Travelling around the world is one of the few luxury items we all indulge in – a break from the drudgery of work.  Of course, cost is a major factor in considering where to go and some places are not exactly cheap, for example travelling in the mystical Land of the Thunder Dragon Bhutan where a typical 5-Day 4-Night itinerary could cost you upwards of S$4,000.  Read on to see how you can better manage your travel budget and at the same time win travel vouchers worth up to S$500 for your next holiday right here at PassportChop.com.

Planning your holiday in advance is a great way to make sure you keep all of the potential costs to a minimum.  We have shared a number of ways to save money when planning for a holiday and some specific tips for budget travel in the United States.  These tips include comparing deals across hotel and airlines aggregator sites such as CheapTickets.sg and Priceline.com.

Thankfully for Singaporeans, there is another way that you can achieve more savings and at the same time, maintain a healthy cashflow for daily necessities when you are back from your holidays i.e. no need to go for a long holiday and come back to instant noodles lunches due to tight cashflow!

The Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Cashflo credit card is Singapore’s first credit card with an inbuilt interest-free instalment plan for any purchase, anywhere.  The OCBC Cashflo card helps customers manage their cash flow by automatically dividing their credit card purchase amounts into 3 or 6 equal interest-free monthly payments. As an added feature, customers have the flexibility to set the minimum spend, in multiples of S$100, to activate the instalment plan on their cards.

See the diagram below to see how this works.  So if you are planning a holiday, simply substitute the $5,400 with your estimated travel budget and divide it by 6 and that’s the instalment you will be paying monthly and the best part is that these instalments are interest-free!

 

 The OCBC Cashflo card offers a 6-month instalment plan for purchases made at travel insurance companies, airlines, travel agencies as well as for any overseas spend. Any other purchase will automatically go onto a three-month instalment plan.

This is definitely a smarter way to travel as having this additional cashflow is useful to manage any emergencies or going into other investment opportunities.  The OCBC Cashflo also allows you to take advantage of opportunistic deals such as attractive travel packages from NATAS fairs, or a limited edition luxury brand bag without needing to pay the full amount upfront.

There is an additional bonus to using OCBC Cashflo credit card for your holiday plans.  In addition to the interest-free instalment plan, OCBC Cashflo card members will receive cash rebates of up to 1% for any purchase!  There is no need to bother with the hassle of redeeming points for perks as offered by other credit cards – you will just get your cashback.  This also means you enjoy a direct 1% rebate off your travel package – for example, you would have saved about S$60 if you had taken up the S$6,000 Bhutan travel package – extra money for souvenirs for your loved ones, courtesy of OCBC.

To manage your cashflow and enjoy cash rebates of up to 1%, apply for the OCBC Cashflo Credit Card (Annual fees are waived for first 2 years) in 5 easy steps here: http://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/Cards/Cashflo-Mastercard.html

[CONTEST CLOSED!] Win S$500 worth of Travel Vouchers with OCBC/PassportChop.com Dream Holiday Itinerary Contest

Contest Closed! Winner (Zann Chan with her Ho Chi Minh itinerary) announced here: http://www.passportchop.com/travel-articles/ocbc-cashflo-card-dream-itinerary-contest/comment-page-2/#comment-7923
OCBC and PassportChop.com is offering you a chance to win travel vouchers for your next holiday.  The contest period is from 1 to 21 October 2012 (last date & time of submission is 11:59pm 21 October 2012 Singapore time) and there will be only 1 winner for this contest who will win $500 worth of travel vouchers.

Simply tell us your dream holiday itinerary and how OCBC Cashflo can help make this dream come true.  Read on for more details on 3 simple steps to join this contest.

Is it your dream to explore California and checking out the original Disneyland and cycling across Golden Gate Bridge?

Is it your dream to cruise around Zaanse Schans, Holland and admiring the beautiful windmills?

How to Join OCBC/PassportChop.com Dream Holiday Itinerary Contest

All these 3 Steps must be completed before 21^st October 2012.59pm. By submitting an entry to this contest, you fully and unconditionally agrees to the below Terms and Conditions.

Step 1:

“Like” these Facebook pages: OCBC Bank and PassportChop.com, if you are not already a fan of these pages:

Step 2:

“Recommend” this contest post to your Facebook friends – simply click the button below:

Step 3:

Email or Leave a comment below (before 21 October 2012 11:59pm Singapore time) with:

• Your Facebook name
• Your email address (put in the email field)
• Your dream holiday itinerary and how OCBC Cashflo can help make this dream come true (*Hint* – to score extra points, talk about OCBC Cashflo’s inbuilt interest-free instalment plans and up to 1% cash rebate on any purchase)

* Your email address will not be shared with anyone (not even our sponsors).

Terms and Conditions for PassportChop/OCBC Dream Itinerary Contest

• This contest is open to everyone around the world who is at or above the legal age of 18 years.
• Once an entry is submitted, you are in agreement with all the terms and conditions below.
• To be eligible for the contest, all 3 steps must be completed.
• Closing date of the contest is 21^st October 2012, on 23:59, GMT +8 (Singapore Time).
• 1 winner will be selected based on creativity of his/her entry.
• Decisions of the judges (i.e. PassportChop.com and OCBC) are final.
• Only one entry per individual is permitted.
• Automated/bulk entries and entries from third parties are not permitted and will be disqualified.
• The winner will be notified by email and must respond to the email within 3 (three) working days or else a new winner will be selected.
• The winner’s name and location will be published on PassportChop.com.
• Upon utilisation of the vouchers,the  winner should send to  at least 3 photographs and a short write-up of their travel experience.  These photographs and write-up might be published on PassportChop.com.
• PassportChop.com is not responsible for late, lost, misdirected, incomplete, or illegible e-mail or for any computer-related, online, or technical malfunctions that may occur in the submission process.
• Submissions are considered void if illegible, incomplete, damaged, irregular, altered, counterfeit, produced in error, or obtained through fraud or theft.
• Submissions will be considered made by an authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry.
• No cash equivalent for the Prize(s). The Prize(s) is non-transferable and no substitution will be made except as provided herein at OCBC’s and PassportChop.com’s sole discretion. OCBC and PassportChop.com reserve the right to substitute any listed Prize for one of equal or greater value for any reason. Any unused portion of the Prize value is forfeited. Neither OCBC nor PassportChop.com is responsible for the weather conditions or activity availability and no refund or credit will be issued and no alternate date will be made available should the selected dates limit any element of the Prize usage. There will be no extension of deadline to utilise the prizes.
• The odds of winning the Prize depend on the number of eligible entries and quality of the entries received up until the point of the drawing.
• Contact if you have any questions about the contest.

For more information on the terms and conditions relating to the use of the travel voucher, see picture below: