As far as I know, Standard Chartered has run attractive cashback promotions on its credit cards during Diwali for the past few years. This Diwali they promoted an “Unlimited Cashback Offer” for 2018 — but is it really unlimited? Read on for a clear explanation of the terms and what “unlimited” means in practice.
Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Offer Details
- Offer period: 5th Oct to 5th Nov, 2018
- Target #1: Spend a specified amount to get 1% cashback
- Target #2: Spend a higher specified amount to get 1.5% cashback
- Upper cap: Advertised as “Unlimited”, but there are practical limits
- Customers cannot make payments in excess of their credit limit and then use those excess payments to make purchases. This effectively constrains how much spend can be counted toward the offer.
- Excluded spend types: Wallet recharges
- Fulfillment: Cashback credited by 31st Jan, 2019
- To enroll: Check your email or send SMS “UNLIMITED” to 575758
Rule #5 is the key restriction: banks do not allow cardholders to pre-pay beyond their credit limit and then treat that prepayment as additional spending to boost cashback. In practice, this means your effective maximum cashback is limited by your actual credit limit. For example, if the higher cashback rate is 1.5% and you have a credit limit of Rs. 5,00,000, the maximum cashback you could realistically earn from this structure would be around Rs. 7,500.
Most Standard Chartered cardholders have much lower limits — many Manhattan or Super Value Titanium cardholders have limits under Rs. 2,00,000 — so the bank’s exposure under this offer is relatively small.
How the targets looked for some customers
- Spend Rs. 15,000 or more to get 1% cashback; spend Rs. 41,000 or more to get 1.5% cashback (example from one cardholder)
- Spend Rs. 15,000 or more to get 1% cashback; spend Rs. 85,000 or more to get 1.5% cashback (example from another cardholder)
Thanks to Prashant Gupta for sharing his offer details.
Note that this appears to be a targeted promotion, and Standard Chartered may run different festive offers for different customers. The offer’s terms use the phrase “festive offer” in some places, so it has been treated here as a Diwali promotion.
Bottom line
Like other Diwali credit card promotions, Standard Chartered’s cashback offer has declined in value over the past few years. In 2016 they advertised up to 3.3% (capped at Rs. 10,000); in 2017 they offered up to 5% (capped at Rs. 5,000); for 2018 the headline rate was just 1.5%. For most customers this will be a disappointment compared with earlier years.
That said, the offer can still be worthwhile for holders of certain premium cards. For example, some cardholders of the SC Ultimate card can achieve an effective reward rate close to 4.8% when combining this cashback with their existing benefits. For most other cardholders, however, the limited rates and practical caps mean the impact is modest.
What offer did you receive? Please share your experience in the comments below.