BNPL, cashback, purchase protection: the 10 words of card perks

Beobank sells two different ways to get money back on a purchase, and their numbers never line up. The Visa Extra pays out 1% in cash. The Smart Travel Mastercard converts into points that only mean something at a hotel. The ten words below separate what actually comes back, what protects a purchase, and what is neither. This fifth lot completes the four glossaries already published on this site: the basics, the fees and rates, security, and law and players.

Is a Beobank point really worth one cent?

Yes, exactly: 2,500 points are worth 25 euros at Beobank, which pins the point at one cent flat. The maths comes from the Smart Travel Mastercard product page, checked on 17 September 2026: every 2 euros spent credits 1 point, capped at 250 euros per calendar year.

Cashback

Cashback pays back a fixed percentage of every purchase, in cash or in points convertible at a known rate, with no sector condition attached.

Beobank sells two versions that do not resemble each other. The Visa Extra pays 1% in cash on any purchase, capped at 100 euros a year, for a fee listed as 20 euros on one page and 30 euros on another, both checked in April 2026. I go with 30 euros: it is the figure that matches the profitability calculation the issuer publishes itself, which lands on a net gain of 70 euros a year above 833 euros of monthly spend. The Smart Travel Mastercard, by contrast, pays nothing in cash: its points are worth one cent each, but only once converted at a partner hotel or tour operator. Our cashback guide lays out both mechanics side by side.

Miles

A mile builds up on every card payment and gets spent on a flight, never on cash or on anything else.

None of the four big traditional Belgian banks, ING, BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC and Belfius, offers miles on a mainstream credit card. Beobank remains the only issuer on the market since launching its Brussels Airlines cards on 21 March 2025, in partnership with Miles & More. The Horizon, at 100 euros a year, credits 1 mile per euro spent; a Miles & More mile then redeems for between 0.8 and 2 cents depending on the cabin and the destination, according to our miles card comparison, updated on 15 May 2026. On that card, the cost per mile accumulated drops to 0.67 cents, below the lowest redemption value: the gap between those two figures is the only net gain left for a regular flyer, once the fee is absorbed. A Brussels-New York return in economy costs roughly 50,000 miles, which puts the real effort behind a word often sold as a gift.

Loyalty programme

Behind the label "loyalty programme" often sits a points system whose conversion rate stays locked to one specific spending sector.

Beobank's Smart Travel Mastercard is the clean example: points only convert against a purchase at a partner hotel or tour operator, never into cash on the account. A cash withdrawal, on the other hand, earns strictly no points at all, a restriction few sales pages state as clearly. This sector lock is documented in our travel pillar guide, checked on 17 September 2026. For a household booking two or three trips a year, the 250-euro annual cap fills up fast, and I would only recommend this card if the hotel or tour operator is already part of the household's regular spending.

Trip cancellation cover only activates if the trip was paid with the card

Paying for a flight by bank transfer, then counting on the credit card's insurance to cover a cancellation, does not work in any of the Belgian cases checked for this lot.

Trip cancellation cover

Trip cancellation cover reimburses non-recoverable costs of a cancelled trip due to illness, accident, or the death of a relative, on condition that part of the trip was paid with the card.

That share varies by issuer: 70% at BNP Paribas Fortis, 75% at Keytrade Bank, the full amount at others, according to our credit card insurance guide, checked on 14 April 2026. The cap follows the same spread: 6,000 euros per claim on the ING Mastercard Gold, 5,000 euros per trip on the Keytrade Visa Platinum, the latter staying potentially free for anyone who runs twelve transactions a year on the card.

Travel assistance

Travel assistance covers hospitalisation, advanced medical costs, and repatriation during a trip abroad covered by the card.

Caps swing by a factor of sixteen from one issuer to the next. ING Mastercard Gold reaches up to 200,000 euros for a serious accident, while Belfius caps hospitalisation at 12,500 euros. Keytrade Visa Platinum adds 25,000 euros of assistance cover, potentially at no annual fee. The same insurance guide publishes this comparison bank by bank.

Purchase protection or extended warranty: which lasts longer?

Neither replaces the other, and each kicks in at a different point in an object's life.

Purchase protection

Purchase protection covers theft by break-in or accidental damage on an object paid for with the card, for a window of a few months after the purchase.

The Visa Extra page and the Smart Travel Mastercard page, published by the same issuer, tell two different stories. The Visa Extra sheet, checked in April 2026, states 2,500 euros per claim over 90 days with a 75-euro deductible. The Smart Travel Mastercard sheet, checked on 17 September 2026, instead states a minimum of 50 euros per claim, a 200-day window, and an annual cap of 2,000 euros. Not a mistake. Two distinct products from the same issuer: I go with the more recent figure for the card in question, and I flag the gap rather than pick quietly. Our insurance guide compares these caps against other banks.

Extended warranty

Extended warranty adds one to two years to a manufacturer's warranty on an appliance or an electronic device paid for with the card.

KBC and Beobank both offer this cover with no extra sign-up step, according to the same 14 April 2026 check. On a 600-euro dishwasher, that extra year genuinely matters. On a fashion accessory, it changes nothing, which is why few issuers put it front and centre in their marketing.

A supplementary card does not create a second credit contract

No Belgian bank issues a credit card under two names. What exists instead takes two quite distinct forms.

Supplementary card

A supplementary card carries the name of someone other than the main holder, yet stays tied to the same credit contract and the same monthly bill.

On this exact point, the Belgian market stays quiet: none of the official pages checked for this lot lists a fee specific to a truly subordinate card, distinct from a second, full named card. The documented Belgian reality is closer to this, checked on 4 July 2026 in our couples and joint accounts guide: BNP Paribas Fortis fits two named cards into its Premium Pack with no extra fee, while two KBC Mastercard Gold cards cost 144 euros a year between them, each billed separately.

Joint account

A joint account lets two people each attach their own named credit card to the same shared account, as our couples guide explains, without ever merging the two cards into one.

The liability that follows often surprises people. According to Test-Achats, each co-holder of a joint account is liable for the entire debt run up by a credit card linked to it, including the part the other person spent alone. The bank can demand the full amount from either one, without checking who actually paid for what.

Instalment payments still escape regulated credit, until November 2026

Since 1 December 2025, a minor can no longer activate an instalment payment plan in Belgium, in any form.

BNPL

BNPL splits a payment into several closely spaced instalments, outside the credit card itself, most often with no interest and no creditworthiness check, for now.

Klarna offers three instalments at no cost. Zero interest, zero paperwork. KBC does the same at Carrefour from 75 euros of purchase. On a standard credit card, by comparison, spreading a balance costs between 8.63% APR at KBC (Flex Budget) and 14.49% at Beobank and Cetelem, according to our instalment payment guide. The Belgian law of 1 December 2025 bans BNPL for minors, under a fine that can reach 800,000 euros or 6% of the provider's annual turnover. Directive (EU) 2023/2225, known as CCD2, applicable from 20 November 2026, goes further: mandatory creditworthiness checks, registration with the Central Credit Register, regulated advertising, a fourteen-day withdrawal right, exactly the regime of an ordinary credit line.

The table below sums up the ten terms and the strongest Belgian figure found for each.

Before counting a card perk as a given, these checks come up on most of the ten terms above:

• the annual or per-claim cap, almost always lower than the product's name suggests;
• the card-payment condition, which voids trip cancellation cover the moment part of the trip goes through a bank transfer;
• the check date behind the cited figure, which sometimes changes from one page to another at the same issuer;
• the spending sector required to convert loyalty points, rarely spelled out before the first attempt at redeeming them;
• the difference between a perk bundled into the annual fee and an optional service billed separately.

Last check of the figures in this lot: 26 September 2026.