Credit-card rebate slashed to 0.4% over mismatched merchant names

Hong Kong's major banks advertise high credit-card rebates (one card, for instance, promoting 8% on spending at a noodle-restaurant chain) to draw people into applying, but at settlement they slash the rebate to 0.4% on grounds such as 'the merchant's registered trading name does not match' (for example 'Vennic Limited' instead of the brand name) or 'online spending does not count' — and cardholders are even charged an extra 1% dynamic currency conversion (DCC) fee, so the points earned fall far short of the surcharge paid. People widely report being unable to verify in advance whether each transaction will earn the promised rebate, and monthly statements lack a per-transaction rebate breakdown, leaving consumers with no way to protect themselves.

This exposes a serious lack of information transparency in Hong Kong's credit-card market, with a systemic gap between advertised promotions and the actual rebate mechanism. There is latent demand in the market for a credit-card rebate reality-tracking platform, including a community database independently verifying each card's true rebate rate, a cross-reference table of the actual registered trading names of major merchants, and a rebate-calculation tool to help consumers make informed choices both when applying and in everyday spending.