Category Archives for Credit Cards.
At the start of 2020 a New York state Senator introduced a consumer protection bill to protect bank points. It prohibits bank points expiration and requires banks to give consumers 90 days to use their credit card rewards points if their account is closed either by the consumer or the bank.
I noted last summer that the legislation had passed the state’s Senate. Now the bill has passed both the Senate and state Assembly, and awaits the Governor’s signature.
Aeroplan launched its new suite of credit cards in Canada back in November, and now through August 3, 2021 they’re running the richest initial bonus offers we’ve ever seen for their American Express co-brands, plus generous spend offers for existing customers.
These aren’t available to most Americans, but Chase will be issuing a U.S. Aeroplan Mastercard this year and the Aeroplan program promises “many additional promotions, partnerships, and feature announcements” this summer as well. So take it as a sign of aggressive cardmember acquisition and promotion, even if you can’t pick up 150,000 Aeroplan miles with a single credit card yourself.
There’s a new rewards program that everyone who rents where they live should join. You get free points for paying rent. They have a no annual free credit card that gives you points (double points, even) for rent payments. And this program’s points transfer to airline miles and hotel points as well. That’s just the start.
American AAdvantage has a 40th anniversary promotion which runs June 7 through July 17 where AAdvantage members with co-brand credit cards issued by Santander Bank earn about 5 miles per dollar. This is one of the richest credit card promotions I have seen, ever, at least that wasn’t based on a mistake of sorts.
There are (3) things I did not realize about this card when I wrote about the 60,000 point initial bonus offer and the ability to spend towards elite status this year. All three are good for cardmembers.
Bank of American is offering 67,000 miles for a new Alaska Airlines Visa Signature: 42,000 after $2000 spend within 3 months, and 25,000 more miles after $8000 total spend within 6 months.
This is the biggest offer I’ve ever seen for an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan card. And it also comes with a companion ticket.
American Express issues a small business card with Amazon, and Synchrony Financial issues the Amazon store card. Both issuers are bidding on the Amazon consumer co-brand business.
Vox runs a piece repeating the old trope that credit card rewards benefit the rich at the expense of the poor, because credit card processing fees result in higher prices – including for people who don’t pay by credit card. There’s a unique twist to the piece though since they call for taxing card rewards.
It comes with a TikTok making the argument, which turns out to be highly misleading.
This week only a new no annual fee rewards card, offering as much as 5x return in some categories, is offering a $500 initial bonus which is fairly unprecedented for this type of product. I interviewed the card issuer’s President to understand the strategy.
The American Express Black Card (Centurion Card) has a $5000 annual fee and you pay a $7500 initiation fee your first year as a cardmember, too.
They send cardmembers occasional gifts. How about a $500 gift card to use, because you’re rich and can afford an expensive credit card?
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 »
