1. There is no association between eBucks and the kulula.com credit card on which kulula moolah is earned.
   1. No eBucks are awarded for flying kulula.com nor do you receive eBucks for using your kulula credit card. eBucks are earned through a number of partners, including FNB credit card. Members are able to use their eBucks to buy flights on a number of airlines, one of which is kulula.com, through eBucks travel.
2. There is no annual eBucks fee; membership to the programme has always been free. FNB historically charged a fee of R150 to those eBucks members who want to link their credit card to earn eBucks, however, FNB stopped charging this fee in October 2006;
3. You do not spend R10 to get an air mile as eBucks is not an air mile rewards programme.
4. eBucks is a multi-partner rewards programme. The benefit to members is that they earn from multiple partners which accelerates their rate of earn and reduces the time required to accumulate enough eBucks to buy a ticket to Cape Town. This is a key feature of the programme and therefore credit card earn cannot be viewed in isolation.
   1. eBucks' earn rules vary per partner. The typical member would be earning from both his FNB cheque account as well as from FNB card, he may also have a home loan which would qualify him for an FNB Earn Booster, and would generally be earning from at least one retail partner, where he could earn eBucks twice by paying with his FNB credit card.
5. Because eBucks is not just an air miles rewards programme, members have a wide range of options on which to spend their eBucks and are not limited to having to wait until they have enough eBucks for a domestic flight. Even members with balances as low as eB200 (which is worth R20) can find something 'cool' to reward themselves with.
6. Information regarding card spend required to qualify for a free flight and the time taken to accumulate points is also misleading. Some programmes are quoted as return and others as one way tickets.
7. Our currently advertised fares are from eB4 990 (including airport taxes and VAT), however, eBucks members can take advantage of whatever low fare specials are available at the time of booking. Kulula.com has a R248 special (which would cost eB2 480 including airport taxes and VAT) running at the moment and, subject to availability, eBucks members could receive this fare. eBucks members, however, are not restricted to flying on kulula.com and could book a cheaper ticket on another airline should it be available.
8. For the purposes of this investigation we have used the standard published fares of eB4 990.In order to earn enough eBucks to pay for the ticket, you would have to spend R49 900 on your FNB credit card over a period of 16 months – but bear in mind our members would be earning from multiple other partners and this time would be reduced by approximately 40%.
9. Also note that the customer would be spending R49 900 on his credit card anyway. The benefit of using an FNB credit card is that the customer would get free eBucks which he/she could use to buy a flight to Cape Town, whilst a Virgin Money customer will be spending this amount anyway and then would still have to pay 90% of the cost of the ticket to Cape Town.

About eBucks:

eBucks, the rewards programme offered by First National Bank (FNB) and RMB Private Bank, is acknowledged as one of South Africa's leading rewards programmes with highly active members spending in excess of 80% of the eBucks earned in any given month.