How do rewards accrue on processing volume?
Rewards accrue at settlement: when a merchant’s daily card batch clears, the settled dollar amount is multiplied by their program earn rate and the resulting points post to their balance automatically — typically the same day. No card enrollment, no customer action, no point-of-sale changes.
Settlement is the right trigger because it is the payment system’s moment of truth — the batch total is final, verified money. Programs that estimate from gross sales or invoices drift from reality; settlement-based accrual cannot.
What determines the earn rate?
The merchant’s program tier. Merchants earn 0.10, 0.15, or 0.20 points per dollar of settled card volume, depending on their cash-discount program rate (3.50%, 3.75%, or 3.99%). The higher the cash-discount rate a merchant runs, the more program funding exists, and the faster they earn.
| Cash-discount rate | Earn rate | On $75,000/mo | Yearly reward value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.50% | 0.10 pts / $1 | 7,500 pts/mo | ≈ $900 |
| 3.75% | 0.15 pts / $1 | 11,250 pts/mo | ≈ $1,350 |
| 3.99% | 0.20 pts / $1 | 15,000 pts/mo | ≈ $1,800 |
One point is worth about one cent in redemption value.
What is the money path behind the points?
As volume settles, a slice of the program’s basis points flows into a dedicated suspension account. Every redemption is pre-funded by a dedicated suspension account before points are ever earned — so when a merchant redeems, the money is already sitting there, not promised from a future budget.
This is also why points can carry a hard no-expiration guarantee: a liability that is pre-funded does not need breakage tricks (expiring points) to stay solvent.
What does a real merchant actually earn?
A merchant processing $75,000 a month at the 3.99% tier earns 15,000 points a month — 180,000 points a year, about $1,800 in rewards. One point is worth about one cent in redemption value. At the 3.50% tier the same volume earns 7,500 points a month, about $900 a year.
Redemptions come from a curated catalog — airline travel, hotels, MacBooks and other electronics, and major gift cards — with electronic gift cards issued instantly at redemption.
What does the merchant have to do?
Nothing after enrollment. Their payment provider connects the merchant account once; from then on every settled batch earns automatically. The merchant watches the balance grow in a rewards portal, sets goals, and redeems when ready.