Updated 1:40pm PT on 3/8/21: According to Brian, Barclays has fixed the issue with bonus categories not posting correctly.  Here is what Brian said:

My most recent Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card statement closed and I received both (a) 5x on new utilities charges for electric and gas charges (each of which received only 1x on the previous statement) and (b) an “adjustment” of points equal to the additional 4x on the electric and gas charges from the last statement about which I inquired via secure message via the card’s website.  So, hopefully, the issue is fixed now!

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few months ago, I wrote about the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card Application & Reconsideration Process along with the Strange Things About my New Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card.  A few days ago, my friend Brian reached out to me about this credit card to ask if I had noticed an issue with category bonus points not posting or posting slowly to my Wyndham Rewards account:

Hi Grant,

Have you noticed a delay (or non-posting) of points greater than 1x in the bonus categories with your card?

My first statement recently closed. On it, I had charges for 3 different utilities (water, gas, and electric). Two of the three even had the merchant category as utilities (water was from my municipality; so, merchant code was “government services”). However, none of my charges received the supposed 5x on utilities. I’m curious whether you’ve had similar experiences with your card for 8x on gas or 5x on marketing, advertising services, and utilities?

As a reminder, this credit card earns 8x at Wyndham Hotels and at gas stations; 5x on marketing, advertising services, and utilities; and 1x on everything else.

After digging into my credit card statements and searching on FlyerTalk, here is what I found out…

To be honest, when I applied for this credit card, I only focused on the 45,000 Wyndham Rewards Points sign up bonus and didn’t even notice the bonus categories.  Since this credit card has a low minimum spending requirement ($1,000 in 3 months), I didn’t pay too much attention to which categories my purchases coded as.  I decided to look at my recent credit card statements to see if anything looked wrong.

On my first credit card statement, I spent a total of $889.53 and earned 890 points.  On my second statement, I spent $115.47 at Comcast (cable utility) and only earned 115 points.  Uh oh…

I decided to look more closely at the credit card terms and conditions for the bonus categories:

Earning Points
You earn Points for purchases less credits, returns and adjustments (“Net Purchases”) made by you and/or any authorized user(s) of the Card Account as follows:

• You earn 8 Points for every $1 spent on eligible Net Purchases made with the Card Account at participating By Wyndham hotels or Hotels By Wyndham (“By Wyndham hotels”) (e.g., those purchases that appear on your folio for the stay). For more information, please call Wyndham Rewards Member Services at 866-WYN-RWDS (866-996-7937).
• You earn 8 Points for every $1 spent on eligible Net Purchases made with the Card Account on gas. Qualifying gas purchases are defined as automated fuel dispensers and service stations, as identified by the merchant category codes.
• You earn 5 Points for every $1 spent on eligible Net Purchases made with the Card Account on marketing and advertising services and utilities. Qualifying marketing and advertising service purchases include but are not limited to purchases from Google Ad Words, Facebook, and other digital advertising platforms; merchants that prepare and place advertising in various media (newspapers, radio, television); coupon and/or sample distribution; and other marketing and advertising purchases as identified by the merchant category codes. Qualifying utility purchases are defined as telecommunications services, cable, satellite, electric, gas, heating oil and water, as identified by the merchant category code.
• You earn 1 Point for every $1 spent on all other Net Purchases (excluding timeshare down payment purchases to Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Inc., Wyndham Resort Development Corporation, Shell Vacations, LLC, and related developer affiliates and partners). For more information on Wyndham Destinations, including an overview of resorts, please visit WyndhamDestinations.com.
• Purchases must be submitted by merchants using the merchant category codes for purchases in the above specified categories to qualify for the additional Points. Barclays and Wyndham Rewards, Inc. are not responsible for incorrectly coded purchases. Additional Points may not be earned if the merchant submits the purchase using a mobile or wireless card reader or if you use a mobile or digital wallet to pay for the purchase. Additionally, purchases made through third parties, including online marketplaces and resellers, or using a third-party payment account will not earn additional Points.
• Balance transfers, cash advances (including cash equivalent transactions such as, but not limited to, the use of your Card Account to obtain money orders, traveler’s checks, foreign currency and lottery tickets), fees, interest charges and unauthorized/fraudulent purchases are not considered Net Purchases and do not earn Points.

Based on our data points, it does look like we are not earning bonus points on qualifying utility purchases.  With my 1 Comcast utility purchase, I should have earned 577 Wyndham Rewards Points ($115.47 x 5 = 577), but instead, I only earned 115 points.  The 462 point difference (worth only a few dollars) was not worth contacting Barclays, especially since I was not going to put recurring purchases on this credit card.  I told Brian that since this credit card is relatively new, I’m guessing Barclays has some IT issues regarding the bonus categories.

Brian spent a few hundred dollars in gas and utility purchases and did not earn bonus points on any of those purchases.  He calculated that he was out ~2,800 points (worth $20-$30), so he sent in a Service Request message through the credit card portal.  A few days later, Brian received this response (or non-response) from Barclays:

Status: Completed

Memo: We have submitted your account for review in regards to not receiving 5x rewards for qualifying purchases. We appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to service your financial needs. Should you have any questions, we’re available at CARDSERVICES@WYNDHAMBUSINESSCARD.COM or at (866) 757-3648 from 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM ET, MONDAY – SATURDAY.

I’m guessing Brian will see a “courtesy credit” of ~2,800 points on his next credit card statement, but that sounds annoying if he needs to contact Barclays every month until the IT Issue is resolved.  He also found a relevant FlyerTalk thread (scroll down to message 13) where other FlyerTalkers have noticed that purchases made in bonus categories were not posting correctly.  Based on the data points in the thread, as of February 18, 2021, it appears that 8x at gas stations is now working correctly, but 5x at utilities is still not working.

I’m hoping this issue gets resolved soon for Brian and the other FlyerTalkers.  I may or may not receive an adjustment on a future credit card statement, but I won’t hold my breath.  If you have this credit card and made purchases in the 8x and 5x bonus categories, have you received all the points you earned?  If not, have you reached out to Barclays?  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!

P.S. I will update this post as updates and new info comes in.