Sam’s Club MasterCard with 5-3-1 Cash Back Program: First Retail Credit Card with Chip and PIN Technology
In the aftermath of the massive data breaches at Target and other retailers, the interest in credit card security has grown significantly. Pushed by consumer demand for more secure card technology, Target announced earlier this year that it was accelerating its plan to rollout all its credit and debit cards with “chip and PIN” technology by early 2015, with new payment terminals appearing by September 2014.
However, it is Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, that will be the first major retailer in the US to offer secure chip technology in its credit cards.
This week, Sam’s Club revealed that it will be introducing a new Sam’s Club MasterCard on June 23, 2014, that features “Chip and PIN” technology. “Chip and PIN” credit cards generate new random codes for each transaction and require the consumer’s PIN number, making them significantly more secure compared to traditional magnetic stripe credit cards, which contain only a single, static security code.
The new co-branded MasterCard, issued by GE Capital Retail Bank, is available to qualifying Sam’s Savings, Sam’s Business and Sam’s Plus members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It will also offer a “5-3-1 cash back program,” earning 5 percent cash back on fuel, 3 percent cash back on dining and travel, and 1 percent cash back on all other purchases, up to $5,000 annually.
The card does not have an annual fee, though Sam’s Club membership is required.
For more info on Sam’s Club credit cards, see this link.
For a list of more credit cards with secure chip technology, see this page.
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would like to apply for a credit card.thank you!
We booked a vacation with our local travel agency. We purposefully put it on our Sam’s club MasterCard. We are now told that we will not get the 3% as promised, in all my literature, because it is not considered travel…WHAT! Booking a trip through our local travel agency is not considered TRAVEL? This is very deceiving and surely false advertising.
Eugene and Carol Jasinski
Their interest rates are terrible. You have to have an 825 credit score to get their best. I have almost an 800, and the interest rate they gave me is 22.9%. My other cards are around 9-12%. Not worth the rewards when you can get similar ones with cards that have much better interest rates, like Costco & AARP.
Extremely disappointed with this card
Card declined at random for no apparent reason. Embarrassing and sometimes leaves us stranded. Gets declined even at stores where I shop weekly. Agent on phone is not able to tell me why the card is declined other than “security issues”. My wife and I both used the card so a year ago I added her to the account so she could take care of those problems when she is traveling – Syncrony has no record of our call. We are done with these idiots.
I want to look at my most current charges on my Sam’s Club Master card. This is the most user unfriendly card account I have.
I travel to California and sometimes stay for a month or two. In the summer I spend 2-5 months in Michigan.
I have to call the bank every two weeks when I’m in a different location. In the past, I only called once to
say I’d be in a certain place for 4 months or however long. It’s inconvenient to call every two weeks.
Synchrony bank says its security and fraud reasons. What’s the difference if I tell them how long I’ll be
in one place; I”m hoping they’re watching for fraud whether I call every two weeks or once to tell them
how long I’ll be. Didn’t have that problem with SAm’s Discover Card. Love Sam’s club except for this
new bank. hopefully, this can be resolved. Thanks, Sharon Israel