Smart Rewards FAQs

Receiving cashback

1. When and how will I receive cashback?
2. How do I keep track of cashback I’ve earned?
3. Can I change the account cashback is paid into?
4. What if I’ve got more than one MBNA credit card?
5. Can additional cardholders earn cashback too?
6. What happens if I miss my monthly credit card payment?
7. Will cashback count towards my monthly minimum payment?
8. What if my cashback puts my account balance into credit?
9. Where can I find my cashback balance?
10. Can you provide any more information about earning cashback?

1. When and how will I receive cashback?

Cashback for qualifying purchases is automatically paid into your MBNA credit card account on, (or just before) the last working day of the month.

For example, if you redeem an offer in January, your cashback should be paid into your account at the end of February.

If you have more than one active MBNA credit card account, the default is for your cashback to be paid into the oldest one. However, if you’d like to switch to one of your other MBNA credit card accounts, just update your ‘Settings’ in the Smart Rewards hub.

You need to remain registered for Smart Rewards to receive your cashback.

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2. How do I keep track of cashback I've earned?

You can keep track of everything in the Smart Rewards hub, including the cashback you’ve earned so far, where you earned it and if there’s anything pending.

Just be aware, when you redeem an offer it can take up to 5 working days for it to show as a pending payment on your ‘Cashback Summary’.

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3. Can I change the account cashback is paid into?

Yes. If you have more than one active MBNA credit card account, the default is for your cashback to be paid into the oldest one. However, if you’d like to switch to one of your other MBNA credit card accounts, just update your ‘Settings’ in the Smart Rewards hub.

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4. What if I've got more than one MBNA credit card?

That’s not a problem. We use information from all of your MBNA credit card to generate offers. When you activate an offer, you can use any of your MBNA credit cards to redeem and earn cashback.

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5. Can additional cardholders earn cashback too?

So, only the main cardholder can activate an offer in the Smart Rewards hub, but the good news is that additional cardholders can redeem offers, helping to earn cashback for your account.

Additional cardholder spending also helps us to generate new offers, which might be of interest to both of you in future.

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6. What happens if I miss my  monthly credit card payment?

You’ll still be able to access Smart Rewards through Online Services or the MBNA Mobile App, but you won’t be able to redeem offers until at least one of your MBNA credit cards is up to date.

However, missing payments could have a broader impact.

Making regular payments means you’ll avoid additional fees and charges, the risk of losing any promotional offers and any negative effect to your credit file, which is important if you want to apply for credit in future.

Already missed a payment or worried about future payments? Please give us a call.

Whatever help you need, you really aren’t on your own. Just speaking to us won’t affect your credit score.

Alternatively, if you’d prefer to read some information first, please visit our managing debt pages.

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7. Will cashback count towards my monthly minimum payment?

No. Just like a refund, cashback does not count towards your minimum monthly payment – you’ll still need to make that to meet the terms of your credit agreement.

Cashback will reduce your outstanding balance though, which is still pretty handy.

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8. What if my cashback puts my account balance into credit?

As an alternative to spending with your credit card, we can arrange a credit balance refund to your UK current account. If you’d like to request a credit balance refund, please give us a call.

If your account is closed, we’ll arrange to send you a refund by cheque instead.

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9. Where can I find my cashback balance?

Your cashback balance is shown on your monthly statement. The amount of cashback you've earned will only show on your credit card statement if you've made qualifying transactions since your previous statement.

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10. Can you provide any more information about earning cashback?

You can earn cashback when you buy goods using your MBNA credit card, subject to the minimum spend requirements outlined in your cashback programme rules.

Please remember:

• You won't earn cashback if you don't follow the terms of your credit card agreement.
• If you receive a refund on any purchase, have any credit adjustments or have any fraudulent transactions refunded, the cashback you earned will be deducted from your cashback balance.
• If you have more than one cashback credit card, your cashback total will be combined.

Important: unless otherwise stated, you won’t earn cashback on cash (or cash-like) transactions such as using your available credit to obtain cash (e.g. at an ATM or at an over-the-counter service), gambling transactions, using your card to make transactions at casinos, betting outlets and bookmakers, and buying online lottery tickets or gaming chips, share trading or spread betting, buying foreign currency, sending money orders or wire transfers (other than balance transfers or money transfers).

Buying coins, banknotes or digital currency, paying government or court fines, enforcement penalties, fees or costs, online trading such as share dealing or investments, purchasing or topping up electronic money, payment cards, mobile wallets or account dashboard services, money transfers, balance transfers, finance charges, default charges, interest, payment protection insurance premiums, fees (including non-sterling transaction fees, card fees and handling fees), and unauthorised or fraudulent transactions.

To make sure you fully understand how your programme works, please check your programme rules.

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If you've got a problem

1. If I haven’t received cashback I was expecting, what should I do?
2. Can I contact you if I’ve got a question?
3. Can offers be withdrawn or changed?

1. If I haven’t received cashback I was expecting, what should I do?

You can check a few things to make sure the cashback you’ve received is correct:

• Did you activate the offer?
  To receive cashback, you need to ‘activate’ each individual offer in the Smart Rewards hub before you shop with your chosen retailer.
  
  
• How long has it been since you used the offer?
  When you redeem an offer, it can take up to 5 working days for it to show as a pending payment on your ‘Cashback Summary’ in the Smart Rewards hub.
  
  
• Did you redeem the offer before it expired?
  If you made your transaction after the offer expired, you won’t be eligible for cashback. You can check the expiry date of offers you’ve activated in the Smart Rewards hub.
  
  
• Were there any offer restrictions?
  Some offers have restrictions and/or exclusions. For example, some apply to online transactions only, rather than those made in a physical store.

To avoid any disappointment, remember to check the terms and conditions of each offer before you activate and shop.

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2. Can I contact you if I've got a question?

Of course. If you can’t find the answer to your question in our FAQs, then just give us a call.

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us using Relay UK. Speak to an adviser 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. SignVideo services are also available if you’re Deaf and use British Sign Language.

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3. Can offers be withdrawn or changed?

We work hard to make sure all offer details are accurate. If there are any errors in an offer, we might withdraw or correct it, but this won’t affect any offers you’ve already redeemed.

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Information about you

1. What information do you collect about me, and how is it handled?
2. Will you share my information with anyone else?

1. What information do you collect about me, and how is it handled?

We regularly review the information we have about you, including your home location and places you’ve shopped in the past. This helps us work out which offers you’re eligible for, and which are likely to be of interest to you.

That should explain why some of the available offers cover places where you regularly shop, are local to your home, or are close to your place of work.

Just so you know though, unless we have your permission, Smart Rewards will not use mobile phone data about your location.

For full details about the information we collect and how it’s used and stored, please read through our privacy policy. You can manage your marketing preferences at any time using Online Services.

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2. Will you share my information with anyone else?

To provide you with Smart Rewards we share data with certain trusted parties under strict controls and conditions. This allows us to identify and provide you with your tailored offers. We also share limited specific transaction information with retailers when you redeem their offers so that they can verify the purchases you have made with them. Your information will always be transferred in a way which is secure and only used by us in accordance with our Privacy Policy. 

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More about rewards

1. I’m already part of a cashback scheme, how will I keep track?

1. I’m already part of a cashback scheme, how will I keep track?

You can keep track of everything in the Smart Rewards hub, including the cashback you’ve earned so far, where you earned it and if there’s anything pending.

You’ll also see any cashback paid to your account on your monthly credit card statement. It’ll appear with the description ‘Smart Rewards Cashback’.

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