Did you know paying for goods and services using Bonga Points is possible? Leading telecommunication company Safaricom has made it possible for people to pay for products and services using Bonga Points through an automatic conversion.
This Service is open to all Safaricom subscribers who wish to redeem their Bonga Points for goods and services at all vendor outlets with a Lipa na M-PESA Buy goods or Pay bill number. Redemption of Bonga Points is currently at the rate of 1 Bonga point to 20 cents.
So how do you go about it? Here are the steps on How to pay using Bonga points.
- Dial *126# on your Safaricom line
- Select “Lipa na Bonga”.
- Enter the vendor’s MPESA Till Number
- Enter the amount you wish to pay.
- Enter your Service PIN, then confirm the transaction.
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How about if you want to check the amount of Bonga Points required to pay for your goods or Service?
- Dial *126# and select ‘Lipa Na Bonga’
- Select ‘Bonga Calculator.’
- Enter the amount you want to pay or the number of points you wish to redeem.
- You will get a response showing the number of points you will need to pay your bill.
Safaricom does not charge subscribers an extra fee for using this Service, making it one of the best options you should consider when making payments. The Bonga Points value of the bill you are paying will be deducted from your Bonga balance when you finalize the redemption.
While paying using Bonga points, Safaricom advises customers to ensure the amount they redeem is equivalent to the bill. If you enter a lower amount compared to your actual bill, you may redeem more points to cater for the difference.
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However, if you complete a transaction and find out you have entered a larger amount compared to your actual bill, you may request a reversal by contacting Safaricom customer care by dialling 234 from your Safaricom line. Nobody can whatsoever reverse Bonga Points redeemed for purposes of payment service, so businesses don’t have to worry about losing money.
Introduced as a loyalty Scheme
Safaricom introduced Bonga points in October 2017 as a loyalty program, giving both pre-pay and postpay subscribers a point for every Sh10 spent on voice calls, short message service (SMS), data, and M-Pesa services. Bonga Points can be redeemed for rewards ranging from Talk-time (Minutes), Data bundles, MMS, and SMS bundles.
PrePay subscribers have the option to redeem for either SMS, data bundles, or minutes while PostPay subscribers only use the points for SMS or minutes.
Safaricom has leveraged the loyalty program to drive charity causes, including allowing customers to give away points to the needy under an initiative dubbed Bonga for Good, through which Kenyans donated Sh330 million in three months to June 2020.
Early last year, Safaricom also launched the ‘’Tuungane campaign’’ that sought to provide food relief to communities that were hardest hit by drought. All its subscribers were invited to donate their Bonga points for the purchase of food. As of October, Kenyans had donated Ksh 8.5 million through Bonga points and cash donations.