Without having a substantial amount of savings or investment products with the bank, it’s now close to impossible to get to Level 5 without insurance, an offshore account, or family banking.
FNB has suddenly tightened the screws far further on its eBucks rewards programme with a raft of changes to be implemented from November that will see customers earn far fewer points for easily achievable behaviours. *
This will make moving up levels to Level 5 – where one can earn the maximum reward rate of 15%, 20% or 30% from partners (compared to far lower rates like 5%, 6% or 10% at Level 3) – close to impossible.
FNB admits that the changes “make it harder” but contends it is not “close to impossible”. However, without having a substantial amount of savings or investment products with the bank, to reach Level 5 account holders tend to have to hold loan products, or insurance products, a funded offshore account, or family banking.
* This article has been updated based on further feedback from FNB.
The changes were published on the eBucks website on Wednesday (1 October), and notifications have been sent to banking app customers.
Changes following its annual overhaul (from July) just four months ago are very uncommon.
Only once before in recent years has it not made changes in July, electing to defer these to August instead as it finalised and configured the changes.
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Strange …
FNB says it has updated its rules to “keep your rewards relevant and aligned to how you bank and spend”.
In its message to clients, it says that from November “there will be more points available for you to collect in the eBucks programme”.
This is a strange description as it has reduced the number of rewards points available in the digital banking, my cards and insurance categories, with the exception of having more than R4 million of life cover (Premier), R6 million (for Private Clients customers) or R10 million (for Private Wealth customers) with the bank where points have been boosted.
The only increase is that customers will be able to earn up to 3 500 points from the insurance category, an increase from the 2 500 currently.
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Cuts
Three of the major changes are the reduction of the number of rewards level points earned for:
- Engaging with the nav»money section of the app;
- Engaging with Track my rewards under the eBucks tab; and
- Ensuring one’s spend in store and online is primarily via a virtual card (in other words, through a platform like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or Scan To Pay in the FNB app).
Previously, these earned FNB customers 1 000, 1 000 and 1 500 rewards level points respectively.
From November, they will earn them 250, 250 and 500 rewards level points respectively.
In its update, it confusingly refers to these as “new ways to move up reward levels”.
The changes total a decrease of 2 500 rewards level points, which equates to a drop to Level 3 from Level 5 for highly engaged customers, should one’s normal behaviour and typical product usage continue. For moderately engaged customers (Level 4), they may drop down to as low as Level 2.
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Insurance focus affects travel discounts
Another major change is that eBucks Travel discounts for domestic flights will be capped at up to 20% unless you hold its comprehensive vehicle insurance product (where it reverts to up to 40%). This is due to it changing to a “tiered reward level structure”.
It says customers can get “up to 80% discount” on flights when they “hold a full suite of FNB Short-Term Insurance products or a minimum short-term insurance premium of R5 000 a month”.
No further details are provided about this. From November, domestic flight discounts will apply to the full ticket price (including various taxes), not only the base fare.
The changes to the travel benefit and the upping of the number of reward level points able to be earned from the insurance category point to a deliberate push by the bank to grow the uptake of its insurance products aggressively. In that category, one can earn from having a funeral plan (with at least two lives covered) or a Life Customised policy with FNB.
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The discount cap linked to motor vehicle insurance is similar to how it restructured its fuel rewards a number of years back.
Customers on Level 5 used to be able to earn up to R8 back per litre for filling up at Engen service stations and having their vehicles financed through Wesbank. This was then changed a few years ago to a maximum of R4 per litre for having your vehicle loaded in the bank’s app (‘My Garage’ in nav»car) and by paying for Engen fuel purchases with your virtual card.
An additional up to R2 per litre is available if your vehicle, actively financed by WesBank, is loaded in the app, and further up to R2 per litre can be ‘earned’ for having a comprehensive vehicle insurance policy with FNB.
The final change announced by the bank is that from November, monthly eBucks (not including Smart Spend rewards which are issued as one spends) will be allocated on the 15th of every month. Currently, these are allocated between the 10th and 13th of each month, depending on holidays and weekends.
Two other major changes have been made by the programme this year. FNB terminated its eBucks partnership with Checkers and Shoprite from 31 March and replaced it with Pick n Pay.
It also removed iStore as a earn and spend partner from 30 June.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
