FNB Platinum - best in Credit Card in SA for now

After my frustrations with Easypay I paid once for my telephone and electricity at Checkers (my local supermarket) and then realised that I could just add them both to my FNB platinum card via their internet banking list of recipients. Duh! What a pleasure, I must also thank FNB for the time they took to confirm how simple it is to get a platinum card and the benefits of the SLOW lounge at the airports. I also send kudos for a flawless Android App which makes banking (using my credit card account) a cinch.

It really saves to fly Mango (or Kulula) and hang out in better luxury than the SAA lounges. There are a number of other benefits like free card delivery and secondary cards, petrol cards with benefits, and some less useful ones like the platinum support but overall this is IMHO the best credit card in SA today by far.

Paypal integration also good as you may expect as they own Paypal in SA. And their CEO is a young practical approachable guy who spoke at the Silicon Cape event last year.
Much more than that I must also admit that I've owned an FNB credit card since my Bar Mitzvah so it's realy my oldest bank account (even when I was out the country for four years I managed to maintain it thanks to my late fathers help).
This leaves much to be desired for my other bank ABSA. As opposed to eBucks which I consider the premium loyalty banking service in the country (linked to dozens of online and offline services including most notably Engen and Kalahari as well as Woolworths, Makro, Kulula, Dischem, etc.) ABSAs Leisurelink closed down over 2 years ago. At the time we thought it was just ABSA insourcing. 18 months later I was sorry to say that had become the biggest thorn in ABSAs side. The promise was: "If you are an Absa Rewards member, earn Cash Rewards and qualify for great specials and discounts every time you use your Absa debit, cheque or credit card to pay at any of our participating Rewards Partners". Going to www.absarewards.co.za site one got: "The site's security certificate has expired!: and "The Absa Rewards programme has terminated with effect from 1st April 2009 however after paying a nominal fee (of a few hundred rand a year) one got absolutely nothing. Apparently the rules changed at the beginning of this year and the ±1% in 'ABSA rewards' was re-instated for all credit card purchases (for the 18 months prior it was only purchses from 'selected' partners that one earned rewards. I have yet to see what benefits can come about from these rewards and I'm aware ABSA is operating the Woolworths credit card which I considered getting for our domestic recently until I saw something better... see my next post....
Had to slot in an info graphic made by Scott Mooney a connection of a connection old family friend:

UEPS stock alert, advisory sell Net 1 shares

I've been using Easypay to pay municipal and Telkom accounts for the past 13 years (since 1998). The company was an offshoot from Pick 'n Pay who always acknowledged themselves to be more of a financial institution than a retailer (they make money off the cash flow rather off the goods), and they had been accepting Telkom and municipal payments for many years prior to the online payment company Easypay was established. The Easypay website and system was simple and easy to use, one could save ones account details and login monthly (anytime) to make payments with ones credit card. It took a few minutes....

The website and systems worked flawlessly for more than 13 years... then some bright spark thought it must be upgraded and changed everything. The new site took about an hour to work out how it worked, one needed to call the support line in order to get it working, and finally the banks stopped allowing them to transaction (Both ABSA and FNB that I am aware of). Now they say on their site:

EasyPay's SOLUTION will launch in 26 days: As you are probably aware, a number of reports have been published in the press regarding Credit Card fraudsters targeting EasyPay's website. This led to ABSA, and other financial institutions erroneously suspending all credit card transactions processed through EasyPay's website. Some banks inferred or simply blamed EasyPay for the failure of their own Credit Card security systems. "We at EasyPay have always adhered to all the rules as imposed by the banks." 

Yes, Easypay you have always adhered to the banks rules and your new system failed because the users could not work it, and because your old system worked there is no wonder as to why the bad press is happening! It is so clear that Easypay are playing with words to try save face. We know that it's not fraud, it's the systems you built and changed to (which cause the people using it to revoke the payments they tried to make), since the new system is bad and customers revoked payments as they did not intend to make some that the system forced. I went through the whole process personally and I've spoken to others who had the same experiences.  

Now they say "EasyPay have considered the weaknesses of the current credit card security protocols, and will in the following weeks educate our users with regard to a newly patented system, developed by EasyPay's holding company, Net1 UEPS Technologies, Inc" 

Sad and disappointing from a consumer point of view, I can also see them spending heaps of money on even more systems development that will shed even more customers. I'm disappointed, Pick 'n Pay must have sold out... anyone know the best alternatives?