Credit card you save with as you splurge

The Life: Shamelessly splurge on burger-fueled credit card binges.

Diners can gets discounts at resturants. Andrew Parsons / The National

This column is usually dedicated to ways of spending an obscene amount of money on a frivolous big-ticket item.

Q&A:Rasool Hujair, explains who is eligible for the Just Dine scheme.

Do credit cards have to offer more than just credit these days? What we are doing overall with our business, we are aiming to provide value that enriches our customers' lives. We appreciate that life at the moment is not the way it used to be a few years ago.

The UAE's casual dining segment is worth Dh2.2 billion. Is the boom behind us? We are not pushing people to spend more but make people stretch out their spend to get more. Approximately 10 per cent of all credit card spend [comes from dining out]. Just Dine is another way to help our customers.

Is the card aimed at every day dining? It is mid-range, that people can take their friends and family regularly.

But not today. This time, we are going to talk about a way to save money.

However, because this is a column about spending, you are still going to have to splash the cash to save some smackers.

Allow me to explain.

Majid Al Futtaim Finance has just launched a scheme in which customers who use one of its Najm credit cards can get up to 30 per cent off - in some instances a bit more - at more than 400 restaurants around the UAE.

The programme, called Just Dine, is like the popular Entertainer vouchers that give you two-for-one deals on hundreds of restaurants, but there is no flimsy bit of paper to carry around.

And, most important, you don't have to feel like a frugal student handing over a voucher, because you just have to pay on your card. No more sheepish looks on your part as you pay your restaurant bill.

The scheme mainly includes mid-range restaurants such as Itsu, The Noodle Room, The Rupee Room, Pizza Express and Times of Arabia, based in areas such as Jumeirah Beach Residence and Dubai Marina and Abu Dhabi Corniche.

About 10 per cent of the restaurants offer 30 per cent or more and about half give discounts of 20 to 25 per cent.

Diners can also call up a dedicated concierge hot line to reserve tables or obtain information on nearby restaurants that are part of the scheme. Majid Al Futtaim Finance also has a smartphone app to go with the service, which can update users on local restaurants.

In addition, every time you use the Najm card, the discount you receive is converted into points that go towards a saving on the cost of dinner in the future, so there is a double incentive for shameless, burger-fuelled credit card binges.

Just be sure to pay off the card at the end of the month. Otherwise, you will be out of pocket and in bigger trousers.

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