No Direct Access to petrol points

Earlier I was writing a cheque for my Direct Access Card payment. It's a cheque instead of using the cash deposit machine coz I spent a bit more last month. *feels hole in pocket*

Anyhow, while I cross checked the statement to make sure I recorded all the necessary details at the back of the cheque, I noticed my points earned was lower than the amount spent for the last month. There was an asterisk next to the points earned. After finding the relevant footnote, it stated that petrol purchases are not entitled for points. Wok?!

At home after work, I checked the previous 2 statements before the 1 that I just issued the cheque for. In Dec 2007, there was no such clause. However, the clause appeared from the Jan 2008 statement. It got me thinking, could this be a way of promoting CIMB's new Petronas (the national petroleum corporation) Mastercard, given that Direct Access is now a division of CIMB Bank? I recently got myself a Maybank Petronas Visa card that for these few months, allows cardholders to earn 5 times more points for Petronas petrol purchases. Nevertheless, by using the Petronas Visa, one cannot earn Kad Mesra (Petronas' loyalty card program under the Real Rewards scheme) points at the same time. Darn. Me wonder if similar to the Maybank Petronas Visa, the CIMB Petronas Mastercard also doesn't allow for Kad Mesra points accumulation? The inability to earn Kad Mesra points happens as after approving the use of the Petronas affiliated credit card, the petrol pump kiosk does not prompt for the Kad Mesra.

I shall ask NIA to check her recent CIMB card statements to verify if this exclusion of petrol purchases for point is for all types of CIMB credit cards (besides the Petronas Mastercard). I wonder too if the exclusion of petrol purchases extends to other banks' credit cards? I do remember at one time that as part of the settlement to allow credit card transactions for petrol purchased, it's rumoured that these purchases do not accumulate points. Dunno wok happened after that? Could this be the result?

This cross promotion or co-branding with banks exists for many of the petroleum corporations here. Those I know of besides the 2 mentioned above are Standard Chartered-BHP and Citibank-Shell. I do not know of any banks tie-up for Caltex, Esso & Mobile (any petrol corporation I missed?). Shall we term this tie-ups as 'Bancpetrol'?

If you can shed some light on this, do update me via the comments page or what not.

Addendum on 4 March 2008: NIA checked her CIMB credit card statement. Her standard CIMB credit card is also now not entitled for points when used to purchase petrol. Darn.

Till later, live long & prosper.