Like all budget savy young couples planning their banquet, we all aim to clock as much rewards be it cashback or miles from our banquet purchase. After all, a banquet, even at a restaurant, sets us back to a 5 digit sum for more than 100 pax.
My partner and I have decided to hold our banquet at a Chinese restaurant next year. So, a few months back, we made our deposit of $2000 to lock in the wedding date.
Prior to this, I was at my desk calculating the different cashback I would receive using various cards. After all, my coordinator assured that I could swipe different cards to gain the maximum rebates. Also, it helps that my Chinese restaurant is categorised under "Dining", which meant...more cashback :D (too bad if you hold it at a hotel!)
After researching, it boiled down to 2 cards:
1. BOC Family card
2. POSB Everyday card
The BOC family card gives me 7% cashback from dining and the cap was at $100. Really good card to use. Also, as a Smartsaver account user, I get to receive 0.8% or 1.6% p.a if the spending hits $500 and $1500 respectively.
Hence, my aim was to clock at least $1500 spending on my BOC to receive the 1.6% interest. However, as I've made around $1200 spendings prior to my banquet deposit, I figured I should source for another card to milk rebates. Interest + rebates, doesn't it sound like a better deal?
Next, I found that the POSB Everyday card offers up to 14% rebate for dining. Even better since I have the card ready for spending.
But, please do not be fooled. If you read deeper, you would only be eligible a maximum of 9% cashback on weekend dining spend and a min $600 spending.
So i thought - Hey! Since I've clock enough rebates and will be able to hit $1500 spending on my BOC card, I could use the POSB everyday to get a 9% rebate.
As such, I clocked my $2000 spending as follows:
1. POSB everyday to swipe min $600 to get the max $50 rebate
2. Another POSB everyday card from my partner. Another $50 rebate
3. BOC to swipe $800 to get the 7% dining rebate at $56 rebate. I would also have exceeded $1500 spending to clock a 1.6% p.a interest
The total rebates (excluding interest) I'd receive would be $156. That's effectively a 7.8% cashback!
Here comes the wait for the rebate. My BOC rebate and interest came in the following month. However, days and days passed and I did not see my POSB everyday rebate in. I read the T&Cs and found out that I'd receive the rebates within 60 days.
Right.
So I waited and waited for the cashback to be credited until I got frustrated and contacted POSB Customer Service....only to be horrified by their reply
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You mean after 3 months of waiting, I just lost out $100 cashback because I did not figure out that I need to register for this?
April's Fool to me. Except this is September.
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Updates
Thanks to a heroic staff from DBS who went out of his way to help me, I've since received my cashback.
From this case, it thought me two things:
1. POSB is not as generous in rebates appeal as other banks - I've no issues for BOC and Standard Chartered
2. T&Cs are aplenty. For every case/issue you face, it depends whether the other party is willing to help you out. Staff A may follow protocol to ignore your request, while Staff B may seek to understand your situation before appealing the case/issue for you.
Cheers to someone like Staff B who successfully helped me in my case.
#faithinhumanityrestored
My partner and I have decided to hold our banquet at a Chinese restaurant next year. So, a few months back, we made our deposit of $2000 to lock in the wedding date.
Prior to this, I was at my desk calculating the different cashback I would receive using various cards. After all, my coordinator assured that I could swipe different cards to gain the maximum rebates. Also, it helps that my Chinese restaurant is categorised under "Dining", which meant...more cashback :D (too bad if you hold it at a hotel!)
After researching, it boiled down to 2 cards:
1. BOC Family card
2. POSB Everyday card
The BOC family card gives me 7% cashback from dining and the cap was at $100. Really good card to use. Also, as a Smartsaver account user, I get to receive 0.8% or 1.6% p.a if the spending hits $500 and $1500 respectively.
Hence, my aim was to clock at least $1500 spending on my BOC to receive the 1.6% interest. However, as I've made around $1200 spendings prior to my banquet deposit, I figured I should source for another card to milk rebates. Interest + rebates, doesn't it sound like a better deal?
Next, I found that the POSB Everyday card offers up to 14% rebate for dining. Even better since I have the card ready for spending.
As such, I clocked my $2000 spending as follows:
1. POSB everyday to swipe min $600 to get the max $50 rebate
2. Another POSB everyday card from my partner. Another $50 rebate
3. BOC to swipe $800 to get the 7% dining rebate at $56 rebate. I would also have exceeded $1500 spending to clock a 1.6% p.a interest
The total rebates (excluding interest) I'd receive would be $156. That's effectively a 7.8% cashback!
Here comes the wait for the rebate. My BOC rebate and interest came in the following month. However, days and days passed and I did not see my POSB everyday rebate in. I read the T&Cs and found out that I'd receive the rebates within 60 days.
Right.
So I waited and waited for the cashback to be credited until I got frustrated and contacted POSB Customer Service....only to be horrified by their reply
In order to qualify for this promotion, you would need to be within the first 10,000 cardmembers to register. The registration for the promotion is now closed as 10,000 Cardmember registrations have been reached.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You mean after 3 months of waiting, I just lost out $100 cashback because I did not figure out that I need to register for this?
April's Fool to me. Except this is September.
----
Updates
Thanks to a heroic staff from DBS who went out of his way to help me, I've since received my cashback.
From this case, it thought me two things:
1. POSB is not as generous in rebates appeal as other banks - I've no issues for BOC and Standard Chartered
2. T&Cs are aplenty. For every case/issue you face, it depends whether the other party is willing to help you out. Staff A may follow protocol to ignore your request, while Staff B may seek to understand your situation before appealing the case/issue for you.
Cheers to someone like Staff B who successfully helped me in my case.
#faithinhumanityrestored
I know how annoying this can be. It's the fine print and additional steps required by the banks to qualify for the higher cash rebates that catch us out sometimes!
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