Major Absa Rewards changes — how to ensure you don’t lose your tier status

Absa has changed the earning rules of its rewards programme, which could affect some customers’ Reward Tier when they kick in on 16 January.

The bank informed customers about the upcoming changes in December and published a document detailing the changes early in the new year.

An analysis of the changes shows that, overall, Absa has made it easier to achieve higher reward tiers.

The Absa Rewards programme offers incentives for certain banking activities and products by allowing customers to earn cash back when paying by debit or credit card.

A major selling point is that this is real cash that appears as a regular account in your online banking interface — not a rewards currency that must be redeemed in a marketplace controlled by the bank.

Previously, it was impossible to hit the highest rewards level — Tier 5 — without having at least two different types of loans with Absa, one of which had to be a home loan.

Under the new rules, Absa makes it possible for customers with substantial investments at the bank to achieve Tier 5 without taking out any loan products.

However, in addition to offering greater rewards for customers with significant investments at the bank, a handful of changes could cause existing customers to lose the tier they are currently on.

It is relatively easy to compensate for this, and customers should take the necessary steps to ensure their points are reflected by 15 January — before the new rewards accrual period starts.

These changes are as follows:

• Previously, you earned 20 points if you had at least one insurance product. Absa now lets customers earn 15 points each for a short-term and life insurance product (for a maximum of 30 points).
• Previously, you received 340 points for receiving your salary into your Absa account (or 50% of your salary plus make R32,000 in payments across at least 10 transactions). This is now 280 points, while the remaining 60 points can be earned by making 5 transactions using the Absa banking app.
• Previously, you received 20 points for paying at least R250 into a savings product every month. This now has a sliding scale from 10 points to 30 points and requires setting up a recurring stop order for the amount.
• Previously, the minimum home loan balance required to earn points was R5,000. Absa increased this to R50,000.

To compensate for these changes, customers can use one of the following additional ways to earn points:

• 55 extra points for maintaining a combined investment balance of R1 million in Unit Trust, Annuity Fund, Tax-free savings, and Currency Investment accounts.
• 45 points for having a Foreign Currency Investment Account with a minimum balance of R15,000
• This increases to 85 points if the account has at least R100,000.
• Up to 30 points for a recurring savings stop order (10 points for R250–R4,999; 20 points for R5,000–R9,999; and 30 points for R10,000+)

MyBroadband contacted Absa for more information about the changes.

The bank confirmed that the five transactions that must be completed via its app include regular EFTs and bill payments, PayShap, prepaid, and subscriptions.

“As a bank with a strong digital focus, Absa has invested significantly to provide our customers with a superior digital banking experience coupled with our market-first Digital Fraud Warranty, signalling our confidence in the security of our Absa Banking app as the safest way to bank,” Absa told MyBroadband.

“Given the increased participation rates on our digital channels, we are aligning our product offerings and Rewards programme to trends in customer behaviour to further encourage and reward App usage.”

Regarding the minimum loan balances increasing from R5,000 to R50,000, Absa explained that the average home loan amount has significantly increased since the launch of Absa Rewards in 2009.

“The scoring reflects an alignment with the minimum home loan amount that customers can apply for, which is R50,000,” it stated.

Regarding its changes to the savings and investment incentives, Absa said this was part of its effort to encourage savings among customers.

“We have leveraged our Rewards programme to further assist our customers on [a] journey… to boost their financial standing and contribute towards improvement in the national savings culture,” Absa stated.

“Absa Rewards has introduced deposit bands and Rewards members are now able to earn up to a score of 30 for recurring savings and investment deposits. This was previously capped at 20 points.”

The points required to achieve every Absa Rewards Tier is as follows:

• Tier 1 — 0–499
• Tier 2 — 500–599
• Tier 3 — 600–699
• Tier 4 — 700–799
• Tier 5 — 800+

Absa’s new rules for earning Rewards Tier points are summarised in the table below: