So my dad emails me today telling me about this new credit card that gives 5% off computers and electronics and tons of other stuff that my current credit cards don’t give any discount on. I had him email me the details and I did some research online.
Indeed it was true and it seems that Advanta had upgraded its rewards program sometime last summer. The last time I remember looking at this card, it was a tiered rewards program starting at 0.5% cash back and only up to 2% cash back. So the updated rewards programs is as follows: Automatically earn 5% Cash Back on gasoline, office supplies, utilities, computer equipment, cell phones and Internet services, and 1% on all other purchases. For people like me that spend most of my money on computers and electronics (besides rent), I’d use my other credit cards to pay for gasoline, since that’s the only overlapping area. Other interesting aspects include no annual fee (although I don’t think I’d ever sign up for one with an annual fee) and 0% APR for 15 months, but I won’t be using that either.
Here are the full details of their cash back rewards program:
CASH BACK REWARDS PROGRAM RULES
- Cash Back rewards earned for the current month are shown on account billing statements.
- Cash Back rewards are earned on Net Purchases only, which means purchases of goods and services made for business purposes with the Advanta BusinessCard while the account is in good standing by the Signing Individual or any authorized user of the account, net of any returns and credits. Net Purchases does not include, and rewards are not earned on, cash advances, balance transfers, convenience checks, fees, finance charges, adjustments, or any other transactions or charges.
- Cash Back rewards are paid by check (to the order of the Signing Individual) and are generated and mailed following any billing cycle in which unpaid earned rewards reach $50. Rewards are not available in the form of reductions in the amount of any account payments due.
Cash Back rewards of 5% are earned on all qualifying purchases of “gasoline and diesel fuel”, “computers, computer supplies, electronics and office supplies” and “utilities and telecommunications” items.
- Qualifying purchases are Net Purchases that 1) are made at retail establishments which for “gasoline and diesel fuel” are classified as gas stations that process the transactions as fuel purchases; for “computers, computer supplies, electronics and office supplies” are classified as computer, computer peripheral equipment and software distributors, electronics stores, computer software stores, or office supply stores; for “utilities and telecommunications” are classified as utility or computer network service providers; and 2) are communicated by merchants to Advanta using appropriate merchant category and transaction codes. Important Note: Mail, telephone, catalog, and some Internet purchases, and purchases made indirectly through intermediaries, may not qualify; merchants may classify these transactions differently. — Cash Back rewards of 1% are earned on all other Net Purchases. — A maximum of $300 in Cash Back rewards may be earned on this account in any enrollment year, with a maximum of $25 in Cash Back rewards earned in any billing cycle.
- To earn and receive Cash Back rewards, an account must be open and in good standing. No rewards are earned on transactions made during any billing cycle for which the monthly payment is not paid as agreed or in which the account is over its credit limit. If the account is voluntarily or involuntarily closed, no disbursement is made of any earned rewards. If the account status is never returned to good standing, any earned rewards are forfeited.
- Advanta assumes no tax liability for Cash Back rewards earned or paid on any account; consult your tax advisor.
- Cash Back rewards earned on additional/supplemental card transactions are credited to the Signing Individual’s account and paid to the Signing Individual.
- These Advanta Cash Back program rules and features are not provisions of any Advanta BusinessCard Account Agreement, and Advanta reserves the right to change or discontinue this Advanta Cash Back program or any of its features, or to change any of these Cash Back program rules, at any time without notice. The Advanta Cash Back program is void where prohibited by law.
There is one caveat. This credit card is intended for Businesses only and you have to provide a “Company Name” and “Annual Sales” to it in order to qualify. My application was approved within a minute, so hopefully I’ll be getting the card soon. So my arsenal now contains:
- Citi Dividends – 5% on gasoline, groceries, and drugstores; 1% everything else
- Chase Rewards – 5% on gasoline, groceries, and drugstores; 1% everything else
- Advanta Platinum – 5% on gasoline, electronics, office supplies, and utilities; 1% everything else
- Amex Costco – 3% on restaurants; 2% on travel; 1% everything else
You may want to see my previous post on Credit Cards.
Attempted to order items fron reward program on line at the request of rewards dept of advanta. had 44,814 points and ordered items worth 42,500 points. this was done as points had started to expire. the material was ordered on 3/19/07 and was not received, of course with each monthly statement more points disappeared and still no merchandise. i cancelled the card as they did not seem to hanor their committment. after cooling down i contacted the rewards dept. and was informed that a supervisor would have to make a decision on the handling of the problem. was told that advants would reinstate 5,000 points, still no merchandise. they must need the points more than i do. so be it.
That’s interesting… I’m not sure if we’re on the same rewards program or not, but my rewards have always been calculated in dollars ($) and not points. Whenever I reach a balance of $50 or over in my cashback rewards, they automatically mail me a check. So assuming that 100pt = $1, I’ve never really reached anything close to over 40,000 points.
Oops watch out for this Company. They hooked a friend into get low interest cash advances, now he has a large balance so they raised his interest, on the purchases portion to 35.96% Costing ~140 a month on a ~4000 balance. Since he can’t choose which portion to pay first, this rate will gain Adanta thousands in unreasonable gain.