Short story. On Eid Mubarak eve, I left office early (thanks, boss!) and went to see my wife whose art centre was still running. While waiting for her students to finish up, I did some browsing and ended up at 5xmom. 5xmom was writing about her experience in opening up an account with AlRajhi, a new bank.

What’s interesting about AlRajhi is their ATM card is also a Visa Debit card. And guess who just allowed withdrawal of funds into Visa? Paypal, of course. Since there was a newly-opened AlRajhi bank just around the corner from my wife’s place, I walked over and opened a savings account. Being a public holiday eve, I was only one of 2 customers. The entire process was painless and quick. I was out of the bank in about 10 minutes.

I waited a few days before doing any Paypal withdrawal, allowing for some funds to accumulate. In the meantime, I used the AlRajhi debit card a couple of times to buy petrol (gas, to Americans). Remember to preset your desired amount at the petrol kiosk before using your debit card. Otherwise, they will deduct RM150 from your account, and return it back only a couple of days later, minus the actual money you spent.

I withdrew US$45 from my Paypal to the AlRajhi card on the 19th October. Paypal deducted $5 , so the amount that transferred was US$40.

I only managed to get the Web PIN last night from an AlRajhi ATM. Unlike other banks, they print a random PIN for you instead of asking you for a temporary PIN. I find that this is a much better solution so you don’t have to remember so many PINs.

Registering for the AlRajhi online service was super-painless. Just enter your customer number and the Web PIN. You can then choose your username and password. I find that the AlRajhi website is quite sluggish on Firefox and Safari.

Anyway, once I checked my online usage statement, I saw that on the 25th, my account was credited with RM132 from Paypal! This was a nice surprise.

Overall, I have had a good experience with AlRajhi. I actually have an ETRADE card, but the annual fees on that is quite hefty (US$140 a year if you don’t do any trading) so I’m thinking of cancelling that before the free 1st year is over.

Filed under: NovaScene

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