Ole, the internet division of Spanish incumbent telco Telefonica SA, has introduced an internet credit card in collaboration with Visa and Mastercard and Spanish bank Banco Zaragozano, which could soon be rolled out across Latin America. The card is only available from the internet, thus giving Ole, already the largest portal in the Spanish speaking world, more valuable customer information in its database.
Ole and Banco Zaragozano are sweetening the offer with a guarantee for all financial transactions and gift credit points for Ole’s online store every time consumers use the card. A helpline is provided by the two firms which runs through Banco Zaragozano’s telephone banking service.
Banco Zaragozano gains new customers for its telephone banking service with minimal expenditure, as its costs of acquisition are shared by Ole. Ole, for its part, adds to its database of credit-rich customers for future marketing opportunities, while spreading the word about e-commerce by making consumers use the net to obtain their cards.
The Ole credit card is valid at Visa’s 16 million worldwide locations including 600,000 in Spain. For the first year of use, the card is free and the cardholder gets credit to the tune of 100,000 pesetas ($624).
