Sparkasse cooperates with Payback

Two major financial institutions will be working together in the future: From July 1, 2025, Sparkasse customers will be able to collect Payback points directly when paying with their Sparkasse Card. Initially, the offer will be available regionally in stores that are partners of the S-Vorteilswelt savings banks. Later, around 12,000 regional retailers throughout Germany will be connected.

Collect Payback points with the Sparkasse card

To collect points directly when paying, customers must link their Payback account to their Giro card once. This can be done via online banking or the Sparkasse app. As soon as the Payback account has been linked to the Sparkasse card, users can automatically collect points. The Payback points balance can be viewed in online banking and in the S-Vorteilswelt app, explains Payback.

According to Payback, national Payback partners such as Aral, Dm, Edeka and other retail chains will be integrated over the coming months. Customers will also be able to collect points for financial products from the savings bank – for example when opening a current account –. The participating savings banks can set the number of points themselves.

Only a small amount of data will be shared

According to Payback, “only the necessary information will be transferred from the savings bank to Payback”. This includes, for example, the “Payback number, the booking date of the payment, redeemed coupons and the Payback points value calculated from this,” it says. The fact that the company communicates this so clearly is probably related to regular criticism of the company from the consumer advice center.

Consumer advocates regularly criticize such bonus programs because they can contribute to the creation of extensive shopping profiles. This means that customers pay a high price in terms of privacy and marketing insights for participating companies for a manageable reward. With Payback, the minimum discounts that are regularly possible by collecting and redeeming points and coupons often correspond to only meagre 0.5 percent, as c't found out in a comparison.

Payback is the largest bonus program in Germany. According to the company, well over 34 million people actively use it. Payback also works with over 700 partner companies. The savings banks are among the largest financial institution groups in Europe.

The cooperation between the savings banks and Payback was announced back in 2023. The technical implementation required a longer lead time, Payback explains. “We're not talking about a marketing feature that can be activated with one click – but about in-depth integration into checkout systems,” says Payback Managing Director Bernhard Brugger.

(afl)