The MPX app from United is convenient way to rack up bonus United miles for purchases you’re making regardless. You’ll net an extra 1-5 miles per dollar (sometimes more) by paying with a gift card bought via the app instead of paying direct.
The question often arises whether the category bonus from the credit card will carry over on an MPX purchase.
I conducted a bunch of experiments to learn more, and here are the results.
Chase
Update: Seems Chase is now coding MPX as generic purchase, and it stopped earning any category bonuses.
- CSP Starbucks  – earned 2x as restaurant
- INK, Office Max – earned 5x as office
- INK, Staples – earned 5x as office (There are conflicting reports about this on Reddit here and here; my recent experience is that it worked; I’d guess that it used to not work and now does work.)
- Uber – works for 3x on CSR and triggers travel credit
- Freedom, Kohl’s – did not work for 5x as Department Stores (despite the fact that Kohl’s is specifically listed as an eligible merchant with Chase)
- Freedom, Sears – worked for 5x as Department stores (though using a portal to buy the gift card might be a better idea)
- Hyatt, Papa John’s – earned 2x (heard from  a friend)
- CSR, Red Robin – earned 3x as restaurant (heard from a friend)
- CSR, Domino’s – earned 3x as restaurant (heard from a friend)
- Freedom, Panera – earns 5x for rotating restaurant category
Citi
- Prestige $10 Starbucks gift card – earned double points for dining
- Dividend, Kohl’s for 5% in the department store category – this won’t earn 5% (from Citi rep)
- Dividend, Sears for 5% in the department store category – this will earn 5% (from Citi rep)
- AT&T, Staples – earned 3x
Amex
Amex lags a month with issuing rewards, so I won’t know for another few weeks whether these worked (I don’t think they will). I’ll update when the results come in.
- Platinum personal, Staples – pending (waiting to see if it gets 5x for Airfare)
- Business Gold, Staples – pending (waiting see if it gets 2x for Airfare)
- SimplyCash, Staples – a friend confirms this did not earn 5%
Discover
- Discover, Kohl’s – didn’t work.
- Discover, Amazon – didn’t work
- Discover, Sears – worked
Barclay
- Sallie Mae, Amazon – does not earn 5% (pic)
Final Thoughts
As a rule of thumb, it appears that MPX accurately captures the category coding, but won’t get the store coding. So generally, you’ll get the bonus category for dining or department stores and similar, but you won’t get the coding of a specific store (e.g. Discover or Sallie Mae for Amazon). There are exceptions, such as Kohl’s, which is usually considered a department store, yet MPX doesn’t consider it as such.
It’s impressive that MPX gets the category coding correct, something we don’t typically see. I’ll update the Amex and Discover experiments when the results come in, and please add your own data points in the comments!
What are the merchants one can use to max out the 3x earnings on the chase business preferred card?
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/payments-workshop/
My PRG shows 3X on any MPX purchase, so amazon GC will earn 3X MR + 0.5X miles * 1.25.
Curious where you see this on Amex website? Before I saw this article, I was trying to see if it works work for plat and I don’t see any bonus points. :'(
Uber GC codes as local commuter transport on Chase Freedom and therefore for 5x “Bonus 1Q 5% cat: Local Commuter Transport.” I made the purchase on Feb 23.
Nice, thanks for the data point. So you earned 1 United mile and the 5 UR?
Yes!
There’s no way to buy VGCs at Staples this way right since you get a staples gift card and they can’t be used for gift card purchases?
Right, most cashier don’t allow it
And no way to do it online correct? Thanks Chuck!
Online it won’t work
I am going to try some other gift cards through MPX and see if it still gives 3x UR or not?
Any idea of which category from MPX gives 3x UR points?
If you buy dining gift cards on the MPX app with your Sapphire Reserve card, there’s a good chance it will earn 3x.
On my CSR for the first time it gave me 3x UR points on Panera, but afterwards it gave me only 1x points on Panera.
Hmm, weird
I am going to try some other gift cards through MPX and see if it still gives 3x UR or not?
Any idea of which category from MPX gives 3x UR points?
I believe the Freedom’s 5X deparment store category this year is based on store coding and not category coding. The fine print sure makes it look like the bonus is only available at the specifically listed stores, as opposed to most other Freedom categories where the list if stores is referenced as an example.
That would explain why the pass through for Khols doesnt work.
But then why did Sears work?
Amex platinum purchase of amazon giftcard at MPX did not give me 5x MR points……$25 amazon card gave only 25 MR points….
There is a month delay in the rewards posting, so let’s wait and see.
Edit: I now learned that promotional points usually show on the account quicker, so it seems pretty certain that MPX is NOT working for 5x with Platinum, as you say.
MPX is hit-or-miss in terms of working. It didn’t work for me for months, then I tried again and it’s been working flawlessly since then.
Interesting! Maybe that’s it – if you don’t wait two weeks, each time you try using it resets the two week period.
That seems incredibly stupid. Believable but stupid on the part of MPX 🙂
Same here tried for two days it didn’t work then used VPN and changed location to somewhere apart from my primary location and it worked the very first time…… may be try this way and see if it works…..
You show Citi AT&T getting 3x at Staples. Was that in-store? I don’t think this store is typically a 3x category for the card.
It was a purchase through the MPX app, not a direct charge in a Staples store.