4 Tips & Tricks For Google Pay Huat Pals

Updated 3 Feb 2022: As of 31 Jan 2022, topping up your Singtel Dash wallet no longer qualifies as a business transaction on Google Pay.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, but this article contains referral links that allow me to earn referral rewards at no cost to you if you choose to signup with my links, which helps me maintain the blog.

Google Pay’s Chinese New Year (CNY) event, Huat Pals, are back again in 2022 for another year of festivities.

Google Pay started this event during last year’s CNY, which set everyone on the near-impossible task of discovering the elusive BB Loh.

For those of you who don’t know, Huat Pals is a game/event by Google Pay that requires users to perform missions to collect various Huat Pals.

Users who successfully collect all Huat Pals will be able to open an ang bao containing cash and vouchers as rewards.

I wrote a post about Google Pay last year when they were having their scratch card promotion.

If you’d like to find out more about what you can do with Google Pay, you can check out that post, though that promotion is no longer ongoing.

Now, let’s get into the details of the Huat Pals event and some useful tips to help you get the most out of Google Pay.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post and I receive no commission. However, if you choose to sign up with my referral link, you and I will both receive a $3 referral bonus.

Event Mechanics

The event revolves around trying to get users to perform certain actions with Google Pay to complete missions, for which they will get to win Huat Pals.

This year’s roster of Huat Pals include:

• Mala, The Fiery Steamboat
• Reddy, The Festive Decor
• BB Loh, The Little Lohei
• Ah Lai, The Pineapple Softie
• BaoBao, The Lucky Panda

The objective of the event is to collect all 5 Huat Pals so that you can open a grand hamper, containing:

• cash of up to S$88.88
• an exclusive partner voucher

Naturally, with monetary rewards on the line, Google Pay isn’t going to make it easy for you to win.

Of the 5 Huat Pals, 1 of them is particularly rare.

Last year, this Huat Pal was BB Loh.

But this year, it handed the mantle over to BaoBao, who is also aptly called The Lucky Panda because you’ll need some RNG luck to earn this Huat Pal.

This event ends on 15 Feb, 1159pm (GMT+8).

Missions

The missions in this event are split into daily missions and milestone missions, all of which reward 1 Huat Pal when they are completed.

Daily missions can be completed every day to earn Huat Pals while milestone missions can only be completed once throughout the event period.

There are 3 daily missions in total and you can complete each daily mission 5x/day to earn up to a total of 15 Huat Pals every day.

Daily Mission #1: Pay businesses, order food, movie tickets, and more

To complete this mission, each transaction must be at least $5.

You can pay businesses using Google Pay via QR payments (PayLah!/PayNow).

Alternatively, you can add your credit/debit card to Google Pay to make payments for food orders, movie ticket bookings, and tap & pay payments.

Currently, tap & pay payments are only supported with NFC-enabled Android devices.

There’s an easy way to complete this daily mission without actually spending a single dollar – this will be shared below in tip #1!

Daily Mission #2: Complete a referral

This mission requires you to invite a friend to start using Google Pay.

This is probably the hardest mission since almost everyone I know is already on Google Pay from last year’s event.

But if you manage to find people to invite, this is another way to earn Huat Pals.

This can be stacked with the ongoing referral bonus for Google Pay where both the referrer and the referee can earn $3 in rewards.

The new referee will then need to make a qualifying payment of at least $10 for you to complete the mission and earn a Huat Pal.

This is a necessary step for them to do anyway in order to earn the $3 referral bonus.

If you’re not using Google Pay yet, you can follow these steps to receive the $3 bonus:

1. Click on this referral link (you have to be on your smartphone for the link to work. If you’re on a laptop/tablet, simply enter the code “146i021″ when signing up)
2. Enter your mobile number to be linked with Google Pay
3. Download the GooglePaySingapore app
4. Enter your mobile number again (same as in #2). This will link your PayNow account registered with the number to Google Pay, and your Google account to Google Pay.
5. Check that you have opted in for offers and rewards. From the app, tap your profile on the top right corner and go to “Settings”, then “Offers and rewards”. (you should be opted in by default)
6. Add a payment method (PayLah!, OCBC/Standard Chartered bank account or credit/debit card)
7. Make an eligible transaction of $10 or more (see tip #1 below to fulfil this easily)

Once you have completed these steps, you will receive a reward of $3, which you can view under Rewards. This will be automatically credited into your PayNow account!

Daily Mission #3: Gift pals to friends

The last daily mission involves gifting your extra Huat Pals to friends.

You complete the mission and earn 1 Huat Pal when your friend accepts your gift.

The things to note are that only extra Huat Pals can be gifted (ie you have 2 or more of that Huat Pal).

This makes sense anyway since you would want to keep at least 1 of everything to redeem your own grand hamper.

Next, you only complete the mission for each unique friend you gift Huat Pals.

So if you gifted a Huat Pal to Bob today to complete the mission, gifting a Huat Pal to Bob again tomorrow will not complete tomorrow’s daily mission.

There’s an easy way to get around this in tip #3 below!

To gift Huat Pals, open Huat Pals from the Google Pay app, click on “Gift”, then select the Huat Pal you want to gift and the recipient.

Milestone #1: Make 5 FavePay transactions

This mission requires you to scan FavePay QR codes to make FavePay transactions via Google Pay.

To do this, tap on the “Scan” icon at the top left corner of the Google Pay app and scan a FavePay QR code.

Each transaction must be at least $5, and you will earn partner cashback on top of this event as well.

Completing this mission will earn you 1 bonus Huat Pal.

Milestone #2: Make 5 PayNow QR or UEN payments to businesses

This is by far the easiest milestone mission to complete, and you can do so by following tip #1 below.

This is basically a more specific version of daily mission #1, where your Google Pay payments have to be via QR or UEN.

Again, each transaction must be at least $5.

Completing this mission will earn you 1 bonus Huat Pal.

Milestone #3: Make your first dine-in order

This is probably the hardest milestone mission to complete simply because there are pretty few Google Pay dine-in restaurants – only 38.

But since it’s more difficult to complete, this mission awards 2 Huat Pals instead of 1.

Again, each transaction must be at least $5.

To complete this mission, you need to:

1. Visit a participating restaurant
2. Scan the QR code at your table
3. Place your order and make payment of at least $5

4 Useful Tips & Tricks

1: Top Up Singtel Dash ShopeePay/YouTrip/CPF To Complete Daily Mission

The most useful tip for this Huat Pals event is, by far, topping up your Singtel Dash wallet.

Doing so via Google Pay qualifies as a business transaction, allowing you to complete the first daily mission.

The best part?

The balance in your Singtel Dash wallet can be immediately withdrawn into your bank account for free.

This means you don’t have to spend a single dollar to complete this daily mission.

And since you can complete this mission 5x/day, you can simply repeat it 5x a day, every day, to get 5 Huat Pals daily.

As of 31 Jan 2022, topping up your Singtel Dash wallet no longer qualifies as a business transaction on Google Pay.

This means you won’t be able to complete the 1st daily mission this way, but there are alternatives: topping up your ShopeePay/YouTrip wallet or your CPF.

However, these alternatives aren’t as ideal as the original method of topping up your Singtel Dash wallet.

This is because you cannot withdraw the cash that you’ve topped up into these accounts.

While there is an option to withdraw funds from your ShopeePay wallet, that is only applicable on balances that were refunded – not for balances that you topped up.

So if you choose to top up your ShopeePay/YouTrip wallet, you’re forcing yourself to spend the funds in order to avoid leaving them idle.

If you choose to top up your CPF account instead, you don’t spend any cash, but you are leaving it locked up in your CPF rather than having liquid cash in your bank account.

The good thing is that the cash you top up will earn higher interest in your CPF account as compared to your bank account, so it won’t just be idling around.

Also, depending on which CPF accounts you choose to top up, these top-ups may be tax-deductible, which may help you save on your yearly income tax.

To do this, you’ll need to:

• have a valid Singtel Dash Shopee/YouTrip/CPF account
• add your bank account as a payment method on Google Pay

To add PayLah!/PayNow as a payment method, from the home page of the Google Pay app, click on your profile icon at the top right corner.

Then, click ‘Payment methods’, select the payment method you’d like to add and follow the on-screen instructions.

Top-up Singtel Dash ShopeePay/YouTrip/CPF With Google Pay

The procedure here is to first obtain a PayNow QR code that can be used to top up the account of your choice, then scan that QR code with Google Pay to execute the top-up.

ShopeePay QR Code

1. Open the Shopee app and go to ‘Me’ (ie your account)
2. Under ‘My Wallet’, click ‘ShopeePay’
3. Click ‘Top Up’
4. Click ‘PayNow’, then ‘Confirm’
5. Click ‘Save QR Code’ to save it to your photos

YouTrip QR Code

1. Open the YouTrip app and click ‘Top Up’
2. Enter the amount to top up (minimum $5)
3. Select ‘PayNow’ as the top-up method
4. Click ‘Generate QR Code’
5. Click ‘Save to Photos’

CPF QR Code

1. Log in to your CPF account via the CPF website
2. Under ‘Growing your savings’, click ‘Top up to enjoy higher retirement payouts‘
3. Under ‘Apply to top up’, click ‘Apply now‘
4. Click ‘Save more with CPF‘
5. Scroll down to ‘Voluntary Contribution for CPF Member’ and click ‘Apply Online‘
6. Under ‘Payment for’, select the account you wish to top-up
7. Agree to the Terms & Conditions and click ‘Start‘
8. Enter your contact number and amount to contribute (minimum $5), then click ‘Next‘
9. Select PayNow as the payment mode, agree to the Terms of Use, then click ‘Make Payment‘
10. A QR code should be generated on the screen

Once you have obtained the necessary QR code, you can proceed to make payment via Google Pay.

1. Open the Google Pay app and click the scan icon at the top left corner
   
2. Select the photo icon at the top right corner
   
3. Allow Google Pay to access your photos and choose the QR code that you saved (ShopeePay/YouTrip) OR scan the generated QR code (CPF)
4. Change the amount to $5 (ShopeePay – default entry is $30) and complete the transaction

After completing these steps, you should receive 1 Huat Pal, and you can do this 5x a day, every day, to complete the daily mission 5x and receive 5 Huat Pals.

Since this is a QR payment to a business, this qualifies for milestone mission #2 as well, so you’ll get 1 bonus Huat Pal the first time you do complete this 5 times.

WITHDRAW FROM SINGTEL DASH WALLET

It’s free to withdraw money from your Singtel Dash wallet and you can do so via bank transfer or PayNow.

PayNow is more convenient and you can withdraw via mobile number, NRIC, UEN, VPA, or QR code.

1. Open the Singtel Dash app and click ‘Send Money’
2. Click ‘PayNow’
3. Choose your preferred method of PayNow and enter the details

Didn’t Receive Funds In Singtel Dash Wallet After Topping Up With Google Pay

Occasionally, you may encounter an issue where you’ve topped up your Singtel Dash wallet via Google Pay, received the Huat Pal, but the funds aren’t received in your Singtel Dash wallet.

This could be due to 1 of 2 reasons.

The first reason could be that you’ve reached the daily or monthly top-up limit.

Singtel Dash has a top-up limit of 10x/day and 60x/month.

So if you’ve made too many top-ups to your Dash wallet, even though Google Pay processes the transfer and you receive the Huat Pal, the funds will not be received in your Dash wallet.

The daily limit shouldn’t pose much of an issue since you only need to do it 5x/day to complete the daily mission.

The monthly limit, however, poses a challenge for completing the daily mission once February comes.

At a rate of 5 top-ups/day, you will hit the monthly limit of 60 top-ups in 12 days, ie 12 Feb.

But the Huat Pals event ends on 15 Feb.

This means that for the last 3 days if you haven’t already collected all 5 Huat Pals, you’ll need to find other ways to complete the daily mission.

Alternatives you can consider include topping up your ShopeePay wallet, YouTrip wallet, or CPF.

However, you will not be able to withdraw the balances from these wallets, so you’d have to spend the balance.

The second reason could simply be a system error on Singtel Dash’s part.

This happened to me once where my funds were not received in my Dash wallet even though I did not exceed the daily/monthly top-up limit.

In either case, the funds that were supposed to be received in your Dash wallet will be refunded back to you within 3 working days.

So just keep a lookout for the refund.

2: Swap Gift Baskets

Another useful tip is to swap gift baskets among a single group of friends/family.

A gift basket, as its name suggests, contains random gifts that can be shared among 5 people.

The gifts include:

• random Huat Pals
• exclusive partner vouchers
• exclusive Huat Pals merchandise

Every gift basket thus presents another chance to earn Huat Pals and discover BaoBao the panda.

So you’ll want to open as many gift baskets as possible.

Having a dedicated group where you all share your gift baskets only with each other will help with that.

You will get gift baskets whenever you get Mala or BB Loh, so keep a lookout for them.

Gift baskets that you get will be held by Tiggy, the Tiger mascot.

To share a gift basket, you first need to create a group on Google Pay with your friends and/or family.

To do this, from the Google Pay app, click on “New payment” > “New group”.

Then, add whoever you’d like to the group.

Go back to the Huat Pals page, click on the gift basket, and share it with the group.

3: Telegram Channels For Gifting Huat Pals

This tip is meant to help with daily mission #3 since it’s hard to find 5 new friends/family to gift Huat Pals to every day.

There are telegram channels you can join where you can send Huat Pals to fellow users who are also trying to collect all 5 Huat Pals.

Just search for ‘Huat Pals’ on telegram and you should find them.

A warning, though, it gets extremely spammy and you may not always get people to accept your Huat Pals.

You may have a better chance of having people accept your Huat Pal by first accepting theirs, then asking them to return the favour.

4: Refresh Scratch Card Vouchers

This tip doesn’t help with collecting Huat Pals, but it can potentially help you get a preferred voucher from your scratch card rewards.

As you open gift baskets, you may earn rewards in the form of scratch cards instead of Huat Pals.

These scratch cards will appear under ‘Rewards’ in the Google Pay app.

There are 2 different types of scratch cards – red ones and orange ones.

This tip only applies to orange scratch cards.

When you open the scratch card, you’ll be presented with 4 different vouchers for you to choose from.

However, there’s a good chance that none of the 4 vouchers is to your liking.

In such a case, you don’t have to pick any of the 4 vouchers.

Instead, just click the back arrow ‘<‘ to leave the page.

Then, click the scratch card again. You’ll be presented with another 4 vouchers which should be different from the previous selection.

This basically lets you refresh the rewards selection so you can hopefully find one that you find useful.

Of course, it’s possible that none of the vouchers in the entire catalogue seem appealing, in which case there’s not much you can do.

Also, always remember to check the terms & conditions of the vouchers before you redeem them to make sure that you’ll be able to use them.

To summarise,

Given that it’s possible to complete missions and collect Huat Pals without needing to spend any money, it’s definitely worth playing.

Now that it’s much harder to get Huat Pals without spending money, I’m not sure if it’s still worth it.

My partner was lucky enough to get BaoBao on the first day and has already redeemed the grand hamper, receiving $6.88 in cash + some FairPrice vouchers.

That’s a pretty good deal considering no money was spent.

But I don’t think it’s worth it to try and get BaoBao by topping up your ShopeePay/YouTrip wallets and forcing yourself to spend money.

Topping up your CPF account isn’t technically spending money, but you have to decide whether it makes sense for you to be depositing your cash into your CPF or if it should be used for other purposes.

Considering how rare BaoBao is, I wouldn’t recommend trying these methods just to try and snag your own BaoBao.

But if you are already planning to spend via ShopeePay/YouTrip, or top up your CPF account, then go ahead and hope you get lucky.

Are there any other hacks to earn Huat Pals that I haven’t covered? Let me know in the comments below!