New Amtrak Guest Rewards Master Card - Fall 2015

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Tennessee Traveler said:
Since AGR actually controls the awarding of points, etc and obtained the BofA to issue the cards, I believe once you receive and activate the new card all purchases count toward earning AGR points. Since points are not transferred to AGR until after the actual billing date, it seems to me that all first billing dates will be in month of October if you receive your card before 9/30/15 and thus the points will not be transferred to AGR until after 10/1/15 -- and not a conflict with Chase. Incidentally, the points are awarded by AGR and not the bank. Technically, the bank is simply the processing arm for AGR.
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Your comments seem valid. However picture this. My Chase closing date is on the 25th of the month. I anticipate earning points between the 25 and 30 of September. Those points will not be posted until October 25...well after the first! How that fits with my BofA billing date remains to be seen. Hopefully, we'll have an answer when our cards arrive in several days. Mine (and my wife's) were mailed on the 21st.
 
I believe that, instead of giving you (the customer) cash-back "rewards" on each purchase (as they do on many of their cards), the issuing banks on this card pay AGR a certain number of cents per dollar on each purchase. AGR then awards you the points, just as they do when you shop the "mall" and the shopping partners give them a set rate cents-on-the-dollar for funneling your business their way. These points have indeed been bought, just as if you had bought them, only they were bought for you by the credit card or shopping partner.

I see no conflict with two banks having contracts to do this that overlap by a few days or a week, regardless of when the actual payment is made. After all, there are hundreds of shopping partners making payment covering the same time period, LOL.
 
Consider the poor consumer who found out about Amtrak and AGR on September 13, 2015- went to buy tickets, was given the opportunity to apply for an AGR MasterCard, issued by BofA, to be able to earn points on *that very purchase*! (Or if not that, then simply applied for this credit card on, say, September 14, with no background information about Chase, or changes, or anything, just happened upon it the 14th... same day many of us applied and were approved).

There is no reason to expect that the BofA terms will have some wonky "But not until October 1!!" about AGR points.
 
I have $400 worth of repairs being done to my car TODAY. I haven't used my Chase card for a while and I'd like to know if I should use it for this repair. Am I correct that if I use my Chase card the points for the $400 will transfer over to the BOA card?

I have already paid my Chase AGR statement this month.

Sorry, I haven't kept up with this topic. If I did I would know the answer.
 
Everydaymatters said:
I have $400 worth of repairs being done to my car TODAY. I haven't used my Chase card for a while and I'd like to know if I should use it for this repair. Am I correct that if I use my Chase card the points for the $400 will transfer over to the BOA card?

I have already paid my Chase AGR statement this month.

Sorry, I haven't kept up with this topic. If I did I would know the answer.
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Betty, I believe that is incorrect. Any points left over from your Chase AGR Mastercard up to Sept 30 would be transferred to AGR account and not to a BOA account. After Oct 1, Chase supposedly will be providing a Chase Freedom Card as a replacement, but purchases on that card will either gain cash back or points toward Ultimate Rewards. The jury is still out as to whether Chase will maintain a relationship with AGR in Ultimate Rewards. I would assume that any points accumulated in a BOA account would have to come with use of the new BOA card after Oct 1??
 
No. Chase will transfer nothing to BoA. You will just get AGR points from Chase until Sept 30 for all charges on the Chase AGR card by that date. After that you'll star getting Freedom money back.

There is apparently no direct relation between Chase and BoA as far as this transition is concerned. I am not even sure that BoA got a list of Chase AGR card holders from Chase. They most likely got a list of AGR members or even AGR card holders from Amtrak.

This is nothing like the transition that Continental did apparently
 
OK. Thank you. I don't have my BOA card yet, so I'll just go ahead and pay for the car repairs from my checking account. This transition period is a pain. Six months from now we will all be settled into a more comfortable mode. But for now, I find it unsettling and confusing.
 
Everydaymatters said:
OK. Thank you. I don't have my BOA card yet, so I'll just go ahead and pay for the car repairs from my checking account. This transition period is a pain. Six months from now we will all be settled into a more comfortable mode. But for now, I find it unsettling and confusing.
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Just curious why you wouldn't use your Chase card? You'll still get points through 9/30.
 
Some of the confusion here, for at least some of us, comes from this:

AGR points from using the Chase AGR Mastercard have in the past been posted only once/month, after the billing cycle closes. My billing cycle, for example, closed on Sept. 18, and points from all of the PAYMENTS MADE (not purchases charged) up to that date have now posted to my AGR account.

I'm not clear how Chase/AGR will handle purchases between the end of the most recent billing cycle (9/18 in my case) and the Sept. 30 endpoint for earning AGR points with the old Chase Mastercard. Will I be credited for all of those points whenever I pay Chase for the purchases, regardless of whether that's before Sept. 30? Must I pay before Sept. 30? Or are points for those purchases forfeited, since the billing cycle in which they'll be paid doesn't end until October?

-----------------------------------------

Thanks to the folks who posted that they've already received their new BoA cards! Hope to see mine in the mail shortly.
 
Has any asked AGRInsider over on FlyerTalk.

I would expect any points (purchases) earned through 9/30 will go to AGR at the time of my Oct statement or maybe even before.
 
I think you made the right choice, EDM - using the current Chase card up to 9/30.

My monthly points appear on my AGR account at the end of the Chase billing cycle, i.e. BEFORE I've paid the bill. I'd expect your last points to show up Oct 18th.
 
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I think when you pay is irrelevant, as some don't pay in full and you get all the points regardless.

What I would guess is the following: Let's say your cycle ends on the 15th of the month. On 10/15 you will get the points for anything you purchase between 9/16 and 9/30. Anything that posts from 10/1 through 10/15 will be on that bill but not get any points.
 
FrensicPic said:
Tennessee Traveler said:
Since AGR actually controls the awarding of points, etc and obtained the BofA to issue the cards, I believe once you receive and activate the new card all purchases count toward earning AGR points. Since points are not transferred to AGR until after the actual billing date, it seems to me that all first billing dates will be in month of October if you receive your card before 9/30/15 and thus the points will not be transferred to AGR until after 10/1/15 -- and not a conflict with Chase. Incidentally, the points are awarded by AGR and not the bank. Technically, the bank is simply the processing arm for AGR.
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Your comments seem valid. However picture this. My Chase closing date is on the 25th of the month. I anticipate earning points between the 25 and 30 of September. Those points will not be posted until October 25...well after the first! How that fits with my BofA billing date remains to be seen. Hopefully, we'll have an answer when our cards arrive in several days. Mine (and my wife's) were mailed on the 21st.
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I don't see that as a problem. My Chase card closing date and bill was 19th so I will not get another bill until into October and I do have a new charge after the 19th. I don't see this having any effect on the BofA card. They would never be in sync since they are two separate banks. Only true question is how Chase handles on going billing and conversion to a new Chase card number, etc. All of which has no effect or relation to the BofA card. I have already put an over $1,000 January Amtrak trip on hold awaiting arrival of the BofA card and will authorize the charge payments as soon as I receive and activate the BofA card. For me, no questions regarding the BofA card.

It will be interesting how the Chase conversion happens. Chase has already said the conversion would take six to eight weeks before we get the new replacement card and we can continue to use the AGR Chase card until we receive the new numbered card. Just that we will not earn AGR points after 9/30/2015. Personally, I plan to close my Chase card account. I have two other Chase cards for Marriott and Hyatt which I will keep.
 
My train of thought in this thread was not the meshing of billing dates (of which I'm not concerned) but rather when exactly BofA starts earning points...seems to me (correct or incorrect) that since Chase stops end of day September 30 BofA would begin on Oct 1 (regardless of when the card is activated... and there would be no overlap of points earnings between cards.

Put another way, the Chase/AGR agreement ends September 30 therefore the BofA/AGR agreement begins Oct 1.

I may be making an incorrect assumption and anyway, it may not matter! I intend to use my Chase card through Sept 30 and and wont begin using my BofA card on Oct 1 (even though I will have had the activated BofA card in my wallet before the change over.

Whew! :help:
 
Everydaymatters said:
I have to leave now. I'll go ahead and use the Chase card. Hopefully I'll get the points. I hope we can get an answer for anyone else who is in this same type of situation.
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Chase has explicitly said that you will get the points on any charge upto Sept 30, so you will get them. Stop worrying about how exactly they will do it. If you don't get them by the end of October get on their case and make sure you get them.
 
I'll be putting my move this weekend on the Chase AGR since I already put the deposit on that card. Unless I have the card before Sat & the moving company explicitly asks me if I want to put it on a different card. I think I'll be able to spend the required amount on the BoA card in time to get the bonus points regardless.
 
We receive our BofA AGR cards today. Spoke with BofA card services agent (888) 704-9515 to clarify some issues: The new BofA AGR will begin earning AGR points upon activation and use. The "calendar year" for earning Tier Qualifying Points begin with the activation date. Try them, your experience may vary.
 
I received my BoA AGR card today. Already have problem using the card. Hopefully, I tried to use it to soon. After activating and setting up my on-line account information, I called AGR and requested a reservation I had put on hold be processed for payment using my new card. AGR rep said payment did not go through as card was not authorized and no e-ticket could be issued. She suggested I call BofA to verify my card information and why payment was not authorized. I called BofA and they verified that Amtrak had submitted the charge twice and I had two equal $1000+ charges pending already in my account for the Amtrak transaction. I was then transferred to the BofA Authorization area and they assured me the transaction was(or would be) authorized. After calling AGR back they said they could not do anything and suggested that I not request them to put the payment request through a third time since my credit card would be locked out from AGR if disapproved a third time. After calling back BofA, they suggested I let everything process overnight and probably Amtrak would receive the authorization and issue my e-tickets overnight. Since the travel is not until January and the reservation is on hold until October 2, I guess I will just have to hang loose and see if everything processes eventually. Thankfully, I can wait until next week. Hopefully, it is just a case of using the card too soon after activation.
 
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Tennessee Traveler said:
I received my BoA AGR card today. Already have problem using the card. Hopefully, I tried to use it to soon. After activating and setting up my on-line account information, I called AGR and requested a reservation I had put on hold be processed for payment using my new card. AGR rep said payment did not go through as card was not authorized and no e-ticket could be issued. She suggested I call BofA to verify my card information and why payment was not authorized. I called BofA and they verified that Amtrak had submitted the charge twice and I had two equal $1000+ charges pending already in my account for the Amtrak transaction. I was then transferred to the BofA Authorization area and they assured me the transaction was(or would be) authorized. After calling AGR back they said they could not do anything and suggested that I not request them to put the payment request through a third time since my credit card would be locked out from AGR if disapproved a third time. After calling back BofA, they suggested I let everything process overnight and probably Amtrak would receive the authorization and issue my e-tickets overnight. Since the travel is not until January and the reservation is on hold until October 2, I guess I will just have to hang loose and see if everything processes eventually. Thankfully, I can wait until next week. Hopefully, it is just a case of using the card too soon after activation.
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You called AGR to book PAID travel?

Or did you mean you just called Amtrak, not AGR?
 
Printman2000, yes, I called AGR to pay for travel that I had AGR put on hold for me. I did not call Amtrak directly. Yes, AGR Select customer service can book both PAID and Rewards travel. To date I have not ever booked any AGR rewards travel since I live in Nashville and only do a few LD sleeper trips each year. Takes quite a while to build up points. I have just now built up to 51,000+ points so I'm hoping to get the 12,000 bonus in time to plan a nice trip later in 2016 using my points before AGR2 arrives.
 
Well, it's all a moot point for me. It didn't arrive today and I'll be away from tomorrow before the mail arrives until Tuesday. I called out of curiosity and it was mailed on 9/21 from Wilmington (I had it sent to my NY address) so will probably arrive tomorrow or Saturday.
 
Tennessee Traveler said:
Printman2000, yes, I called AGR to pay for travel that I had AGR put on hold for me. I did not call Amtrak directly. Yes, AGR Select customer service can book both PAID and Rewards travel. To date I have not ever booked any AGR rewards travel since I live in Nashville and only do a few LD sleeper trips each year. Takes quite a while to build up points. I have just now built up to 51,000+ points so I'm hoping to get the 12,000 bonus in time to plan a nice trip later in 2016 using my points before AGR2 arrives.
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Ah. Did not know that since I have never been select.

So how did you get select if it is hard for you to build up points?
 

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