Bank of America rewards devalued

[DonnaD]

We received a notice that Bank of America is changing their Worldpoints program. It has been 35,000 pts to get a ticket to Mexico worth up to $600. The change will now cost 60,000 pts to fly to Mexico with a value of $600. You will be able to choose your flight with the new program, but it cuts the value of your points to little more than half of what they have been. You do have until July 1st to make a reservation under the old system. I called to find out if we could book our trip in January before july 1st and they representative said yes.

I called Bank of America and expressed my great displeasure with the change and I encourage everyone else who uses the Worldpoints card to call and complain. The woman on the phone said she entered my complaint into their system. I told her I woudl be loking for a new reward card as soon I used up my points for our reservation and that I have been with them since 1999 on this card and had another card with them since 1970.

What is the best REWARD card you know of for those who pay off their balance every month? someone said there is an American Express Blue card that pay you 5% on your purchases. HELP is appreciated.
Thank you all very much in advance.
DonnaD.

 

[Talent312]

I used up my points for a ticket to London and then switched to a HHonors affinity Am-Ex, figuring that airline discounts make that use less valuable.

 

[We Love Fun]

What is the best REWARD card you know of for those who pay off their balance every month? someone said there is an American Express Blue card that pay you 5% on your purchases. HELP is appreciated.

The first thing to do is to be sure to pay off your balance of any reward card. Any interest charges associated with a reward card offset any possible beneift you can get from the reward.

At a minimum, you should expect to get at least 1% in cash, miles, or points from any card you select.

Credit card companies commonly base rewards on several categories that include: gas, travel, restaurants, everyday, and other purchases. Everyday purchases are often those at drug stores and grocery stores. Other purchases are those that don't fall into the other categories.

We like cash back cards so we don't have to worry about whether our points will work with a specific airline. That allows us to shop for the best fare. We don't fly much so having a lot of miles for one airline isn't a high importance to us. If you fly one airline and often, it would make sense to consider a reward card that provides miles for that airline.

Because you asked about AmEx cards, I'll review some of their cards. AmEx Blue Cash pays 1% on your everyday purchases and 0.5% on everything else up to $6,500 per year. After you charge $6,500, it pays 5% on everyday purchases and 1.5% on all other purchases.

AmEx has a True Earnings credit card that is free to Costco members. It pays 3% on gas purchases up to $3K annually (then only 1%), 3% for restaurants, 2% for travel, and 1% for everything else.

Following the AmEx theme, the Blue Sky card gives a point for every dollar spent, but you are able to redeem points at the rate of $01.33 per original dollar spent. You can redeem 7.500 points as a $100 credit toward your monthly bill that includes any travel expenses. This could be an airline ticket, hotel stay, or rental car.

Several other companies offer similar generic points rewards programs. Bank of America has its WorldPoints program. Capitol One has its No Hassle Miles. CitiBank has its PremierPass.

Once you make a decision on what card you'll use, put everything you can on the card. Every $100 can be another dollar or more toward travel. Your cable bill, cell phone, insurance payments, and other regular expenses can really get the total up. You'll have fewer checks to write, but you'll have to be prepared for a large credit card bill each month. Remember, to get the benfit of the reward, you must pay it off each month or you'll pay a lot in interest for the rewards.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Donna,

For card comparisons check out http://www.creditcards.com/


Richard

 

[DonnaD]

Cash back vs. points for credit card

Thanks for the great advice. I am thinking that I may want the cash back reward card so that I can shop for the best price for our airline tickets. We do pay our card off every month and run everything we buy, cell phone, business expenses etc. through this card.
The American Express card that pays you back 5% after $6500 sounds like the best deal that I have heard of so far.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear them. I first learned about the travel reward card from Tuggers. We have gotten quite a few tickets to Mexico using that card, so I am bummed that they are changing the value of their rewards.
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP...TUGGERS ARE THE BEST!
DonnaD

 

[DaveNV]

The American Express Business Card available from Costco (officially called the "Costco American Express True Earnings Business Card") gives you (up to) a 4% rebate on gas purchases, 3% rebate on restaurant use, 2% on travel-related purchases, and 1% on merchandise purchases. Combine that with an Executive Membership at Costco, and you'll get an additional 2% rebate on all purchases at Costco (except gas.)

So if you shop at Costco, (or anywhere else), and use this American Express card, you can get a pretty beefy rebate check every year.

Dave

 

[We Love Fun]

We like cash back cards so we don't have to worry about whether our points will work with a specific airline. That allows us to shop for the best fare. We don't fly much so having a lot of miles for one airline isn't a high importance to us. If you fly one airline and often, it would make sense to consider a reward card that provides miles for that airline.

I've been researching the question of miles for your charge purchases. One "expert" (Mr. Upgrade on FirstClassFlyer.com) argues that you don't need to get your miles on the airline on which you fly the most because credit card miles often can be transferred to one of many airlines. He thinks that the MBNA and Capitol One programs are not good because they often are not valid for business or first class travel.

Alternatively, American Express has a Starwood Preferred Guest card that allows you to transfer miles to any of 29 partner airlines. While it only gives you a mile for most purchases, when you transfer 20K miles to an airline, it gives you 25K miles in the transfer. That gives you a 1.25 mile credit per dollar spent. The lure of first class upgrades or elite flyer status is a reason to consider getting the miles instead of the original cash and shop for the best rates approach I mentioned earlier.

Good luck!

 

[JEFF H]

I have had WorldPoints and MBNA befor BofA took them over for a few years and have found the Basic air reward pretty useless for travel to Mexico the times I have tried to book a ticket.
The rules only allow you to reserve the lowest priced fare using the basic reward option with the Cap being $600 Value.
I have found several tickets available for less than $600 but worldpoint won't give them to me because they are not the lowest priced fare.
When It was MBNA they would allow me to book any flight upto $600 and if the ticket cost more I had to pay the difference.
Under WorldPoints today The Lowest fare to Cancun would require me to make 2 flight changes and require me to overnight in atlanta and get to Cancun the next day.
coach Tickets are available on the same airline for the same day flights with no overnight for $500 including all taxes. Worldpoints requires me to use 50,100 points to reserve thoes flights.

Worldpoint also offers cash for points at a penny a point.
In the above case the 50,000 points would get me $500 so I get a slightly better return on the points taking the cash option.
I have not used the card in over a year because of the poor value received.
I still have about 39,000 points to dispose of and I will likely take the cash option and be done with them.
This is a no yearly fee card thru Interval International so I can't really complain to much about it.
My other no yearly fee card Is Chase Freedom rewards card.
They will give you any ticket of your choice for 25,000 points upto a $350 value.
You can also take cash at $250 for 20,000 points.
These are the best options but they also have lower cash or statement credit options to choose from that get you a penny a point.

 

[gorevs9]

He thinks that the MBNA and Capitol One programs are not good because they often are not valid for business or first class travel.

The Capitol One "No Hassles" card uses miles, points, whatever to pay the airfare when charged to the card. The only drawback is the rewards are tiered. For example if the price of the ticket is between $150 and $350, it will cost 35,000 miles. Only if the cost exceeds $600 will the rate be 1% (i.e $650 ticket would be 65,000).

Capitol One also has an online Rewards money market account which will "pay" miles in exchange for a lower interest rate.

 

[hvacrsteve]

Dump BOA!

I dumped BOA 15 years ago!
Best move I ever made!
I have had to be a wack o mole to keep them out of my life as they bought other companies but just keep wacking them,
If you don't they will wack you for sure!
They have no honor, no trust and no loyalty, why should you?
Now they have no money either! only taxpayer dollars because Ken Lewis has pretty much run the place into a big ditch!
[Political comment removed. - DeniseM Moderator]

 

[Werner]

Read this article before you decide. (You may have to sign up for a free web subscription or the article should be in today's print edition NYTimes Business Section.) The gist of the article is;

New rules will make it difficult for CC companies to apply punitive fees and penalties to late payers, a major source of income. CC companies will respond by going after their best payers and most credit worthy customers for more money by;

• Charging for cards
• Charging interest as of the day of the transaction rather than end-of-month (no more free money)
• Reducing rewards

“Those that manage their credit well will in some degree subsidize those that have credit problems.”

Up until now it was the other way around. Those of us that maintained zero balances were known in the industry as "freeloaders". Its payback time.

Whatever card you get today will likely have different rules next year. You might try getting a card with high up-front rewards like an airline card for the airline you use the most. That way you may come out ahead even if you drop it next year. Usually you get lots of points, elite bonus points, companion tickets, etc. that you can use immediately or within two years.

 

[gorevs9]

...Those of us that maintained zero balances were known in the industry as "freeloaders". Its payback time.

I never considered myself a "freeloader". After all doesn't the CC company receive a small fee (2%-3%) for every transaction. If I put $10,000/year on a CC, then the company get $200-$300 from me. "Better than a sharp stick in the eye".

 

[Kozman]

I think most cc companies will be looking for ways to cut their costs by reducing benefits and perks as a result of the recent cc legislation which appears to be passing. I even heard rumors they might start charging interest to everyone from the day of purchase rather than allowing you to pay your account in full each month to escape interest. If that happens, I'll cancel my cards. If all do that, I'll keep the best one and use a debit card when I can.

 

[Werner]

I never considered myself a "freeloader". After all doesn't the CC company receive a small fee (2%-3%) for every transaction.

Yes, but everyone pays the same price, even cash buyers, so us freeloaders were not only being subsidized by late cc payers but by cash payers also. A few businesses, notably gas stations, have tried to charge different prices for credit card purchases but their pricing schemes never seem to stick, at least not up here in the northeast.

For 40 years we have been using OPM, "Other People's Money", for the first month of nearly every purchase, for free, and getting cash or gift rewards for doing it. The credit card reform bill passed the Senate yesterday by 90 to 5. Life was Good. [I'm not quite as Machiavellian as I sound. I thought we were being rewarded by the "system" for being financially responsible. Now we will be punished for being financially responsible.]

A few things come to mind if CC companies charge interest from the day of the transaction;

• Hold all discretionary purchases (like airline tickets, appliances, etc) to the end of the accounting period,
• Align routine monthly payments to the CC accounting period,
• Maybe its time to finally look at a debit card.

 

[5finny]

Schedule change or flight cancellation

If you get a B of A reward flight and have to cancel or change your flight what happens? I'd like to make a reservation before the rules change