Santander 123 Cashback (Merchant Codes = 1%, 2%, 3%)

DocProc

For a couple of months now, I've been running most of my credit card purchases with my new Santander 123 Credit Card.

As you might remember, it pays:

1% Cashback for Supermarket shopping - identified by Merchant Category Codes 5411, 5499 and 9751

2% Cashback for Department Store shopping - identified by Merchant Category Codes 5311

3% Cashback for Petrol Station fuel purchases - identified by Merchant Category Codes 5541, 9752 and 5542.

Now with some purchases, it's hard to guess whether they 'have a deal with Santander 123' (Is this the right statement for me to make? Hmmm?) and, if the merchant concerned doesn't, then I won't even get my 1% Cashback. eg, Wilkinsons or Game or Bravissimo - these merchants might not fit into any of the above categories and so I'd use my Barclaycard World Mastercard and thus still get at least 1% Cashback on my purchases.

So why this thread?

I've shopped around for fuel, like wot you do, and hit on a local BP station. Now the BP station concerned, where I bought my fuel, also has a Spar mini-market inside the main cashier's building where the till is located. I guess the till takes money/credit cards for any kind of purchase. But:

Importantly, for my two 'just over £100 fuel purchases' the till receipts do say 'Spar' on them but they don't say 'BP' on them. Neither do they give anything which resembles a number, which can be termed a 'Merchant Category' identification number. They have are Merchant Identification Numbers but not Merchant Category Numbers.

Santander's 123 Cashback Card's Terms for Cashback don't mention anything about 'including or excluding VAT', merely mentioning cashback will be paid on 'purchases'

3% Cashback on £100 is £3.00
1% Cashback on £100 is £1.00

My Santander 123 Statement is not helpful. Fuel transactions merely say:

13/4/2012 ***** Purchase - Domestic Northampton . Spar Westbridge £103.56 (Money Out column)

One for Tesco says:

14/3/2012 ***** Purchase - Domestic Northampton Tesco Garage 3842 £93.44 (Money Out column)

One for Morrisons says:

01/03/2012 ***** Purchase - Domestic Northampton 1 Morrison Petrol £87.67 (Money Out column)

As you can see, there is still no mention of any Merchant Code or whether the transaction is clearly for Fuel or not.

BP is the very first Petrol Station mentioned in the Terms for the 123 Cashback Card and so Santander do definitely have a deal with BP.

Am I being cheated here? Am I being paranoid? Who is doing the cheating? BP? Santander? Both?

Comments please.

alanq

I cannot comment on Santander but I too am baffled how cashback deals are applied. I have an AA Spend And Save pre-paid card. It promised 1 point per £1 for motoring related purchases and 1 point per £2 spent elsewhere. (AA members get twice these amounts) Initially, I found that I was getting 1 point per £1 when shopping for groceries at ASDA. I queried it and was told by AA that it depended on the merchant code the retailer used - so if a company has filling stations perhaps all transactions went through as motoring related.

A few months ago I found that sometimes I was getting 1 point per £2 and others I was still getting 1 point per £1 when shopping in the same store. On checking recent receipts I have found that there is no discernible pattern that depends on which till is used, the amount purchased or the type of goods.

As you have found, my receipts have a merchant number but no merchant code. The AA says it acts according to the merchant code provided and any issue must therefore be with ASDA. (I have no cause for complaint as I was only promised 1 point per £2 for groceries in the first place. However, the inconsistency is baffling)

dursley

I just came across the same mystery of which petrol stations qualify for the 3% cashback. No-one seems to know about the mysterious Merchant Codes, 5541, 5542 & 9752 so I have e-mailed Santander to ask them how I find a local petrol station which qualifies.

Otherwise the cashback thing seems to work pretty well on utilities etc.

Watch this space for the answer I get.

OK just found a link on another post, It allows you to search your local shops and garages to see if they qualify. I can't add it because the forum rules do not let me but if you search the forum you can find it.

Good news, both my local garages are OK !!

pqrdef

Merchants classify themselves when they sign up with Visa or Mastercard. This means there are two lists, which may not match.

So what counts as a Supermarket for 1% with Santander may not count as a Supermarket for 1.25% with MBNA Visa, which makes life complicated for the determined cashback tart.

There's a list at

http://www.santander-products.co.uk/credit_cards/cashback_search

susan47

Well I feel as if I have spent so much time on this, but now I have to admit defeat - I can't figure it out. I took out the 123 credit card and asked Santander if my local petrol station, attached to Sainsbury's, was a petrol station or a supermarket. They didn't know. So I went higher up to ask and then got a letter in the post, saying they'd 'investigated my complaint' (I didn't know I'd made one) and that they couldn't say what store had what code, they could only say which codes applied. So I emailed Sainsbury's and they replied that some petrol stations were petrol stations and others weren't (very helpful). They gave a number to ring so I rang it and was told that I had to ring the individual petrol station to find out. So I looked out an old receipt and rang the petrol station - getting through to the supermarket - and then got put through to the petrol station. They said that they had their own code and wanted to know who I was, and why did I want to know...After explaining, the woman didn't seem to know what code I meant and she gave me a number that doesn't match any of the petrol station codes. So I looked it up online to see what the code was, and it isn't a supermarket code either, in fact it doesn't even feature in the table of codes, so it looks like it's a wrong number and even the petrol station itself doesn't know what it is. Is it really fair that a credit card can advertise discounts in general terms and not actually be able to be pinned down on what it is they do offer exactly? Now I have to decide if it's worth my while to use this brand new card or just tell them to cancel it since I get 1% with Capital One anyway and there's no fee there. Oh, and searching for local petrol stations that qualify doesn't help either, since hardly any seem to be listed around here and the Sainsbury's one is brand new, and as the list says - they are constantly updating it. So upshot is, I give up...

Eydon

With my Capital One World Mastercard, if I download the transactions from my statement or my recent transactions for loading into Excel then there is a column against each entry that specifies the Merchant Category Code. Does Santander not do the same?

Obviously this only tells you after the fact, but at least you'd have the information for future purchases.

pqrdef

Supermarkets usually sell petrol through a separate subsidiary company. Is there a company name on the till receipt?

SnowTiger

Perhaps this link will help: http://www.santander-products.co.uk/credit_cards/cashback_search.html.

Apparently I'm guaranteed to be accepted for a Santander 123 credit card. Unfortunately I don't buy fuel, don't shop at department stores and I appear to spend less than £2,000 a year at supermarkets. Therefore, the monthly £2 fee would wipe out any cashback.

I note that train travel is now included and attracts a 3% cashback. That may be enough to push me in to profit on the card.

dalesrider

pqrdef wrote: »

Supermarkets usually sell petrol through a separate subsidiary company. Is there a company name on the till receipt?

The company name on the reciept means nothing as far as cashback goes. It works on the catic codes.
The only thing the OP could do is spend at a petrol station. Wait till it dbits and then call Santander and ask them what catic code they have used.
That way, he will be able to see how much % you will get. If they are reporting themselves as a supermarket instead of a petrol station. Then I don't know where you would go to complain. Its certainly not santanders fault. I would say its either the retailer or their merchant bank.
But if you get petrol from the increasing number of mini marts odds on it will be a supermarket...

Catic codes are helpfull, but are often way off the mark....
There is even one for "miscellaneous retailers" :eek: Now !!!!!! do they sell :rotfl:

Space_Captain

My Santander statement says 'DOMESTIC' for everything. I wish they could show 1PC,2PC or 3PC as well so I know where I am getting the cashback. The statements show totals for each level - 1PC,2PC,3PC but I am not sure how they got to these totals.

It's nice to get cashback but I want to make sure where I shop is qualifying, especially when it comes to petrol.

papi34

Hi

Does anyone know if using this card for fuel at a supermarket would qualify for 3% or 1% cashback?