Widow wins Toyota car @ Verve promo

A 67-year old retired widow and medical doctor, Mrs. Adeoye Williams, has emerged the last winner of a brand new Toyota Yaris in the grand finale of Verve’s Use & Win promo which ended in Lagos last week.

The promo organised by Interswitch in conjunction with Nigerian banks, saw a total of 1,251 customers winning various prizes.

Mrs. Williams who banks with StanbicIBTC said she retired as a medical doctor in 2002 after working with the Lagos State Hospital after over 35 years, adding that when the news that she had emerged the winner of a new car was brought to her, it was received with skepticism.

According to her she did not believe the news until a manager from the Verve Business Unit of Interswitch called her.

“That was when I suspected that this could be true. I am a lazy person. I would rather use my ATM card than go to the bank. So, this is a big Christmas present for me,” she said.

While handing over the keys of the brand new Toyota Yaris car won by Williams, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe said Verve’s Chip & PIN card is the most secure payment card in the industry, adding that it is impossible to clone the card or defraud users of Verve card. According to him, Verve card has enough intelligence to track suspicious behaviours.

“With MoneyGuard a Verve card user can hotlist his card if he notices any suspicious transaction” he said.

Over 1,000 bank customers who have acquired and used their Verve cards for cash withdrawal and transactions for various sum had won various gift items in the Verve national consumer promo tagged Verve Use & Win organised by Interswitch in conjunction with Nigerian banks, which kicked off on September 13, 2010.

Also, Head, Divisional Head, Verve Business unit of Interswitch, Mrs. Tobi Boshoro explained that every week six winners are drawn from each of the sixteen banks. About 2000 bank customers have so far won several prizes ranging from 32 inch LCD television, MP3 players several consolidations prizes.

She said beyond the promo, which is meant to reward cardholders through online, cash withdrawal and point of sales (PoS), cardholders would be rewarded every time they go to shop at merchant locations that are on Interswitch network.

The promo is designed to encourage cardholders to move to the more secure chip and PIN platform and it is specifically woven around Verve card acquisition and usage. Over 10 million bank customers have migrated to the chip and PIN platform of Verve card.

Williams is the third bank customer to winner the ultimate star prize of a brand new Toyota Yaris car. The first and second winners were Chioma Ndlema, a First Bank customer and Felix Okwara, a customer from Intercontinental Bank.

For cardholders to qualify for the “Use & Win” level, a cardholder is required to use the Verve debit card to carry out at least two transactions per week or engage in a transaction worth N5, 000.

However, these transactions should occur on either the web or PoS channels. For this level, bank customers have the opportunity to win gift items such as LCD Plasma TV and MP3 players, among others.

The final “Use & Win” entry level requires customers to carry out at least eight transactions on a monthly basis or carry out a transaction worth N20, 000 to be eligible for the grand finale draw. Such transactions should take place on the Internet or PoS channels. “A lucky customer gets to win Toyota Yaris car every month,” Boshoro said.

The sixteen participating banks in the Verve national consumer promo are FirstBank, FinBank, AfriBank, Oceanic, Wema, Skye, Sterling Bank and Fidelity Bank. Others are FCMB, Unity Bank, Spring Bank, BankPHB, StanbicIBTC, ETB, Intercontinental Bank and Ecobank.

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