BOV Points – now exchangeable for vouchers at the Plaza, but beware

The BOV points scheme has taken a fair bit of criticism on Maltapoints of late, leading us to recommending that the canny points-collector switches to Amex (and the much more impressive Membership Rewards loyalty scheme).

However we do try to be as objective as we can on this site. As such, one slight additional benefit to the BOV points scheme has recently emerged – you can now exchange the BOV points earned on your BOV credit card for a voucher to use at any shop in the Plaza, Sliema. The Plaza has a reasonable range of shops, so a voucher here is clearly of some benefit.

The obvious problem with this new offer is, however, that like all the other existing BOV points redemption options, it offers terrible value.

In order to get a €100 voucher at the Plaza, you need to spend 38,000 points. That’s a paltry value of less than a quarter of a Euro cent per point. To put it bluntly, it means that you need to spend roughly twice the Maltese average annual salary on your BOV credit card to get a €100 voucher.

When compared to the redemption offers available via the American Express Membership Rewards scheme, this is yet another example of BOV failing spectacularly to provide any real value in its BOV points scheme. It badly needs to up its game here, and until it does we strongly recommend the Amex alternative.