I can’t be sure when exactly it happened, but at last Maybank enabled all the goodies on their debit card and is it finally the only debit card I need to do everything, even online purchases and PayPal payouts.

Late & Shaky Start

When Maybank first released the debit card with the cherries design, this was a little over a year ago, it was a bit of a half baked product.  It had the very exciting Visa logo on the front, and I, like a many bloggers, thought it was the digital money I could carry in my digital wallet to pay for my digital life.

Unfortunately you couldn’t buy anything with it online, put money into your PayPal account or receive payouts from your PayPal account.  The debit card essentially had no benefit over Maybank’s black-and-yellow ATM card and you had to pay RM12 to ‘upgrade’ to it too.  The only plus point was that because of the Visa system, as opposed to the Visa Electron sub-system of the old card, you could swipe it in more physical shops. Whoop-de-friggen-doo.

For me and those who were hoping to join the effortlessness of having a card that you could use like a credit card, the Maybank Debit Card v1 was a big, fat disappointment.

For my Paypal requirements (it had to be a Visa card), I applied for a TuneMoney pre-paid Visa card (what a hassle that was) and otherwise shopped at websites that was Maybank direct-debit ready.  Not ideal, but my digital life went on.

Fate Steps in and Demands Reassessment

So last week I lost my wallet.

It was in the door of my Myvi – you know, in that handy door-handle / mobile-phone-holder / not-really-a-wallet-holder space, when I opened the door and didn’t see my wallet drop out, had coffee (for which a friend paid) went home and the wallet was never heard from or seen again.

Needless to say, cards were canceled and lost cash was cried over.  The Maybank card was easy to replace and I was going to replace the Tune card too. But when I called the Tune call centre, I was put on hold so long that it drained my already-faulty battery and I never got to re-order the card.

As if fate had not overplayed its hand already, I then stumbled upon a blog post somewhere, which said Maybank’s debit card v2 is now the card it should have been when it was first released. I followed the trail of breadcrumbs and wouldn’t you know it, it’s true.

Activate Your Maybank Debit Card for Online Shopping

First things first. If like me you’ve been paying for your AirAsia flights with the direct debit function, you will have been craving to just whip out your debit card and pay for it right then and there. Now you can – but there’s a bit of a song and dance to do first.

• Log into your Maybank account;
• Right at the bottom under Utilities you’ll see “Maybank Secure Online Shopping Registration“. Click.

• You’re then taken to a page where you have to fill out passwords and stuff. I only have 1 card, so I don’t get a choice, but if you happen to have many cards, then you might have to select the right card based on the 16 digits on the front of the card you’re working with;
• Type a Maybank Secure Online Shopping (MSOS) password. Think about it – don’t make it your Maybank2u password, or your email password, or your Facebook password. Remember, this is your life’s savings you’re working with, so don’t choose a password anybody that knows a bit about you can guess. But remember it;
• Retype that password, just to be sure;
• The Personal Assurance Message can be anything. A yo’ mamma joke if you like. It will be used when you’re about to make a payment – you will be diverted to a Visa verification website to type your MSOS password – to ensure that website you get directed to is an authorised website, your unique Personal Assurance Message will be displayed. If it isn’t, you shouldn’t type your password.
• The Expiry Date and CVV is as it appears on the card you are registering;
• The Hint, I feel, is pretty stupid, because this is likely fairly common knowledge. Choose the question you think the fewest people will know and will be the hardest to find out.
• Answer is the answer to The Hint above. Type it in a way that you will remember it.

Once you’re done, your card is registered and, technically, you can go out and spend the contents of your savings account from the comfort of your plastic card.

Right after doing this I went to buy something online, but for some reason it didn’t recognise my password, even though my Personal Assurance Message was displayed. I can only imagine it takes a few hours.  I’ll update this when I successfully purchase something online.

Link your Paypal Account

Next, of course, you would want to use your Maybank debit card to cash in on your stash of mula that’s been accumulating in your PayPal account. I’m sure you know how this works:

• Log in to PayPal, go to Profile and click on Add / Edit Credit Card (Ha! We’re going to use a debit card);
• Click on the yellow Add a Card button (bottom right);
• Select the card type (Visa) fill in the details, check the address and click Add Card;
• PayPal will query your card in the background, and if everything checks out, it will be listed as 1 of your credit cards;
• On the right of the entry, under Action you will see Link & Activate Your Card. You have to let PayPal deduct US$1.95 from your account to test / verify your card (which is credited back to your PayPal account upon completion);
• Once that’s done, you then have to enter the 4 digit number that appears on your debit card statement to complete the process.  It may take a day or 2 before it shows up though, so log out and go do something else;

And that will successfully link your Maybank Debit Card to your PayPal account, which will enable you to ‘pay’ money from your debit account into your PayPal account, and vice versa ‘download’ money from your PayPal account into your Maybank debit card.

Maybank Debit Card Withdrawals When You’re Overseas

One last thing you might consider is having your Maybank debit card activated for transactions / withdrawals while you’re overseas.

The first time I tried drawing money from Singapore, it failed. I was also unable to pay for my accommodation, although that might have been unrelated. On my return to Malaysia the call centre did say the debit card needs to be activated for overseas transactions.

Since then, I’ve been able to draw money with my Maybank debit card from overseas ATMs that display the Visa logo in Bangkok, Phuket and again, Singapore.

The Journo advised me you can activate this feature at any Maybank ATM in Malaysia, or you can do like I did and give the helpful people at the Maybank call centre a buzz on 1-300 88 6688 if you’re in Malaysia or on +60 3 7844 3696 if you’re not.

Now, life is good. Thanks for listening to your customers Maybank, I’m glad your debit card finally caught up.