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Provisions Regarding the Way to Obtain the Credit Card Bonus Points and the Scope of Using these Bonus Points
Issuing Agency: Financial Supervisory Commission, Executive Yuan
Date of Issue: September 27, 2007
Ref. No.: Letter Jin-Kuan-Yin-(4)-Zi-09600349020
Subject: The details with respect to provisions regarding the way to obtain the bonus points of credit card and the scope of using these bonus points are set out in Explanation. Kindly acknowledge receipt of this letter.
Explanation:
1. This letter is a response to your Letter Chuan-Hsin-Zi-2216 dated August 3, 2007.
2. After we considered that the way to obtain bonus points of a credit card should be connected to the holding or uses of a credit card, we modified the scope of obtaining bonus points as follows:
(1) Promotions of credit cards (examples: paying by a credit card to accumulate bonus points, offering bonus points as gifts to a person who pays by a credit card exceeding a certain amount of money, offering bonus points as gifts to a person who pays by a new credit card for the first time, and bonus points given by using a credit card to pay other payables).
(2) Applying for credit card services (examples: e-bills, other notification services, or paying the amount due in a credit card by a deposit account).
(3) Being prizes in credit card drawing lot activities.
(4) A cardholder engages in activities related to credit card businesses (example: appreciating the cardholder for his or her suggestions on the credit card business of the bank or requesting the cardholder to correct the fundamental information, such as the address).
3. We approve your suggestion with respect to the scope of application on the exchange of bonus points of a credit card and the scope of application is classified as follows:
(1) Exchange commodity.
(2) The amount of money paid by a credit card or consumed on-site is to be discounted.
(3) The amount of fee charged for using the additional functions of a credit card is to be discounted (examples: in exchange for airport pick-up services or parking in an airport). .
(4) Revolving interests or relevant fees charged to a credit card are to be discounted.
(5) The amount of fee charged for handling businesses related to a bank and interests are to be discounted.
(6) In exchange for mileage to recompense customers, and/or telecommunication charges, public expenditure or donation amount is to be discounted.
4. With respect to the part that giving credit card bonus points to a person who ‘recommends a person to apply for a credit card and the application is approved’, owing to our Letter Jin-Kuan-Yin-(4)-Zi-09440010950 dated December 19, 2005 which provides that no gifts or prizes may be given when handling a credit card application, the phase, ‘recommends a person to apply for a credit card and the application is approved’, is referred to the situation that, after a cardholder recommends another person to apply for a credit card and that person’s application is approved by a card issuing institution, the card issuing institution will give the cardholder bonus points. In the same way, the nature of such bonus points is the equivalent of the gift mentioned in the aforesaid provision and is hence not consistent with the provision of the Commission.
5. As regards your suggestion, to moderately open up that non-lending nature and deposit products of financial holding companies and banks (such as opening an account and investment) could collocate with credit card bonus points, because such products are not connected to the holding or uses of a credit card, it is still not appropriate to open up the products.
To (The Original): The Bankers Association of the Republic of China (kindly forward a notification to each card issuing institution)
To (Copy): Financial Supervisory Commission, Financial Examination Bureau; Banking Bureau of the Commission |