quote:Originally posted by HopefulRailUser: Can one set this card up for automatic payment from a bank account and get online statements, no paper stuff?
Yes. You can even set it up to automatically pay the current balance due. Something MBNA only offers now that Guest Rewards have ended!
Posts: 218 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Well, I have two denial letters from Chase and a Chase Amtrak master card... Apparently, I have sufficient credit with high balances, so I don't qualify for a card...
However, they sent me one...
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Mike Smith: Well, I have two denial letters from Chase and a Chase Amtrak master card... Apparently, I have sufficient credit with high balances, so I don't qualify for a card...
However, they sent me one...
What, a credit card or an AGR card?
Posts: 510 | From: Richmond VA USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I received a letter from Chase today saying, during a recent account review, the AGR member number was not reflected on the card. A replacement card with the same account number and AGR number printed on it will arrive in 7 to 10 business days. I had not contacted them about the missing number even after reading posts about the first Chase cards not showing the AGR number.
Posts: 15 | From: Mke, WI, USA | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I also got that letter in the mail today. However, I checked my AGR account and noticed that my 8,000 points had hit the day before. So it will not effect your bonus points.
Posts: 34 | From: Kansas City, MO | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Are the Reward Points transferred from Chase to Amtrak after the statement amount is paid? Are the 5,000 points sent as one group or at two separate times? My Chase statement says it will transfer 2500 points + the value of my purchases (Amtrak and others). Thanks for the information.
Posts: 87 | From: Ohio | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Got my letter that a new card is on it's way with my AGR number on it just yesterday. Also checked the AGR website and noted that my bonus points have posted. Half came from Chase and the other half came a day or two later from Amtrak.
Life is good and I'm just a couple hundred points short of a roomette round-trip to the west coast now. Since my Silver Star - Piedmont trip from Winter Park to Charlotte hasn't posted yet, I should be over the top any day now! Hooray.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Since I began this topic, I'll officially put it to rest by saying that I now have a new AGR card with my Amtrak number on it and I see that my 8,000 miles have been posted to my account. Amen.
Now off to Montana on the EB in December!
-------------------- My new "default" station (EKH) has no baggage service or QuikTrak machine, but the parking is free! And the NY Central RR Museum is just across the tracks (but not open at Amtrak train times. . ..) Posts: 337 | From: Goshen, IN | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
It appears that the credit card industry is getting ready to "lay the hammer down" on the demographic that somehow I think more members here fall into than does the population at large - those who pay up in full every month, Today's New York Times reports;
Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full. Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards, frequent-flier miles and other perks in recent years.
Now Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit.
Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups
For Guest Rewards "point chasers', it appears that this perk will soon have a price tag. Even if not a point chaser, those such as myself who simply "hate cash' and as a result use cards to the fullest extent possible will find their free ride is over. If the card issuers start charging interest from date of transaction, and that a cardholder consistently "runs up' $1000 per month ratably through the month, i.e. by the 15th, $500 has been "run up', that holder would incur, assuming the industry's usual 18% APY rate, $75 of Finance Charges per year.
Apparently the "bad boys' have their lobby with "Banker-in-Chief" .
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
GBN, your post above, while slightly off-topic from Judy's thread, is important enough to deserve its own thread. Still, I've gotta comment on what you wrote:
I'm one of those "sterling-credit, pay off the entire balance every month" guys that the card companies have the love/hate relationship with. They keep hoping that eventually we will let the "balance" slide over to the next billing cycle and hit us with the 18%. All I want to say is if they eliminate the grace period (getting shorter all the time anyway) and start the Annual Fee again, I'll cut my cards and send them back to the issuers. And any credit I need will go on my 3% HELOC (home equity loan) which can be treated as deductible by the IRS just like a home mortgage. Well, just had to get that out-- sorry for going off-topic, but you fired me up!
Posts: 588 | From: East San Diego County, CA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I was a more than a little annoyed when I read that article on how credit card companies aren't making enough money off people who pay their bills each month. Least anyone forget, every time I use my card, the issuer gets a cut right up front from the merchant. Putting my new furnace & air conditioner on the card surely brought them a nice little chunk of change.
-------------------- My new "default" station (EKH) has no baggage service or QuikTrak machine, but the parking is free! And the NY Central RR Museum is just across the tracks (but not open at Amtrak train times. . ..) Posts: 337 | From: Goshen, IN | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
It goes without saying, Ms. McFarland, if the soon to be enacted legislation will prohibit the credit card issuers from "punishing the bad boys", that revenue shortfall will be recovered from another base - and those "who do the right thing' (quite likely that means you; HVAC installation notwithstanding) are in the crosshairs.
True, the merchant's discount represents a revenue source, but it is trivial when compared with the Finance charges that the industry is reaping. Even those who finance responsibly, i.e. clear their balances from consumption once a year and treat needed (as distinct from wanted) durable goods financing as if such were an installment loan, are adding to the industry's profits.
Finally, David Brooks closed his column in Yesterday's Times with a stern warning that I hope Banker-in-Chief, Automaker-in-Chief, Insurance man-in-Chief, what's next-in-Chief, will read and HEED:
Of course, that’s changing. We now have an administration freely interposing itself in the management culture of industry after industry. It won’t be the regulations that will be costly, but the revolution in values. When Washington is a profit center, C.E.O.’s are forced to adopt the traits of politicians. That is the insidious way that other nations have lost their competitive edge.
disclaimer; author holds position in BAC
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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At first glance, the sweeping credit card legislation that passed the Senate on Tuesday looks like a huge victory for consumers. The bill, after all, contains relief from penalty fees and certain interest rate spikes.
But for people who pay off their bills each month, and milk the card rewards programs for everything they’re worth, there is some cause for concern.
For months now, the card companies have been threatening to cut rewards programs sharply to make up for revenue lost because of the new restrictions.
My guess, however, is that this talk is just so much saber-rattling.
Card companies want to make money, and big spenders help them do it, even if those cardholders do not go into debt.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Again please accept my apology for continuing a topic that is clearly "off-rails", but with the constant interest in the Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card I note around here, the following material may prove of interest;
What the card companies realize — and what legislation most likely won’t change — is that no matter how much we say we dislike credit cards, they’ve become an essential part of our lives. It’s really hard to rent a car without a card. Or shop online. Or buy plane tickets. Often, executives say, we are just looking for an excuse to use our cards, and so companies are becoming experts in figuring out which excuses we each most want to hear. They’ve let me transform my card into an expression of love for my son. They’ll let you tell yourself that charging a meal gets you closer to a free flight to Tahiti.
Finally, allow me to note the TV ad that I believe is simply the epitome of irresponsibility when a message from a large financial institution should be to consume responsibly and definitely borrow responsibly. The culprit is JPMorgan Chase N.A.
The ad depicts a "thirtysomething Single Mom" sitting in the lobby of a mall with her two "tweenie' daughters. Lo and behold her cell phone rings and it is Chase texting her account balance or available credit. Mom then says "Ladies, let's go shopping'.
The message seems to be that if you have credit availability, let's go use it. Whatever happened to the three steps of personal financial management - plan, execute, account.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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