Citibank 5% Cashback Offer

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Citibank Australia

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  wizzy on 30/01/2022 - 21:14

  The T&Cs make reference to purchases needing to be from shops that are classified as a retail merchant by the card scheme.

  I can imagine that services (e.g. hairdresser and restaurants) might not be considered retail. I can also imagine that alcohol could also be excluded in some sort of classification by a card scheme. I think that would account for everything you have not yet accounted for.

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  WookieMonster on 30/01/2022 - 21:37

  +5

  I can understand your frustration, because Citi did not clearly define retail in the original offer's terms and conditions. However, my guess (and it is a guess) is that it was defined for the purposes of the offer as:

  Any business with a Merchant Category Code (MCC)¹ for Retail Outlet Services (i.e. MCCs 5000-5599), excluding supermarkets (MCC 5411) and petrol/fuel (MCCs 5541-5542 and maybe MCC 5172).

  The reason I think you could only earn cashback for MCCs 5000-5599 is that it is the only grouping of MCCs in the Citi document with the word Retail in its title. Additionally, if we look at the MCCs Citi quoted to you in regards to the ineligible purchases:

  MCC Name	MCC #	MCC Grouping
  Grocery Stores, Supermarkets2	5411	Retail Service Outlets - remember that Citi listed supermarkets (i.e. MCC 5411) as an exclusion
  Fast Food Restaurants	5814	Miscellaneous Stores
  Barber and Beauty Shops	7230	Miscellaneous Stores
  Bars, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques, Nightclubs and Taverns Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	5813	Miscellaneous Stores
  Package Stores Beer, Wine and Liquor	5921	Miscellaneous Stores
  Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified	7399	Business Services
  Eating Places and Restaurants	5812	Miscellaneous Stores

  The two issues I have with this offer are:

  • Most people participating in the offer probably would not realise this deal was based on specific MCCs. Even if you knew it was based on specific MCCs, you couldn't go up to a business and ask what their MCC is, because most people at the business would not understand what a MCC is. Even if they knew what you mean by MCC, they honestly won't know, because you don't need to know the MCC to use an EFTPOS terminal or to use a POS system).

  • In order to get cashback through this deal, you're completely reliant on a merchant's bank assigning the merchant a MCC that correlates with the permitted MCCs in this deal, but if you have a merchant that does two or more different types of business in the one location, what would the MCC be? For example, if you went to a Caltex vehicle service centre attached to a Caltex fuel station, would the MCC assigned to the EFTPOS terminal in the service centre be MCC 5511 (which was probably permitted in the offer) or MCC 5541 (which was not permitted in the offer)? Who knows until you spend $500 at the service centre and wait to see whether you get the cashback!

  ---

  1. A MCC is a four-digit number assigned to a merchant by its financial institution so that the financial institution of the customer seeking to complete a payment can quickly identify the primary type of business that is conducted by the merchant. It is standardised across the world through ISO 18245, and (ironically) the MCC document I use when looking up MCCs is actually one compiled by Citi themselves. ↩

  2. It might be a bit strange to see the Woolworths Gift Cards transactions listed against the Grocery Stores, Supermarkets MCC, but I am not overly surprised, because Woolworths' primary business is being a supermarket, and the Woolworths Group gift card portal is hosted on the Woolworths website. My guess is that the gift card portal largely piggy-backs off the payment process Woolworths Group set up for Woolworths Online (i.e. the section of the website where you buy groceries), as Woolworths Group figured that it would be too complicated to set up a new MCC just for their gift card portal, plus MCCs don't matter for the vast majority of transactions that take place on their gift card portal. ↩

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  Mad Max on 30/01/2022 - 22:42

  Deceptive to say the least.
  But on the other hand, when it sounds too good to be true…

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  JIMB0 on 01/02/2022 - 12:15

  Should have purchased the gift cards from a retailer such as Big W.