TFCanswers. Today we discuss the cosmic uselessness of the ioSì loyalty program (and Nexi Credit Cards in general)
An attentive reader in recent days wrote to me and asked, "Sorry Barbone, I have 200 thousand points on my [...]
An attentive reader in recent days wrote to me and asked: "Sorry Barbone, I have 200,000 points on my Nexi card, what can I do with it? I couldn't find any article on the site so I'm asking you."
Once Upon a Time CartaSi
In this article:
For years CartaSi has been synonymous with credit card in Italy. Established in 1986 on the initiative of the ABI and major Italian banks, the company was one of the first examples of a national infrastructure dedicated to electronic payments, enabling widespread diffusion in our country. In the 1990s and 2000s, the CartaSi brand was everywhere.
In 2017 there is the rebranding from CartaSi to Nexi, event that marked a symbolic and substantial shift: from a simple credit card issuer to a European fintech player.
Club ioSI
I have no memory of when the ioSI loyalty program was born., a program that did not change its name when there was a rebranding to Nexi, a program that has never changed rules or mode of operation since I have known it. Program that has only one thing in common with the American Express Membership Rewards, which is to say that points never expire.
The big difference, however, is that theuse of points is practically only through catalog, as in Esselunga, and that corporate cards don't accumulate anything, while as known American Express Business Card holders accumulate personal points.
The operation is simple you accumulate one point for every euro spent, never saw multipliers or bonuses of any kind, every now and then a IoVinco contest pops up, but again it seems like a random, poorly communicated thing that then sits there visible on the site and app for months gathering dust.
As can be seen in the pictures above I have a nest egg of just under 120 thousand points, I have only nicked my treasury twice in the last 10 years. In December 2015 I had moved, thanks to a promo that offered a 1:1 conversion rate from ioSI to Millemiglia 50k points. More recently in September 2023 I had moved 8k points to reactivate my Millemiglia account and thus be able to transfer
How to use ioSI points
Saying how I have used points over the years, there are both classic rewards that cost total points and the possibility of getting gift cards.
Converting points into gift cards can offer good value, but convenience varies greatly by brand. Analyzing the rewards catalog, the most profitable options are found among the lower and middle ranges, where the ratio of points to euro value is more balanced. For example, the 10 euro OVS gift card requires 6,000 points, equivalent to about 0.0016 € per point, while the Mondadori 20 euros to 9,000 points rises to 0.0022 € per point, resulting in one of the best conversions. Less convenient the 100 euro Amazon gift card, which costs 52,000 points, to the value of about 0.0019 € per point.
It is not that things get better with the items in the catalog, although to understand the possible convenience one would have to get down to analyzing the actual cost of the product one intends to order.
In conclusion
Needless to say. you should return this card to your bank and use only cards that allow you to accumulate points, and I explain why with this simple example:
With 129 thousand ioSI points you can redeem a Garmin smartwatch, The Forerunner 255 on Amazon costs about 255€. having the same points with Revolut you could safely Redeem two round-trip premium economy tickets from an Italian airport to the U.S. with Air France KLM, since it is possible to convert 1:1 RevPoints to Flying Blue.
