FIRST PROTECTOR: Does it really protect?

Two weeks ago, I called the bank to cancel my First Protector program as I don’t need this and it is a just a waste of money. Imagine the 0.79% p.m. deduction from your current outstanding balance. If you don’t pay your account in full when it’s due, then, expect this miscellaneous deduction.

On one hand, First Gulf Bank credit cardholders need this credit shield considering that the current scenario of Dubai is still miserable. This program showcases various benefits to the cardholders. Among its benefits are as follows:

• Death – The amount of Cardholder’s indebtedness at the date of death up to AED100,000 or credit limit whichever is lower.
• Permanent Total Disability – The amount of Cardholder’s indebtedness from the date of permanent total disablement up to AED 100,000 or credit limit whichever is lower.
• Involuntary Loss of Employment – The amount equaling to 10% of Cardholder’s indebtedness, subject to a maximum amount of AED 4,000 payable for every month of unemployment up to a maximum period of 12 months.
• Robbed or stolen cash – a maximum limit of AED 500.
• Fraudulent transactions on lost or stolen Credit Cards at a maximum limit of AED 7,000
• Loss of Keys and Identification Papers – a maximum limit of AED 300 for keys and a maximum limit of AED 700 for identification papers

On the other hand, this is a bank strategy of collecting money from the cardholders as this time of crisis where banks are greatly affected they need to do their best to survive at the expense of its debtors. Sad to say, all banks have this scheme.

This morning, a certain Ms. Mysa from the First Gulf Bank phoned me to reactivate the First Protector. She had explained me everything, emphasizing the third benefit of the program: Involuntary Loss of Employment. After her ten-minute speech I realized that I have to finish my report for our weekly meeting. Without any clarifications, I told her to reactivate it immediately.

Well, it’s not because I have a very urgent work to finish and I don’t want to waste my time listening the same story. She had the point. This time our works are not stable and we need this kind of program that will protect us from our debts. I am not pessimistic. I did this because of a “what if” theory. What if my company shut down?

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Beware of Illegal Recruiters

Earlier this April, news about the 137 Filipino drivers circulated throughout the Emirates. These were the Filipinos who were victims of illegal recruitment agency, the CYM with its counterpart in Dubai. It was reported that these drivers paid to the agency as much as P150,000 in exchange of the promised job from the RTA of Dubai. Upon investigation the RTA said there was no order to hire them.

These drivers were forced to live in a camp near the Ajman city dump site without food since January of this year. Desperate for food, they have no other resort but to scavenge at the dump site to look for something that could be converted to cash.

This news must serve a lesson to all Filipinos. I understand the purpose of flying in to the Emirates. But you have to be extra careful. See to it that you got a reliable agency.

Thanks to the Filipino journalist serving in one of the leading newspapers in Dubai, the “Xpress” for bringing the news to the Filipino community. Without the Xpress and the Filipino Community, these drivers remain stranded in the UAE. As of this writing, they were already repatriated.

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How to convince people to believe in you?

Put yourself in the situation where you are in the middle of the crowd convincing the people to buy your ideas. You have done your best. You’ve shown your last weapon. The people looked convinced. But, none of them was a prospect buyer.

I envied to those people who can sell their ideas at the instant. People in the real estate industry are not just trained agents. They are like prophets in the bible. People believe exactly on what they say. Their tongues are powerful that even a single piece of an old and worthless pen can be sold at a million dollar.

Well, maybe real estate is not my field. I basically know the standard tactics and strategies of selling but I have no power to make those people believe in me. That feels so disappointing. But what it hurts most is when you said something to your love ones and they didn’t believe in you. You did explain everything and they seemed to understand but along the way, you did not expect that they have doubts in their minds. Say for example, most Filipinos are text-addicts. I am not saying that we are not doing other things in our whole life. We rely on texting because it’s not expensive and we love the art of it. Okay, the situation is like this. You informed to your love ones that for these few days you can’t text them because of your “so and so” reasons. You thought they’re with you. But you’ve found out that since you did not text them they also did the same. Have you remembered you said that they need not to text you? The information is very clear. Should you say this way, “Please text me even if I can’t text you in a few days” so that they can understand? You were not giving instructions to kids, were you? This is a problem we often encounter if the one being informed had not fully understood or had lost your credibility.

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