Azul and Banco Digio launched a program that allows you to purchase airline tickets using the balance of the Service Time Guarantee Fund (FGTS). Given the new way of paying for tickets on the market, we gathered information about the new feature and assessed whether it is really worth it.
Travel more while spending less! Download the Best Destinations app and don't miss out on travel promotions!
How it works: air ticket with FGTS
- In practice, payment for the ticket will be made as a loan, through the FGTS Birthday Withdrawal Advance;
- The worker must have an account at Banco Digio for the procedure to be authorized and, therefore, the payment to be passed on to Azul;
- Purchase is limited by several rules!
Step by step: new payment method
- Step 1: Choose the FGTS Birthday Withdrawal modality
Before purchasing the airline ticket, the worker must access the FGTS application to join the FGTS Birthday Withdrawal modality.
As a result, Withdrawal-Termination, a traditional form of withdrawal from the FGTS that protects workers dismissed without just cause, will be suspended.
- Step 2: Querying information
After authorizing the Birthday Withdrawal in the application, the customer must also allow Banco Digio to consult all information about their FGTS balance.
- Step 3: Choosing your airline ticket
After making the financial authorizations, search for the ticket you are interested in, exclusively on the Azul app.
- Step 4: Payment with FGTS
Next, select the payment option with FGTS.
- Step 5: Wait for the purchase to complete
Your FGTS balance will be analyzed by Banco Digio and, if everything is in order, your purchase will be approved within 24 hours. Confirmation or not will arrive in your email.
Rules: what can I buy by paying with FGTS?
The worker must meet the following requirements to be able to pay with FGTS on the Azul app:
- You should not purchase a ticket between 11pm and 11:59pm;
- You should not buy an international ticket;
- You should not use FGTS to pay partial value of the reservation and use another payment method to pay the remaining amount;
- You should not carry out a new analysis if Caixa refuses payment with FGTS;
- You must have a valid CPF;
- You must purchase a ticket for just one passenger;
- The reservation must have an interval of more than 28 days between the date of purchase and the date of travel;
- The reservation value (with fees) must be greater than R$400;
- The date of purchase cannot be within 30 calendar days preceding the 1st day of the month of the customer's birthday;
- The passenger must be over 16 years old;
- The passenger must be the holder of the FGTS account that will be used to pay for the reservation;
- The customer cannot pay part of the reservation value with Azul Fidelidade points;
- Reservations with a promocode and/or credit and/or voucher applied cannot use FGTS to pay the residual value;
- Customers who use the Rate Hold option will not be able to use the FGTS to pay the residual value.
Minimum amount required and interest rates
After complying with all the rules and before starting the process of requesting payment with FGTS, the customer will be able to simulate the balance necessary for the purchase to be approved.
The simulator will present an approximate value, as the purchase will have interest rates, which change frequently, according to Azul.
Azul states that before the actual contracting of the FGTS, the actual values with the fees will be presented so that the client can approve the request.
So far, Azul has not disclosed what Banco Digio's interest rate is for paying for the ticket with FGTS. On the bank's website, it is only possible to get an idea of the interest applied on normal Birthday Withdrawal advance loans, which start at 1.29% per month. However, in my simulation, the difference between the ticket price and the total amount for payment with FGTS was 41.5%.
FGTS birthday withdrawal. It is worth it?
Although the new feature is interesting because it is a form of payment not offered by other companies, I believe it is not worth it. The number of rules, the fact that it is a purchase with interest (not very clear) and with a minimum amount required take away the attractiveness of the proposal.
Furthermore, it is important to know that when joining Saque-Aniversario, the worker will not be able to withdraw the FGTS balance in the event of being fired without just cause, for example. This means that when opting for the birthday withdrawal, the account holder gives up the termination withdrawal, the traditional FGTS withdrawal method that serves precisely to protect the worker fired without just cause.
After switching to the FGTS Withdrawal-Anniversary, the worker can even request to return to the Withdrawal-Termination modality, but this can only be done if he has not carried out any contracted advance operation (as is the case with purchasing tickets) . Furthermore, the return to the Withdrawal-Termination modality will only take effect from the first day of the 25th month after the date of the return request.
Further information is available at site from Azul.
