Mrs. Fields Treats from Standard Chartered Bank

At last! We already claimed some of our free Mrs. Fields Treats from Standard Chartered Bank.

Here they are...

Assorted brownies and mini cookies. Yum! Yum!

Since these are too sweet for me, these treats will just be for hubby and the Kulilits. Hehe. =)

A Little Shopping For Hubby

I went to The Big Sale at SM Southmall last March 1 to buy hubby a new pair of shoes since his current pair is dilapidated already. Alam niyo yun, konting konti na lang at bibigay na yung sapatos niya. Si hubby kasi yung tipong nagtiyatiyaga sa gamit hanggang kaya pa.

Anyway, I decided to go to the day 1 of sale kasi may extrang 10% discount if you are an SMAC (SM Advantage Card) or BDO Rewards card holder if you shop from 10:00am to 12:00nn. Sayang naman yung extra discount kung hindi ko i-aavail di ba?

First time ko pumunta sa sale ng SM para sa promo nila for SMAC and BDO Rewards card holder. Ang masasabi ko lang ay kakaibang experience yun. Parang Black Friday Sale lang sa US ang peg sa dami ng tao at haba ng pila.

Let the pictures do the talking...

Exag sa dami ng tao ano? Masasabi mo bang naghihirap ang mga Pinoy? Imagine, wala pang 11:00am yan ha at ang haba na ng pila sa counter. Ang hirap pa naman at kasama ko ang mga kulilits (no choice kasi eh, wala akong kasambahay eh). Buti na lang at pinasama sa akin ng mom ko si Sally (their labandera) dahil kung hindi, matotodas ako (hindi ako makakapamili at maghahabol lang ako ng maghahabol sa mall).

Si Sally ang pumila sa cashier habang ako naman ay nagbabantay sa mga kulilits. Grabe ang likot ng dalawa. Takbo dito, takbo doon. Nililibang libang ko nga lang para mapirmi eh. Maya maya, may nakitang pushcart at yun ang pinagdiskitahan...

Nagsasampa at pilit na sumasakay. Eh no riding nga for babies and children...

At first, pilit kong ipinipirmi ang cart dahil ayaw ko naman maging pasaway. Nakakahiya naman kasi baka sabihin hindi ako marunong magbasa. Pero ang dalawa ayaw talaga magpaawat. So keber na bawal, hinayaan ko na lang para matigil na. Ayun, enjoy na enjoy sila at napirmi rin sa wakas...

After almost an hour sa pila, nakaraos din kami finally. Since we finished at around 12:00nn already, we went to Kenny Roger's to eat lunch. Sakto lang din kasi na I have Standard Chartered transaction slips wherein I could exchange for solo meals.

Here is our free lunch...

After lunch, we met Mama G at Ricky Reyes para sumabay na pauwi ng house.

Here are my loots that day:

A pair of shoes for hubby...

Briefs...

and a pair of slacks...

Yan lang ang mga binili ko and lahat ay puro kay hubby. And guess what? P611.21 lang ang cash out ko! I have SM gift checks din kasi eh which I got from Standard Chartered promo. Ang galing dahil halos malibre na ang mga pinamili ko ano?

To end this blog entry, eto ang mga narealize and natutunan ko after that little shopping experience:

• Sobrang dami ng tao sa day 1 ng SM sale from 10:00am to 12:00nn dahil maraming gusto maka-avail ng extra 10% discount.
• Sa mga ganyang klaseng sale, you need extra help para may tagapila ka na habang ikaw ay nagshoshop around.
• Days before the sale, window shop ka na para pagdating ng sale alam na kaagad ang bibilhin.
• Mahirap ang magbitbit ng mga batang makukulit.
• Ok ang maging aware sa mga credit card promos para makalibre kahit papaano.
• Arrive earlier para hindi pa ganon karami ang tao. Ang hirap din kasi mamili kapag siksikan eh.

Standard Chartered's Holiday Instant Rewards Promo

I'm so glad that the instant reward promo of Standard Chartered is back. =) I smell a lot of freebies again. Ang sarap lang kasi ng feeling that you get something for free. In this case, umuutang ka na, nakakalibre ka pa.

Here are the list of what you can get if you use your Standard Chartered credit card until December 31, 2012:

Participating Establishment	Free* Treat	Minimum Charge Slip Amount**
Seattle's Best Coffee	Any Medium Drink - excluding bottled drinks	Php 2,000
	Choice of Panini - Ham & Cheese, Quattro Formaggi or Pesto-Tomato & Mozzarella + any Small Drink Over-ice	Php 5,000
Kenny Rogers Roasters	Solo A Roast Chicken Plate	Php 2,500
	Any Healthy Plate	Php 5,000
Mrs. Fields	Half Dozen Brownie Nibblers	Php 2,500
	Party Tin - 3 pcs cookies or 12 pcs cookie nibblers	Php 5,000
Red Mango	Small Frozen Yogurt + 1 Topping - any flavor	Php 2,500
	Any Waffle with Yogurt + Coffee	Php 5,000
Wine Depot	The Accomplice Shiraz or Chardonnay	Php 8,000
	A bottle of Candidato Wine	Php 10,000
ROYCE'	Amande Chocolat or Marshmallow Chocolate	Php 10,000
	Nama Chocolate or Potatochip Chocolate or Popcorn	Php 15,000
The Body Shop	Gift Cube - 60 ml Shower Gel & Bath Lily	Php 5,000
	Body Butter - Olive or Satsuma or Gift Duo - 60 ml Shower Gel, 60 ml Body Lotion & Bath Lily	Php 10,000
Fully Booked	Php 300 Gift Certificate	Php 8,000
	Php 1,000 Gift Certificate	Php 25,000
Toy Kingdom	Php 500 Discount	Php 10,000
	Php 1,000 Discount	Php 25,000

                   























For more info, check Standard Chartered's website:

http://www.standardchartered.com/ph/personal-banking/cards/latest-promotions/instant-rewards/en/index.html

Happy shopping everyone!!!

Credit Card Annual Fee Waived!

Yahoo! I'm so happy today. My request for the annual fee waiver of my Standard Chartered Bank credit card is granted. P 1,200.00 din yun ha. Pambili rin ng milk ng mga kulilits.

It really pays to have a good credit standing. Ako kasi, I always pay my credit card in full and before its due date. Once nag-cut-off na, I pay it immediately the following day. Hindi ko na hinihintay ang due date. Yan ang reason kung bakit ang lakas ng loob ko magpawaive ng annual fee.

Kaya you guys, if you know you have a good credit standing with your bank, you can always request for the waiver of your credit card annual fee. If your request is not granted upfront, you ask for options. Sometimes kasi banks give credit card holders options in order for the annual fee to be waived. Examples are spending requirement, enrollment to automatic bills payment or increase in credit limit.

How about you? How do you save on credit card fees? Give naman some tips! =)

Santa Vittoria Iced Tea from Standard Chartered Bank

I got some freebies again from Standard Chartered Bank. =) In exchange of P2,500.00 worth of purchases, I got to get 2 bottles of Santa Vittoria Iced tea from The Wine Depot. Kainis lang since you are limited to 3 transactions only. It means to say that I need to go back there to exchange my other charge slips.

Anyway, it is still for free! Cool huh?

Interest Charges REVERSED!

Before our US trip, I settled all our credit card bills para wala na akong iisipin na bayarin. So those credit cards without statement of account (SOA), I called their hotline to know the payment amount due and paid it immediately.

All the while I thought everything is okay already until the day I went back to the office after our vacation. There are a lot of mails in my desk. I opened them one by one until I came across my Standard Chartered Credit Card SOA.

To my surprise, the payment amount due said by the voice prompt during my phone inquiry differs from the SOA. Nawindang talaga ako because I know that I'll incur interest charges which I am allergic at, that is 3.5% interest per month ha which is 42% interest per annum. So I immediately called the bank's hotline and inquired how much the interest is, explained the reason why the amount was not paid and requested for the complete reversal.

I explained to them that I want to settle my credit card bill before I go to the US. And since I have not yet received the SOA, I just inquired through their hotline the payment amount due. And yes, I'm aware that there is a transaction that is not yet paid but I thought that it is still floating since what was said in the voice prompt is just a partial amount. Masunurin lang naman ako so I paid the amount that was said by the voice prompt. I even told them to trace my credit card history that I never failed to pay my bills. In fact, I pay my bills in full and in advance (kasi nga takot ako sa utang). Aside from that, I told the agent that I'll pay the unpaid amount immediately that day to prove them that I'm in good faith when I setttled my credit card bill last month.

After my explanation and request, the call center agent told me that she noted that I'll pay that day. She even instructed me to pay in cash in Standard Chartered Bank so that the payment will be posted within 24 hours. She then told me to call the following day to request for the reversal and informed me that there is no assurance that my request will be granted.

The following day, I requested for complete reversal of the interest. At first, the call center agent told me that he cannot grant my request. I protested because that is the first time it happened to me and I'm not an irresponsible credit card holder. So he let me on hold again. Then again, he said that the interest cannot be reversed since the system won't allow him to. Siyempre, I didn't agree. I told him na masama sa loob ko na magbayad ng interest since I know that I'm a responsible person and in the first place may fault din sila na misleading yung voice prompt nila (FYI: At Standard Chartered Bank, you should make separate inquiries for outstanding balances of the principal and supplementary card). I told them that I have other credit cards with supplementary also that when I inquire about my payment amount due, the whole payment amount due is given to me unlike theirs. I even told him na may higher person/authority (whatever you call them) na pwede magreverse ng payment sa system. "Alam ko yan, impossibleng walang pwedeng makagawa niyan. We have a systems development company", I told the call center agent.

He let me on hold again...After a few seconds, he told me that he already addressed my concern and forwarded it to the higher person. He told me to call after 3 to 5 banking days to know the status of my request.

After 3 days, I called again their hotline. And good news, they reversed the interest that they charged me. So thank you Standard Chartered Bank kahit pinahirapan niyo ako ng bonggang bongga. =)

Lesson I learned: Since I know how much I owe the credit card company (I'm so OC that I list all my credit card purchases), I will pay it all even if some transactions are still floating to prevent this kind of problem.

Free Groceries

Last night, we went to SM Southmall to buy some groceries using the gift certificates we got from Standard Chartered bank.

And here are the items that I bought using the P 1,000.00 SM GCs...

Thanks for the credit card promos!

Free SM Gift Certificate

Ye'y! We have free P1,000 worth of SM gift certificates. How? With every P25,000.00 spend using Standard Chartered Bank credit card, you can exchange it to P1,000.00 worth of SM gift certificates. Actually, there are other options. But of course, being practical, I chose SM GCs because I can use it to buy our supplies.

So what am I planning to buy? Hmmm... Diapers... Diapers... Diapers... Hehehe... Well, aside from that I'll buy some baby foods and oatmeal for my hubby.