The Star program from Banca Transilvania has reached two milestones: 800,000 Star credit cards and a growing community of 50,000 partner merchants, both in-store and online.

Since launch, Star has evolved from a loyalty program into an ecosystem for payments, lending and merchant benefits. It is now the largest partner-merchant network in Romania, with advantages for both BT customers and merchants using the bank’s payment solutions — physical POS and POS App, eCommerce solutions and the Pay with BT Pay online payment option.

We have built around the Star program an ecosystem that brings together customers, merchants and technology to make things simple, accessible and relevant at every point of purchase. Through Star and BT Pay, we aim to be part of our customers’ important decisions, while giving them the freedom and flexibility they need.

Oana Ilaș
Deputy CEO Retail Banking
Banca Transilvania

What Star cards mean for customers

Customers who use Star cards at partner merchants benefit from flexible payments and a rewards system: 

• Interest-free installments — up to 18 installments at Star partner merchants, for products and services across all categories, including RCA, travel and home insurance policies issued via BT Pay. Star cards are most frequently used for interest-free installment purchases in electronics, home & garden, insurance and travel, confirming their role in day-to-day spend and planned purchases.
  
  
• Star loyalty points on every pay-in-full transaction, with 1 Star point equal to 1 leu: 0.3% for payments in Romania and 0.1% for payments abroad, and up to 10% offered by partner merchants. The most common purchases paid with Star points are electronics, home & garden, items from pharmacies and clothing.
  
  
• Exclusive partner offers, available in BT Pay.
  
  
• End-to-end management in BT Pay — apply for or increase the credit line, with the ability to use the card immediately after issuance, as well as manage it.  

What Star means for merchants in the program

For merchants, joining the Star program means accelerating sales, higher basket values, competitive differentiation, brand visibility and customer loyalty.

BT’s leadership in the cards market

Banca Transilvania is the leader of the cards market in Romania, both in issuing and in acquiring.

Today, the BT ecosystem includes 8.5 million cards, the BT Pay and BT Go apps, over 2,000 ATMs, 150,000 physical POS terminals, 9,000 eCommerce terminals, approximately 90,000 SoftPOS solutions installed (BT POS App), and Pay with BT Pay, an option integrated on around 35,000 websites and apps. These figures reflect a significant acceleration in the adoption of digital payment solutions, especially in mobile acceptance, with the phone becoming an essential tool both for paying and for taking payments.