New Amtrak Guest Rewards Master Card - Fall 2015

Jim, it was announced that we would hear on 9/12 - so hold your horses.

AmtrakBlue said:

Jim, it was announced that we would hear on 9/12 - so hold your horses.

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Maybe it should be on 9/11???

jimhudson said:

AmtrakBlue said:

Jim, it was announced that we would hear on 9/12 - so hold your horses.

Click to expand...

Maybe it should be on 9/11???

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OOOOOHHHH!!! That was good, Jim!

I would speculate that contractual agreements prevent points from being earned from two banks at the same time. So BOA wouldn't be able to activate new cards until 10/1, after Chase gives up awarding points on 9/30. A 9/12 announcement date seems like the right amount of time for the new cards to start being activated on 10/1 by those who've applied. But that's just my theory.

And some more . . . .

I "just" spoke with Chase customer service about their Freedom card that will be sent to me as a replacement for the Guest Rewards MasterCard.

Here is what I "learned":

(1) One cannot opt out of receiving the Freedom card because "It will automatically be sent and there is no way to stop it," - unless

(2) The Guest Rewards account gets cancelled before Sep 30th.

(3) Chase's customer service rep told me that Chase ended the "relationship" with Amtrak; no reason given - or really expected.

(4) The representative was determined to keep me as "a valued card holder," in spite of my repeatedly stating I do not want or need

another credit card if there is no tie to Amtrak Guest Rewards.

I have no idea whether someone else will receive the same information, but as of this date - what I provided is apparently what is!

Such is life in the slow lane . . .

Actually, for my specific case, while the long sojourns out west are hopelessly more expensive pointwise in the new scheme of things, considering that i generally don;t have the time for those anyway, it does not affect me much. OTOH, the trips that I do take more often, like Florida to New York or Washington, those are poitwise generally much cheaper or slightly more expensive than one zone. So on the whole I seem to come out a bit ahead given ,my travel patterns.

That much derided 20,000 points still gets me 1.33 trips by Meteor Roomette from KIS to NYP or almost two trips by Star Roomette to NYP. So by golly, I have no problem collecting those points and using them gainfully, *if* we get them that is.

One thing to look out for with BoA cards is the two cycle interest calculation.

If you pay in full each month, there is no interest charge on purchases.

If you don't pay in full one month, interest acrues for past, and new purchases.

If you pay in full the following month, there is still no grace period for interest. You pay interest on the daily balance until they posted the payment, plus on new purchases.

The new purchase grace period returns on the next month if you continue to pay in full.

IINM they all do it this way? Financial Institutions exist for one reason, to make money!( no simple interest here! The real money is in compound interest and fees!)

No Credit Card outfit or Financial Institution wants you to pay off monthly what you owe!

The old saying, "Pay me now or Pay me more later!" is still true.

All I'll say is nothing wrong with making money,you have to stay in business, but how much is enough?

Greed is not Good! YMMV

Well, duh. You expect them to give out money for free? How do expect them to pay their employees?

Not defending their practices but am tired of hearing how they're out to make money. Aren't all businesses about making money. Even non-profits need to make some money.

AmtrakBlue is right. Most businesses that do not go bankrupt actually are there to make money. Even those that collect pension will get nothing for their check if the pension was not being managed by some financial outfit somewhere, either a government run one or otherwise. And yes all of them have to ultimately have the money in the first place to pay out the pensions, which involves, you guessed it, dealing with the financial market. So unless you really want to become a hermit and live off the land somewhere without touching any money you are stuck with these nasty outfits. So I guess just learn to deal with it or become an ascetic

AmtrakBlue said:

Well, duh. You expect them to give out money for free? How do expect them to pay their employees?

Not defending their practices but am tired of hearing how they're out to make money. Aren't all businesses about making money. Even non-profits need to make some money.

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Including Amtrak!

I just received a Pre-Approved app in a fairly generic envelope from BoA today, but it had nothing to do with Amtrak. Although it had a tempting 21 month No Interest offer, I tossed it aside. I would at least hope the Amtrak offer has something about Amtrak on the outside envelope, but low profile enogh to discourage mail box shoppers.

OlympianHiawatha said:

I just received a Pre-Approved app in a fairly generic envelope from BoA today, but it had nothing to do with Amtrak. Although it had a tempting 21 month No Interest offer, I tossed it aside. I would at least hope the Amtrak offer has something about Amtrak on the outside envelope, but low profile enogh to discourage mail box shoppers.

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I got the same one just the other day. I suspect they got our names from AGR for the transition.

Got one here as well...

I think I got one as well...but I've had intermittent offers from them for a long time (e.g. ever since they acquired a SunTrust card I have...but haven't used since the effective 1% cash back just isn't worth squat to me).

I got one too. For the BOA travel card.

I get these offers constantly via Snail Mail and on- line from various Financial Institutions!

My shredder works well!

Rail Freak said:

jimhudson said:

AmtrakBlue said:

Jim, it was announced that we would hear on 9/12 - so hold your horses.

Click to expand...

Maybe it should be on 9/11???

Click to expand...

OOOOOHHHH!!! That was good, Jim!

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Yeah, jokes about 9/11 are AWESOME.

Changing the rules of a customer loyalty program is just like flying planes into buildings. Perfect comparison.

Yep, shame on me for comparing Marketing to that tragedy!Apologies to those offended!

Very poor comparison! I was taking a dig @_Marketing types who will use anything to make us think that putting Lipstick on a Pig makes it Beautiful!

Paul Dow said:

One thing to look out for with BoA cards is the two cycle interest calculation.

If you pay in full each month, there is no interest charge on purchases.

If you don't pay in full one month, interest acrues for past, and new purchases.

If you pay in full the following month, there is still no grace period for interest. You pay interest on the daily balance until they posted the payment, plus on new purchases.

The new purchase grace period returns on the next month if you continue to pay in full.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression that double-cycle billing was banned outright a few years back (this was a big issue back in the last decade...and I have little doubt that BoA did it then...but the CARD Act dealt with this particular issue IINM).

Anderson said:

I was under the impression that double-cycle billing was banned outright a few years back (this was a big issue back in the last decade...and I have little doubt that BoA did it then...but the CARD Act dealt with this particular issue IINM).

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Here's the paragraph from the September, 2013 term update I last got from them.

We will not charge you any interest on Purchases if you always pay your entire New Balance Total by the Payment Due Date. Specifically, you will not pay interest for an entire billing cycle on Purchases if you Paid in Full the two previous New Balance Totals on your account by their respective Payment Due Dates; otherwise, each Purchase begins to accrue interest on its transaction date or the first day of the billing cycle, whichever date is later.

I found the letter from them from December, 2009 with the changes from that CARD act you reference. I'm confused about what it means though.

If during the previous billing cycle, you Paid in Full by the Payment due Date, then in the current billing cycle you will have a Grace Period on the amount of the Purchase balance remaining from the previous billing cycle that is paid by the Payment due Date, based on our payment allocation method.

How could there be a "Purchase balance remaining" if you paid in full? That doesn't seem to address new purchased though which the 2013 paragraph says there's no grace period for 2 cycles.

Personally, I just have the BoA card from the last time there was a change in the GR credit card provider. I just use it as a backup though.

I'm so ashamed to be from the state that kept electing Chris Dodd.

You think Conneticut has bad politicians? We'll trade you! So would alot of other states!

Pleasant open exchange of ideas and opinions here but only 2016 can bring about the ramnification of AGR 2.0.

The bigger problem may be that this discussion may soon end if we don't get back into the program with the new Bank of America AGR card.

Three weeks to go and no news so far! I just wonder if AGR members will be on BOA's mailing list and will receive a solicitation for the card? .

I still haven't found what the statement on line about the points and how long they will be honored means? It says:

Amtrak Guest Rewards® MasterCard® cardholders‘ points will not expire as long as your credit card account is open.

If the cards are being eliminated the end of Sept then are your accumulated points also no longer valid? Something we all need to know?

Larry