Having to pay $5000 before being able to cancel a credit card?!?!?!

I was really frustrated recently due to a certain bank's credit card.

The card is known for being good for miles as the miles don't expire and my mum has been holding the card for while.

Read more: Having a good credit score


She got charged for annual fee for that card and so she called in to enquire about it.



She was told that they would minus her current points for the annual fee and my mum agreed.

My mum had accumulated pretty much points in the card and since she was going to be cancelling it soon, she decided to go online and redeem a few stuff and to leave a certain amount of points inside for the deduction of the annual fee.

Everything went pretty well, until she received a call one day that she will not be able to cancel her card as she had used the points and redeem items, but TBH, the points were build up by her spending and that she should have the capacity to use it.

She called them up another time and the customer support officer told her that as she used up her points, she is not able to cancel her card and instead would need to spend the amount that she redeem, which was about $5000 (not too sure bout the exact amount) according to the officer.




What a SHOCK! She has to spend that amount before the next annual fee deduction and when my mum told her that she is willing to pay the annual fee in cash and not points just so she can cancel the card, it was not allowed.

Of course, maybe we did not check first whether we could redeem that points before we cancel the card but because the points were all earned from her spending, we do feel a bit cheated.

Since only my mum made the call by herself, I will be calling in one more time to understand what it is about and whether are we able to cancel the card.

As my mum resigned recently and all, spending that huge amount before the end of the year seems a bit difficult and she has to spend it before the next annual fee.

Read more: My mum resigned from her job, whats gonna happen next?


I have been thinking about it and I do feel bothered by it. I will be calling them up to enquire more.

Communication skills in the workplace matters so much!

After officially working full-time in a job for about 5 months, I have realized the importance of being able to communicate effectively.

Being able to communicate effectively can give people the impression that you know your stuff well and that you are working hard.

Read more: Updates on my first week at my new job - Expenses, Colleagues and Environment


For me, I am rather introverted and would choose not to say anything in meetings.



Also, i realized that when my boss talks to me, I tend to just agree and will not really suggest or explain unlike my colleagues.

In this way, I do feel that I lose out more than those who are able to communicate better as they can give feedback which makes other feel that they have thoughts about their work and have done sufficient research on it.

Communicating with other has always been a problem for me as I take pretty long to warm up to others.

Its takes me awhile before I am able to share what's on my mind and to also be able to share freely.



As my mum has always been strict with me since young, I tend to steer clear with my bosses as I feel that they give orders and I just follow.

But in today's working environment, it no longer so authoritative as employees are recommended to speak up more and share their thoughts to allow the company to improve.

I do feel the need to change and to be a little more outspoken so that people can be aware of my thoughts.

Hope that I can grow and be confident of myself and be able to share my thoughts with people. 

I just officially graduated!

Last Wednesday was my graduation ceremony and I have now officially graduated from my university.

So on my graduation ceremony, my friends and I met up before that and we were catching up on whats been going on in our life.



For most of us, we have already started working and what most of us found was that it really is not that easy to find a job with our psychology degree.

Read more: Finished School, What's Next?

We have a few other friends who took computer science and digital systems and for them, they had jobs lining up for them after they ended.

Even for those who had failed a few modules, most of them were very much in demand.



After I started work, I can also see that IT industry is hot right now and although the turnover rate is high and also competition from foreigners are high, those who take IT degrees have a larger access to jobs and also a higher starting pay.

Of course, if you were to ask me again would I go for an IT course then since it has better prospect, to be honest, I wouldn't.

I feel that I am jealous of the higher pay they have but I know that IT is definitely not my cup of tea.

With the graduation over, I do feel that it is now time to really plan my career and life out. HAHA




I do miss school and right now the thought of having to work for the rest of my life scares me but I know that I am aware of my financials and am in the process of getting myself prepared for the future.

Read more: Graduating from a Polytechnic


I still have a pretty long journey ahead of me so much to learn from it as well.

Here's wishing everyone a great week ahead as Good Friday makes this week a shorter work week. 

Losing my iphone 8 - what a bad experience

I lost my iPhone 8 over the weekends on Saturday morning. So what happened was that I was wearing a pair of shorts with pretty shallow pockets and I placed my phone in it.

My mum and I was walking towards the bus stop when we saw the bus that we were going to take so we ran for the bus and my phone could have dropped out during this time.



Another way is that maybe on the bus when I sat down, the phone could have dropped out of my pocket.

I only realised that I lost my iPhone when we were having lunch. I called my phone and the call ended, that was when my mum and I knew that someone might have taken my phone so I immediately called Singtel at 1688 to terminate my line.

I was still feeling positive during then as I thought that there might be a chance of getting my phone back.

But after terminating my line, I rushed back home and used my Macbook to locate my phone using Find My Iphone.

And my phone was turned offline meaning that someone had offed my phone. This was when I started feeling like my phone is not gonna be returned to me because I was unable to view it's location.




I on the lost mode that was available on the app and also the play sound option meaning that once the phone gets connected to internet, a message would appear with a number and a sound would also be played.

So we then went to Singtel Store to get my replacement SIM card and then to make a police report.

I am currently using a spare phone but through this experience, I find your phone number so important because I do have banking apps in my phone and also other important data which I am scared it would be extracted out by the person.

I have erased all data from my iPhone which is an option in find my iPhone, and I think this is a great function of it.

Feeling a little down as this iphone 8 has been with me for about 1 and a half years, it was pretty good and I thought it was gonna last me a long time before I change to a new phone.




It is also my first time losing a phone so I am pretty panicky and did not know what to do. 

This just shows how vulnerable I can be without my phone. Hopefully I have disabled in time and no major data would be taken out from my phone.

This period hasn't been good for me and I feel like I am often tired and drained out. Hopefully things can get better from now on.