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Hi all,
I am planning a trip to Europe and was wondering if stores abroad use the same merchant as those in the US. I have the BofA Travel Rewards that has no FTF and earn 1.5% on everything (and an EMV chip), but even with FTF, I could potentially do better using these cards that have bonus categories:
BCP (6% on groceries): 6%-2.7%= 3.3%
Forward (5 pts on restaurants): 5pts-3%= ~2%
This of course hinges on the notion that merchants abroad do in fact correctly categorize themselves for US credit card purposes.
Does anyone have experience with this? Again, I'm fine putting everything on my Travel Rewards card, but it would be nice to get double the bonus on groceries, for example.
Regardless of MCC abroad, there are other restrictions. Amex BCP:
Get 6% cash back at U.S stand-alone supermarkets, 3% cash back on gasoline at U.S. stand-alone gas stations, 3% cash back at select major department stores, and 1% cash back on other purchases
So the 6 and 3% are restricted to the US only.
I have the same question though, on Penfed which gives 3% on groceries. I'm going to try it next month in the UK, there are no FTF so the worse is that I will get 1% back rather than 1.5% on a Cap One. I will post when I find out.
Here's a list of Visa Europe's MCC
http://www.visaeurope.com/plugins/app_vat/resources/mcc_list.html
Note a few things such as UK PETROL STATIONS but otherwise looks similar to the US list.
And from a particular UK card issuer:
So, my card MIGHT work!
Lots of different credit cards, the one I posted seems to be not such a good one. Here is my fave, just because of the mindblowing complexity of the algorithm (this is Barclays). How do you time purchases to maximize, especially the anniversary stuff
Earn 2% cashback on your top five monthly purchases and 0.5% on everything else. All you need to do is use your card 15 times each month for the 2% booster to kick in (conditions apply).
Enjoy a 6% welcome bonus on your five biggest monthly purchases. You can earn up to £120 cashback on these during your first three months (conditions apply).
Each year you'll get a 4% thank you bonus on your top five purchases in the month after your card anniversary, no matter how much you spend.