Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

Bilt Rewards Becomes One Of Fastest Companies Ever To Hit Unicorn Status

by Gary Leff on October 25, 2022

Oct 25 2022

Bilt Rewards, the loyalty program which lets you earn points for paying rent and which offers probably the single best no annual fee rewards card in the market (the Bilt Mastercard), announced a growth round of $150 million in new funding at a $1.5 billion post-money valuation. Their round was led by Left Lane Capital and included Smash Capital, Wells Fargo, Greystar, Invitation Homes, Camber Creek, Fifth Wall, and Prosus Ventures.

These things can be somewhat challenging to date, but it appears to me that Bilt Rewards is faster from launch to unicorn status than Square, Instacart or Twitter were. And there’s two reasons this strikes me as important.

How Capping Credit Card Interchange Hurts The Economy

by Gary Leff on October 10, 2022

Oct 10 2022

Where interchange has been limited, like in places such as Australia, credit card annual fees have risen since spend on the cards isn’t as profitable.

Europe, where interchange is limited and the use of cards as a payment mechanism is less common than in the United States (and cash more prevalent), is much poorer than the United States. That’s hardly the only reason, or the most significant reason. It’s a bundle of policies, and the U.S. would be ill-advised to follow European economic, financial and regulatory policy.

PayPal’s New $2500 Fine For Users Who Promote Misinformation Online

by Gary Leff on October 9, 2022

Oct 09 2022

PayPal updated its user agreement, and sent an email to business account customers, explaining that effective November 3 customers would be subject to $2,500 fines per instance of ‘promoting misinformation’ or “sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable.”

If they deemed you to promote messages they objected to 10 times, or to have spread misinformation (in their sole discretion) 10 times, they could take $25,000 from your account. It isn’t clear whether – if your PayPal balance was $0 – they could withdraw funds from your linked accounts, but other areas of its terms would suggest this possibility. After an online backlash they’ve pulled the language from their update.

Why Dick Durbin’s Stupid Bill To Limit Credit Card Interchange Might Not Kill Rewards Cards, After All

by Gary Leff on October 8, 2022

Oct 08 2022

There is, a path where credit card rewards survive this legislation if it’s passed. They’ll just look different. The key is that financial institutions with less than $100 billion are generally exempt from its requirements.

Capital One Miles Transfers Are Back

by Gary Leff on October 7, 2022

Oct 07 2022

The ability to transfer miles to airline and hotel loyalty programs has been “down for maintenance” on Capital One’s website since about September 23.

System issues happen from time to time, but they do not usually last for days at a time. And Capital One has been surprisingly quiet about the issue.

Put Your Spend On The Bilt Card Today, Also Free Points For Trivia Questions

by Gary Leff on October 1, 2022

Oct 01 2022

Today is the first of October and the first Bilt Rewards ‘Rent Day’. They’re giving away a lot of points, Bilt Mastercard cardmembers and also for people who don’t have the card. It’s a way of really owning a day in the marketing space – a day that resonates with a large chunk of the population.

The first of every month they’ve got promotions and offers. Today you can receive free points in the Bilt app with their Points Quest trivia feature. They have Virgin cruise discount offers and they partner with Virgin as a points transfer partner, so they’re giving you 500 free points for linking your Virgin account now. And you can earn a lot of extra points today spending with the no annual fee Bilt Mastercard.

Bilt Rewards: Earn 6x On Dining, 4x On Travel Once Each Month

by Gary Leff on September 26, 2022

Sep 26 2022

he Bilt Mastercard, the no annual fee card that lets you earn points paying rent at no cost (up to $100,000 per year) and earns double points on travel and triple points on dining, now earns even more one day a month.

Dubbed “Bilt Rent Day,” on the first of every month Bilt is offering up to 6x points, free points, and Virgin cruise discounts.

Chase Makes Over $5 Billion On Credit Cards, Wants To Drive That To Zero

by Gary Leff on September 24, 2022

Sep 24 2022

Chase earns over $5 billion in revenue from its credit card portfolio per year, but they’ve made it a corporate priority to build a product that’s intended to kill the credit card business. And CEO Jamie Dimon threatened to fire senior leaders who get in the way.

Marriott Revamps Premium Credit Card, Launches Two New Mid-Tier Cards

by Gary Leff on September 22, 2022

Sep 22 2022

Marriott is introducing two new mid-tier cards – Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card from Chas – and the premium Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant^TM American Express® Card is getting a new slate of benefits.

I don’t quite see the argument for the mid-tier cards, but the premium card product is going to appeal to a lot of customers that stay with Marriott but don’t earn Platinum status or above on their own.

American Express Transfer Bonus Bonanza: 12 Programs, Up To 30% Throughout September

by Gary Leff on September 1, 2022

Sep 01 2022

American Express is offering 12 simultaneous bonuses for transfers from Membership Rewards to airlines and hotels. They’ve only ever done this once before. It’s a cacophony of opportunity for those who have their transferable points. The offers run through September 30, except for Marriott and Hilton which runs through October 31.