Tag Archives for chase.
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.
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.
Marriott announced a deal for $920 million dollars with its co-brand credit card partners. In exchange for the cash Marriott has extended its co-brand deals with both partners.
These deals aren’t just good for the travel company, they’re good for consumers. But there’s an interesting reason we’re seeing hotel chains access their loyalty programs for cash before airlines do the same.
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.
In the years following 9/11, as airlines struggled, and again during the financial crisis airlines pre-sold miles to their credit card partners at a discount in order to raise cash quickly. United and Delta each pre-sold miles, the former for about $500 million and the latter twice totaling about $1 billion. American did it too with Citibank. These ‘cheap miles’ paved the way for banks to offer big bonuses to consumers both for acquisition and for ongoing spend.
These conversations have started again as a way to raise cash.
I think I’ve figured out why Chase and Visa would agree to give United $400 million more a year – starting right away – for a credit card deal they already had in place for several years.
Much of United’s explanation why made no sense. This new deal isn’t likely to lead to a lot of “portfolio growth” (more cardmembers). They already were introducing new cards, new benefits, and have been running aggressive acquisition bonuses. However 5 words in United’s SEC filing seem to give away the plot.
Chase and United are long term partners issuing United-branded credit cards. Their existing deal ran into 2025. They’ve extended the deal into 2029. United says the new deal will increase their revenue this year by $400 million. I’m having a hard time making sense of that number.
Chase and United have extended their credit card agreement into 2029. United will remain a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. And Chase is, it seems, paying United more for the miles that it awards to customers – the airline says its bottom line will improve $400 million in 2020 alone.
A year ago Capital One launched a relationship with dining reservations site Resy, setting aside tables at great restaurants for cardmembers. American Express went and acquired Resy and now American Express has a much weaker Resy partnership. Capital One quickly went out and partnered with OpenTable.
Yet somehow I didn’t even realize that before these things happened – a full 19 months ago – Chase launched a partnership with restaurant booking site Tock, which sells tickets to restaurants (top end restaurants with limited seating charge you in advance for pre fixe meals through the site).
f you use Award Wallet to check your frequent flyer account balances, you give them the username and password for your accounts and with a single click they check your accounts for you (and you can log in with a single click as well).
Award Wallet and other services are going to have to change the way they interact with Chase, and the information they’re able to get may be limited
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 »
