Paid partnership with FNB. Consumers are gearing up for a big spending weekend this coming Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Whether you’ve been shopping since the beginning of the month or are hoping take advantage of deals or in-store or online, here are some of the ways you can pay digitally with FNB.

This post aims to highlight payment options for FNB customers and for merchants to adopt for their small businesses, using advanced and safe technology options.

Before I get into my top 3 ways to pay with FNB, I also want to highlight that there are plenty of options today when it comes to paying. Notably, FNB lets you pay in real-time using Pay Shap, Instant Pay and eWallet.

But if you’re a customer walking into a store, making payments online for Black Friday or eating out with a friend this coming weekend, here are the best ways to do it:

In-Store purchases

  • Tap to Pay – This method is supported on your NFC enabled smartphone or wearable, which supports contactless payments. Simply load your FNB virtual card onto your phone or watch and tap it at any point-of-sale (POS) machine. It is safe because you need a PIN code (or biometrics) to access your digital card. You should receive a notification on the FNB app immediately after paying.Something to note is that merchants may require a PIN code on the card machine for payments above a certain value. If you are a merchant, you simply need a contactless-enabled POS terminal, which is widely available today.
  • Scan to Pay – the FNB banking app has a built-in QR Code reader, which uses your smartphone camera, to make payments. It accepts most QR Codes, including MasterPass, Zapper and PayFast. If you don’t want to keep opening up your app at the till point, you can create a shortcut widget for iOS and Android. Once you scan a code, you will get a list of cards to choose from to proceed with the payment, like a credit, fusion or debit card. The advantage of using it directly from FNB with its third-party support is reducing the apps you link your bank card to.

Lunch setting with friends

  • Geo Payments – One of the most effortless and convenient ways to pay someone, especially for peer-to-peer payments. Whether you’re eating out with friends or colleagues, you can transfer money to instantly by close proximity, which uses your location data. The big advantage to this is not worrying about exchanging banking details and inputting them onto your device. Once you open the FNB app and choose to “pay” or “receive”, it will be transferred immediately. It may also add another layer of safety if you don’t want to hand over your banking details to colleagues.

Online purchases

  • Virtual Cards – this is one of my favourite products from FNB since being on the trial before it launched. I have virtual cards loaded on my phone, watch, and use them for subscription services (iCloud, Spotify, Google Workspace, YouTube etc). It really is about safety and convenience. Safety through the regularly changing CVV number; this means if your credentials somehow end up in the wrong hands, they will be useless to the fraudster. And convenient because you don’t have to carry your physical card around. If a Virtual Card does not physically exist, nobody can steal it and swipe it. That said, whilst using a VC is the most secure way to pay, you should remain vigilant and never share your card details with anyone. Every time I hear of a friend having their card cloned or details leaked, my first response to them is to switch to a VC immediately to avoid that happening.

I hope these methods highlighted help you in your day-to-day life, not just during Black Friday or the upcoming festive season.

That said, do check out FNB’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals via the FNB app for some excellent deals on gadgets. You can find that list in this post:

Black Friday tech deals 2023