FirstBank boosts customer experience with cash back offer on card use

First Bank Nigeria Limited is running a campaign, which aims primarily to delight customers, by seeking new methods of giving a memorable experience through the usage of their varied card services.

The bank launched a four-month campaign scheduled to end September 2018 giving customers who use their cards for international transactions the privileged to be rewarded using several criteria.

With the season for summer fast coming to an end, shopping and back to school resumption are in full gear, hence customers that transact on POS/WEB for values between $2,000 and $3,000 within a month will get the naira equivalent of 0.5 percent the value of the transaction credited back into their accounts, the bank explained.

The bank also noted that customers that transact on POS/WEB for values between $3,000 and $5,000 within a month will also get the naira equivalent of 1 percent the value of the transaction credited back into their account.

According to one of the bank’s customers who spoke with business a.m on condition of anonymity, the move is quite surprising given that banks these days will rather charge high rates for using a debit card especially abroad.

The bank in fulfilling a desire to pioneer innovative banking solutions across various touch points thereby encouraged the use of its First Bank naira MasterCard which includes the Naira MasterCard Debi, Platinum Debit MasterCard (for High Net-worth customers), and Expressions on Cards (Picture Card which enables customers carry their smile and memories everywhere they go.

The bank noted that the first two cards have their respective contactless variation with a hybrid type of the naira MasterCard, namely FirstBank contactless naira MasterCard and contactless platinum debit MasterCard.

“These cards have the contactless identifier to differentiate it from the other Naira MasterCard. This allows the same card to be used for contact and contactless transactions. The contactless payment capability provides a fast, secure and convenient way to pay on a contactless-enabled terminal,’ it explained.

The bank added that “a simple tap of your contactless naira MasterCard is all it takes to pay at checkout and it is most suitable for low-value payments.”

The cards are also linked directly to customers’ naira denominated current and/or savings account, offering a convenient alternative to the use of cash and cheques by giving direct access to funds in cardholders’ accounts across all channels like ATM, POS, and WEB.

Highlighting the unique selling propositions of the contactless cards, the bank said asides from using the card for making payments where ever the contactless identifier is displaced, the card can be used on the entire London transport network such as buses, tubes, trams, Dock and Light Railway (DLR) and London over ground. It can also be used at grocery shops, supermarkets, gas stations.

Other key features include worldwide acceptance. The cards can be used to pay for goods and services at over 29 million locations and withdraw cash from over 1.8 million ATMs worldwide.

There is also the element of safety as the usage of the card eliminates the risk and inconvenience of carrying cash.

The bank assured customers of the security of the cards as they employ the use of “Chip & PIN” technology to guard against unauthorized transactions.

Effective funds management is another key feature associated with these cards as transactions done with the card can be easily monitored via the First Bank internet banking service.

It further assured users of a dependable support of 24-hour access for all card-related complaints through its contact centre-First Contact.