$5 Pap Smear Screening for the ladies

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I've heard about the $5 screening offer from HPB last year but didn't bother.
Until I came across articles on pap smear and cervical cancer and it got me thinking that I should perhaps do a test.....for $5.
I initially thought that all I had to do was to show the clinic my IC and I'd be eligible for the $5 screening. Turns out, we need to present a letter for verification before we can enjoy the rate.
I then checked out the HPB website and contacted their hotline to request for the screening letter. I vaguely recalled receiving it sometime back, but probably lost the letter ðŸ¤­
The officer on the hotline told me that the letter generation will take 2 weeks. Oh gosh, another example of the slow service from government agencies. I told them to expedite as I want to have the scan soon. No promises, they said. And I wondered, how many procedures backend would it take for them to "approve" my letter? ðŸ¤”Shouldn't such letters be built inside the health buddy app wh…
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Disappointing revision to BOC Family Card

All good things always come to an end.

Readers would know I'm quite an advocate of BOC, given it's relatively attractive rebates and interests it has been providing me. Just a few hours ago, I received an sms from BOC informing of the "enhanced" benefits for my Family Card.
From 23 Apr, enjoy 10% cash rebate on Dining everyday (local & overseas) & Movies. Plus, get 5% on Telco bills! Continue to earn 5% for Online, Supermarket, Hospital bills, selected merchants & 2% on supplementary card. 
At first glance, I smiled. Dining rebates is now enhanced from 7% to 10%; movies are now included for cashbacks; and enhanced 5% on telco bills! That was until I opened the T&Cs link.

And then I frowned.

The BOC Family Card was my main card for dining spends. With 7% rebates on all dining, with a max rebate of $100, it was the best dining card I could find. Clocking above $500/$1500 on this card also gives me a 0.8%/1.6% interest on my BOC Smartsaver. The best return I could get was $100 rebate and $80 interest with a $1500 dining spend. Best of both worlds.

Not anymore.

In summary, the negative points are as follows:

  • Minimum spending to clock rebates is now $700, compared to $500
  •  There are now 3 individual caps set in place:
    • $30 for dining at 10%; max spend for max rebate = $300
    • $30 for online at 5%; max spend for max rebate = $600
    • $40 for Supermarkets, Hospital bills, NETS FlashPay Auto Top-up, Selected Merchants and Telecommunication bills at 5%; max spend for max rebate = $600
      • Meaning to say, after clocking $300 on dining, I would need to spend another $400 on supermarket and online purchase to get $30 and $20 rebates respectively ðŸ‘Ž
  • With the less attractive dining rebates, I might switch to other credit cards, which affects the amount I clock on BOC card for my Smartsaver account....which also makes me consider switching out of Smartsaver account ðŸ¤”
Thoughts on this?

Comments

  1. foolish chameleon27 March 2018 at 15:24

    what will be a good alt to this BOC? some cats are good, some cats got worse .. i am also in the middle, to change out or not..

    ReplyDelete
  2. P W Yee27 March 2018 at 22:20

    It seems that it is still better than 2nd option maybank credit and it's associated savings program.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rebecca Tan21 April 2018 at 17:19

    same sentiments too. used to be my main card but I have now stopped using it. not worth the effort.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Audi Wong8 May 2018 at 23:56

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown26 July 2018 at 20:41

    One more surprise I just found. They annual fee of $190 cannot be fully waived. Only partially waiver. Have to pay $50 plus GST. The CSO claimed it's recent change in marketing decision, and said because the card has better rebates!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cherry30 July 2018 at 18:28

      What?! Did u pay it or choose to cancel the card in the end?

      Delete
  6. WCK18 August 2018 at 10:15

    After reading the above with all the T&C, not going to apply for it after all. Why bother if they want to play these "must jump thru all the hoops" game

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nreits28 October 2018 at 22:16

    Very disappointing in fact :( was advocating boc to family and friends previously ... was not even note that the changes took place

    ReplyDelete

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