Installment option now more preferred – RCBC

MANILA, Philippines — More clients are maximizing installment options to ease the burden of settling obligations and big-ticket purchases made amid the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic, according to the credit card arm of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

Newly installed RCBC Bankard president and chief executive officer Arniel Vincent Ong said the company ‘s commitment has always been about providing exceptional product and services to cardholders while helping build the nation.

“It is during these hard times that we need to provide our cardholders support; whether it’s by making payments easier for them, assisting them in paying their obligations so they can maintain good financial record or by simply making services more convenient for them,” Ong said.

RCBC Bankard said 70,000 clients have availed of the easy payment options offer by the company as of the end of June to make it more convenient for its 900,000 credit cardholders to  meet their financial obligations.

A total of 204,221 straight purchases were converted to installment with 167,395 transactions converted by cardholders to unli zero percent in the first half.

Upon conversion, cardholders can pay for their straight purchases at zero percent installment for three months.

Meanwhile, RCBC Bankard said 36,826 transactions were converted to Unli Installment.

With this, cardholders can pay for their straight purchases up to 36 months with minimal interest.

Both installment plans were recently made available to cardholders through the RCBC Online Banking app.

RCBC Bankard said around 7,400 purchase transactions were already converted to installment using the app that was launched last June 30.

To convert straight purchases to installment real-time, cardholders may log on to the RCBC Online Banking app and choose their preferred installment option from three to 36 months.

Apart from purchases, cardholders can also charge their electricity, phone, telco, water and other bills to their RCBC Bankard using the online banking app and also convert their utility payments to installments.

Apart from this, RCBC Bankard offers the Bayanihan Balance Conversion program for cardholders whose source of income had been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the program, cardholders can pay their total outstanding balance for up to 36 months for as low as 0.65 percent per month, and they can even choose to defer the payment for the first monthly amortization up to nine months.