IDFC's 2.5% debit card rewards are ending

All Good Things Come to an End, Soon!
#IDFCBank came up with one of the most lucrative #DebitCard #reward programs ever, offering up to 2.5% back on spends!
That’s something even many paid #CreditCards couldn’t match!

Soon, the loopholes started surfacing, and people figured out how to earn reward points through manufactured spending! One of the most abused methods was paying credit card bills, using the IDFC debit card, and earning reward points! Wondering how, all thanks to wrong MCC mappings at a few #fintech payment gateways.

And once the abuse started, the bank had no choice but to act.
First, they started blocking one merchant after another and finally decided to pull the plug entirely, no more debit card rewards!

The result?
- Genuine customers are upset.
- Exploiters are unhappy.
- And the bank learnt a hard lesson: never roll out a reward structure that’s not sustainable!
This reminds me of another example, #AxisBank Magnus Burgundy, which lost most of its premium benefits almost overnight!

When benefits are too good to be true, it’s often just a matter of time before they get “rationalized”.

A few programs today that might be walking the same path:
- Many co-branded cards that offer a 5–10% rewards ratio
- A few prepaid/BNPL cards still offering 1–2% cashback on everything

What other programs do you believe are unsustainable and may be restructured soon?