Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

Cathay Pacific Visa for Canadians

by Gary Leff on May 24, 2005

May 24 2005

Canadians can get a Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card from RBC Bank. The annual fee is stiff at CA$150, but the card earns 1 AsiaMile per Canadian dollar spent — pretty good earning — on top of the 5000 AsiaMiles with first purchase. The AsiaMiles program permits upgrading on British Airways and American in addition to Cathay Pacific, and some of its awards are incredible values. 60,000 AsiaMiles buys you a business class award of less than 5000 miles each way. That would yield a British Airways ticket from the U.S. East Coast to most destinations in Europe. American charges 50,000 miles in coach for that. AsiaMiles is my program of choice for transferring eBay Anything Points, by the way, since 1 eBay point yields slightly more than 1 AsiaMile.

I’m Such a Geek

by Gary Leff on May 20, 2005

May 20 2005

This actually sounds like a fascinating way to spend a few daysCard Forum is the largest event in the card industry, with nearly 1,000 card issuers, banks and service providers converging at the Omni Orlando Resort for three information-packed days of educational sessions and networking that focused on loyalty and multi-channel marketing, stored value/pre-paid, and credit and debit.

How Can Banks Afford to Give You Miles, Rebates, and Premium Services?

by Gary Leff on April 14, 2005

Apr 14 2005

A piece in yesterday’s StartupJournal explained credit card interchange fees. Interchange fees, what credit card companies charge merchants when you use your card, average 1.75% for Visa and Mastercard and 2.4% for American Express. Larger merchants, naturally, negotiate lower feels than mom and pop businesses, but those percentages are the average. If Chase, which issues the United Visa, pays United 1.25 cents per mile and awards a mile per dollar spent on the card then they’re making half a cent on each dollar transaction. That half cent, plus any annual fee, funds their operations and any additional perks that come with the card. It also turns out that which prestige level card you use may now play a part in determining what the merchant gets charged. If you’re using a ‘premium’ Visa (such as Signature…

Devaluing the Paypal Debit Card

by Gary Leff on April 2, 2005

Apr 02 2005

New Paypal debit card users will receive 1% cashback, down from 1.5%. Current debit card members will be grandfathered at the 1.5% rate.Eligibility for the PayPal Preferred Rewards Program will become easier, however: Under the previous guidelines, only qualified eBay sellers designating a preference for PayPal in their eBay listings were eligible for the program, but beginning today eligibility will be expanded to include all merchants who promote PayPal as their preferred online payment method, whether operating on eBay or off.

Northwest Visa Offers

by Gary Leff on March 25, 2005

Mar 25 2005

Northwest has new offers up for their co-branded credit cards issued by US Bank. I’ve previously mentioned that US Bank is one of the biggest sticklers for one signup bonus per customer. However, a recent exchange with Gary Steiger (of Free Frequent Flyer Miles, where I came across this offer) made me realize that their limit is per card type. I first signed up for the Platinum Visa a few years ago when the offer was for 25,000 bonus miles over 2 years, requiring $500 in spending with Northwest for part of those miles. That signup qualified me for the 2002 Fly Free Faster promotion that netted another 10,000 miles. In 2003 I signed up for the Northwest Business Visa for 10,000 miles to qualify for that summer’s Fly Free Faster promotion. That was a…

American Mastercard Bonus

by Gary Leff on March 22, 2005

Mar 22 2005

The American Airlines Mastercard is again offering no fee for the first year and 15,000 bonus miles with first purchase. Citibank has been known to award the bonus miles even to people that have had the card in the past, despite terms that specify that the bonus can only be earned once. Best practice is to print out the application page which mentions the 15,000 bonus miles and also to print out the terms and conditions which mentions no annual fee for twelve months.

The importance of credit card miles to airline bottom-lines

by Gary Leff on March 20, 2005

Mar 20 2005

I’ve written here in the past about the importance of frequent flyer miles to airline bottom lines, and in particular the importance of co-branded credit cards which are the single largest source of non-flight miles. When United entered bankruptcy, BankOne (since acquired by JP Morgan Chase) provided $500 million in debtor-in-possession financing. The bank needed the airline to survive because their most profitable credit card product is the United Visa. Now the bank is talking about loosening restrictions on loan covenants in order to allow the airline room to operate. American Express pre-paid the purchase of $500 million worth of Skymiles in order to keep Delta out of bankruptcy. Again, an airline is kept afloat because it’s needed to sustain a credit card business. Credit card miles are big business, and not just for the…

Use Amex Points on OneWorld Carriers

by Gary Leff on January 5, 2005

Jan 05 2005

One of the great frustrations of the American Express Membership Rewards program is that American Airlines does not participate as a transfer partner. What’s more, it’s nearly* impossible to use American Express points to claim an award seat on any oneWorld carrier (American, British, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LanChile, Finnair, Aer Lingus). I say nearly because there are ways of working partnerships to get some seats, such as transferring points to Continental or USAirways to claim award seats on Qantas. But there aren’t any oneWorld partners in the Membership Rewards program. Right now there’s a brief window of opportunity, however, created by a confluence of two separate conversion bonuses. As I noted yesterday, transfers from American Express to Starwood earn a 50% bonus through March 31. And until January 31, transfers from hotel program into…

Free the First Year American Express Platinum

by Gary Leff on January 1, 2005

Jan 01 2005

Now that banks are able to issue American Express cards, some interesting offers may be coming down the pike. The first one that I’ve noticed is from MBNA, which is offering the American Express Platinum card free the first year and $195 after that. The card comes with MBNA Worldpoints as its rewards program rather than Membership Rewards. As far as proprietary rewards programs go, this one is pretty good but I still don’t like it as much as the various airline and hotel programs. So I wouldn’t put much spending on the card. Instead, I’d use the card for its benefits like airline lounge access. Amex Platinum cards come with access to Delta, Continental, and Northwest lounges when flying on the respective airline. The Platinum card is usually more expensive than straight lounge access,…

The Rise of Credit Cards in China

by Gary Leff on December 7, 2004

Dec 07 2004

What a great headline, “Western Plastic Breaches Great Wall”. Anyone looking for signs that China is edging its way into Western consumer culture should consider this: the Bank of China, the oldest indigenous Chinese bank, now issues a Great Wall platinum Visa credit card, and it comes with a frequent-flyer rewards program. Only 1 per cent of Chinese citizens hold Western-style credit cards; usually the wealthiest of urban sophisticates. Most people use cash for everything; they have no bank accounts or have never been offered credit by a bank. What little personal lending occurs is usually informally arranged among friends, family or business associates. Foreign banks will be allowed to offer banking services within China beginning in 2007. Currently 704 million bank cards are in circulation in China, most of which are debit cards.