Bank of America: Credit Card Watcher (Page 4)

Choice Privileges Visa: 24,000 Point Signup Bonus – Enough for 3 Free Hotel Nights

May 19, 2006 ccwatcher Bank of America, Signup Bonuses, Travel Cards

Via FT, when you apply between now and August 31, 2006, you’ll receive a 24,000 point signup bonus instead of the standard 8,000, enough for 3 free nights at more than 1,000 Choice Privileges locations. Frequent travellers will recognize this card as the one affiliated with the Choice Hotels chain, which includes Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion and MainStay Suites. Cardholders receive 15 points per dollar spent at these hotels, plus 2 points per dollar on all other purchases.

To apply, call 1-800-341-7589 or visit http://www.choiceprivilegesvisa.com.Â For current details, see this page.

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Bank Of America Power Rewards Visa: Free $25 Gift Card

May 6, 2006 ccwatcher Balance Transfer Offers, Bank of America, Cash Back Cards, Signup Bonuses

In case you aren’t familiar with this card already, it offers up to 2% back with no annual fee and no caps. While you also have the opportunity to redeem accrued points for other merchandise, the real value lies in the cash back redemption at the upper tiers:

3,500 Points = $25 Cash Rebate
6,500 Points = $50 Cash Rebate
9,500 Points = $75 Cash Rebate
12,500 Points = $100 Cash Rebate
20,000 Points = $200 Cash Rebate
30,000 Points = $450 Cash Rebate
50,000 Points = $1,000 Cash Rebate

As you can see, at 1 point per dollar spent, you can receive 2% cash back once you accumulate 50,000 points. Points do expire after 5 years and since the point exchange values could in theory change at any time, this is probably only attractive for big spenders. As for specifics of this signup offer, as posted on FW:

Call 1.800.807.4293 and apply for the Bank of America Power Rewards Card by July 1, 2006. Make one purchase, within 90 days you will receive instructions by mail for ordering your $25 gift card online or by phone. Gift cards are available for “hundreds of merchandisers including Blockbuster and The Home Depot

In addition to the $25 gift card, this offer also comes with 500 bonus points after the first purchase and 0% on purchases and balance transfers for the first six months. Rate after the six months will be between 11.49% and 20.49% depending on your credit report.

There was also the site www.bankofamerica.com/powerrewardsoffer mentioned in the ad, but it does not seem to work and the CSR said it should be fixed on Monday.

Overview of MBNA Home Advantage AMEX, Bank of America Pet Rewards Visa

May 2, 2006 ccwatcher American Express, Bank of America, MBNA, Reward Cards

There’s a couple of new threads on FatWallet about these cards. The cards themselves aren’t new, but it’s worth pointing them out, as they potentially have their niche uses:

MBNA Home Advantage^SM American Express^Â® Card:

No Annual Fee
Introductory 0% APR for Cash Advance Checks and Balance Transfers through your first twelve billing cycles.*
Earn one Point for every $1 in net retail purchases
Earn five Points for every $1 in net retail purchases at select home-product merchants, such as The Home Depot^Â®, Linens ‘n Things, Pier 1^Â®, and theKitchenStore.com^Â®
Redeem Points for payments toward your mortgage- at a rate of 1% of every net retail purchase
Redeem Points for air travel, name-brand merchandise, gift certificates at popular retailers, and cash

Unfortunately, the five Points for every $1 is only offered for your first six months. As FW notes:

…Unlike the 5% gas station, supermarket, and Drugstore cards out there which are dependent on Visa, Mastercard, or AMEX coding this card actually determines the 5X points based on the merchants MBNA decides are eligable to participate. It could be a good card though for at least 6 months for those who make a lot of purchases from Home Depot. Since if you were to spend $10,000 on a home improvement project you would net 50,000 points which pretty much is a ticket to Europe or $500 CashBack or $500 towards your mortgage. Also the interest rate is reasonable at 7.9% Fixed.

Bank of America Pets Reward Visa:

Put your pet’s picture on your card or choose from one of three adorable designs
Low introductory annual percentage rate (APR) on all purchases and balance transfers for the first six billing cycles¹
Earn 500 bonus PetRewards Points after your first purchase
No annual fee
Earn two PetRewards Points for each dollar you spend at participating veterinary clinics, pet retailers, farm and feed and neighborhood pet specialty stores.
Earn one point for each net retail dollar you spend on all other everyday purchases using your PetRewards Card.
Redeem PetRewards points for pet food discounts, veterinary care savings and animal shelter donations.

As pointed out by this thread at FW:

It is a 2% card or 4% depending on the purchases. You earn 1 point for regular purchases and 2 points at participating pet food stores, vetinary clinics, and certain other locations. The redemption schedule though is 1,000 points = $20 for vetinary care.

The bottom line? This only seems like a useful card if you either 1) really want a credit card with your dog’s picture on it, or 2) you spend a lot on your pet. Since many pet purchases can be made at supermarkets where you can earn 5% with many cards, it severely reduces the utility of the card.

Visit Museums Free In May With a Bank of America Card

April 27, 2006 ccwatcher Bank of America, MBNA

Now there’s no excuse to visit the museum. According to CardTrak, in the month of May, people who show a Bank of America ATM, check or credit card or MBNA credit card can visit participating museums with a guest for free.

It’s called the “Museums On Us” program and although it’s restricted to 56 participating museums across the Northeast US, it seems like a great program for those who can take advantage. Full details can be found at http://www.bankofamericapromotions.com/museums/.

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