Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

The Latest on Chase’s 5/24 Rules for Getting Rewards Credit Cards

by Gary Leff on May 24, 2020

credit card with chains wrapped around it

May 24 2020

May 4th is Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth Be With You”). It’s easy to forget in the middle of a global pandemic that today – May 24th – is Chase Day because of the importance of 5/24 in whether you’ll be approved for a rewards credit card. In most cases you can only get approved if you’ve had fewer than 5 new credit card accounts in the last 24 months.

I’ve talked about this guideline in the past. If you’re already an expert on this, stop here, but 5/24 is important enough in signing up for credit cards and there are enough new readers that it is worth going over.

Barclays American Airlines Cards: Earn 3x On All Spend

by Gary Leff on May 22, 2020

May 22 2020

Barclays is offering their American AAdvantage cardmembers – both Aviator Red and Silver products – triple miles on all spending between today and June 30, 2020. The only unfortunate thing here is that you’re capped at 2500 bonus miles. So if you spend $1250 where you’d normally earn just 1250 miles, you’ll earn 3750 miles under this promotion.

Delta and United Both Report: People Aren’t Shifting To Cash Back From Mileage Credit Cards

by Gary Leff on May 21, 2020

May 21 2020

Delta’s CFO acknowledges SkyMiles members taking “a little hiatus when people aren’t going to travel,” but that the program still continues to motivate spend because it gives people “something to look forward to [the] prospect of saving up for something.” Then he offers insight into how the Delta portfolio is performing relative to American Express’s other products.

Chase Credit Card Spending Dropped 40%

by Gary Leff on May 14, 2020

May 14 2020

Spending on Chase credit cards fell 8 times as much as average credit card spending during the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic according to the J.P. Morgan Chase Institute. A new study using anonymized transaction date from 8 million customers found that spending on Chase cards dropped 40% year-over-year between March 1 and April 11.

The Goldilocks Approach to the Best Credit Card Rewards

by Gary Leff on May 9, 2020

May 09 2020

I have a wallet chock full of cards. I have a card for each kind of spending. I want to earn 5 points per dollar on my airfare, 4 points at restaurants and supermarkets, 5 points at office supply stores, etc. I also have a huge stack of annual fees, that only make sense if I’m getting a lot of value out of each card and spending a lot of money in each category I’m maximizing.

For most people the 10 credit cards in my wallet is too many. And that doesn’t count the cards in my desk drawer.

A Tale Of Two American Airlines Companion Certificates: Barclays vs Citi

by Gary Leff on May 5, 2020

May 05 2020

Earlier in the day Citibank shared that the companion tickets earned from their American Airlines co-brand business card (after $30,000 spend in purchases each cardmembership year, at card renewal) that expire in 2020 will be extended to June 30, 2021.

Barclays has shared that their American Airlines companion tickets – offered as an initial bonus on new consumer cards, and earned from spend on their Red, Silver, and Business cards – will have their expiration extended as well.

Marriott Consumer Credit Cards Earn 6x On Groceries, May Through July

by Gary Leff on April 30, 2020

Apr 30 2020

We’re in a recession. We’re not traveling. Rewards credit cards that are optimized for travel may not be top of wallet. Cards that are optimized for heavily travel customers may also not match current spending patterns. We’re beginning to see brands and issuers adapt.

How Much Credit Card Spending Has Fallen, From Two People Who Know

by Gary Leff on April 27, 2020

Apr 27 2020

Discretionary spending is down by a third, driven by a drop in travel spend which is down 95% – 99%. Amazingly travel and entertainment was nearly one-third of American Express charge volume.

Banks Are Cutting Credit Limits

by Gary Leff on April 25, 2020

Apr 25 2020

A month ago I wrote that credit cards might soon become tougher to get as banks tightened lending standards. In a down economy there’s more risk that banks won’t get paid back, so it’s logical they’d become careful about extending credit. Already we’ve seen what appears to be a tougher approach to new small business cards at Chase.

When banks expect an increase in defaults, they take steps to limit their exposure. During the Great Recession we saw banks unilaterally cut credit limits, especially where cards were going unused or underutilized.

Emirates Now A Citibank Transfer Partner, Becomes Transfer Partner Of All Major Bank Currencies

by Gary Leff on April 19, 2020

Apr 19 2020

Citi has added Emirates Skywards as a points transfer partner for its Citi Premier and Prestige cards. Emirates is now a partner of Citi, Chase, American Express and Capital One – this strikes me as a problem for Barclays which is rolling out an Emirates credit card in the U.S.

Emirates offers great award availability from a variety of U.S. destinations, however fuel surcharges (which depend on the destination flown) are often very expensive and premium cabin awards are priced at 2x coach for business class and 3x coach for first class.