February 2nd, 2010
In our continuing quest to index and categorize every credit card available in the United States, we have added cards from Barclays, Simmons First, PenFed, First National Bank of Omaha, Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, First Command Bank, and Heartland Bank. We hope your card selection process benefits from the breadth of our card offerings.
Out of the 84 new cards we added, a few winners and losers stand out.
Winners
Barclays Emigrant Direct MasterCard – Earn 1.4% cash back if you maintain a trailing 6 month deposit balance in excess of $10,000. Earn 0.5% otherwise. A great card for those who seek to earn more than the generic 1% rewards card and have some money locked up in savings accounts.
Lukoil / Getty MasterCard – Earn 4% rewards at Lukoil or Getty stations. Earn 1% everywhere else. Earn double rewards for the first 2 months, a whopping 8% back on gas and 2% on other purchases.
Low APR cards – The new additions dominate our Low APR rankings, with 7.24% APR and 0% balance transfer fee with the Harvard Alumni Association card, 7.25% APR from First Command Bank Platinum, Amalgamated Chicago Union Plus, Simmons First Platinum, and 7.99% APR from several Heartland Bank cards.
Losers
Barclays Juniper PrePaid Card – the worst prepaid card we’ve ever seen, with a $5 monthly fee, $2 ATM fees, and a 5% charge to withdraw money. Annoyingly, the fine print is intentionally difficult to access, on Page 13 of a tiny scroll window.
Barclays FutureTrust – 1% rewards towards your 529 College savings plan makes little sense when you can earn 2% with the Fidelity 529 college card
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January 29th, 2010
The Wyndham Rewards card from Bank of America is no longer being offered on Bank of America’s website. This is unfortunate because it was one of few cards offering a 2% base rewards rate.
The card issuer has slimmed its card portfolio down from 145 cards to less than 40 over the past year, dropping many alumni cards, charity cards, and travel cards along the way.
Posted in Bank of America, Card Changes, Rewards | No Comments »
January 26th, 2010
Bank of America and Chase raised APRs on most of their credit card portfolios by 1% to 3%. Many cards previously listed in our Low APR Credit Cards page have been affected.
Also, both credit card issuers have removed some great cards from their portfolios. Among those cards no longer available:
- Bank of America’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy Racing League, and National Hot Rod Association cards
- Bank of America’s Norwegian Cruise Line card
- Chase Volkswagen Platinum Visa
- Chase Irving Oil Visa
- Chase ASPCA Visa
- Chase Sprint Visa
Posted in Bank of America, Card Changes, Chase | 1 Comment »
November 18th, 2009
Citibank has discontinued the following cards:
Schwab is no longer widely offering it’s fantastic 2% cash back Schwab Visa Invest First credit card, although you can probably still get one if you open an account.
In further bad news, many banks are raising APRs on cards and reducing rewards programs.
- Citi has raised its APRs on most cards by 1%
- US Bank has raised its APRs on most cards by 0.75%
- Wells Fargo has raised its APRs on most cards by a whopping 4.5%
- Citi ThankYou points are now worth a deceptive 5/6 of $0.01, instead of the industry standard of 1 cent per point. Compare this to cards like the Chase Freedom where you can get 1.25 cents per point when you save up $200 worth of points before you redeem.
Posted in Card Changes, Citibank, Schwab | No Comments »
November 13th, 2009
Chase has made the following changes:
Bank of America has made the following changes:
Posted in Bank of America, Card Changes, Chase | No Comments »
November 13th, 2009
Capital One has made the following changes:
- Discontinued the following cards
- No Hassle Points for Excellent Credit
- Orbitz Visa for Good Credit
- Platinum for Average Credit
- Standard Platinum for Average Credit
- Platinum for Limited Credit
- No Hassle Points for Limited Credit
- No Hassle Points for Young Adults
- Orbitz Visa for Limited Credit
- MTV for Limited Credit
- Capital One has added one new cards, the LSU Tigers Platinum for Excellent Credit
- Capital One has made changes to the following cards
- Classic Platinum for Average Credit fee goes from $19 to $39 per year. Also, APR promotion extended from 6 to 12 months and minimum APR raised from 14.55% + Prime to 16.55% + Prime
- No Hassle Cash for Average Credit fee goes from $29 to $39 per year. Also, APR promotion extended from 6 to 12 months
- Classic Platinum for Young Adults fee goes from $19 to $39 per year. Also, minimum APR raised from 14.55% + Prime to 16.55% + Prime
- Classic Platinum for Limited Credit fee goes from $19 to $39 per year. Also, minimum APR raised from 14.55% + Prime to 16.55% + Prime
- No Hassle Cash for Young Adults fee goes from $29 to $39
- No Hassle Cash for Limited Credit fee goes from $29 to $39
Posted in Capital One, Card Changes | No Comments »
October 16th, 2009
Chase has made changes to the following card offers:
- Raised purchase APR on the Chase AARP Rewards Card from a range of prime rate plus 5.99%-14.99% to a range of prime rate plus 9.99%-15.99%. Chase also raised cash advance APR from prime plus 15.99% to prime plus 20.99%.
- Raised purchase APR on the Chase Student +1 Card from a range of prime rate plus 9.99%-14.99% to a range of prime rate plus 13.99%-17.99%. Chase also raised cash advance APR from prime plus 15.99% to prime plus 20.99%, and default APR from prime plus 23.99% to 29.99%.
- Chase Sapphire signing bonus was reduced from 25,000 points to 10,000 points
- Chase Borders 321 Visa signing bonus was reduced from 3,000 points to 1,000 points
Chase has added several new travel cards:
- Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Card, featuring a sign on bonus of half a domestic roundtrip ticket, plus another half if you are approved for a balance transfer
- Chase Slate, which is a generic card with no rewards, and some useless tools to monitor which parts of your statements you are not paying off
- Chase Marriott Rewards Signature Card, which rank well because of their generous sign on bonus of 20,000 points + a free night’s stay. The more exclusive Chase Marriott Rewards Premiere Card offers 2x points at restaurants as well, but has a higher annual fee.
- Chase Priority Club Rewards Signature is a hotel card for InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. The card offers a 10,000 point bonus each year when you spend more than $15,000, on top of the 1 point per $1 spent you earn on a normal basis. The card receives 3x points when used at the aforementioned Priority Club Hotels.
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October 11th, 2009
Discover has increased minimum purchase APR’s from 7.74%+Prime to 8.74%+Prime for the Discover More, Discover Motiva, Discover Miles, and Discover Escape credit cards. Also, Discover is no longer offering the Discover Open Road and Student Open Road cards.
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October 10th, 2009
American Express updated every card offer in some way over the past quarter. Generally speaking, minimum APR’s were increased and balance transfer promotions were reduced in reaction to credit card legislation which makes it more difficult for credit card companies to raise APR’s on customers and charge late fees.
- American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card – waived first year fee, no longer offering 2x on gas/grocery during first year.
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card – waived first year fee, lowered annual fee from $150 to $125, no longer offering 2x on gas/grocery during first year.
- American Express Blue Card – Raised minimum APR from 6.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime, reduced promo APR period from 12 months to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 2.99% for 6 months
- American Express Blue Sky Card & American Express Blue Cash Card – Raised minimum APR from 7.99%+prime to 13.99%+prime, reduced promo APR period from 12 months to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 2.99% for 6 months
- American Express Clear Card – Raised minimum APR from 8.99%+prime to 13.99%+prime, reduced promo APR period from 12 months to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 3.99% for 6 months.
- American Express Costco Card – Raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime, raised cash advance aPR from 17.99%+prime to 21.99%+prime, extended 0% intro APR promotion from 3 to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 1.99% for 6 months.
- American Express Delta Reserve Card, Gold Delta SkyMiles Card, American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Card – Raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.25%+prime.
- American Express JetBlue Card, American Express Hilton HHonors Card, American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Card – Raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime.
- American Express Starwood Card – Added new 10,000 Starwood Point signing bonus, and raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime.
Posted in American Express, Balance Transfer, Card Changes, Rewards, Travel | No Comments »
