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Sep
15
2012
I assume you know this familiar phrase from television advertising. In an earlier piece, I wrote about choosing a new credit card and my thoughts regarding rewards. So, I got a credit card that gives you two points for every dollar spent toward rewards that include refunding the cost of an airline ticket you purchased on that credit card.
Ah, but there is a catch that I didn’t know about when I got the card. If you have lots of points and then buy an airline ticket, no problem. You use the points to offset the cost. So, a ticket of $300 would need 30,000 points (which translates into $15,000 of credit card spending). Yes, it’s really like a cash rewards card, but more focused. Good so far.
Let’s take my situation. I get a new credit card. I then buy an airline ticket for a flight many months in the future. Over the next couple of months, I start to accumulate points (miles) for redemption. Now the hitch. When you go online to check your rewards, you find out that the card company only “erases” (their term) an airline ticket purchase made within 90 days. This makes it hard on a new card member like me. Obeying the rules posted on their website, I would have until the end of this month to meet the rewards requirement for the ticket I bought the end of June … or would lose the ability to “erase” it (i.e., get the rewards applied against that ticket).
I called customer care and explained that this requirement seems to be missing in all their TV advertising. While I am sure it’s somewhere in the fine print of what came with the credit card, this is a biggie given all the hoopla in the TV ads and what’s implied in them.
The customer service agent explained that the 90-day rule was dictated by how much data they could easily retain in the rewards department’s database. However, she would grant me a 90-day extension to meet my goal to redeem my June ticket cost. I would have to call in to do this, since there is no way around the website to get to special circumstances. I was assured that her notes would be in my record when I called in.
Short-term problem solved. Longer term, I am rethinking the whole idea of rewards again. This is a glorified, but restricted, cash-back card and it has an annual fee. I will probably switch it to their regular 1.5% cash-back card (real cash, Jimmy Fallon?) and get an airline credit card to deal with flying.
Another reference on these cards:
http://blog.checkadvantage.com/2011/10/13/capital-one-reward-cards/
Ah, but there is a catch that I didn’t know about when I got the card. If you have lots of points and then buy an airline ticket, no problem. You use the points to offset the cost. So, a ticket of $300 would need 30,000 points (which translates into $15,000 of credit card spending). Yes, it’s really like a cash rewards card, but more focused. Good so far.
Let’s take my situation. I get a new credit card. I then buy an airline ticket for a flight many months in the future. Over the next couple of months, I start to accumulate points (miles) for redemption. Now the hitch. When you go online to check your rewards, you find out that the card company only “erases” (their term) an airline ticket purchase made within 90 days. This makes it hard on a new card member like me. Obeying the rules posted on their website, I would have until the end of this month to meet the rewards requirement for the ticket I bought the end of June … or would lose the ability to “erase” it (i.e., get the rewards applied against that ticket).
I called customer care and explained that this requirement seems to be missing in all their TV advertising. While I am sure it’s somewhere in the fine print of what came with the credit card, this is a biggie given all the hoopla in the TV ads and what’s implied in them.
The customer service agent explained that the 90-day rule was dictated by how much data they could easily retain in the rewards department’s database. However, she would grant me a 90-day extension to meet my goal to redeem my June ticket cost. I would have to call in to do this, since there is no way around the website to get to special circumstances. I was assured that her notes would be in my record when I called in.
Short-term problem solved. Longer term, I am rethinking the whole idea of rewards again. This is a glorified, but restricted, cash-back card and it has an annual fee. I will probably switch it to their regular 1.5% cash-back card (real cash, Jimmy Fallon?) and get an airline credit card to deal with flying.
Another reference on these cards:
http://blog.checkadvantage.com/2011/10/13/capital-one-reward-cards/
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