Mind games

ENAR

It seems like a no brainer at first: Use your bank card for your purchases and you will eventually receive a free iPhone, a trip to Europe or, perhaps best of all, you will get your hard-earned cash back. Without studying the fine print, consumers rush to rack up points on their cards, pushing themselves to spend more under the conviction that they are getting back what they spent. However, loyalty programs seem to promise the world, but actually offer considerably less. What started as airline miles collection in exchange for spending on payment cards rapidly mushroomed into the intricate rewards programs that are offered by the majority of Lebanon’s banks today. “Because all banks have some form of these programs, it becomes almost a defensive action to have them — we can’t afford to not have them,” says Anthony Ussher, e-banking division head at Credit Libanais. Another benefit of