{"id":612732,"date":"2025-10-04T10:01:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T08:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=612732"},"modified":"2025-10-05T08:38:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T06:38:29","slug":"fnb-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/banking\/612732-fnb-under-fire.html","title":{"rendered":"FNB under fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although FNB has previously added and removed partners several times throughout a given year, it only adjusted the levelling criteria annually, typically a month after its banking fee revisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes result in Premier and Private customers getting 2,500 fewer points on the levelling system for criteria that were relatively simple to meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include having 80% of monthly spending on a virtual card, checking various options under the Nav>Credit page, and viewing the “Track My Rewards” tab in the FNB mobile app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the positive side, FNB has increased the number of points customers can earn by paying extra for its insurance products by 3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to offset the loss of 2,500 points, customers will have to take up an FNB Life Customised product with a minimum combined cover of R4 million for Premier and R6 million for Private. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For customers on the more affordable Aspire account, FNB has also introduced a minimum monthly spending requirement of R5,000 and added two new behavioural banking requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In less than a day since FNB published the amended requirements on its website, dozens of FNB customers have complained about the unexpected alterations on social media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“FNB shifting the eBucks earn rules just three months after their annual update is one of the most underhanded moves against customers, utterly pathetic,” one customer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“FNB is dealing in shockingly bad faith by changing their eBucks terms again mid-year. Over 10 years with FNB. My family is moving to another bank,” a second user said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What you guys are doing with eBucks is unethical…Never thought I’ll look for another bank but now it’s the time,” a third said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My family has been banking with you for three generations. Your bait-and-switch eBucks rule change has me planning a move,” a fourth complained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A search for “eBucks”<\/a> on Thursday, 2 October 2025, showed many more complaints from FNB customers expressing interest in alternative banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FNB’s support team have repeatedly responded to complaints that the changes “better reflect how our customers bank and spend today”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The recent updates are designed to balance fairness and value across the programme, but we’re always reviewing feedback like yours to improve,” the team said in response to one complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raw deal for eBucks earnings on 24-month device contracts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One particular problem is the discount the bank introduced on 24-month device contracts available through its FNB Connect app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature gave Premier and Private customers back a portion of their monthly electronic device or appliance instalment in eBucks. The precise amount is based on their Reward Level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Level 5, Premier customers earn back 40% of their instalment, Private Clients get 60% back, and Private Wealth customers receive 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rule changes result in many users losing 2,500 levelling points unless they pay for more insurance products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users who barely met the threshold for a particular level are likely to drop down two levels. For example, those with just enough points to reach Level 5 would drop to Level 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Premium customer who previously earned R200 back on a R500 instalment will now earn R50. A Private Client customer with a device with the same instalment will get back R75 instead of R300. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below shows the eBucks earnings that customers get on instalments for devices or appliances bought through eBucks partners on the FNB Connect platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level <\/th>Premier<\/th>Private Clients<\/th>Private Wealth <\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
1<\/td>0%<\/td>0%<\/td>0%<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>0%<\/td>0%<\/td>0%<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>10%<\/td>15%<\/td>25%<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>20%<\/td>30%<\/td>50%<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>40%<\/td>60%<\/td>100%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FNB set expectations \u2014 then pulled the rug<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many users likely opted to pay for products over 24 months specifically because the eBucks earned would offset all or a large portion of the interest they would pay otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One customer on Twitter\/X accused FNB of “moving the goalposts’ after locking people into 24-month device rebates and called on people to lay a complaint with the National Consumer Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FNB’s eBucks terms and conditions specifically state that it can amend the programme’s rules and partners at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, its habit of changing levelling criteria annually had cemented in the minds of its customers the notion that this would be the strategy going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about how the levelling changes would reduce the eBucks earnings of customers who are using the 24-month contract benefit, FNB said the discount was market-leading and offered significant value to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is important to note that while there are 43,000 Private Wealth points available to reach Level 5, only 13,500 points are required, for example,” FNB said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a behavioural rewards programme, we focus on ensuring that the behaviours we incentivise deliver value both to our customers and to the bank.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FNB’s unexpected November eBucks levelling criteria changes have upset many customers, some of whom accuse the bank of a “bait and switch” when it comes to earnings on device contracts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":503400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10106],"tags":[13767,18390,23185],"class_list":["post-612732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-ebucks","tag-first-national-bank-fnb","tag-national-consumer-commission-ncc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612732"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613034,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612732\/revisions\/613034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}