Originally Posted by
Majuki
I'm wondering how much of this is a byproduct of Discover's cash back at grocery store feature? Such transactions with the UnionPay post as a purchase and do earn rewards.
It is unrelated.
Discover Cash Over at grocery & others stores (incl Walmart) was a thing long before Discover bought the Pulse debit card network.
When you do a swipe + PIN with the ICBC UnionPay (swipe is a fallback mode when chip isn't supported), it is using the Pulse debit card network, and the receipts clearly show "Debit". Basically, the merchants see this card & treat this card used this way as a genuine PIN debit card even though it isn't.
This doesn't work once a merchant supports UnionPay chip, as actual cash back at the store isn't a normal feature of this card as chip/contactless.
I have used it multiple times at Arco gas station (where no credit cards are accepted) without issue, & it is treated as a real debit card, charging me the 35c debit card fee. Since I usually spend $35 on gas, and the card gets 1% back, I break even on the debit card fee & costs me the same as using cash, but it is more convenient.
[Edit to clarify: Arco is a swipe for this card, so it falls back to PIN debit mode, as there is no credit card option at Arco]