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City of Miami

City of Miami

Conductor
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2004
Messages
1,295
Location
Charlottesville VA
I applied for the One Pass Plus credit card per the banner at the top of this page. I also opened a One Pass acct with Continental.

If the appl is OKd, after a purchase I get 25K points which I can then transfer to AGR. Correct?

Then what? Can I cancel the card? I have never closed a cc acct before - maybe it's not so easy. I wouldn't want to pay the $95 annual fee but it says 1st year free....then what? Even paying the $95, that's a very cheap 25K points!

I don't understand why they would give me 25K points (esp since the AGR card is also Chase) - it feels like trying to get something for nothing which generally doesn't work out!! :ph34r: CAN SOMEONE TELL ME IF I AM MISSING SOMETING AND THIS IS A STUPID THING TO DO.

Further, I really don't understand AGR in general...why Amtrak would give us free travel....or any of these other entities, especially the bonuses.

Thank you.
 
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Why would Amtrak give us free travel?
huh.gif
For the same reason offer Frequent Flyer Programs (FFP)!
rolleyes.gif
They expect someone with an AGR account or a FFP to ride or fly with them more often, and to chose them over the competition!

As for the credit cards being issued by Chase, each company has a separate contract with Chase to issue their credit card. These I know are all issued by Chase. (There are many more)

  1. AGR
  2. Continental Airlines (Basic)
  3. Continental Airlines (Gold)
  4. Continental Airlines (Plus)
  5. United Airlines (at least 2 kinds)
  6. Alaska Airlines (IIRC)
  7. Frontier Airlines (IIRC)

The big difference is that some charge no annual fee (like the AGR MasterCard) while all the airlines do have varying amounts for their credit cards.

Although some do churn credit cards to get the sign-up bonus, unless you have a very high credit score, I personally would not! Every time you apply for a credit card, they check your credit score. And if you're approved, your credit score goes down a little. To me, it's just not worth it!
 
jis said:
There is also Continental Presidential Plus which cost $300+ per year but gives you unlimited access to Presidents Club and Silver Elite privileges.
Click to expand...
It's not just Presidents Club access, but an actual Presidents Club membership. That also gets access to Star Alliance and other affiliated clubs, including Amtrak clubs. In addition, the Presidential Plus card has no foreign transaction fees. That would typically save $30 for every $1000 in foreign purchases.

The annual fee for the card is about the same as the club membership alone. For someone who travels a lot by air and would join the club anyway, it's not a bad deal.
 
PRR 60 said:
jis said:
There is also Continental Presidential Plus which cost $300+ per year but gives you unlimited access to Presidents Club and Silver Elite privileges.
Click to expand...
It's not just Presidents Club access, but an actual Presidents Club membership. That also gets access to Star Alliance and other affiliated clubs, including Amtrak clubs. In addition, the Presidential Plus card has no foreign transaction fees. That would typically save $30 for every $1000 in foreign purchases.

The annual fee for the card is about the same as the club membership alone. For someone who travels a lot by air and would join the club anyway, it's not a bad deal.
Click to expand...
Consequently, I do have one, though I make Platinum by just getting enough EQM per year anyway. Still the Club membership makes it worth it. This card's service level is at par with Amex Platinum so yes, it is a good deal.
 
jis said:
Still the Club membership makes it worth it. This card's service level is at par with Amex Platinum so yes, it is a good deal.
Click to expand...
I applied for (and received) the Continental Presidential Plus card after I received a first-year free offer from Chase. I needed to top off my Continental balance (so I could transfer to Amtrak), but I haven't used it for anything else (President's Club, Club Acela, etc.), though I hope to. I do hope to get good use out it for the year...

I've been using my AGR credit card for everything to get the July/August/September bonus ($2500 spent gets me 3500 extra AGR points), so even my SPG AmEx card is lying dormant.
 
DivMiler said:
jis said:
Still the Club membership makes it worth it. This card's service level is at par with Amex Platinum so yes, it is a good deal.
Click to expand...
I applied for (and received) the Continental Presidential Plus card after I received a first-year free offer from Chase. I needed to top off my Continental balance (so I could transfer to Amtrak), but I haven't used it for anything else (President's Club, Club Acela, etc.), though I hope to. I do hope to get good use out it for the year...
Click to expand...
The Presidential Plus Card won't get you into the lounges. You will receive a separate President's Club membership card to use for that.
 
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City of Miami said:
I applied for the One Pass Plus credit card per the banner at the top of this page. I also opened a One Pass acct with Continental.

If the appl is OKd, after a purchase I get 25K points which I can then transfer to AGR. Correct?

Then what? Can I cancel the card? I have never closed a cc acct before - maybe it's not so easy. I wouldn't want to pay the $95 annual fee but it says 1st year free....then what? Even paying the $95, that's a very cheap 25K points!

I don't understand why they would give me 25K points (esp since the AGR card is also Chase) - it feels like trying to get something for nothing which generally doesn't work out!! :ph34r: CAN SOMEONE TELL ME IF I AM MISSING SOMETING AND THIS IS A STUPID THING TO DO.

Further, I really don't understand AGR in general...why Amtrak would give us free travel....or any of these other entities, especially the bonuses.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Yes, but don't wait to transfer to AGR. You never know when the CO / AGR transfer agreement will expire. Especially since CO is merging with United, and things will probably change by the end of the year.
 
City of Miami said:
Then what? Can I cancel the card? I have never closed a cc acct before - maybe it's not so easy. I wouldn't want to pay the $95 annual fee but it says 1st year free....then what? Even paying the $95, that's a very cheap 25K points!
Click to expand...
I won't comment on whether it's a good idea to apply for credit cards to get the initial balance. It depends on your credit history, and other factors.

But since you got the card, I'd suggest that you don't cancel it immediately after receiving the points. Two reasons come to mind:

a) I've heard (though it's never happened to me) that Chase will claw back bonus points if you cancel the card within six months of receiving the points.

b) Chase has verbiage in its T & C allowing them to not award points to people who churn credit cards.

Since your first year is free, there's no reason not to hold on to the card for 10-11 months, then cancel it. Heck, you could occasionally make a small charge on it, just to show some activity. You'd be less likely it irritate Chase if you do that, and less likely to be refused for future cards. The key here is to not be conspicuous.

In point of fact, I have this card and have been using it for occasional car rentals, since the card's insurance is primary. That's an unusual benefit, and while it's not worth $95 a year, it's worth putting my occasional car rental on the card while I still have it.
 
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Also oddly enough both applying for a card and canceling a card can have negative impact on your FICO score.

If your score is very high anyway, it may not matter, but if you are on the borderline, it could bump you down from Excellent to Good or Good to the next lower level which may have negative impact on any loans that you try to take.
 
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Thanks for the feedback. I haven't heard anything about my application. I may not have a credit rating at all as I have never bought anything on credit (except the 30 day float on a cc) in my life. Nothing. I have only ever had the AGR credit card and a Citicorp one before that I had for many yrs. Citicorp finally canceled that one after several yrs of inactivity, but they asked first.
 
DivMiler said:
jis said:
Still the Club membership makes it worth it. This card's service level is at par with Amex Platinum so yes, it is a good deal.
Click to expand...

I've been using my AGR credit card for everything to get the July/August/September bonus ($2500 spent gets me 3500 extra AGR points), so even my SPG AmEx card is lying dormant.
Click to expand...
Is this targeted? I don't recall hearing of it......
 
City of Miami said:
Thanks for the feedback. I haven't heard anything about my application. I may not have a credit rating at all as I have never bought anything on credit (except the 30 day float on a cc) in my life. Nothing. I have only ever had the AGR credit card and a Citicorp one before that I had for many yrs. Citicorp finally canceled that one after several yrs of inactivity, but they asked first.
Click to expand...
Merely owning one credit card and never even using it is enough to give you a FICO score. And perversely, even though you did not do anything does not mean that someone else has not helped themselves to use your identity to give you a FICO score unbeknownst to you either. It is therefore a good idea to check occasionally what your FICO score is, even though you think you don't have one. ;)

And of course in the current business climate, if you really don't have a FICO score, it considerably diminishes your chances of getting a credit card.
 

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