FNB is ruining eBucks
FNB’s eBucks changes in 2025 have been criticised by customers for damaging the loyalty programme’s value. Many are threatening to leave the bank due to its latest unexpected adjustments.
eBucks is South Africa’s largest banking loyalty rewards programme. Since its inception, FNB has paid out R22.3 billion’s worth of eBucks and won multiple international awards for the programme.
While many other South African banks offer loyalty schemes, eBucks is often considered one of the best. This is due to three factors.
Firstly, it is relatively easy for customers to reach higher reward levels without spending extra on banking products.
Secondly, the programme offers high earnings rates even for those not on the highest level. Lastly, it has an extensive partner ecosystem where members can earn and spend their eBucks.
However, this year, the programme lost two major partners. The first was Shoprite, South Africa’s largest grocery retailer.
Customers shopping at Shoprite and Checkers could earn up to 15% back in eBucks and also spend them in-store.
Shoprite is not only South Africa’s largest retailer by market cap, sales, profit, employees, and customers, but it also operates the country’s most popular on-demand grocery delivery service.
When FNB replaced Shoprite and Sixty60 with Pick n Pay and Asap!, many customers were infuriated with the change.
Pick n Pay has been struggling financially in recent years and has closed down numerous stores, with many locations taken over by Shoprite.
Its on-demand delivery service is also nowhere near as popular as Sixty60, which has generally received high praise for solid service.
FNB customers who want to continue earning eBucks for their grocery purchases have no choice but to shop at what many consider a second-rate retailer compared to Checkers.
FNB customers also stopped earning eBucks from one of South Africa’s top Apple retailers, iStore, from 1 July 2025.
Levelling down
The second major adjustment for the eBucks programme came in July 2025, when FNB announced its annual adjustments to the programme’s levelling criteria.
This year, the changes resulted in the points attainable through free and easy criteria dropping from 10,000 to 8,500.
While FNB also reduced the points thresholds for several levels, customers who did not change certain behaviours would drop from Level 4 to Level 3.
However, a few tweaks could push customers back up to Level 5 without spending significantly more on FNB products.
Unfortunately, many customers will have no option but to spend more on FNB products come November 2025 if they want to retain their eBucks level.
The bank recently announced a second adjustment of eBucks levelling criteria for the current financial year — a highly unusual move.
These changes have resulted in an additional decline of 2,500 easily attainable points, while only another potential 3,000 points are available for those who take up FNB’s insurance products.
FNB has also made it more difficult for mid-tier Aspire customers to qualify for eBucks, requiring that they spend at least R5,000 per month and meet two more behavioural requirements.
The only positive change with the most recent adjustments is that customers can now get discounts on their total ticket fare rather than the base fare when booking flights through eBucks Travel.
However, they must now take up vehicle insurance if they want to get discounts greater than 20%.
For the maximum 80% discount, customers must have a full suite of FNB short-term insurance products or a minimum short-term insurance premium of R5,000 a month.
The table below provides a summary of how FNB’s eBucks levelling system adjustments for easily attainable criteria have impacted customers on its Premier account.
The points reduction also applies to Private Clients and Private Wealth customers, but their level thresholds are higher.
| Time period | Points easily attainable without additional spending | eBucks Level reached | Key earnings and discount rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2025 | 10,000 | 4 | Groceries: Up to 10% Fuel: R2 per litre Device discounts: Up to 20% |
| 1 July 2025 to 1 3October 2025 | 8,500 | 3 | Groceries: Up to 10% Fuel: R0.80 per litre Device discounts: Up to 10% |
| From 1 November 2025 | 6,000 | 2 | Groceries: Up to 5% Fuel: R0.40 per litre Device discounts: 0% |
| Old rule | Old points | New rule | New points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have a minimum monthly deposit of R16,500 (excluding inter-account transfers) into your FNB Fusion Premier Account or FNB Premier Current Account OR initiate at least 10 debit transactions per month on your account | 2,000 | 1.1. Have a minimum monthly deposit of at least R5,500 into your account. 1.2. Have a minimum monthly deposit (excluding inter-account transfers) of R16,500 into your account. 1.3. Have average deposits over 12 months of at least R16,500 into your account 2. Initiate at least 10 debit transactions on your account per month. | 1,000 for meeting requirement 1.1 and 2. 2,000 for meeting requirement 1.2 and 2 or 1.3 and 2. |
| Do at least 6 financial transactions per month via the FNB app. | 500 | Scrapped | 0 |
| Use your Virtual Card for 80% of your qualifying online and in-store spend in a calendar month. | 3,000 | Unchanged | 500 |
| Set up 3 Smart budget categories and access your Smart budget every month, engage with My Net Worth monthly or engage your Credit Status monthly | 1,000 | Unchanged | 250 |
| View the “Track My Rewards” tab on the FNB App every month | 1,000 | Unchanged | 250 |
| Have an FNB Fusion Account with a credit limit and an active credit card with a credit limit | 2,000 | Unchanged | 2,000 |
| Manage your property or use one of the available services under the nav» Home tab on the FNB App once a quarter. | 500 | Unchanged | 500 |
| Buy 3 or more different products every month (with a combined minimum purchase value of R300) from these categories under the ‘Buy’ tab on the FNB App: Electricity, Lotto, Airtime and Bundles, Gaming and Vouchers. | Not available | Added | 500 |
| Total points | 10,000 | 6,000 | |
| Level attained | 4 | 2 | |
Loading ...