As the holiday season approaches, the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) is highlighting the advantages of using its payment methods for purchases and transactions, both in-person and online.
Payment methods, often referred to as “plastic money,” include debit and credit cards, electronic wallets, and virtual cards. These tools allow customers to avoid carrying cash by using funds from their savings accounts or available credit lines.
According to BCR, these payment methods offer several benefits:
“Secure: They prevent people from having to carry cash, which reduces the risk of losing it. Their security features (chip, contactless antenna, tokenization, among others) ensure that payments are made reliably,” stated BCR.
“Portable: Physical cards are lightweight and when digitized in electronic wallets, portability is complete because they integrate with the customer’s phone or even smartwatches. In the case of virtual cards, these are generally enabled in mobile applications of financial institutions.”
“Sustainable: The use of virtual payment methods and digital processes for obtaining them reduces paper usage (for contract issuance and signature collection) and plastic (for packaging documentation and the card itself), among other things. This lowers carbon emissions and waste.”
“Orderly recordkeeping: All payments made with these methods are recorded on monthly account statements so individuals can better organize their finances.”
“Loyalty programs: Loyalty plans offer benefits every time customers use payment methods—points that convert into money, discounts at merchants, options to transfer purchase balances to installments without interest or with a very low fee, among many others.”
BCR offers a wide range of payment options. Recently, it launched a fully digital process for self-managing a credit card application; customers can begin using their new card within 15 minutes. Further details about this service are available on BCR’s official website at www.bancobcr.com.
Customers can also review all features of BCR’s other payment solutions online and request them without visiting a branch office.
