FNB eBucks change backlash

[Johand]

You can't complain when you had it good and got something you weren't entitled to for free. Rewards programs are like pillows, swap out what doesn't work and move to where you get the best value.

I am not sure why you think people are not entitled to the rewards and that they were free.

The reward program is marketed with the package on which I pay a premium. It was part of the value proposition when I selected the package. It was advertised as a feature of the package. Hell - they explicitly advertise if you take a bigger package you are entitled to more rewards.

This isn't "here is a lollypop because we are nice". This was and still is an advertised *feature* of a product, one which has real monetary implications. If this was a thing that came after you selected your package as a thank you then it was free and you have no entitlement. If it was advertised as a feature and cost actual money... Then you are entitled to it.

And yes - move on. But it is not move on and STFU. I got a lot of friends to switch to FNB back in the day. FNB heavily relied on their customers to spread the word, which they did. So I will now poison the well. Why? Because capitalism and the free market. It is not emotional. It is the reaction to an action that keeps the free market competitive. The more people complain and get people to move to other banks the more FNB needs to be careful and provide more value.

Anybody that says "companies can do whatever they want and you should shut up" definitely confuse the free market with communism. The free market doesn't mean companies have absolute power.

So this isn't about fair, or entitlement. It is consequences of actions and consumers collectively negotiating with their words and wallets.

 

[bwana]

I guess that depends on the value of the rewards. If bank A offers R5000pm reward and bank B R200, are you telling me that won't influence your decision?

Presumably you mean if I was 18 and opening my first account because there's no way I'd be chopping and changing banks based on rewards.

And the hoops you need to jump through to level up. The bank is making way more out of you than you are out of them.

 

[Drone 42]

It is not only ebucks that sucks now with FNB. What gets me from this years pricing plan changes are that we are paying for EFTs now. Why are we paying high banking fees? EFTs use to be free with the package, now it is exstra on top of the monthly fee. Complete joke.

 

[moedawood]

They want moar profits?

If you are going to remove the product that kept your clients with you, don’t expect the clients to stay. Less clients = lower profits. Good luck.

 

[Mirai]

If you are going to remove the product that kept your clients with you, don’t expect the clients to stay. Less clients = lower profits. Good luck.

Some AI or some accountants obviously ran the numbers beforehand and decided that the few who will quit will be worth it. Maybe these predictions will work out, or maybe they won't.

 

[Mirai]

Well invariably it will cost most people something to maintain level 5 assuming even that is possible.

Ebucks is about that. The aim of the program is for you to have a maxed out home loan, car loans, credit cards, savings accounts and as many other products as possible with them.

But if one is a multi-multi millionaire, again why would you bother with this nonsense.

Correct.

Already as it goes eBucks rules are potentially not in the best financial interests of any of it's clients.

Don't forget that they also work through obfuscation, as do most if not all deals. You get something out and the benefits are confusing and tied to products and spends. They want people to have the idea that they're getting something out, this gives people a sort of emotional pleasure sensation and generates positive memories and associations and so people tend to recommend FNB and use it more. All banks and many other similar products work like that, like Discovery Medical Aid with their Vitality and other BS or insurance companies with similar cashback or no claim options.

 

[lordnokon]

Show me another banking rewards scheme that offers 40% of business flights on lv5 for your entire family… Ill wait…

 

[saor]

wow can people moan and groan so much, I mean I get it, you spend so much, you want a bit extra.

Also just strange that they'd throw away something that had people literally evangelizing for them. "Yeah but with FNB I get ebucks just for using my credit card - bought myself a new TV on takelot last month with ebucks!"

Maybe I overestimate the value of having customers genuinely happy with the extras you offer them, and maybe it makes more financial sense for FNB to trim the fat and be basically just a bank again with nothing cool that people talk about.

 

[Forum Reader]

Show me another banking rewards scheme that offers 40% of business flights on lv5 for your entire family… Ill wait…

Discovery can get you 75% off but it's limited to 6 tickets a year. A friend uses it for himself, his wife and son once a year for holidays.

 

[Swa]

I am not sure why you think people are not entitled to the rewards and that they were free.

The reward program is marketed with the package on which I pay a premium. It was part of the value proposition when I selected the package. It was advertised as a feature of the package. Hell - they explicitly advertise if you take a bigger package you are entitled to more rewards.

This isn't "here is a lollypop because we are nice". This was and still is an advertised *feature* of a product, one which has real monetary implications. If this was a thing that came after you selected your package as a thank you then it was free and you have no entitlement. If it was advertised as a feature and cost actual money... Then you are entitled to it.

And yes - move on. But it is not move on and STFU. I got a lot of friends to switch to FNB back in the day. FNB heavily relied on their customers to spread the word, which they did. So I will now poison the well. Why? Because capitalism and the free market. It is not emotional. It is the reaction to an action that keeps the free market competitive. The more people complain and get people to move to other banks the more FNB needs to be careful and provide more value.

Anybody that says "companies can do whatever they want and you should shut up" definitely confuse the free market with communism. The free market doesn't mean companies have absolute power.

So this isn't about fair, or entitlement. It is consequences of actions and consumers collectively negotiating with their words and wallets.

Did they remove something they used to lock you in? No. It's simple, if the value proposition isn't there any more then move on. But there is no entitlement whether you took a product or not.

You should first of all never commit based on rewards. Rewards should be for being loyal. By all means complain and if a proposition loses its value and there's something better then promote that. It's that behaviour which keeps companies competitive But to ask someone if they're working for the bank because they're explaining the reality screams of some sort of entitlement mentality. Anyy company will only keep a rewards program active while it brings them in more than what they give back.

 

[RogueTr00per]

Ebucks is about that. The aim of the program is for you to have a maxed out home loan, car loans, credit cards, savings accounts and as many other products as possible with them.

<snip>

Fair enough, and I know I am a bad customer regarding 3 of those 4 metrics. So perhaps I should just be grateful for the crumbs they throw my way.

 

[Speedster]

Presumably you mean if I was 18 and opening my first account because there's no way I'd be chopping and changing banks based on rewards.

And the hoops you need to jump through to level up. The bank is making way more out of you than you are out of them.

With the new rules, yes. For the past decade, no. I was making significantly more from eB than FNB was making out of me, but that's clearly not the case anymore.

 

[RogueTr00per]

Also just strange that they'd throw away something that had people literally evangelizing for them. "Yeah but with FNB I get ebucks just for using my credit card - bought myself a new TV on takelot last month with ebucks!"

Maybe I overestimate the value of having customers genuinely happy with the extras you offer them, and maybe it makes more financial sense for FNB to trim the fat and be basically just a bank again with nothing cool that people talk about.

If one looks at it another way they are actually doing their clients a favour, revealing their true colours (for those that didn't realise already) and highlighting the fact that eBucks is a combination of golden handcuffs and poisoned chalices.

 

[Mirai]

Fair enough, and I know I am a bad customer regarding 3 of those 4 metrics. So perhaps I should just be grateful for the crumbs they throw my way.

We're all bad customers.

 

[Mirai]

If one looks at it another way they are actually doing their clients a favour, revealing their true colours (for those that didn't realise already) and highlighting the fact that eBucks is a combination of golden handcuffs and poisoned chalices.

You see how you fell for the hype. You believed these banks are your friends and have your best interest at heart. Their product worked as intended. Now if enough people quit the new product they may change it.

 

[SauRoNZA]

And the hoops you need to jump through to level up. The bank is making way more out of you than you are out of them.

Untrue for any single individual.

As a populace yes, sure it’s making more money off the collective of people, otherwise the rewards wouldn’t exist.

But there are plenty at an individual level being paid by the banks, to bank with them myself included for over a decade now.

 

[RogueTr00per]

You see how you fell for the hype. You believed these banks are your friends and have your best interest at heart. Their product worked as intended. Now if enough people quit the new product they may change it.

Hopefully most didn't believe the banks to be our friends, though certainly many fell for their offers of easy credit.

In terms of eBucks and similar rewards programmes, I suppose the lesson to be learnt is we need to also warn fellow consumers about the dangers of banks / lenders when saying anything remotely positive about them.

 

[lordnokon]

Discovery can get you 75% off but it's limited to 6 tickets a year. A friend uses it for himself, his wife, and son once a year for holidays.

Locally or Internationally?

Because you only get one international business class ticket 75% off in a calendar year. And that's if you had a 12-month period of R250k saved up, too. (Main Member alone)

Purple Wealth is the same, but you get two, with the same criteria met. (Main Member alone)

Locally, you can obtain 6 business-class tickets that meet the same criteria. (Can be used for family)

 

[Technofreak1]

FNB eBucks change backlash

FNB's decision to amend eBucks earning rules a mere four months after its annual rule changes has left customers fuming, with many threatening to leave the bank.

The bank recently announced an unusual change in eBucks levelling criteria that will take effect in November 2025, after already adjusting the requirements in July 2025.

Not surprised - FNB has been delivering absolutey TERRRIBLE, TERRIBLE "service" for years now - they, s'cuse my French, SUCK.
A family member could not access his online banking profile for TWO YEARS, because they couldn't get their IT S**T together - and, of course, the COVID relief options were NEVER processed or available to anyone - FNB just does the IGNORE - DUNNO - and lots of BS reasons stint - no wonder all the money donated, in part by PRIVATE individuals or companies to help smalll businesses survived - NEVER got paid to anyone I know - and a lot of people applied for it.
When you lose your job/ income - FNB INCREASES your monthly bank fees, coz "you don't qualify for the discounted account charges" anymore???? WTF - makes absolutely no sense.
They are slow, rude, their systems are up to S**T, FNB is DEFINITELY NOT THERE FOR THE CLIENT... CLOSING BRANCHES, retrenching staff, and closing ATMs?????? All designed to FORCE everyone to get digitized and controllable - WHAT ABOUT THE MILLIONS OF RURAL, UNEDUCATED South Africans, that have no access to the internet, money for a Smart Phone, or the stupid biometric crap for SMART ID cards - everyone is PRETENDING like we are this shiny la-di-da country, where everything works - HA!!!
FACE IT - BEING LIED TO BY THE GOVERNMENT, BANKS, SARS and most other govt.departments is NORMAL here - Maybe they should force all these peeps that only got their positions through nepotism and bribery to do compulsory courses in international law, POLITICAL HISTORY, ETHICS and force them to enroll and adhere to a CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL COMPLIANCE PROGRAM (like all other professionals have to) - so they can read (?!) and are educated and informed about the latest laws, failures thereof -
and, most NB - THE DEFINITION AND APPLICATION OF A DEMOCRACY - coz we ain't got one in our fruity RS of A...
DISGUSTING. And, of course - it always affects and destroys the poorest, most underprivileged segments of our population, regardless of race, colour and creed - AFTER ALL - all pigs are equal - but some pigs are more equal than others (George Orwell, Animal Farm)...

 

[airborne]

Not surprised - FNB has been delivering absolutey TERRRIBLE, TERRIBLE "service" for years now - they, s'cuse my French, SUCK.
A family member could not access his online banking profile for TWO YEARS, because they couldn't get their IT S**T together - and, of course, the COVID relief options were NEVER processed or available to anyone - FNB just does the IGNORE - DUNNO - and lots of BS reasons stint - no wonder all the money donated, in part by PRIVATE individuals or companies to help smalll businesses survived - NEVER got paid to anyone I know - and a lot of people applied for it.
When you lose your job/ income - FNB INCREASES your monthly bank fees, coz "you don't qualify for the discounted account charges" anymore???? WTF - makes absolutely no sense.
They are slow, rude, their systems are up to S**T, FNB is DEFINITELY NOT THERE FOR THE CLIENT... CLOSING BRANCHES, retrenching staff, and closing ATMs?????? All designed to FORCE everyone to get digitized and controllable - WHAT ABOUT THE MILLIONS OF RURAL, UNEDUCATED South Africans, that have no access to the internet, money for a Smart Phone, or the stupid biometric crap for SMART ID cards - everyone is PRETENDING like we are this shiny la-di-da country, where everything works - HA!!!
FACE IT - BEING LIED TO BY THE GOVERNMENT, BANKS, SARS and most other govt.departments is NORMAL here - Maybe they should force all these peeps that only got their positions through nepotism and bribery to do compulsory courses in international law, POLITICAL HISTORY, ETHICS and force them to enroll and adhere to a CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL COMPLIANCE PROGRAM (like all other professionals have to) - so they can read (?!) and are educated and informed about the latest laws, failures thereof -
and, most NB - THE DEFINITION AND APPLICATION OF A DEMOCRACY - coz we ain't got one in our fruity RS of A...
DISGUSTING. And, of course - it always affects and destroys the poorest, most underprivileged segments of our population, regardless of race, colour and creed - AFTER ALL - all pigs are equal - but some pigs are more equal than others (George Orwell, Animal Farm)...

This was not written by AI