Cash advance charge on purchase

Pontinental

I have a John Lewis Credit Card which is administered by New Day. I recently renewed the navigation services for my Peugeot motor car by making a payment to Peugeot PSA. Imagine my surprise when I was charged a £3 cash advance fee + £1 interest charge on the payment. New Day say that Peugeot PSA are a Financial Institution and that the charge is therefore justified. Does anyone know if this is an interpretation only by New Day or is it common to other credit card providers? How can I know if a service provider is regarded as a Financial Institution?

la531983

Simple answer is you don't, the merchant decides what coding to use. 

DullGreyGuy

la531983 said:

Simple answer is you don't, the merchant decides what coding to use. 

Normally it's the merchant's acquiring bank that makes the decision but inevitably if you are of a certain size you may be able influence the decision heavily. 

Pontinental said:
Does anyone know if this is an interpretation only by New Day or is it common to other credit card providers? How can I know if a service provider is regarded as a Financial Institution?

Each merchant has a code which represents the sorts of business they are in, other than some giant travel companies (airlines, hotels chains) that have their own codes for some reason, probably one lost to history. Generally thats set by their acquiring bank, the one that provides them the capability to take payments. Some companies have more than one service so large stores with a foreign exchange offering will normally have one for the tills on their main products and a separate one for their FX business.  

All card issuers will see the same code when their customer makes a purchase, in principle there can be some differences in what is considered a cash like transaction or a purchase between card issuers but they are broadly aligned most the time.