towing and roadside assistance aside from fuel rebates and other perks. So far we’ve used it already for two visits to the designated gasoline station in Mandalagan. I am not sure if the other Petron gasoline stations participate in their rebates feature.

I also visited the BPI branch in Robinsons and the staff told me that the Petron-BPI MasterCard won’t give rewards or points when using it for shopping. Thus, I already applied for a link to the BPI blue credit card as I am more concerned with getting points for shopping than getting rebates with refueling. After all, the fuel rebate is only 3% and we don’t really use that much fuel every month, thus the total rebates accumulated for a year may not be that much to cover the annual membership fee.

Anyway, mom kept reminding me to use the credit card, not for credit but for convenience. I know it is important to be a responsible credit card owner as having a good credit standing makes it easier to apply for loans and other financial related services. For instance, one can get low insurance quotes if he has good credit history. That means paying all your credit card bills on time and not making some unplanned credit card purchases.