CreditCards Blog

I have recently got an AMEX cash back credit card and know not to withdraw cash on it as I will pay interest even if the card is repaid in full. But my question is, if I say yes to cashback at for instance the supermarket when I do my weekly shop will this be classed as a cash withdrawal or as qualifying spend which I can earn cashback on?
Thanks in advance for anyone that can help.

Things might have changed, but when I tried to get cashback from my credit card in a shop ( in my young and more foolish days) I was told you couldn't do it.

As Amy83 said I believe you can only get cashback from switch/maestro type cards (possibly visa debits?)

You can only get cashback on debit cards.

You can only get cashback on debit cards....and on credit cards from the occasional small shopkeeper and pub landlord willing to break the rules of their merchant agreement. :)

...and on credit cards from the occasional small shopkeeper and pub landlord willing to break the rules of their merchant agreement. :)

Yep once of my local pubs gives me 50 cashback on my slow stooze card most weekends ;)

Yep once of my local pubs gives me 50 cashback on my slow stooze card most weekends ;)
Ah that's how you put beer on it - I thought you ran up a tab every night or handed your card over for each pint ;)

My local pubs would look at you daft if you asked to by a pint on a card

I was once offered cashback in ASDA and had to tell them they couldn't do that!

Ah that's how you put beer on it - I thought you ran up a tab every night or handed your card over for each pint ;)

My local pubs would look at you daft if you asked to by a pint on a card

LOL well yes it is quite good fun this stoozing beer funds. You just have to remember that it is a stooze pot and not a booze pot.

If its a larger round (say 10 or more) then I always pay by card. Fortunately my closest pub is also a restaurant so they are geared up to card payments.

However, if I came in alone and tried to put a single pint on the card then they probably would look at me a little strange.

However, if I came in alone and tried to put a single pint on the card then they probably would look at me a little strange.
Indeed, it might even be reputation-generating :D

Perhaps I can bump this up the board?

I was in Morrisons yesterday and noticed that on the shelf under the PIN entry machines they had an advert saying they offered free cashback on a series of credit cards, including AMEX. Need to go & take a second look, because obviously your time to read the detail is a bit limited while paying at the tills with a queue behind.

Does anyone know if these go through as a single "groceries" transaction, or as two transactions (e.g. 10 for groceries, 50 cash)? If it is a single transaction, I'd be quids in as (from memory) I'm on 1.5% cashback from Amex...might as well get all my cash from there rather than the hole in the wall. At the extreme, it'd make sense to take the money out and go and pay it directly into the bank.

Too good to be true? Anyone know? Otherwise I'll have to go & ask at Morrisons (although I fear I'd get a blank look back).

Perhaps I can bump this up the board?

I was in Morrisons yesterday and noticed that on the shelf under the PIN entry machines they had an advert saying they offered free cashback on a series of credit cards, including AMEX. Need to go & take a second look, because obviously your time to read the detail is a bit limited while paying at the tills with a queue behind.

Does anyone know if these go through as a single "groceries" transaction, or as two transactions (e.g. 10 for groceries, 50 cash)? If it is a single transaction, I'd be quids in as (from memory) I'm on 1.5% cashback from Amex...might as well get all my cash from there rather than the hole in the wall. At the extreme, it'd make sense to take the money out and go and pay it directly into the bank.



I reckon they would come off as cash withdrawals, and you would pay eleventy million % APR when it hits the bank, as the supermarket has to pay more the more you spend on a credit card, whereas a debit card has a flat rate fee...

Maybe Amex do some sort of debit card, or maybe they only offer cashback on charge cards?

The retailers terminals officiallly have to be set up for 'cashback', and this is ONLY for debit cards. BUT there is nothing stopping the retailer putting through the sale & cash as one amount. However they are in breach of the agreement they have with the bank and could have the facilities withdrawn.

The transaction does get submitted as seperate entries for authorisation & processing reason but you the customer only every see the one amount (although it will be split on the receipt)

I'm not aware of any retailer having the agreement in place for cash from credit cards and once a CC is inserted into the chip reader the option for cashback will often disappear, or be deleted. Some continental debit cards are also treated as credit card for processing reasons and cashback is unavailable. Other than those authorised to do cash withdrawls already (Banks, money exchanges) it could well be that those who do will charge the cash withdrawl fee and you will be charged as a cash balance.

In the US there is a slightly different system that does get confusing, but in essence it is similar to ours.

Going slightly off-track, my wife was asked on Christmas Eve if she wanted cashback (at Morrisons) and she asked for 20. The cashier was talking to her about Christmas and she ended up going out the store without the cash. It wasn't until that night she realised she hadn't been given the cash.
When the store reopened a couple of days later she was told she would have to wait until the tills were cashed up and would be called back. She wasn't called back and had to call them. The manager told her the tills were only 7 up and that she could only have 10 back.

My wife had no alternative but to take the money. Also there was no proof to say she got the money in the first place. I recall having to initialise the receipt the last time I got cashback at a supermarket till. Needless to say we won't be shopping in Morrisons again.

..... on Christmas Eve.....cashier was talking to her about Christmas.....
Good grief - the cashiers at Morrison had time on Christmas Eve to chat to their customers about Christmas
(with nobody in the queue complaining).

Can’t have been busy at all!!! :D

The manager told her the tills were only 7 up and that she could only have 10 back.

My wife had no alternative but to take the money. Also there was no proof to say she got the money in the first place. I recall having to initialise the receipt the last time I got cashback at a supermarket till. Needless to say we won't be shopping in Morrisons again.

I think your wife should go back and complain to the manager.

In other places (certainly Asda) you have to sign your initials next to the cashback amount on your receipt in front of the cashier to say you took your cash. Unless they can prove that your wife signed for the money, insist that you get the other 10.

I'm fairly sure that supermarkets don't "cash-up" their tills down to the last 1 anyway, so they're probably not 100% sure what happened. When I worked on the tills in Sainsbury's when I was a student, I never saw anyone counting all the change and stuff in the tills, as with around 20 check-outs they would never have had time. Every so often I would be asked to take out the majority of the notes, all the cheques and EFT slips (that really does date me!) and they were sent up the shoot in a little blue bag in a plastic tube. I don't think that they ever really new exactly how much was in the till at any one time.

As far as cashback on Amex is concerned, as has been said before, you may get the occasional corner shop or pub that might put the total amount through as a purchase and give the cashback as part of your change, but they're not meant to be doing that.

Amex only really offer credit cards and charge cards and do not offer bank accounts, so they don't offer debit cards.

All the tills at Sainsburys are counted every morning.

It is up to the customer to remember their cashback too. Surely people don't expect the store to just take their word for it and give the cash if the till is not over and the customer is querying it?

I haven't had to initial for cashback for ages, in Tesco or Sainbury's.

All the tills at Sainsburys are counted every morning.

It is up to the customer to remember their cashback too. Surely people don't expect the store to just take their word for it and give the cash if the till is not over and the customer is querying it?

I haven't had to initial for cashback for ages, in Tesco or Sainbury's.

Of course it is and my wife was kicking herself that she hadn't checked she received the money as she is usually very careful about these things. My point is there is no way for either party to confirm or deny that the cash was handed over without e.g. initialising for it. Without such a system any unscrupulous person could take advantage of the situation.

Going slightly off-track, my wife was asked on Christmas Eve if she wanted cashback (at Morrisons) and she asked for 20. The cashier was talking to her about Christmas and she ended up going out the store without the cash. It wasn't until that night she realised she hadn't been given the cash.
When the store reopened a couple of days later she was told she would have to wait until the tills were cashed up and would be called back. She wasn't called back and had to call them. The manager told her the tills were only 7 up and that she could only have 10 back.

My wife had no alternative but to take the money. Also there was no proof to say she got the money in the first place. I recall having to initialise the receipt the last time I got cashback at a supermarket till. Needless to say we won't be shopping in Morrisons again.


Morrisons seems pretty reasonable in my view
would you expect more some where else?

This happened to me in Marks & Spencer once. I wasn't given the 20 cashback and somehow failed to notice.

I went straight back to the shop and explained, they immediately gave me the 20 cashback.

In a busy store, simple mistakes like this can and do happen.

Going slightly off-track, my wife was asked on Christmas Eve if she wanted cashback (at Morrisons) and she asked for 20. The cashier was talking to her about Christmas and she ended up going out the store without the cash. It wasn't until that night she realised she hadn't been given the cash.
When the store reopened a couple of days later she was told she would have to wait until the tills were cashed up and would be called back. She wasn't called back and had to call them. The manager told her the tills were only 7 up and that she could only have 10 back.

My wife had no alternative but to take the money. Also there was no proof to say she got the money in the first place. I recall having to initialise the receipt the last time I got cashback at a supermarket till. Needless to say we won't be shopping in Morrisons again.

I actually think thats quite poor from Morrisons and there management, i would go back and complain some more. I mean if they were only 7 up then why not just give you 7 instead of 10, the fact that it was only 7 up proves nothing, it still doesnt mean that the till had balanced correctly and that you werent given youre 20 back on the day! on a busy day like Christmas eve and the fact the cashier had already made the error with yourself, to me how do you know she hadnt made other mistakes while she took her time to talk to other customers about Christmas.

Every single till in Morrisons will have an overhead camera.
As long as you can remember which till and the time they should be able to look at the transaction.