Update 9/17/24: Reports of 4x earnings ending might have been greatly exaggerated!
Following transactions not coding as U.S. Electronic Goods and Software on September 14, things reverted back to normal on September 15. Then yesterday I heard from numerous people and groups who’d been in contact with Pepper Rewards that a change was being forced on them which was going to affect coding going forward. Pepper had apparently stated that they hoped to get that Merchant Category Coding (MCC) back, but there seemed to be general agreement that 4x was dead.
It turns out that might not be the case after all. Transactions are once again going through on the U.S. Electronic Goods and Software MCC, so that’s welcome news if that continues, especially for those who recently got a new Business Gold card. The thing to bear in mind is that it could take weeks for your Business Gold statement to close and verify that these new transactions did indeed earn 4x, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
A couple of days ago people noticed that Pepper Rewards transactions were no longer showing up as ‘U.S. Electronic Goods and Software’ charges on the Amex Business Gold card (one of the categories earning 4x Membership Rewards on the card). While that was initially concerning, the following day things seemed to revert back to normal.
Unfortunately going forward it does look like Pepper Rewards purchases will no longer earn 4x Membership Rewards as Moocho (the company behind Pepper Rewards) has had to change their Merchant Category Coding (MCC). By extension this means that the Amex Business Platinum card won’t earn 1.5x either.
That’s a massive hit because the 4x earnings were one of the factors that made the app so popular (well, that and the ludicrously unsustainably high rates they offer). As a result, Pepper Rewards purchases will be a little less rewarding going forward unless you buy gift cards using a credit card where you’re working on the minimum spend requirement for a signup bonus.
In terms of which cards will offer bonused spend on Pepper purchases, one option might be the Bank of America Customized Cash card if you have Online Shopping selected as your 3% category. The Mastercard and Visa versions of that card sometimes earn in different ways with online purchases, so that could be worth testing out.
I’m curious if the Hilton Surpass will classify purchases as online shopping for its relatively new 4x category. While 4x Hilton Honors points isn’t a huge reward, it might be worthwhile if you’re also working on the card’s $15,000 big spend bonus to earn a free night certificate. Otherwise, a 2%/2x card, a 2.625% card for those with Bank of America Platinum Honors or other cards that have big spend bonuses and/or allow you to earn status (e.g. Hyatt, American Airlines, etc.) are other potential good options.
Weird its coding as computer supplies for me today as it usually does…. are you certain about this?
If you didn’t find that extremely specific image, that’s some clever, speedy image-making chops!
Looks AI generated.
Yep, like Ali said it was AI-generated. I have zero artistic skills.
I don’t know how to use AI for pictures, so yeah, serious chops and cleverness!
I just went to bing.com/create and gave it the instruction to create an image of a gravestone with peppers and ‘4x’ written on it.