CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.

1 Introduction Today, as most of us are living in a cash-less society, more and more people in the world are having credit cards and using credit cards instead of money to buy purchase the goods and things they need. Almost anyone who has a stable income and a continuous work record can apply for a credit card (REFERENCE?). And there are many credit cards available, such as American Express, VISA, and Master Card are some of the most popular credit cards (Credit Card Commentaries, 2011, Para.2). Credit card helps enable a person to can buy purchase a car, dine in a fancy resaurant eat a dinner, take a trip go for a vacation or cruise, and even get a haircut by charging the cost to the credit card owners account. In this way, we can pay for the purchase a month later, without any extra charge. Or we may choose to make our payment over several months and pay only part of the a partial of the total amount each every month. And Credit Company, or the bank that sponsors the credit card, will add a small service charge to total bill (Credit Card, 2012, Para.3). This is very brings convenient convenience for the customer. The use of Credit Card originated in the United States of America, which dates back to the year in 1915 (United States Fun Facts, 2009, Para.5), and the earliest institutions whom had issue the credit cards are were not banks, but are was instead; some store, restaurant and gasoline company companies(Credit Card, 2012, Para.5). This research is an experimental study of the factors affecting the customers in bank credit cards selection: Singapore perspective. According to the Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS) figures show that the number of abundant credit cardholders in Singapore has expanded by 30 per cent from 2008 to 2010, and by 27 per cent from 2009 to 2010 ( CBS Media Release on Affluent Cardholders, 2011, p.1). ***INSERT CHARTS & DIAGRAMS of the above mentioned info****

More and more people start to use credit cards, and different kind of financial institutions and banks provide different kind of credit cards. Credit cards have become important as a source of income of the banks. As we know that, the most common and popular type of products that is offered by the banks are credit cards. The common credit cards are issued by banks are named Classic, Gold and Platinum (Credit Cards-Eligibility and Fees, 2010, Para.3). And these cards are issued based on individual and personal income level and set by the credit card issuer. ***REPHASEso messy and not clear**** 1.2 Research Background & Analysis

Singapore as a financial centre/ hub and is a developed country in Asia, there are many local and foreign banks in Singapore. The rollover balance for credit and charge cards in Singapore amounted to S$ 4530.9 million in 2011, based on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) (2012)***INSERT CHART***. The financial institutions and banks have a healthy source of profits. In 2010, there were 23,122 affluent cardholders compared to just 18,142 and 17,826 in 2009 and 2008 (CBS Media Release on Affluent Cardholders, 2011, p.1)***INSERT CHART/ DIAGRAM/ GRAPH. Hence, in Singapore there are many people using credit cards, and there are much different kind of credit cards that are available and offered by many banks and financial institutions. Singapore is a big market, and there are so many potential business opportunity, because in Singapore have so many foreigner such as Chinese, Malay, Indian and others(REFERENCES??). There are many highly skilled and highly education labour force in Singapore(REFERENCES?). As we mentioned early, Singapore as a financial centre/ hub, there are a great number of financial institutions. Along with the development of the credit cards market develop, increased the credit card industry competition, in order to attract more and more customer, bank and financial industry try to provide different kinds of credit cards.

There were about 2 million credit card holders in Singapore carrying an average of around 5 credit cards each, that works out to about 10 million credit cards in circulation in Singapore (Best Cash Rebate Credit Cards, 2011, Para.1). There is a total of 117 providers of bank credit cards both from local and foreign banks. The number of financial institutions in Singapore as the table shows below.

Source: Financial Institutions Directory, Monetary Authority of Singapore. The credit card market in Singapore has become more and more competitive, because there are a great number of local and foreign banks than before***BEFORE WHEN??? What year? Evidence? References?*****. And each banks issue credit card with their own credit card product with added incentives to attract their own customers. For example, American Express-Rewards Card, is one of the credit cards that get reward with S$120 cash credit or redeem these bonus points for a return air ticket to Bali, and S$1=1 Membership Rewards point and so on (American Express-Reward Card, 2012, Para.1). Different kind of banks with different kind of incentives to attract their customer, in order to satisfy the need of the customers, banks should keeping renew their products improvement. It is very important for a bank to get creditable information and data on their customer and their selection factors. If the banks product meets or exceeds their customers expectation, the

customer may choose the banks product. ***A BIT WEAKneed to beef it up more, means need more

INFORMATION***

1.3 Research Motivation

The motivation of this research was threefold. As mentioned earlier, Singapore as a financial centre/ hub, there are many financial institutions and the credit card market in Singapore has become more and more competitive. And more and more people in the world are having credit cards and using credit cards instead of money to buy the goods and things they need. The reason behind the topic was chosen by the researcher was because of the interest in how the customer choose their credit cards with many choices and what the factors affecting them, based on the prior studies which was conducted has done in the 2006. There are some prior studies; the focus was more on the factors affecting the customer in bank credit cards selection. And the prior researcher found out some factors affecting the customer behavior, another reason behind the topic was chosen by the research was experimental the prior study and want to prove that these factors are feasible or infeasible. And has rarely experimental study of the factors affecting the customers in bank credit cards selection: Singapore perspective. ****NOT STRONG ENOUGH, need to have at least 1 page long!****

1.4 Research problems & Objectives

As mentioned earlier, the circulation of credit cards in Singapore has reach 10 million by the year of 2011 (Best Cash Rebate Credit Cards, 2011, Para.1). And there is a total of 117 providers of bank credit cards both from local and foreign banks. There are many choices for customer; therefore, in order to attract more and more customer, banks try to provide different kind of credit cards and promotions. There are some factors affecting the customer in bank credit cards selection has found out by

prior researchers, in this report will experiment in the prior study and to prove that these factors are feasible or infeasible. In this report, based on the prior researchers studies, analyze these factors affecting the customers behavior and experiment these factors by using some research methods, credit cards survey and data analysis to experiment. There are many banks which are losing their employees and cannot sale their product because they did not reach the customers satisfaction and they also not sure what kind of credit cards their customer prefer. In this report will experimental study of the factors affecting the customers in bank credit cards selection: Singapore perspective. Experimental study of the factors affecting the customers in bank credit cards selection: Singapore perspective. There are many factors found out by prior researchers. The following factors which effect the selection of credit card by customers. 1) Convenience of use (Lydia and Ramin, 2006). 2) Protections of the credit cards (Lydia and Ramin, 2006). 3) Bank offering of convenience to cardholders (Meidan and Davos, 1994). 4) Usage convenience (Alhassan and Yakubu, 2007).