I've been a client of FNB for a long time now and I have been content with the charges that go of my credit card, thinking that it was fair. Some years ago I applied for a Virgin Money credit card which operates via ABSA. I did this so that I could have a backup credit card at any time.
I never really used the Virgin card until recently. During the time that I had the Virgin Card there was never a "Annual Card Fee". The only charges that went of my account were "Finance Charges" which was the interest for the amounts that were used, at an interest rate of 17%. Which amounted to almost nothing. Even when paying for fuel there was no transaction fee.
Now with FNB Credit Card on the other side, I started to investigate what I would pay in fees for the year. With my FNB Credit card I have a linked Petro Card, which I get charged R270 annually, then there is the VISA Card Fee of R445 annually, due to these charges coming up unexpectedly every year and FNB not informing you of these charges I had to pay an over limit fee of R220, this happens every year, and after speaking to a few people who have FNB Credit Cards, this happens to them too.
I used to think that these charges are all good due to the fact that if I use my FNB Credit Card often enough I would receive a significant amount of eBucks. After looking at the total annual charges, which amounted to something close to R1000, I worked out what I would earn across all my FNB products in eBucks and it averaged eB800 p/m which is about R80, this over a year is R960, which almost covers the annual bank charges for your FNB Credit Card alone. But there is one more annual fee, which is your "Annual eBucks Fee"of R200. This now pushes your annual fees on your FNB Credit Card to almost R1200!!! There are other charges that go of your FNB Credit Card that I haven't listed, like "Debt Protection".
I've been using my Virgin Credit Card fully for the past six months now and so far my fees have mounted to just below R150.
So that's my scenario, look at yours and work out if it is actually worth having a FNB Credit Card.
Input from cardholders from other banks are welcome.
I never really used the Virgin card until recently. During the time that I had the Virgin Card there was never a "Annual Card Fee". The only charges that went of my account were "Finance Charges" which was the interest for the amounts that were used, at an interest rate of 17%. Which amounted to almost nothing. Even when paying for fuel there was no transaction fee.
Now with FNB Credit Card on the other side, I started to investigate what I would pay in fees for the year. With my FNB Credit card I have a linked Petro Card, which I get charged R270 annually, then there is the VISA Card Fee of R445 annually, due to these charges coming up unexpectedly every year and FNB not informing you of these charges I had to pay an over limit fee of R220, this happens every year, and after speaking to a few people who have FNB Credit Cards, this happens to them too.I used to think that these charges are all good due to the fact that if I use my FNB Credit Card often enough I would receive a significant amount of eBucks. After looking at the total annual charges, which amounted to something close to R1000, I worked out what I would earn across all my FNB products in eBucks and it averaged eB800 p/m which is about R80, this over a year is R960, which almost covers the annual bank charges for your FNB Credit Card alone. But there is one more annual fee, which is your "Annual eBucks Fee"of R200. This now pushes your annual fees on your FNB Credit Card to almost R1200!!! There are other charges that go of your FNB Credit Card that I haven't listed, like "Debt Protection".
I've been using my Virgin Credit Card fully for the past six months now and so far my fees have mounted to just below R150.
So that's my scenario, look at yours and work out if it is actually worth having a FNB Credit Card.
Input from cardholders from other banks are welcome.
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