Over the past year, banks have significantly increased the amount of refunds paid. In total, the banks surveyed by the publication returned about 200 billion rubles to their clients. For comparison, in 2022, these same banks paid their clients more than 150 billion rubles in refunds.
In first place, like a year ago, was Tinkoff. According to Vedomosti, over the past year Tinkoff returned 83 billion rubles in cash to its customers in real money. This is 28% more than in 2022.
Some banks, including Sber, calculate cashback in the form of bonuses. Thus, within the framework of the Sberspasibo program, almost 140 billion bonuses for purchases were canceled last year (a year earlier, 60 billion bonuses). But the bonds in this case are not equivalent to rubles. Taking into account the conversion rate, which depends on the availability of a subscription and additional service packages, when converting points the result is 70 to 112 billion rubles.
For VTB clients, the amount of accruals in bonuses and rubles over the past year increased by 6% (a total of 24.3 billion accruals). Sovcombank issued more than 3.5 billion rubles. cash back points, which is about 10% more than last year. Alfa Bank and Dom.RF Bank reported that they paid their clients twice as much cashback as in 2022, but did not disclose the actual amounts. At PSB, refund accrual volume increased by almost 20%.
According to experts surveyed by the publication, cashback in the form of money is more profitable for customers than returning it with points and bonuses. In the first case, a bank customer can spend the refund on anything and not on specific products and services offered to him.
Interestingly, over the past year, Russians’ preferences for refund categories have changed. If in 2022 the most popular categories were related to construction and entertainment, in 2023 supermarkets, cafes and restaurants took first place.
