Category Archives for Credit Cards.
Bilt Rewards is back with Rent Day and for some members this will be the most lucrative one yet by a wide margin. They have the usual offers of free points for trivia questions, double points on their credit card, and an opportunity to your rent paid for. But this is also the first time they’ve added an elite status benefit as part of Rent Day transfer bonus.
The first of each month is extra rewarding.
The Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act without the Credit Card Competition Act from Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) included, pushing off risk of new rules driving down interchange rates in the near-term. To placate the Senators, Senate leadership promised a future vote on their long-running quest to deliver a gift to retailers at the expense of card issuers.
I recently had the chance to catch up with Ankur Jain, founder and CEO of Bilt Rewards. He’s a serial entrepreneur, having sold connections tool Humin to Tinder; became their Vice President of Product (he’s rumored to have created the separate celebrity version of Tinder); and helped launch a company that solves the cashflow problems renters face from security deposits.
And he’s created the first loyalty program for renters which underscores that the single largest expense for most people wasn’t covered by loyalty marketing before. It’s such a no-brainer that Bilt became the fastest company to hit a $1.5 billion valuation, just over a little more than a year after public launch.
10,000 Marriott points don’t go very far on their own, so this isn’t something to stretch for. But if you have a Marriott card, or more than one (I have two, generating 40 elite nights per year), you might as well register. And if you spend money on these cards more points are far better than fewer points.
“Which program is best” can be a bit like “who was the better ballplayer, Ted Williams or Mickey Mantle?” We may not settle it definitively, but we can get pretty close I think and the thinking process can help you figure out which program is the right one for you.
Did you know that American Airlines has its own credit card, aside from the Barclays and Citibank-issued AAdvantage cards?
The American Airlines Credit Card stopped taking applications in May. It’s a credit card used only for purchases with American. In other words, it’s a store card like a Macy’s credit card or a Best Buy card.
The update to the premium Citi AAdvantage Executive product which goes into effect July 23 seems like a step backwards for consumers. But it’s a step backwards for Citibank, also.
At some banks the controls may have been insufficient, and too many fake accounts were opened for real customers, to earn bonuses or other incentives for employees. But, as with all things, the optimal amount of fraud is not zero.
Back in the fall I wrote that Citi would be ending the benefit of no annual fee authorized users with Admirals Club access, and likely raising the annual fee on the card itself as well. The ability for a single $450 annual fee to generate 11 cards (primary plus up to 10 authorized user cards) each with the ability to enter Admirals Clubs and also bring up to two guests was simply too good a deal.
Sometimes a question really just gets it. Is the Bilt World Elite Mastercard too good to be true?? How can they make money giving so much to cardmembers?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
