TheBuzz Erika Engle

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Bank of Hawaii offers $25K contest to promote lines of credit

BANK OF HAWAII is going to give one lucky Hawaii resident $25,000 in its latest contest. Banks are not known for giving away money. When they do, it is either covered on the police blotter pages or the good-corporate-citizen pages of this paper, depending on the willing or unwilling nature of the giving.

This is different.

"We have a history of giveaways," said Susan Ing, senior vice president and director of marketing.

This time of year was chosen because "people are looking at consolidating ... debt that they may have built up over Christmas season or getting ready for travel plans -- it's a good time," she said.

"When we have these (promotional) campaigns we are looking at additional loans being made, but in this particular case, we're (also) giving our existing customers a chance to win."

Promotions intended to build customer bases often exclude people who are already customers, leaving them with self-esteem issues, asking deep, probative questions such as "so what am I, chopped liver?"

In this case, Bankoh's intention is to promote its Personal FlexLine and Home EquityLine loan accounts to new customers, who will be entered in the contest by filling out a loan application, and to encourage existing customers to use the accounts and gain automatic entries for every $5,000 drawn from either credit line.

Of course, the law requires that no purchase be necessary for participation in such contests, so even noncustomers (gasp!) can enter to win the $25,000 by filling out the proverbial 3-by-5 index card with name, address, daytime phone number and date of birth.

The entries can be hand delivered to any Bankoh branch in Hawaii or Guam, or mailed in a business-sized envelope to the Bank of Hawaii Loan Payoff Sweepstakes, in care of the Harris Agency, 1833 Kalakaua Ave., Suite 305, Honolulu, HI 96815. Entries must be sent or delivered separately.

The winner will be chosen April 20 from loan applications filled out or loan activity posted between Jan. 2 and March 31. Index-card entries must be postmarked by March 31.

The winner will be notified by mail around April 27. More official rules and legal disclaimers, etc., can be found at www.boh.com.

The bank is calling the contest a loan-payoff sweepstakes, but the official rules say nothing about requiring the winner to pay off a loan.

Torch time

The Better Business Bureau of Hawaii is calling for entries in its annual Torch Awards for Business Ethics with a new category this year for nonprofit organizations.

The awards honor organizations and individuals statewide who demonstrate high ethical standards, exemplifying excellence in business practices. Categories include business individual, large and small businesses and nonprofits. Large businesses and nonprofits are defined as having at least 100 employees, while smaller nominees should have 99 or fewer employees.

Nominations and self-nominations are free, and forms are available online at www.hawaii.bbb.org and by calling 536-6956 or (877) 222-6551. The entry deadline is Jan. 31.