A Personal Finance reader has a complaint about First National Bank's eBucks programme, but the bank says the rewards are better than those of the bank's old Air Miles programme.
Denzil Carter
Letter via e-mail
I have been a First National Bank (FNB) client for the past nine years, and have made use of a number of products over these years. When eBucks was launched, I joined and converted my air miles to eBucks and linked my credit card to the eBucks system.
When eBucks was introduced you earned one eBuck for every R5 spent. I recently checked my eBucks account and queried why I was earning so little, as I use my credit card for all my monthly expenses, which amount to about R6 000 a month. This should equate to 1 200 eBucks.
I am still waiting for a reply, but I got a brochure in the mail advising clients they receive one eBuck for every R12.50 spent. This means I get only 480 eBucks a month.
I think it is a total ripoff and wish to express my disgust at the bank's action as nobody else except the bank will benefit from this action.
Charlene Clayton replies:
Sandy Yates, the eBucks customer appreciation programme manager, apologises for the fact that the communication about the actual rate of eBucks earned on an FNB Card has not been very clear.
The old FNB Air Miles programme offered customers one mile for every R5 spent on your credit card, she says. A total of 20 000 miles were needed for a domestic plane ticket, which means you needed to spend R100 000 on your credit card to qualify for a ticket. The same model applies to NedBank's and Standard Bank's Voyager programmes.
When the eBucks.com programme was launched in October 2001, customers did not earn one eBuck for every R5 spent. In fact, the initial rates at which eBucks were earned, as publicised in the Welcome Aboard pack posted to all customers and on the website, were as follows:
Monthly card spending and eBucks earned
0 - R2 500: eB2 per R100
R2 501 - R5 000: eB3 per R100
R5 001+: eB4 per R100
You could earn double eBucks by making use of the budget facility on your credit card. You could also earn a 100 percent bonus on all eBucks earned in a month if you maintained a positive daily average balance in your account. Customers also earned five eBucks for linked PetroCard transactions or cash withdrawals.
As customer feedback was received, FNB realised that this initial earn rate was extremely difficult to communicate. The rewards offered also worked out substantially lower than the old Air Miles programme.
From September 14 2001, the eBucks earn rate on an FNB card was improved and simplified as follows:
Monthly card spending and eBucks earned
0 - R1 500: Flat rate of eB30
R1 500+: eB8 per R100
Customers who spend more than R1 500 a month for a full 12 months get a 25 percent bonus on all eBucks earned in the 12 months. This works out to one percent of your expenditure, in rand terms, if you spend at least R1 500 a month.
Yates says FNB's Card division has recognised that the former Air Miles members are their most loyal customers and from December 1 all former Air Miles members will earn eBucks at a flat rate of one percent, irrespective of how little or how much they spend in a month. All credit card reward programmes exclude cash withdrawals, petrol purchases or account payments.
You can spend your eBucks on a variety of items such as MTN airtime, books, groceries, flowers, gift vouchers or travel. The domestic flight plane ticket is a common benchmark for credit card reward programmes. You need 9 900 eBucks for a domestic flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town. This means you need to spend R99 000 on your credit card to earn sufficient eBucks for a plane ticket. This compares favourably with the R100 000 you would have had to spend under the old Air Miles programme. In addition, eBucks don't expire, and you can pool your eBucks with a friend, or buy eBucks to top up your account.
Yates says customers are better off on the revised eBucks programme than they ever were on the Air Miles programme. The earn rate is comparable and there is a much wider choice of goods and services to spend your eBucks on.