The payment will apply to all card payments made in store or online by Explore current account customers during the months of April and May.
The saying used to be that ‘cash is king’, but with the outbreak of Covid-19 that’s no longer the case as more and more people are avoiding cash and paying by card.
And while the trend towards card payments has been evident for many years now as we move towards an increasingly cashless society, card usage has shot up by around 20% over the past few weeks alone according to some estimates.
However paying by card isn’t always cheap and many banks will sting you with hefty charges for the privilege of using your debit card.
PTSB and its Explore current account have always done things a little differently though.
Although there’s a fairly hefty €6 monthly maintenance fee, after that all your day-to-day banking is free. What's more, the bank will also pay you back 10 cent for every card payment you make either in store, by contactless or chip and pin, or online. This payment used to be capped at €5 a month i.e. 10 cent back on your first 50 payments. But now, for the months of April and May, to encourage more card usage, the cap is being removed entirely and the bank will pay its customers 10 cent for every single debit card payment they make, meaning the sky’s the limit, theoretically, on how much you could earn.
A national emergency
Further outlining the reasons behind the move, Jeff Harbourne, Head of Savings and Personal Banking with Permanent TSB says. "The Covid-19 pandemic is a national emergency and we want to encourage our customers to use their card, and go contactless where possible, to help slow the spread of the virus.
"Because the Explore current account is built around the concept of rewarding customers, it gives us great flexibility to do just that - reward our customers when they need it most," he adds.
Who is this available to?
The unlimited 10 cent offer is available to Explore current account customers only. If you have any other type of Permanent TSB current account then the offer doesn't apply.
Encourage card usage
This latest initiative from PTSB comes at a time when banks are trying to encourage increased card usage to help combat the spread of Covid-19.
Plans are afoot to increase the payment limit on contactless cards to €50 while AIB recently rowed back on its plans to introduce a 1 cent charge for contactless payments.
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