Effective April 1, 2010, customers will be eligible to earn 5 percent cash back on the most popular spending categories, like dining, drug stores and grocery stores, through seasonal promotions. Other purchases would continue earning a 1% rebate. Gone, however, is the $50 bonus for redeeming $200 in rewards at once. And much like Discover’s program, cardholders will have to sign up for the quarterly promotions and are limited to how much spending will earn the 5%.

Beginning March 15, 2010, Chase Freedom(SM) cardholders can enroll in second quarter promotions for a 5% rebate at home improvement stores, lawn and garden outlets, home furnishing retailers and drugstores.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Chase Freedom(SM): Now with 5% Rotating Rewards

With no rewards program, it’s a credit card that’s about as easy to understand as possible. There are no transaction or penalty fees of any kind. That includes foreign transaction, balance transfer, cash advance, late payment, over credit limit or returned payment fees. Cardholders must sign up for e-statements for all their active accounts. For more info, see this link.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

PenFed Promise Card: A New, No Fee Credit Card

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United Mileage Plus Visa: 30,000 Bonus Miles, No Annual Fee First Year

The changes come as the enactment of the next phase of the Credit Card ACT on February 22 draws nearer, and banks look to find ways to offset the accompanying loss of revenue.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Citi Introduces Annual Fees on Inactive Accounts

• 22,500 Marriott Rewards earned bonus points after the first purchase (30,000 for the Premier)
• a free night stay at a category 1-4 (plus an annual free stay at a category 1-5 for the Premier)
• 3 points earned per dollar spent at Marriott locations and 1 point per dollar for all other purchases (5 points per dollar spent at Marriott locations, 2 points per dollar spent on eligible dining, airline and rental car purchases and 1 point per dollar spent elsewhere on the Premier)
• Silver Elite status with 10 Elite nights credit every year (15 on the Premier)

The card carries a $30 annual fee ($65 for the Premier) which is waived for the first year. More details can be found here.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Marriot Rewards Credit Cards: Now Earn Elite Status Faster

The Zync does carry an annual fee, though at $25, it is much lower than its elder siblings. Purchases earn Membership Rewards points which can be redeemed for the usual assortment of travel, shopping, and entertainment rewards. In addition, there are four “Lifestyle Packs,” that can boost your benefits. For instance, the “Go” pack costs an additional $20/year and doubles the number of points your airfare purchases earn. The “Social” pack also costs another $20/year and doubles your points on restaurant, concert and theater purchases.

For more details, see this link.

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American Express Zync: A Charge Card for Young Adults

Unfortunately, this deal is only available to those in South Florida, as you will need to visit a branch location in person. While you do not need to be a member to apply, you will need to become one to open your account. Membership is open to anyone who lives, works or goes to school in Broward or Palm Beach Counties, Florida, and relatives of anyone who is eligible.

For more information, see this page.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

BrightStar Credit Union Credit Card: 0% Balance Transfer for 6 Months, No Fees

This is not a rewards card, and it does carry a $20 annual fee. However, one other “feature” that may make this card more attractive to some is that the issuer claims only a “fair” credit score is required for acceptance.

Link

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Bryant State Bank Credit Card: 3.25% on Balance Transfers for 6 Months, No BT Fee

1) Call 1-866-645-1436 from January 1, 2010 to February 1, 2010 and let us know you’d like to stop using other cards and switch your spending to Discover.

2) Use Discover for all your purchases like groceries, gasoline, electronics as well as monthly bills like cell phone, internet and cable.

3) Earn an extra $500 CashBack Bonus – just for making $2,000 in purchases with your card in each month from February 2010 through June 2010. Remember, this is in addition to the CashBack Bonus you can earn every time with your card.

(Via FW)

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$500 Cashback Bonus for Select Discover Cardholders

Stay between Jan 15th and ends June 30th, 2010. First complimentary night free with a 2 night minimum. (essentially buy one, get 1 night free)

MENTION Promo Code: E1320542 (this is not bookable on the new FHR website, must phone in)

Bookings must be made by April 15, 2010. In addition, the promo is valid for only one room per cardmember. (Via FT)

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Buy One Night at Wynn/Encore, Get One Free

Eligible cardmembers can enroll at www.americanexpress.com/costcogift/

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Free Costco Membership for Select Amex Gold Cardmembers

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Amex: Pay Your Income Tax with Membership Rewards Points

As each offer appears to be individualized, there may be a spending threshold that needs to be reached before earning the bonus. Of note is that the maximum bonus available during the promo period is $20. Enrollment must be completed by March 12, 2010.

To enroll, see www.yourchasefreedom.com.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Select Chase Freedom Cardholders: Triple Rewards on Dining, Education, Childcare and Utilities Expenses

These settlements are hailed as a victory for credit card users, as many consumer advocates have viewed the arbitration process as being unfairly biased towards the credit card companies.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Cap One, Bank of America Drop Mandatory Arbitration Clauses

Pick-a-rate: Up until now, a variable rate card was usually tied to the prime rate on the last day of the last billing cycle. CRL’s report shows that a number of issuers now have added language to select the highest prime rate within a 90-day period. The change may seem innocuous enough but CRL estimates it currently costs Americans an additional $720 million a year.

Variable rate floors: A practice that seems to be spreading, this clause stipulates that a variable interest rate cannot go down from the initial rate when an account is opened, but can go up.

Minimum finance charges: Consumers with only a penny in finance charges get charged a minimum amount up to two dollars.

Compression of balance categories in tiered late fees: While late fees have traditionally been imposed on a sliding scale, with a larger flat fee charged for a larger total balance, issuers have been steadily lowering the tiers, such that the balance required to trigger the largest fees has been significantly decreased.

Inactivity fees: Issuers charge consumers for not using or closing their account, with fees as high as $36/year.

International transaction fees: Issuers are increasing charges for transactions in foreign currency and expanding the definition of foreign transactions to include those in dollars.

Balance transfer/cash advance fees: This change has been obvious for anyone following credit card deals. Larger minimum balance transfer fees and percentages are proliferating. Most balance transfer fees are now also uncapped.

The CRL’s full report can be found here.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

New Credit Card Abuses Spread in Advance of Credit CARD Act

Another problem I face when buying a car is that I hate haggling. Personally, I’d rather pay a slight premium for a more convenient transaction. Which is why I decided to explore the subject of this post: a review and comparison of a few of the “no-haggle” price car purchase programs on the market.

Carsdirect.com
The most established online program seems to be from Carsdirect.com. On their website, you select the make, model and options you want and they will quote you a price. For the car I had picked (a 2010 model), they quoted me a price that was $800 below MSRP but roughly $2600 above invoice, excluding incentives. You could then get another offer from a dealer by filling out your contact information, but since this initial price they gave me was pretty bad, I didn’t bother.

Costco Auto Program
Since I’m a member, I decided to try the Costco car buying program next. After specifying the details of the car I was interested in and supplying my contact information, Costco matched me with a local dealer that participates in their program. The dealer quickly got in touch with me to set up an appointment, but claimed it was their policy to not give prices over the phone. Once I got into the dealership, the price I was quoted was about $1150 over invoice. The price, however, didn’t seem firm and was subject to negotiation. Not ready to make a decision at that point, I decided to do some more legwork.

Amex Auto Purchasing Program
It was by complete accident that I discovered that American Express also had its own car purchasing program. The service is actually run by a company called Zag. Zag partners with a number of brands and organizations, such as USAA, Capital One, and Amex, among others, to provide its service to members of the participating groups.

The online interface for Amex’s program seemed an immediate improvement over the others I had tried so far. You can configure your car with the options you want and get prices from multiple participating dealerships (relative to invoice) without entering your contact information. Based solely on zip code, I was matched with 3 dealerships, and among them, the best price was for $400 above invoice.

Thinking that this sounded pretty good but slightly skeptical that I might be missing something, I called up the Amex car buying people who assured me that the dealer was obligated to give me this pricing and there weren’t any hidden gotchas. If the dealer didn’t have the exact car configured the way I wanted, they would still honor the price, relative to invoice, of other cars they did have in stock.

Once I had filled in my contact details, the dealer quickly got in touch with me. They, of course, wanted me to come into the dealership, but I saw no point unless I was ready to do a deal. I was initially surprised that they made no mention of the car buying program. Instead, it seemed like I was a normal customer who had contacted them through their web site. What ended up happening was we negotiated a price over the phone. Eventually I was offered a price of $750 under invoice (even before manufacturer rebates and incentives). Based on what I had been reading on the Edmunds.com forums, this was an excellent price and a good deal for this car right now.

Were there any surprises? Not really. When I showed up at the dealership, the itemized invoice they showed me was roughly $550 more than the Edmunds invoice number since it included local advertising and marketing fees. Either way, I felt it was still a fair deal.

One of the other side benefits of the American Express program is that dealers are obligated to allow you to charge a minimum of $2,000 of the purchase price to your credit card. In my case, I felt like I was getting a good enough of a deal as it was, so I didn’t push for it.

Lessons learned
There’s still a lot of haggling involved, even when using these so-called “no-haggle” services, if you’re interested in getting the best deal. Then again, getting the absolute best deal is not really the point of these services. They are more about getting a fair deal with a minimum of fuss. For the more ambitious, they can be used as a starting point for negotiating with other dealers.

Are my results typical? I’m guessing not. The end result is probably mostly dependent the particular dealer(s) that you are referred to.

I personally liked the Amex program because it allowed me to get quotes from multiple dealers up front without commitment or even entering any personal data. Assuming it’s still around in the future, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

My American Express Car Buying Service Experience: Amex vs. Carsdirect.com and Costco

Under terms of the new promotion, you’ll earn 20,000 Flying Club miles after your first purchase. You’ll also receive an additional 25,000 bonus miles after you make at least $750 in purchases within 90 days of opening your account. In addition, you’ll earn 7,500 Flying Club miles for spending $15,000 and another 7,500 miles for reaching $25,000 in annual spending. Up to 5,000 more bonus miles may be earned for adding more Cardmembers to your account.

The card earns 1.5 points per dollar spent and helps towards elite status. You earn one tier point per $2,500 spent and up to 2 points per month. To qualify for Silver status, you need 15 tier points or 10 to renew. For Gold status, it takes 40 tier points to qualify, or 30 to renew. The card does have a $90 annual fee.

Link (Via FW)

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Virgin Atlantic Amex: Up to 65,000 Bonus Miles

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Use your Discover Card and Get $10 off $50 on a Variety of Items at Amazon

For more info or to see if your card qualifies, see this link. (via SD)

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5% Rebate on BP Gas with Your Amex

There is an annual fee of $50 which is waived for the first year.

For more info or to apply, see this link.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex

In addition, there is an intro balance transfer offer of 0% for 6 months. If you initiate the transfer within the first 6 months of opening your account, there is a min fee of $5 and a max of $50. In addition, you can earn 1 bonus mile for each balance transfer dollar that posts in the first 30 days after your new account is opened up to a maximum of 10,000 miles.

Link (via FT)

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Frontier World MasterCard: Up to 40,000 Miles with Signup

For all borrowers, greater than 40% of banks also expected to raise annual fees and minimum credit scores for prime borrowers.

On a positive note from a trending perspective, the number of banks tightening underwriting standards for credit cards fell to 15% from the 35% in the July survey, the lowest percentage since April 2008.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Surprise, Surprise: Banks Admit to Tightening Credit in Response to Credit CARD Act

In addition, you’ll earn 1.25 miles per dollar spent and a free companion award redemption voucher for spending $30,000 on the card in a year. The voucher allows for a complimentary flight for a companion in the same class. The card does carry an annual fee of $75.

Link

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

British Airways Visa: 100,000 BA Miles Signup Bonus + More

To earn this bonus, you must sign up for this promotion by logging into your Discover account. Click on rewards tab and you will see the “Double Cash Back Bonus” under the current 5% advertisement. (Via SD)

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Discover Card: Double Cashback Rewards on Select Holiday Purchases

For more info, see this link.

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Chase Sapphire(SM): $100 Signup Bonus