Where can you Buy “Gas” with a Chase Freedom or Discover It Credit Card?
Warning, this is an untested experiment, so YMMV. Proceed at your own risk.
I’m sure most of you already know that the Chase Freedom and the Discover It credit cards offer 5x or 5% cash back at gas stations this quarter (July 1 – September 30). But do you know what Chase and Discover consider “gas stations”? Let me explain…
Credit card companies use Merchant Category Codes (MCC for short) to determine which merchant or merchant category you are shopping at. For example, Office Supply Stores are one MCC, Marriott is another, and Gas Stations are another. You can learn more about the MCC search tool here. For this post, I will just share what I did and point you in the right direction.
To start my search, I searched for my local gas station chains (ARCO, Chevron, and Shell) near my zip code.
The results for ARCO come back with a few different MCCs (5541, 7538, and 7542).
The results for Chevron come back with only 2 MCCs (5542 and 5541).
And finally, the results for Shell come back with 3 MCCs (7542, 5541, and 5542).
I took those 4 MCCs back to the search page and plugged them into the search box along with my zip code and clicked the Search button.
Here are the first 18 results that match those MCCs:
What does it all mean?
If my theory regarding MCCs is correct, you *should* earn 5x or 5% cash back at any of the above merchants. Chase and Discover should consider “#6 Barranca Shell (MCC 7542)” the same as “#5 The Car Spa (MCC 7542)” and “#14 Jamboree Car Wash (MCC 7542)”. Therefore, every merchant on this list *should* earn 5x or 5% cash back.
So what?
Depending on where you live (make sure to sort the MCC results by distance), you may see some familiar merchants like 7-Eleven (buy gift cards) or Midas Auto (buy tires or get your oil changed). Of course, the obvious reason is to look for merchants that sell Vanilla Reload Cards or other high dollar gift cards that you can buy with a credit card, but I want you to think more out of the box than just that. Just remember, “Gas Stations” may or many not sell gas. For the record, here is the list of all gas stations that Chase lists.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
Hi Grant. Thanks for the great post. By the way I just try to search for Chevron gas station near me (it has a store called ExtraMiles), and get the result below with multiple MCC, if I try to buy a gift cards there, which one will the Visa use to code my transation? I worry that it will coded as SUPPLIES(5541)
GAS STATIONS / FUEL / SUPPLIES – 5542,5541
I think Chase and Discover have a list of acceptable MCCs that they will pay 5x or 5% cash back on. I’m sure both of those MCC numbers are listed, so I wouldn’t worry about which code they use. If you want to check, make a small purchase at the ExtraMiles store and wait a few days for the purchase to post to your online credit card account. It should tell you which category was used. Otherwise, you can wait until the end of the month and see if you earn the 5x on the purchase based on the number of points you receive.
Go to Valero to buy vanilla reload cards withe points earning cc – especially freedom and discover for this 3q14.
. Corporate policy seems to be $1,900 per person per day. Do in 3*503.93 and 1*$398.95 with 4 separate card chase ink or amex gold cc swipes. Each will get you 2* ur or mr points respectively.
Go to the vanilla reload website to find valero location, but be aware not all gas stations stock them, and when they do, some staff we ill accept only cash or debit which is a bummer! Try and try again until you hit the jackpot.
Thanks for the tip Ken, I used the Valero Store Locator (http://www.valero.com/stores/storelocator/Pages/Home.aspx) and see one somewhat close by. I’ll check it out next time I am in the area.
Do you know any Valeros in OC Ca that actually sell vanilla reloads?
I haven’t been to any Valeros, but there are a few in OC/Tustin area that may/may not have any VRCs.
Hey Grant,
My experience is that car washes, even the ones that sell gas don’t earn extra Freedom points. Of course I am only basing this on 2 I use in OC. Hey, if you find a Valero in OC that sells cards let us know. I have tried a few with no luck. Speaking of gas, just buy Shell or Arco cards with your INK and you are good to go for UR points. Also the AMEX Mobil sync is quite a good deal which lasts to the end of the month if you haven’t already used up all of your Amex cards yet.
Thank you for the data points, bummer that car washes don’t earn 5x. I guess my car will stay dirty today. Do you mean the Mobil AMEX Offer for You deal?
Thanks! Didn’t know about the MCC search tool! That’s awesome!
It comes is very handy sometimes!
I’ve found this tool useful but have also learned that sometimes different card companies code stores differently. My local Targets are coded as grocery stores by Visa and Discover but AmEx codes them as misc merchandise stores.
Agreed, the MCC website below is only accurate for Visa credit cards. MasterCard, Discover, and American Express may have the same or different codes, so it is good to remind people that just because Visa has those merchants classified one way, the other payment processors may have them coded differently.
Grant, great post. I’m a little concerned though, whether or not the MCC is the only basis on which places are coded.
One example I had personal experience w/ recently is re: restaurant category. Last month, when Chase freedom was 5% at restaurants, I ate at an ice cream shop “Creamistry” on Barranca (zip 92606 — if you have not had it, you have to go …. RIDICULOUSLY GOOD…). On MCC website, it’s listed as “5814 RESTAURANTS/BARS.”
When looking at my Chase Freedom statement though, I did not get the full 5%, only 1% cashback. When I went to my Chase blueprint spend analyzer, it lists Creamistry as a “grocery store” (with description on the bottom saying “Includes: Grocery stores, Supermarkets, Butchers, Specialty Food Markets, and Candy Stores (Please Note: Grocery purchases made at Discount/Superstores may appear in the Wholesale Clubs and Discount Stores category”)
Talk about confusing! Visa must have a more elaborate method than actually just the MCC I’m assuming, so good idea would be to just proceed with caution. Again, not sure if this is primarily pertinent to restaurants/food places, but I’m sure other categories have blurred lines that are not too clear ….
Yes, that is a good point. I really don’t have any idea how the credit card companies code different purchases/restaurants. It could be on a bank by bank basis or restaurant by restaurant basis. The MCC database is a good place to start regarding experiments.
By the way, I haven’t eaten at Creamistry, but it sounds like a “cool” place to go.
Or you could just log onto Chase and click the + symbol under the purchases and it will tell you exactly how many points you earned (including bonus points).
That will work too. Good idea Phil.
I visited four 7-11s yesterday near Irvine area trying to find one that had $500 variable load gift cards. No luck. I will be visiting few more today before giving up. Do you know if they will sell the reloadable cards with CC?
I heard that Valero with corner store might have them (select gift cards in the advanced search of Valero store locator). The nearest one is in Orange. I might visit it later this week.
Thank you for sharing Sara, but I don’t have very high hopes for 7-Eleven stores in Irvine/OC. I wish you good luck though.
Sara-
I used to be able to use credit cards at OC 7/11’s, but it seems like a month or so ago the registers became hard coded to prevent such sales. Of course let us know if you find out something different.
Sara – any luck?
No. I tried this weekend and no luck at the Valero in Tustin (no vgc/vr). I found one 7-11 (out of 6) that actually has stock of OV Visa gift cards. But it was cash only. Maybe, I will try going at a different time this week to see if another cashier would let me buy with cc. if they did, I will update here. They have a lot in stock.
Thanks for the update Sara. Good luck!
7/11s in San Diego will sell One Vanillas via CC, but then what? Any thoughts on ways to liquidate OVs quickly, other than through regular purchases?
Hmm Amazon Payments and Evolve Money? Possibly load to Target AMEX card.
Thanks Grant.
Does purchasing a gift card on the gas company website (ie. Cheveron) get coded as Gas?
I’m not sure, I’ve never tried. Do a small test purchase of $5-$10 and see how the purchase codes on your credit card.