Credit Card Spending Categories | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

Please keep us informed on what you learn when you ask Tangerine about this, FM.

ertyu - Was the list you had the same one that is listed above for Scotia in this thread? I forget who posted that originally, but I have been collecting any posts related to this question.

This confusion makes a good case for a simple X%-on-everything card. None of them are free though unless you accept 1.25% or less. I'm looking for 2% across-the-board, no fees, and I don't care about Forex since Amazon Visa's offer on that is still the best one IMO.

fulanomengano said

Does anyone has a link or file detailing the categories assigned to different stores by the credit card companies? E.g.

What companies are considered entertainment?

Are Walmart purchases considered groceries?

What about Canadian Tire, Amazon, etc.?

Forgive me if it's a duplicate topic, I searched on the forums but couldn't find the answer.

fm

There was a previous discussion about credit card Merchant Category Codes (MCC) in the forum discussion RBC new fee schedule and cash back Visa.

Walmart purchases are category 5310 (Discount Stores) in the regular Walmart stores and category 5411 (Grocery Stores, Supermarkets) in the Walmart Superstores. I don't know what the category would be for purchases in their Walmart Tire & Lube Express service centres.

I found that the exact category of a purchase can vary depending on the credit card terminal used at a merchant's location. Charges at one gas station were 5541 (Service Stations) when paying at the cashier inside. Charges at the same gas station were 5542 (Automated Fuel Dispensers) when paying at the pump.

Oddly, my last Amazon.ca purchase showed up in category 4816 (Computer Network/Information Services).

It would make life easier if card issuers such as Tangerine, which has a new issue, has the most categories, and, in general, has had pretty good communications in the past, would at least tell us which code numbers qualify for which categories. For example, is Automatic Fuel Dispenser the same as Gas for our purposes (as it should be)? That would be a start, at least. But we should also be able to know if Canadian Tire, for example, is Auto Parts or Tires or "Home Improvement." (per Tang) - I think they sell at least as much of the latter as the former.

As Norman says, we have visited this issue before and not found any one reliable accessible and comprehensive source. If they are going to continue to offer segmented rewards, they need to tell us how we can reliably get them. That only makes good business sense.

Perhaps, when the Tangerine statements start rolling out, we will see something useful on them - or at least be able to give them feedback that we need more information, before they roll out the cards to the general public.

Until they solve this one, they are going to be getting a lot of phone calls from confused and/or annoyed cardholders.

I vote for a logo with a number in the centre of it and a category name printed on it, to be posted on doors and cash registers of businesses and on websites. They can do it if they want to, just as they have security logos and notices about the Scanning Code of Practice. OR just give us all a fair overall return without dickering around with categories. The way they are setting it up now, people will be motivated to spread their business around.