With the end of the partnership between Migros and Cembra, the battle for Cumulus credit card customers has flared up. The consumer credit bank Cembra is now bringing existing Cumulus customers to its new credit card offer “Certo!” while Migros Bank, for its part, is launching the “new Cumulus card”.
The end of the credit card cooperation between Migros and Cembra at the end of June had already been announced last August. According to the information at the time, around 850,000 Cumulus credit cards were in circulation. It is “strategically obvious” for Migros to offer the product together with its own Migros Bank, according to a statement from Migros Bank on Friday.
Previous Cumulus cards remain valid
Little will change for existing Cumulus Mastercard customers: their cards will remain valid until the expiry date, according to a Cembra announcement on Friday. Depending on the expiry date, Cembra now wants to send the first Certo follow-up cards to Cumulus customers in the coming weeks. These could be “activated immediately and used seamlessly” – all card data and the card contract remain unchanged.
New Cumulus cards, on the other hand, are now being issued by Migros Bank. Customers can now apply for the new credit card via app, on the website or using a paper form, Migros Bank announced on Friday. Cumulus points can also be collected when making payments with the card, which, like the competing offer, still does not charge an annual fee.
Those are the incentives for customers
However, both card issuers also want to keep or attract customers through special incentives. Cembra promises the users of their Certo-Mastercard a “money-back bonus”: For purchases at Migros, Coop and SBB, 1 percent of the sum will be credited back to them. All other transactions would be rewarded with a 0.33 percent money-back premium, according to Cembra.
On the other hand, the Migros-Bank attracts not only with Cumulus points but also with worldwide free shopping and free cash withdrawals at the Migros cash registers, as stated in the announcement. When applying via the app, the new Cumulus credit card will also be the first credit card in Switzerland whose application is checked “in real time”.
Meanwhile, Cembra’s Certo card will also be available to new customers as “Certo! One Mastercard» offered. In this version, the “money-back bonus” can be expanded: users can select their three “favourite retailers” for the 1 percent refund from an initial list of 20 retailers and adjust them monthly. Cembra has launched a national campaign for the launch of the Certo card family.
Cembra wants to keep the majority
Of course, Cembra wants to keep “as many Cumulus credit card customers as possible,” explained CEO Holger Laubenthal at a media briefing on Friday. In recent months, he had declared it his goal to keep a “majority” of them at the bank.
Of the around 1.1 million cards issued by Cembra at the end of 2021, the Cumulus cards make up the “large part”. In addition, Cembra works in the card business with other retail companies such as Conforoma, Fnac and now also Spar. (SDA)