NS55 Credits SG$100 - Withdraw via ShopeePay

Last Monday 4th Jul I received the SMS from "NS Portal" saying SG$100 credited to LifeSG mobile app so I checked and found that I can use it at Sheng Siong, just nice I always do my groceries there.

I thought it would be similar to the last time when they disbursed the NS50 SG$100 physical vouchers, like if I buy total $120, $100 pay by the vouchers, then remaining $20 pay by credit card (or cash or NETS).

Boy was I wrong.

Me, wife and daughter went to Sheng Siong and happily bought so many things, came up to $160.70, I asked the cashier can use the NS55 voucher or not she say can, but cannot exceed, must be less than $100, lol wtf, end up I paid by credit card, long queue behind so I also paiseh to ask too much.

Then another staff told me I can withdraw cash from their Sheng Siong ATM, but can only withdraw $90, there will be a $0.20 charge, actually I saw this in the news also: https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/legit-man-shares-hack-how-redeem-ns55-credits-cash-sheng-siong-atm

Really curse and swear, why not just credit the money directly into our bank account, but anyway I went home and read up on the NS55 FAQ to see if I can find anything more ridiculous and I found this:

https://www.mindef.gov.sg/oms/ns55/faq.html -> "About the NS55 Credits" > "For Purchases On E-Commerce Platforms Like Shopee Or Lazada, How Do I Pay For Items If The Total Value Is More Than The NS55 Credits That I Have?"

"You may choose to top-up your e-commerce wallets like ShopeePay or Lazada Wallet using your NS55 credits via the PayNow option. Thereafter, you can pay for your items by selecting the e-commerce wallet as your payment mode.

For example:

Step 1 : Go to ShopeePay or Lazada Wallet.

Step 2 : Select Top Up.

Step 3 : Select and confirm PayNow as the top-up option.

Step 4 : Save or screenshot the PayNow QR code.

Step 5 : Access your NS55 credits on LifeSG application and scan the saved copy of PayNow QR code from the e-commerce platform.

Step 6 : Enter and confirm the amount of credits to topup to ShopeePay or Lazada Wallet.

You can now select ShopeePay or Lazada Wallet as your payment mode to pay for your purchases online."

I tried Lazada but it errored out when scanning the QR code (Step 5). So I tried Shopee, it works almost instantly and $100 deducted from my LifeSG app and $100 appeared in my ShopeePay Deposits sub-wallet.

But when I tried to withdraw from ShopeePay Deposits sub-wallet to my bank account, errored out, I searched a bit and found this: https://help.shopee.sg/portal/article/76685-[ShopeePay]-How-do-I-withdraw-funds-from-ShopeePay

"If you need to withdraw from the Deposit sub-wallet, contact Shopee Customer Service.  Withdrawals are subject to approval by Shopee."

I called Shopee at 6206 6610 (Mon-Sun 8AM to 10PM), they picked up the call damn fast, I think in less than 3 rings, whole call took less than 5 mins settle, the super nice lady told me she will submit the request to move the $100 from my Deposits sub-wallet to my Refunds sub-wallet, thereafter I can withdraw to my bank account, and this will be within 5 working days.

I must say Shopee have top notch customer service even though I don't buy anything from them at all, to be honest I signed up for their app just to withdraw this stupid $100 BUT since their customer service is so tok kong, I will definitely start prioritising them if I want to buy anything online, freaking Lazada scan one QR code also error wtf.

I don't urgently need the money so 5 working days is totally fine for me. I just find it ridiculous that I have to go through so many hoops just to utilise the $100, must be the LifeSG app nobody want to use so they purposely disburse via the app and force people to go download, really lame to the maximum, just credit into bank account la wah piang eh, don't know which scholar at GovTech came up with this nonsense, as if we don't have a gazillion mobile apps already, seriously I deleted this piece of shit and gave it a 1 star right after I scanned the QR code.

Update: On 14th Jul, the $100 appeared in my Refunds sub-wallet, I withdrew to my POSB bank account, there was a note saying it will take around 2 days, but it appeared in my bank account the next day. So from 11th Jul to 15th Jul, it's around 5 days if you go through the Shopee route.


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