Leaving Royal CC, Barclays here I come

Well Took the plunge today and got the Barclay's Elite MC. I know there is a fee of $89 after the first year (never had a cc with a fee before) but with what we spend on our CC we get that back in a month.

Royal's CC has become so restrictive. With the BOGOHO you can only redeem points for OBC - REALLY!!!!!! So today, I redeemed points for a bunch of OBC, cancelled a bunch of my beverage pkgs and will just buy them on the ship with my CC OBC I just redeemed. Will work the CC to get enough for more OBC and then will call and have the limits taken down to the absolute minimum. Don't want to cancel them as it is bad for your credit rating.

All good things must come to an end. The Royal card was fantastic when it first was introduced. Since we have had it I have redeemed $10k in free OBC, companion fares, $$ off cruises, etc. But now, not worth anything when I can ONLY use it for OBC.

So time to move on to something different.

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The Master Card offered through Sam's Club pays 3% on restaurants and travel including cruise lines. Same as getting a 3% price reduction or 3% in OBC. And its 'combinable' with all cruise line discounts, etc. You also get 5% on gas too. Of course, you do have to join Sams and pay a fee for that but...

BOA RCI CC - provides no proactive/courtesy notification that points are expiring. Recently, on 11/11/14 statement , I got a cryptic notice that I had some points that MAY expire soon. On 11/9 /14, I called to redeem the quoted 19,444 points. I was informed I had 5000 less. The number quoted on 11/11/14 statement was no longer accurate. 5000 points were lost.

Seems very sneaky to me/complete lack of visibility to consumer on point status.

If I did not have a hard copy statement (11/11/14) quoting 19,444 points, I would have no argument/disgruntlement. BUT to have hard copy in hand, call on 11/9/14, which I define as "very soon" - makes me feel very bad/cheated.

There are plenty of other credit cards with better offers out there!

BOA RCI credit card - consumer beware! Avlski

BOA RCI CC - provides no proactive/courtesy notification that points are expiring. Recently, on 11/11/14 statement , I got a cryptic notice that I had some points that MAY expire soon. On 11/9 /14, I called to redeem the quoted 19,444 points. I was informed I had 5000 less. The number quoted on 11/11/14 statement was no longer accurate. 5000 points were lost.

Seems very sneaky to me/complete lack of visibility to consumer on point status.

If I did not have a hard copy statement (11/11/14) quoting 19,444 points, I would have no argument/disgruntlement. BUT to have hard copy in hand, call on 11/9/14, which I define as "very soon" - makes me feel very bad/cheated.

There are plenty of other credit cards with better offers out there!

BOA RCI credit card - consumer beware! Avlski

As other have pointed out already BOA makes it very clear in all your paperwork when you signup points expire every 5 years. You cant blame BOA for your lack of attention to your expire date.

That's not to say there aren't better cards on the market either.

There are many cards which are better. When you cancel the card be sure you inform them why you are doing it. If enough people will do it then maybe they'll improve the card. There are many ways they could improve the card, such as increasing the points per dollar, or awarding C&A points connected to spend (Spend $20k, get 10 C&A points).

As other have pointed out already BOA makes it very clear in all your paperwork when you signup points expire every 5 years. You cant blame BOA for your lack of attention to your expire date.

 

That's not to say there aren't better cards on the market either.

So I guess you keep every monthly statement and know exactly how many points will expire and on what date. I blame B of A for not putting expiring points on the monthly statement. What they do is borderline unethical and is done so that points will go unused to their benefit.

So I guess you keep every monthly statement and know exactly how many points will expire and on what date. I blame B of A for not putting expiring points on the monthly statement. What they do is borderline unethical and is done so that points will go unused to their benefit.

I download my statement and pay the CC online. So, I keep the statements for at least a year or two. That said, the statement lists the points you have, but no expiration dates.

What they do is borderline unethical and is done so that points will go unused to their benefit.

Gee I can't imagine a for profit business doing something that would be for their benefit........:rolleyes:

LOTS of cards have expiration periods for their points and miles.

I also like that fact that on the Barclay's card - one it gets fantastic reviews, but two, the points do not expire. So going to see how this works for us.

Switched from BOA RCI to Barclays earlier this year, much happier with it so far.

So I guess you keep every monthly statement and know exactly how many points will expire and on what date. I blame B of A for not putting expiring points on the monthly statement. What they do is borderline unethical and is done so that points will go unused to their benefit.

Guess I ought to start getting mad at Giant for letting all those gas points of mine expire without notice too...:rolleyes: