Money and Finance
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Monday, October 10, 2011 6:10:23 AM
Most banks these days have cash-back offers on their credit cards. These offers are mostly made in conjunction with certain brands, department stores, apparels or even restaurants. A comprehensive list is usually given on the bank/credit card company's website.
In short, you cannot swipe the credit card at any merchandise of your choice and expect to get cash-back as a reward. The concept of cash-back sounds simple. Let us assume a bank offers 5% cash back on purchase at a particular apparel store. If you swipe the credit card for a bill amount of 100, the bank will give you back 5 as part of the offer. But, the offers come with conditions. Here are some of them:
If you stretch your spend beyond the budget anticipating some cash back, you may be caught on the wrong foot. Hence, read the terms and conditions of your cash-back offer before you plan to shop this festive season.
Here are some of them:
- Minimum amount spent: cash-back offers are valid only if you spend a minimum amount, which varies from bank to bank.
- Caps on cash-back offer: a bank may offer 10% cash back on all purchases, but may cap the maximum amount at 1,000. So, even if you spend 30,000 on your purchase, you will only get a cash-back of 1,000 and not 3,000 (10% of 30,000).
- The POS factor: Some banks give cash back only if the card is swiped on its own point of sales (POS) terminal. Usually, if banks have tie-ups with a merchandise, they ensure that they put their own POS terminal for cost advantage. However, a cash-back offer should not lure you to spend more.
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