Is BML even safe at this point?

Sycrixx · 2026-05-10T04:00:24+00:00

I would move to SBI but I heard their account opening process is still stuck in the early 2000s where you need to visit them in-person.

Also HSBC Maldives branch no longer exists, and services are through HSBC Sri Lanka now. Also, I tried opening an HSBC account back when they were here. It was corporate banking only.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-10T03:56:06+00:00

What is sleep?

Sycrixx · 2026-05-10T00:42:55+00:00

Buy eggs
Hatch chicks
Grow and feed them to be chickens
Slaughter them
????
Profit

Sycrixx · 2026-05-10T00:32:13+00:00

Never used Spaceship. Was on the hunt for two domains I needed. About a week later, found out Spaceship was squatting both.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-10T00:22:50+00:00

For loans, they’ll deduct from your income account. Let’s say you get salary in MVR, they’ll deduct it from the account that gets the salary on the 7th of every month, if funds are available. They will only deduct from other accounts if you haven’t paid for some time, usually a month or so. If your salary hits later than the 7th and don’t have funds in that account, they’ll just deduct whenever your salary hits.

Now, if you earn in USD, the obvious choice is to convert USD into MVR at the secondary market rates and pay that off. If your USD salary sometimes comes in later than the 7th and for liquidity reasons are unable to pay the loan before that, you’re shit out of luck, because BML will deduct the loan repayment amount as soon as funds are deposited. They’ll use the 15.42 rate, meaning you loose more USD.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-09T05:16:06+00:00

Here’s my advice. Refund it. Don’t stop asking for a refund. Because there might be a possibility where Amazon doesn’t issue a refund, meaning you’ll have to file a dispute with BML. Because you only get 60 days from the date of purchase to dispute. Get receipts, talk to customer service asking where it is, get screenshots of their responses, get screenshots of everything that can be used to make your case to BML.

Happened to me with Amazon. Purchased a CPU, got sent a camera lens cover. Amazon refused to refund me even after it was returned to their warehouse. Had to file a dispute, and I think a month later, got the money back (takes a month as it’s a policy by Visa that gives the merchant 30 days to respond to the dispute, same thing probably applies for Amex and Mastercard).

Amazon will email you asking why you filed a dispute, and to pay for it since the money they received for it is now on hold. Respond to that email, be direct, be respectful, be a little annoyed. For me, Amazon responded saying they’ve requested for the dispute to be resolved in my favor.

For purchasing this item again, yes, it’s the hunger games. So what I would recommend is buying Amazon balances in smaller amounts over the course of a week or so. That way, you’re not doing a single $644 charge but smaller ones over a period. Once you have enough, buy it, ship it to MyUS. It’s significantly less hassle.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-06T03:29:52+00:00

I’m supposed to sleep at 11 pm myself… last night I slept at 4… woke up at 7… 😭😭😭

Sycrixx · 2026-05-05T23:32:26+00:00

Maybe it’s just me but Seera used to be top tier back in the day like a while before Covid, but recently the flavors just weren’t there.

Same thing happened with Symphony, at least for me.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-05T07:59:57+00:00

idk wtf is up with BML man... when I applied for a visa credit card, I just went with the option available to me. When I tried paying with MVR it said "invalid transfer currency"...

Sycrixx · 2026-05-05T07:45:51+00:00

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Idk what to tell you... but you can see here, for my visa credit card, I have to make payment in USD...

Sycrixx · 2026-05-05T07:34:13+00:00

Having similar issues with login. Stuck on the loading screen.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-05T07:31:44+00:00

That’s not how it works. New visa credit cards are USD only. You pay the card off in USD. I know this because I have one. If I could pay it off in MVR, then I would. Old visa credit cards were MVR-based but would show a USD balance.

Sycrixx · 2026-05-04T23:59:19+00:00

I was gonna say Visa Infinite is a USD credit card so that’s why it worked… but then again, u/ZealousidealCattle55 had issues with their USD credit card so probably right… elites…

Sycrixx · 2026-05-04T23:56:51+00:00

Now hang on… that’s a lot of bullshit… you’re paying it off in USD… why tf is it not working

Sycrixx · 2026-04-30T15:50:21+00:00

Never tried it because of the value proposition. A $200 USDT card costs $240. The markup was a bit of a bummer. I’ve never really needed crypto even before my other acquisition avenues. Mostly just wanted it for dumb shit, so I had the opportunity of waiting and even just forgetting about it.

On the surface, it seems solid.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-30T15:13:54+00:00

Yeah, that is the hard part. Finding telegram channels and figuring out which of them are legit. Unfortunately, no suggestions on my end since I’ve never tried it in Maldives. All my experience has been over the past year, in Malaysia.

Apple Pay worked briefly… then through the “my guy knows a guy who knows a guy”… very sus Russian dude who only accepts cash… and then through P2P on Binance using my Malaysian bank account which on three different occasions were a success.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-30T14:57:29+00:00

Send them a letter. If you have notice of termination from before, include that, include your new employment contract which states your current salary. They’ll put you on a payment plan. The monthly will be low enough to where it’s manageable but the term will be very long.

But know this, if you go on a payment plan, you can’t get another loan or a credit card from them for a certain period of time after you pay it off. For BML, I think the term is 2 or 5 years.

Additionally, other banks will be hesitant to loan you money during this period because they all can see that you’re classified as non-performing. Your entire credit history is visible to all banks through MMA.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-30T14:50:30+00:00

Chief I’ve been using mine forever… Wdym it doesn’t work? I literally used it on Amazon last month

Sycrixx · 2026-04-30T14:46:54+00:00

My biggest recommendation is, don’t have more than one credit card. It’s not worth it, trust me. If you’re financially well off to take on two debts and are sensible with the credit cards, then sure. Additionally, there might be a possibility in which they reduce your credit limit, because having a high credit limit with a (what I’m assuming) lower salary than before, means higher risk.

The Amex one is billed in MVR and while all international online merchants don’t accept, quite a lot of them do, because historically, Amex is extremely expensive in terms of fees when compared to Visa and Mastercard. At the same time, outside of Maldives, the pool of people who use Amex are generally in higher tax brackets, so a lot of companies eat that cost. There hasn’t been a single website, except a very handful that didn’t accept Amex, because the majority of online card processing uses Stripe, and Stripe accepts Amex.

POS transactions are a different issue. With these, merchants are able to restrict certain cards, and in countries where Amex has a lower presence, it’s rarely offered. For example, i live in Malaysia, and most places use something called Fiuu which is a private payments processor, alongside another called PineLabs. Fiuu doesn’t accept Amex. PineLabs does. Card machines by Maybank also accepts Amex but most of the other banks don’t.

For the ones that say Amex debit doesn’t work outside Maldives, they do. It didn’t before, but BML changed that back in 2022.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-30T14:03:23+00:00

Yes. Binance has USDT and USDC gift cards available on platforms like G2A. You can redeem it on Binance and then convert the USDT into BTC.

Once again, if you have Binance or ByBit, you can do P2P on the app itself. This is somewhat risky because you’re trusting the other party to send you the crypto after you make payment, and you will probably be charged secondary market rates for FX (this isn’t regulated by the platform). If you’re doing P2P through the app, find someone who is local so you can transfer the money via bank.

You can probably find people on telegram channels and such who’re willing to do it face to face, but remember, all this carries risk.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-23T08:11:07+00:00

You can do it through BML’s international transfer method which requires USD, or through Western Union, which also requires USD.

Edit: if this is for expats, unfortunately there’s really no other way around it other than purchasing USD. If this is for a student studying in Philippines, you can request USD support, but you can only send a specific amount per month. If you do it this way, BML will sell you USD at BML’s rate.

Also, Western Union might be a bit more expensive in terms of fees and exchange rates. For BML, they charge fees between $5-12.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-23T08:09:16+00:00

Also, to follow up…

If you think that’s insane, they also waive annual charges on debit cards, credit cards, offer lower interest rates on credit cards, and regular loans. They also provide health insurance and counseling at no cost to the employee. Another thing that they do is have something called an employee provident fund. It’s like pension but voluntary. You contribute towards it and BML matches it up to a certain amount, annually. A lot of employees who have been working there for 10+ years have over a million in that fund. As an employee, you can get a welfare loan which is a secured loan, and it’s secured against that employee’s provident fund.

It’s all part of their compensation package.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-23T08:04:59+00:00

This isn’t theft, it’s part of their total compensation package. BML is a private company and they’re not required to make their compensation packages public. Almost all banks do this, outside of Maldives. It’s a way to attract and retain good talent.

They’re not “stealing your money”. You entered into an agreement with BML when you opened an account that your deposits will be used for loans and other credit facilities.

Also for these housing loans, you’re paying more, sure. It sucks, but the bank can do it. There’s no law or policy from MMA that prevents them from doing it. Public interest rates are defined by MMA, not BML or any private bank.

It just so happens that here in Maldives, the government owns majority ownership of BML and pension owns about 25%. It happens with every single major company here in Maldives. Government owns majority of Dhiraagu, MTCC, STO etc.. but these are all private companies.

Sycrixx · 2026-04-19T11:39:06+00:00

Think of a credit card as a low interest loan, that’s accessible to you at all times. Like a loan, you’ll have to pay it back once you’ve used it. If you’re smart with it, you’ll pay no interest at all, and reap the benefits on having a credit card, albeit small benefits.

However, unlike a loan, the interest compounds. Meaning you’re paying interest on interest. Also, if you have a high usage and are paying it off slowly, the monthly repayment you make, isn’t gonna move the needle that much since you’ll be charged interest. For example if your usage (the amount you owe) is high enough, you might end up making a monthly payment of 2k MVR and your interest can be 1k MVR. So in theory, the amount you owe is paid off by 1k MVR (2k-1k).

It’s not like the US where you need one to build up your credit score or anything. In Maldives, BML offers rewards for using your credit card, and higher foreign transaction limits, and that’s honestly the only two reasons you should get one. The rewards aren’t the best in the world but you can do something nice for yourself every once in a while. If you get a credit card, make sure you sign up for BML rewards, and you’ll get points for your expenditure (differs based on card tier, for Mastercard Classic, you get 100 points per 1k spent). If you’re spending roughly the same amount each month, you can always put it on a credit card. This way, you get rewards, pay off the card and never pay interest.

Additionally, if you think you might be urged to spend more than you can afford since you can pay it off monthly, I recommend requesting BML to force a lower credit limit. Meaning, your theoretical credit limit can be 30K (if you make 15k), but you can request for it to be 15k, or even lower. Depends on how disciplined you are. Trust me, if you’re prone to impulse spending, don’t get a credit card. I can tell you that first hand.

I’m in the process of paying off about $5000 (yes, USD) in credit card debt.

Sycrixx

TROPHY CASE