Some might call this card trash. But what if you can make it work?

Overview

BolehMiles Rating	Boleh / Macam Boleh / Tak Boleh (1st year only)
Miles Per Ringgit (MPR)	0.16 MPR (Local spend) 0.40 MPR (Overseas spend) 0.08 MPR (Other local spend*)
FFPs	Enrich, KrisFlyer, Asia Miles
Lounge Access	16x Plaza Premium First and Plaza Premium lounges Travel Club Lounge and Sky Lounge 1x Mastercard Travel Pass by DragonPass
Insurance	Up to RM2,000,000 Travel Insurance (Etiqa) Up to USD500,000 Travel Insurance (WEM – AIG)
Other Perks	1. Buy 1, Get 1 – Malaysia Airlines Business Class Ticket with RM150,000 spend^ 2. Agoda 25% Discount 3. Golf Privileges 4. Up to 40% discount (Marriott hotels in Malaysia)
Standard World Elite Perks	1. Mastercard Affluent Fine Dining 2. Wyndham Diamond status 3. HoteLux Elite Membership 4. Mastercard Travel and Lifestyle Services
Income Requirement	RM190,000 p.a.
Annual Fee	Waived 1st year RM800 (2nd year onwards, RM120k to waive)
Welcome Bonus / Renewal Bonus	No welcome miles No renewal bonus
Payment Network	World Elite Mastercard
T&C’s	Card T&C link here Buy 1, Get 1 MH Business link here
*Utilities, petrol, education, EzyPay and insurance transactions. ^Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Perth or Melbourne (effective 1 Jan 2026)

The Maybank World Elite Mastercard has been around for a while. We don’t really mention this card much because the MPR rate is very poor, and the old perk of Buy 1, Get 1 Qatar Business Class ticket to London and Paris required a high RM250,000 spend to unlock. For many savvy BolehMiles readers, it was almost impossible to justify.

However, Maybank just announced an interesting update to the card. From 1 Jan 2026, the minimum spend to unlock the 1-for-1 Business Class ticket will be reduced to RM150,000. This is great, because it finally makes the perk accessible to more people.

Some might call this a downgrade because now the airline will be MH instead of Qatar. But here at BolehMiles, we go by math and value, and that is what we will do in this post.

Who is this card for?

First off, we want to be clear that this is not a card you use to maximise miles earnings, and one should never pick this over CIMB TWE or UOB PME for earning miles. However, there are two use cases that some people might find useful:

1. For additional lounge access

If you travel a lot, especially with your spouse or kids, the 16x lounge access can come in handy. The card allows one guest per visit, and you get access to the better Plaza Premium First lounges.

Additionally, you also get 1x Mastercard Travel Pass by DragonPass (although the lounge selection is different). This brings your total lounge access to 17x.

2. For big spenders who prefer a “one-card strategy“

If there is one thing lacking in Malaysia, it’s a good general spending. A card you can use for anything without thinking about exclusions, MCCs, monthly caps, or whether the merchant accepts AMEX.

We generally don’t recommend the one-card-only strategy, as it is never optimal.

But now with the Maybank WEM card, you can almost do that: just swipe on anything to work towards that RM150,000 threshold. We will explain more below.

Reframing the Maybank WEM

The key to reframing how we view this card is to treat it as a “bush-money” card.

What is a bush-money card? Simple. That “free” business class ticket is the money hiding in the bush, a form of cashback you unlock once you hit the RM150,000 threshold.

Let’s use an example to illustrate this. Say you’re working towards the following return Business Class ticket on Malaysia Airlines to Tokyo in May 2026.

The Business fare class Z return ticket to NRT costs RM7168. But since the 1-for-1 deal applies only to the base fare, the value is closer to ~RM6000.

And since it’s a conditional 1-for-1 thing, we can apply a haircut to the valuation of the second ticket and lowball it to ~RM5000.

So spending RM150,000 gets you RM5000 in bush-money, which works out to 3.33% “cashback”. On top of that, you earn 0.16 MPR on local spend in non-excluded categories.

Valuation is subjective, but if you’re someone who doesn’t mind buying a revenue Business Class ticket, RM5000 is a fair price for a return trip to Tokyo. In fact, it’s a fairly conservative price. The bush-money cashback rate might actually be higher or even lower, depending on your valuation.

Plus, both you and your travel partner earn 20 Enrich Elite Points each (Tokyo is Zone 4 in the 2026 chart), pushing both of you closer to Enrich Platinum.

What should you spend on Maybank WEM?

You can charge almost anything to it as long as it counts as Qualifying Spend for the RM150,000 threshold.

Utilities, petrol, education and insurance earn only 0.08 MPR, but they still count toward the threshold. Also, it looks like transactions that do not earn TreatPoints, such as government bodies, JomPay, FPX and e-wallet reloads, are not excluded as Qualifying Spend.

So you don’t have worry which card to use for these traditionally ‘forbidden transactions’. Just one card to rule them all to earn 3.33% bush-money cashback, up to RM150,000.

There are still things that do not count, such business-related transactions, so do read the T&Cs carefully.

What about Overseas Spend?

The Maybank WEM earns an okay 0.4MPR. But since overseas spend comes with about 2.25% FCY fees, it eats into your bush-money cashback, but still net positive for the additional MPR.

So yes, using it for Overseas spend is probably okay to hit that RM150,000 threshold. But if you are not working towards that threshold, the CPM works out to be 5.62, which is not ideal for Krisflyer or Asia Miles. You are better off with the other Overseas spend cards.

Card	MPR	FX Fee	CPM (RM)
UOB Priv Miles Elite Read Review Apply	1.00^	2.25%	2.25
UOB Visa Infinite Read Review Apply	0.83	2.25%	2.71
CIMB Travel World Elite	0.67	1.25%	1.87
Maybank World Elite Mastercard	0.40	2.25%	5.63

^Applicable to SGD, THB, IDR, VND

Beware of campaign limit

The campaign has a shared pool limit of RM2.7 million nationwide. Assuming everyone redeems for a Tokyo Business Class ticket, that works out to roughly 350 tickets quota. That is not a lot, so we recommend to redeem early in the year. Don’t wait until December 2026, because by then the quota will almost certainly be gone.

Additional Mastercard World Elite Perks

Since the card is a WEM, you get the Mastercard Affluent Fine Dining perk (assuming it continues in 2026), where you receive 2 free set meals plus another 2 set meals at RM120 each at designated restaurants.

There are also other standard WEM perks that come with the card, which you can review here.

A gateway to more 1-for-1 HolidayTours deals?

Maybank seems to be working with HolidayTours to roll out frequent promotions. For example, we recently shared a deal in the BolehMiles Telegram group where Maybank Mastercard credit cardholders could book Malaysia Airlines Business Class ticket on a 1-for-1 basis.

MH London J return worth ~RM10,000 was available for redemption at the time, without spend conditions. But, if you did not have any Maybank Mastercard credit cards, you would have missed that opportunity.

So having the Maybank WEM at least gives you a chance to jump on these deals if they show up again, (although it is not guaranteed).

Is the annual fee worth it?

The first year annual fee is free, and it is RM800 from the second year onwards unless you spend a minimum of RM120,000.

So if you are working toward the RM150,000 threshold for the Business Class ticket, you get to keep the card for free for the year after. But if you are not working towards that, you can treat it as a “one year free lounge card”.

Here’s how we value the perks for Maybank World Elite Mastercard:

Perk	How Do We Value This?	Value
16x Plaza Premium First Access	Assume 16 lounge visits a year valued at RM40 each. RM40 × 16 = RM640.	RM640
1x Mastercard Travel Pass by DragonPass	We value a single DragonPass lounge entry at RM50.	RM50
Mastercard Affluent Fine Dining	We value this cool dining experience at RM200.	RM200
Wyndham Rewards Diamond Level	We assign RM50 since there isno free breakfast benefit attached.	RM50
Total Value		RM940

Conclusion

The Maybank World Elite Mastercard (MWEM) is a fun card to hold which is worth considering if you know what you are doing. Treat it as a free 17x lounge access pass for one year. Or a bush-money cashback card for the 1-for-1 Business Class deal.

Some might find this card useful, but many may not. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

That’s all for this post.

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