Sunday, March 12, 2023, 00:01
If you are a customer of El Corte Inglés and you usually pay with your card in establishments outside the distribution group but attached to it, such as Sephora stores or Repsol, Campsa or Petronor service stations, be careful, because with the entrance of the new year has ceased to have that use. The agreements with these firms (which in the case of some gas stations include bonuses associated with consumption) are still in force, but the means of payment changes, which from now on will be a new card launched by Financiera El Corte Inglés (FECI). This new card is free (without opening or maintenance costs) and can be requested both online and at the customer service of the group’s establishments.
The main difference between the two is that the former could only be used in group companies (El Corte Inglés, Hipercor, Supercor, Telecor, Viajes El Corte Inglés, Bricor, Sfera, Seguros El Corte Inglés and Óptica 2000) or in those that had signed agreements for this purpose with FECI: Repsol, Campsa and Petronor, Sephora, Bip&Drive and Tagus gas stations. The new one, on the other hand, is integrated into Mastercard, which makes it possible to finance purchases made in any business, both national and foreign, even if it does not belong to the distribution group.
In addition, it also makes it possible to obtain cash in the group’s shopping centers (free of charge from a purchase of five euros) or through any ATM in the Mastercard network. However, as the OCU warns, using the card for this purpose “is expensive.” «To the commission applied by the cashier, you must add an additional 4% with a minimum of three euros. If you use it to pay outside the euro zone, they will apply a 3% commission for currency exchange, “warns the consumer organization.