The Historical Grapevine

9/1/99

First USA on Nightline. http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/Nightline/nl990831creditcards.html

I have the Discover Card and they told me they would send me the new Platinum Discover Card that offered 2% cash back. I don't know if that works yet or not.

I also recently applied for the Shell Mastercard. In your calculations you need to consider the future value of money. It takes your purchases with Discover a full year before you see any "cashback". With the Shell mastercard they credit your account each month 1% for purchases and 5% of Shell gas. True, this is only good if you use Shell gas. But if you do, it *will* be better than AMEX or Discover. Its also quite convenient that is deducted from your bill. No fuss

I wonder if you have checked into the National Bank of Commerce Cash Back Visa card which is available through the www.getsmart.com link I found on your web site. It seems to offer a quicker build-up on the cash back percents and, according to the people I've talked to on the phone, is not capped. It also has no annual fee. It pays .25% back up to $1000; .50% back up to $2000; .75% back up to $3000; and 1.0% back above $3000. I also find this attractive because the calculation is over a 12 month billing cycle (i.e. your card anniversary date). Also, it is a VISA card, which is accepted anywhere. I'm nervous about being committed to an Amex or Discover card which may not be accepted widely.

Please let me know if you have heard anything about this particular card or about National Bank of Commerce.

Just thought you'd be interested in reading the fine print on the Aria Visa ... its issued by none other than your friends at Providian. Incidentally, I've never had any trouble with Providian. Until fairly recently, Providian was primarily a sub-prime lender, and many of their policies were developed for consumers with less than stellar credit records. In my experience, Providian beats First USA hands down for customer service, although they aren't Chase or MBNA by any stretch of the imagination. As for deceptive practices, First USA have probably mastered that better than anyone -- have you ever read their description of "two cycle average daily balance method"?? -- try their website. If that isn't glossing over the truth, I don't know what is.

Aria is also front for Providian.

While we are at it, Wingspan Bank is a front for First USA

Actually, I'm rather peeved at First USA about this GE card right now. I don't recall what I last wrote on this list about the issue, but a month or two ago, I was encouraged to do a large balance transfer, and was promised (TWICE!) that the transferred amount would count towards my yearly rebate total.

However, the amount never did show up on my rebate stats, and when I called the First USA reps about this, I was told in no uncertain terms that "First USA never offers, and has never offered rebates or rewards for balance transfers." Despite my protestations about the promise from the other rep, First USA has stood firm -- no rebate on my balance transfer.

This really gets my goat! :| There's no way I would've done the transfer (despite a grace period) at my then-ridiculous 22.9% APR for the card had it not been for the rebate promise.

Balance transferer, beware .

I lost my 1st USA cash rewards visa 2 months ago and they claim I forfeited over $155 of my cash rewards due to this! They claim that because I lost the card, the rewards is gone too. Well I say no way! They should have also forfeited any balance I owed too if they want to do that scam

Some bad news:

Giant Ends Rebates on Credit Card
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/31/082l-083199-idx.html

News article summary: Giant Food Inc. will shut down its rebate card on Sept. 30, 1999.

Comment: Giant Food operates Giant and Super G supermarkets in the following states and district: DE, MD, NJ, PA and DC.

Some good news:

...NEW CO-BRANDED AMERICAN EXPRESS Cards for Costco Members... SEATTLE and NEW YORK, Aug 11, 1999
http://www.quoteserver.com/texis/stock/open/+zwwBm+ekdIHwwwFqFqp2oqrwGmaHwcwDBo/article.html

Press release summary: Costco Companies, Inc. will start American Express' Membership Rewards rebate program in Nov. 1999.

Comment: Costco (formally PriceClub) operates 200 warehouse style "buy in bulk" membership stores throughout the U.S. Since AMEX's rebate is a point/redemption based program, those looking for a cash-back rebate card should continue to use the Discover Card.

8/31/99

I thought you might be interested in checking out a new card that I just discovered. It is called Aria Visa. It does not offer your preferred "cash rebates," but it does appear to have a good program. It has 0% APR for the first 3 months & no charge for the balance transfer; however, you must keep the $$$ there for a 12 month period and the rate does go up. I would be interested in hearing your opinion of the card..

I also have not received the $100 (checked my balance on their web site this morning). I signed up and was approved on the day you emailed the info. I have the details in print at home, but I believe it was $100 in credit on your account and it wasn't going to happen until the end of August. If you'd like me to email you exactly what was printed on the web pages, let me know.

Can anyone recommend a high limit secured card ($10,000-20,000)? I'm already familiar with AMEX,Citibank,Chase,Bank One. Do any offer you more credit than just your deposit? I'm trying to rebuild credit and any tips would be appreciated.

To the Providian question: Please stay away from any products from Providian due to their notorious customer service and deceiving practices. The best rebate cards: GE for cash and GM/Driver's Edge/ Subaru for car purchase. Best convenience checks: Discover/1ST USA. Most generous credit line: MBNA. All-time worst: Providian is the one (If you want the experience of Titanic, go 4 it). Just my experience and opinion.

New Site -- Folks - I'm moving my credit card pages from my personal domain http://www.flur.com/cards/ to it's very own domain. You can now find the the Credit Card Goodies pages at http://www.creditcardgoodies.com/.

I signed up for a wingspan card due to the $100.00 in cash offer---was approved but have not received the $100.00 as promised --- called for the past two month and reminding them of their offer and promise .. each time was told they were sending a memo in regards to the offer---- anyone else had this problem?

8/29/99

After Best Western cancelled its rewards program, I am looking for a VISA rewards card. I just got a offer from Providian for a platinum visa card with 5000 bonus pts, double points/$ for the 1st year. As for the annual fee it says $0, but there is something called other fees of $7.95/month.

Anybody have any idea what this fee is ? Experiences with this card ?. Any 800 # for this card? - none listed in the brochure. I am looking for a no fee rewards VISA card as a backup for my discover.

I've gotten excellent customer service and benefits from my Citibank Platinum Card, but when I found out I could change it to a Dividend (cash back) card, I jumped at it, since I already have other fine Platinum cards.

The Dividend card pays 1% cash back, no tiering, maximum $300 per year. Each time you reach $10,000 in purchases, you are automatically mailed a $100 check... no need to wait 'til the end of the year. Some lucky Citibank members who have been specially solicited for the card get *2%* cash back... but alas, I'm not one of the lucky. Still, 1% is the best *I* have ever been offered for a cash back card.

Well, actually, it may be a tie. I was all ready to cut up my Discover Platinum card when I overheard on their "thank you for waiting" message about "double cash back." When I inquired, I was told that when I get my cash back check, selected merchants (no indication of which ones yet) will honor the check at DOUBLE VALUE... i.e., if I got a cash back bonus of $200, I get $400 to spend at selected merchants. I'm gonna call back to find out more about who these merchants are, but in general, this DOES sound like a good deal!

I still have a GE Mastercard (bought out by First USA) that pays $140 for $10,000 in purchases (and, recently, for $7,000 in a balance transfer!) at least for the time being, so it seems that the smart thing for me to do (and others in the same boat and with same preferences):

first $10,000 with GE Mastercard
as much additional as possible with Discover
then Dividend card

My dad has the Shell Gas card, and has also appreciated the 5% / 1% gas rebates. I, however, am wary about this, since it locks one into purchasing only from Shell... and given the volatility of gas prices (even comparatively amongst local gas stations), I note that even a slightly- greater-than-1% difference between Shell and other stations would render the rebate moot.

Which brings us to the ultimate truism for our credit card rebate quests: YMMV -- Your Mileage May Vary ;-)

8/26/99

I have a question maybe you could answer. In the last year I have had 2 credit card companies penalize me for paying the balance every month. One reduced the credit line in half, and the other refused to renew the card. I do a lot of traveling and was averaging $20,000 - 25,000 per card per year. They both said that I did not meet their "credit criteria", but would not tell me what specifically it was. I had never been late on a payment. I think they canceled me because I paid the balance in full and they never collected any interest, but they still made money on the interchange fees. Is this legal to penalize someone for paying in full every month?

I have recently tried to get my rebate from the Cash Back Platinum card which was originated by Chevy Chase and taken over by First Card. The person at the First Card 800# couldn't help me, unable to find any information. So I called the Chevy Chase 800# and get things resolved: rebate is "in the mail" and card is cancelled.

After trying a lot of cards like the Cash Back, I now use REI, LLBean (great large/tall shirts), and have rebates in otherwise dormant GM, Driver's Advantage and True Value I'm more comfortable with branded cards because the retailer's good name is on the line.

8/25/99

Private Label dropped their 2% rebate shortly after I switched to them based on your analyses. Despite this disappointment, I decided to stay with Discover for secondary reasons that I consider significant.

Discover allows one to get $30 change when using the card. We get all of our cash in this manner -- over $300 monthly. The cashback bonus is applied to this. It's fun to "buy" cash at a discount; the bonus is about $40 annually.
Discover allows a full month for payment. Other credit cards seem to allow only two weeks. I estimate that I am using Discover's money for an average of 6 weeks per billing period versus 4 weeks for other cards. With average charges of about $2800 monthly at, say, a 6% interest rate, this saves me about $7 monthly or $84 annually.
Without the $30 change of Item 1, I charge roughly $2450 monthly or $29,400 annually. The annual Discover bonus is $279 on this amount. Because of Items 1 and 2 that I believe most other cards don't have, I receive about $124 more than this. To me, Items 1 & 2 increase the effective cashback of Discover to about 1.4% compared to other cards.

One last item that I like about Discover: They automatically take the balance directly from my checking account (a full month after they close the books for the month).

In answer to the question if there are any MBNA credit cards that offer "rebates" on balance transfers, the only ones inexistence today are the NEA cards which offers miles for balance transfers and the Tower Record card which offers Tower$. The window of opportunity on the NEA card closes on 31 August. I have not seen anything re the Tower card but can only assume that it is forthcoming,

The Best Western Visa card just discontined it's points program. You will be able to earn points through your October 1999 statement. You must redeem your rewards points by October 31,1999. All remaining points on your Best Western Visa card will be transferred to the Best Western Gold Crown Club International at the ratio of 4 Best Western Visa points to 1 GCCI point ratio. If you are not a member of the GCCI, you will automatically be enrolled.

8/24/99

Got a mention in Smart Computing magazine - check it out -http://www.smartcomputing.com/articles/archive/l0509/38l09/38l09.asp?guid=u1ls

I have had the Yahoo Visa Card (issued by First USA) for about 18 months. This card advertises a 9.99% fixed rate, as do many of First USA's cards. I received the little inconspicuous insert in my statement this month titled "Changes to your cardmember agreement". The change is that the card is switching from a fixed rate to a variable rate (Prime + some %). Anyone with First USA fixed rate cards should look for these changes, and double check the APR on your statement.

Capital One is NOT releasing access to accounts on the Internet at this time. The user who wrote in with a promotion code, did so with a personal solicitation. They won't even accept requests for this. They said they will release this when they are ready.

8/23/99

Saw the post for the Mall VIP Card. I think that there changing to a $25 only when you call is actually an improvement. My wife doesn't go to the mall that often, and a $10 certificate that expires in 90 days was actually just an inticement to spend more. If we can wait until there is a large amount to cash in, it's more likely that we won't be out of pocket any cash when we go to the mall. And I wouldn't worry to much about getting change. I talked to a store manager, and he said it would be no problem, they can work it out in their paperwork, and would likely give anybody change.

The big problem is that MBNA finally got it moved from the PNC computer. Mall VIP and Best Western (which MBNA just outright cancelled) were two of the best cards to scam. The computer programmer for PNC made a little mistake. If you sent a large payment to PNC and overpaid your bill, say by $10,000.00, then called to get a refund check, you would get the 1% rebate on the check they sent to you. System worked great for a year or so. Sorry to see it go, but the free money to use from First USA seems to be drying up as well.

MBNA seems to be buying everyone. Does anyone know any MBNA cards that still offer rebates on balance transfers or convience checks?

I recieved a notice with my statement today you can get access Capital One credit card on-line including view most recent statements,transactions and pay credit cards bills. All you need the promotion code :019692 and three digit signature panel code in the back of the card.It also need your credit card account number, personal information including SSN#,date and country of birth and mother's maiden name. You also need think of a password to log-in and it takes four days to activate. The URL is http://service.capitalone.com/

8/20/99

Does US West still offer the 2% cash back card. I found the offer at http://www.consumergroup.com/uswest/uswclassicmc.html but I cannot seem to get the phone number on the web site to work. Are there any cash rebate mastercards that are available?

Nope. Look at GE Rewards for one. - Peter ;-)

The Mall VIP Visa has been changed recently as they have been taken over by MBNA. The changes are as follows:

The 2% rebates that were accumulated at participating malls has been reduced to the flat 1% for all purchases.
Rebate certificates (can be used only at participating mall stores) which were previously printed out at the bottom of statements in increments of $10 are no more. When you accumulate $25 in rebates YOU THE CUSTOMER have to call a toll free number to request the rebates to be mailed to you. They only will issue them in $25 increments.
If you only purchase $20 worth of merchandise, you lose the $5 in change. Previously the merchant gave you the change!

Oh well, I am probably going to look for another card to supplement my no fee GE Card! That one will also change its rules as First USA has bought the account from GE!

I just got a pretty good deal from Bank of America: 3.9% for 6 months on balance transfers, gave me several convenience checks to use, no fee, and a good credit line. You might want to check them out. Also, customer service support has been excellent.

8/19/99

I was wondering if you or anyone knows of a card company that has the best terms on convenience checks? I'm looking for no/low transaction fee, low APR, a generous credit line, etc.

Concerning the query about a list of non-profits with affinity cards. Some partial listings, particularly concerning the environment, with hyperlinks to explore further, include:

http://www.horizonmag.com/6/plastic.htm

http://www.emagazine.com/july-august_1996/0796glmoney.html

8/12/99

I have several credit card companies that continously pull my credit bureau ---- do you know how to get in touch with the following

citicorp gold ml
universal card
FCC/NATIONAL/FCCS
PRM-CAPITAL ONE

Your help with the addresses and possibly phone numbers will be greatly appreciated ---To my knowledge i have never applied for credit to these banks nor have a credit card....

There are several non-profit cards listed at http://www.firstusa.com/cards/more_cont.html

I also know that MBNA offers several non-profit cause related credit cards, but I couldn't find them on their site.

Bankrate ran a story a couple of days ago stating that all major airline carrier co-branded airline cards will have miles that no longer expire, similar to AMEX.

I'm looking for a listing of non-profit org's that offer credit cards. I've searched the internet, including your chock-full-of-info sites, but have found not even a reference to such good-cause cards. Any suggestions?

Like you, we also pay off our cc bills each month. Two features of the free LL Bean card I didn't mentioned are free shipping & free monogramming. Frankly, I don't remember or care if I get a % rebate, but free monogramming saves $5.00 an article and free shipping can add up.

8/11/99

Kroger and US Bankcorp have created their own rewards card!

http://www.kroger.com/corpinfo/Press%20Releases/visa.htm

CINCINNATI, Ohio, and MINNEAPOLIS, MN, July 28, 1999 --- The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) today announced plans to partner with U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) to introduce a new co-branded credit card for Kroger customers. The Kroger Visa Rewards card will be introduced today to store customers in Cincinnati, Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth. Additional markets will follow later this year.

The new Kroger Visa will allow customers to earn valuable rewards whenever they use the card at any Kroger grocery store or any of the 15 million worldwide locations that accept Visa. The rewards, which are subject to change, include free groceries at Kroger stores, free airline tickets, free hotel accommodations, free movie rentals and free admittance to various local attractions in each market.

The Kroger Visa works by crediting customers with two points for every dollar spent on the card at any Kroger location, and one point for every dollar spent on the card at any other retailer that accepts Visa. Customers accumulate points that can be redeemed for a variety of rewards. Customers begin to earn rewards with as few as 2,000 points.

Customers point totals will be indicated on monthly Visa statements. To redeem rewards, customers simply call the toll-free number listed on their statement. The appropriate number of points will be deducted from their statement at the same time. There is no annual fee if the card is used three times in a 12-month period.

Information can be found on the amex webpage www.americanexpress.com

It is basically 1 Starpoint per Dollar spent which equals 1 FF mile. However, if you use the miles to book Sheraton Hotel rooms you'll get more out of it.

I spent, e.g., last week in Atlantic City, NJ for just 4000 points. The AAA weekend rate for that hotel was $165.00 plus tax...

8/10/99

The Kroger MasterCard from 5/3 bank is going to be no more Sept 1st. I need a replacement. Which is the best cash reward visa or MasterCard?

I saw some stuff about a Fisher Price one that gave a $50 savings bond after $2500 in purchases but all the numbers given turned up not good. Have you heard of this one?

First, a red herring: I own stock in Bank One Corp., the parent of FirstUSA (and First Chicago and lots of other well-known formerly independent banks). But I also have a GE Rewards card that First USA now services.

FirstUSA gets a lot of mentions on this site not necessarily because its service is poor or it runs "scams" as some refer to their disappointing experiences, but possibly because it is the second largest credit card issuer in the country. (It and Bank One were already among the top five separately, before Bank One bought it and shoved it up to #2.)
My GE Rewards card (which I use until I max out the rbate then resume use of Private Issue) has not charged me a $25 fee for paying off each monthly balance, not has it charged any other fees. The Change in Terms notification that accompanied the announcement of FirstUSA's acquisition of the GE credit card portfolio has not changed these fees, either.

Do you by any chance know which credit card, or company, is offering the "Extraordinary Rewards" program?

I heard from the rumors JC Penney Card is sold to Monogram Credit Bank of Georgia (GE Capital).

8/8/99

Silly freebie alert - Go to the Just For Feet website at http://www.feet.com/ and place an order for $50 or more. Enter the promotion code 9264329630 on the order page and you will be credited $15 toward that order.

Could someone post information on the grapevine about HSN's new 3.9 percent intro Visa. What does 3.9 become/when. What state; what bank? Their www.hsn.com site still is not working very well and I can't seem to find out what's going on. Home Shopping Network purchased www.isn.com a couple years ago and has had www.firstauction.com running for more than a year (apparently with ebay's help). I just want to know what perks if any HSN's Visa has. If there is a serious reduction in prices or rebates on their computer prices, I'd sure be interested in getting the card. A couple years ago Giant Supermarkets nearly came out with a groceries rebate card but the deal fell through. (Groceries and computer parts I can use. Airline miles, gasoline and car rebates are n.g. for me.)

First Union Capital Markets Corp.

How do I get info. about the sheraton optima card?

Through the end of September, we get two extra points/$1 for Sony purchases on the Sony card.. This is in addition to the double and triple points. So, for example, buying a Sony product at one of the triple points stores will get you (after you mail in the form) effectively 5% back. Even after the price of the stamp, you're ahead with a very low purchase.

This was on my statement a few days ago, hopefully it is also valid for new members.

8/4/99

I recieved a notice from GE Card Services today, they're not only selling GE Rewards cards to First USA. They're also selling GE Select MasterCard to Direct Merchants Bank in Arizona. Only Exxon Mastercard is still isssued by them.

More First USA woes: I have their Cash$In card with the "up to 2%" rebate. My cardmember anniversary was on May 1 and I still have not received any check or account credit for the ~$500.00 rebate that I accumulated over the past year. I have called First USA 3 times about the problem. In June and early July they told me to "be patient, your check is on the way". Later in July they promised to refer the matter to their "research department". On July 23 they sent me a form letter saying:

"We recently learned that the amount of your rebate for the Cash$In program was calculated incorrectly. We have identified the error and are in the process of correcting it. We will issue your check for the corrected rebate amount within the next four weeks."

The amount of my rebate was calculated correctly, by the way, so the form letter does not even apply to my account. Has anyone actually received a rebate check from these people? Has anyone successfully sued First USA, or obtained satisfactory resolution of a BBB complaint? I am wondering what to do next, assuming that no check arrives by August 20.

- FIRST USA -

I've not had the bad experiences reported here. On the contrary, I've found customer service to be very helpful, and dispute resolution to be generally handled favorably.

I really like their online account information center!

It's great to be able to learn about and apply for all their different cards online!

On the downside, though, I've become frustrated with SOME of the reps who have been very nice, but less than helpful about understanding different options on different cards. For instance, it took me THREE PHONE CALLS and more than an hour of my time to get information on various balance transfer options :( Reps #1 and #2 told me that, for many of their rewards-type cards, I could do balance transfers as purchases and get UNLIMITED credit towards miles or rebates, etc. Figuring this was WAY too good to be true, I called back one more time and indeed, Rep #3 read me a passage from the rules stating that for most of their cards, balance transfers didn't count towards incentives, and for the Southwest Airlines card, the lifetime cap on balance transfer credits was 5 flight credits (8 needed for free one-way) :| Still not shabby (given the no-fee for first year + initial signup bonus, but not near as exciting as I had hoped :|

But I have to ask all of you folks out there: Have you seen, contrary to what this last rep said, any First USA or other cards that have really offered substantial or unlimited credits (rewards) for balance transfers... i.e., free airline miles, cash back, etc? My dad used to get free miles by transferring money to / from his American Express card, but it's been a while since he's done this, and isn't sure if it's still an available option.

- CAPITAL ONE -

My dad had called Capital One last night, and was informed that he could get a card with an $18 annual fee, and have no-fee balance transfers count towards air miles. We have yet to call back and confirm this. Anyone hear about this at all?

- GE CARD (now First USA)

This was really strange. My dad's GE card was basically nullified in the transfer. They have no record of his account now! My card, however, was transferred over, and had I not called in about another matter, I never would have known about the new First USA ownership!

But in really cool news... I was able to transfer $7,000 in a balance from another card to my GE Card AS A PURCHASE (no fee, with grace period) and I got a rebate for the $7K! :) Of course, there's still the 10K limit, but now I'm reaching it that much faster.

- NEXTCARD VISA -

Overall, I've been pleased with this card... and it's been cool to use their online system to look at transactions (like with the FirstUSA cards) and I also enjoyed the 2.9% APR for 3 months (now 9.9%). Additionally, I think it's darn cool that I could choose any picture I wanted on the front of the card just by uploading it to NextCard as a JPG file :) On the downside, though, I've not been successful at figuring out how the bonus points system works, and the customer service folks have been less than helpful :( So as a rebate card, this is a questionable one, I must admit :(

You can still apply for this card (instant app) online if you want at http://smilezone.com/visa

Anyway, hope my notes here have been helpful! :-)

Not an advertisement, I do think 1ST USA is OK in my book. I got hundreds (if not thousand) of dollars in interest from their Grace period using convenience checks in past years and their service is always AAA grade. Even when I messed up on due date, they were nice enough to reverse the charges. I just started my five year plan on Subaru/MBNA card, this is a good deal and Subaru is a nice car to fit my need. Providian is so far the worst offender for service and for robbing customers via late charges and high interest rate. Stay away from them.

8/2/99

More begging and pleading... do you realize this site is now averaging over 100,000 hits a month. Surely someone would like to know that...

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the National Bank of Commerce cash back Visa. You get .25% back on the first thousand, .50% on the second thousand, .75% of the third, and then 1% back with no limit. There is no annual fee, of course. Their number is 800-635-8503. They don't mention the card at all on their website, but you can apply through www.getsmart.com.

I recently heard that Citibank raised it's fee for foreign purchases to 3%, including the Visa/MasterCard charge. Previously, they only charged the Visa/MasterCard charge, which I believe is 1%.

I have First USA Yahoo! VISA for the last six months and I have been using their on-line payment services (deducted form my checking accounts). They credited to my accounts within two business days. By the way I made the on-line payment as soon as the the date that the statement is closed and this way I made the sufficient time for them to credit my account(so making no accuse to delay to charge the late fees).

7/31/99

I too have been very dissatisfied with First USA. I had the payment credit problem too. I mailed my payments the same day I received the statement and they always seemed to credit it one day late, even with a 14 day lead time. Its been in the news, and there are 2 different class action suits filed against them now. There are at least 10 web sites with examples of comsumer complaints against First USA, like the examples posted here. I see very little in the way of complaints on the internet with other credit card companies. I have closed my First USA account last year and I even received the offer for the hard to get "Cash In" rebate card. I threw it away.

Most recently I had both a Visa and Mastercard from First Chicago called "First Card". I received a notice in my last statement that they have merged with First USA effective in September. I closed both of my First Card accounts immediately. Believe me, its not worth the hassle.

I have had outstanding customer service from MBNA Platinum Visa and Master Card. They seem to bend over backwards for the customer. Unfortunately, they don't offer any rebate cards that I know of.

Then there is the Associates Bank of Delaware. They have several Co-Branded gasoline rebate cards cards like the Amoco Visa. They credit their payments promptly and provide good service. However, if you collect the rebates and pay in full, they seem to close your account and replace it with a non-rebate card calling it an "upgrade". Its happened twice to me with the Amoco Visa. I've had to close the "upgraded" account twice and re-apply to get the rebate card back. Has anyone else had this experience?

I heard from you all the GE Rewards are all sold to First U.S.A. and I had Exxon MasterCard with them for last 4months. As of last month the Exxon M/C is still handled by GE Consumer Card Co.

I read that FUSA was offering Cash-In card on market test base. I would like to know if the Cash-in card still has 2% rebate program. I also heard GE card portfolio was sold to FUSA. Can anyone post the phone number for the card and brief description of rebate program? I am wondering which one is better.

First USA's on-line access looks like a convenient service. The only difficulty is that the site won't accept info to establish an on-line account which does not include a SSN. A telephone call confirmed that this is intentional. Until now, if I'm talking with a consumer rep they try to ask for my SSN and then discover they don't have it on file (because I never supplied it, Privacy Act and all that). So there's the tradeoff they propose -- give up your legal protection against access to the SSN by those having no need for it, for access.

I called Private Issue to complain that the annual fee was not earned, as I only got the 2% cashback for one month, so the card was practically equivalent to the no fee card. The fee was refunded (credit to my account) the next day.

Although the American Express card is not widely accepted, my Fidelity Funds account now provides a free AmExCo gold card.

7/30/99

Check out www.consumercards.com.

Hey Folks! Don't hassle with 'late payments' with any of your First USA Bank cards. Remember that you can pay on-line. You set it up to debit your checking account, and two days before due date, pay whatever amount you choose at their site. No more late payments!

As many people know, GE card porfolio is bought by First USA. I notice that there are many irate customers when it comes to First USA. They seem to pull many scams. Do anyone here think that the scams will be pulled off with the GE card? I may switch if that is the case.

That would be a shame if that is true. I have the GE Rewards for many years and never had a problem. The amount of people complaining about First USA seem quite overwelming.

Has anyone had particularly good experiences with a Visa Signature card? I was considering one but wasn't sure which bank to speak with about it -- the only one I know of offhand that issues it is FirstUSA. Thanks!

Tip to remove adhesive from ANYTHING:

There are several products that are citrus based sticky-stuff removers. The one I use and is prominently found in my area is called "Goo-Gone". You can find this type of thing in the hardware store, the auto/cleaning supplies isle is a superstore (Meijer, Biggs, WalMart, KMart...) or the utility isle in the grocery store. The these products don't leave a residue when you finish with a dry cloth an they smell like orange or lemon.

Regarding my comments on the grapevine dated 7-29-99 on First USA, the second URL I listed is bad as I must have omitted one character by mistake. The correct URL is: http://w3.gwis.com/~tmazon/1stusa.html

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