New Amtrak Guest Rewards Master Card - Fall 2015

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Now that I was approved and my new BofA AGR World MC is on the way got to thinking. I wonder if my monthly Metrolink pass would count as "transportation" and earn 2 points per dollar? Probably not but, would be nice if it did.
On a recent trip, I met a woman who sang praises of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. She said that her commuting and parking expenses both counted as transportation. If it's all based on the Merchant Category Code, it sounds like you have a good chance.
 
I applied on Monday, and it pended but then it was approved. I like the 2 points for other travel thing, was going to book a Canadian trip in March before the end of this month before my Chase Amtrak card stops earning points, but now I am going to wait until the BofA card shows up and get double points. Same with the Amtrak portion of the trip (Cascades and Maple Leaf) for the triple points.
 
Put this in the For What It is Worth Dept. as of Sep 15th:

I was able to get approved for BOA's Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard in 12 minutes - start to finish.

Began on the Guest Rewards site - clicked the card I wanted - entered the required info - done!

Perhaps some of that elapsed time has to do with having BOA accounts - who knows? - the process was

painless and for me, the "limit" is above what I had with Chase.

Looks like a good deal for us'uns who rack up points wherever and whenever we can.

My Chase card will become history at the end of this month along with the shipment of their Freedom

Signature card. No thanx.

The attached foto was taken through the rear vestibule window of my bedroom car aboard train 422 from LAX to STL.

The title? Somewhere near the Arizona/New Mexico border . . .

Later . . .

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Nice pix, hope the trip on #422 was a good one?!

And Congrats! I think lots of us will be deep sizing the Chase Freedom VISA when it shows up. I already have the Sapphire Prefered and Chase will NOT let you decline the replacement Card! (Waste of time and money but they won't miss any meals!)
 
Just applied for the Amtrak Guest Rewards Platinum MasterCard almost certainly expecting a denial. Lo & behold got an approval with a 5K limit. And I believe that my credit score is a bit mediocre at the moment (used to be higher pre-recession, then I recovered a bit, but I'm still working my way back to where I was). I'm truly shocked. Glad we're getting on this before the feds decide to raise the interest rate and/or we fall into another recession! This will certainly help me out in my continued travels via Amtrak. Since I'm not located in the NEC and only visit there occasionally, I did not think the World MasterCard along with its annual $79 fee was worth it for me.

As for the Chase card, I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do with it just yet. I kinda wish I could convert it into a Sapphire card instead of a Freedom card. But Freedom's an okay card, not the worst, but certainly not that useful for travel. Like others said, you can get some decent cash back during their category promo's.
 
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and for someone that already have a Chase SP and Freedom, the new card is probably useless. Can't get the new card yet as going to do a mortgage app soon.
 
For: jimhudson

The trip aboard #422 was an absolute joy - great crew in the dining car and sleeper. Sent Kudo's to Amtrak; hope the employees get the feedback.

As for Chase, I had posted a bit of info regarding that Freedom Card some pages back and was told that if one cancels their Guest Rewards M/Card on Sep 30th,

the Freedom card will not be sent. Odd - but that is what I was told. At any rate, if Chase wishes to spend the time, energy and money to ship me a card that is

going directly into my shredder - knock themselves out!

More on #422: Always enjoy traveling through the Great State of Texas. We had a very nice and long stop in Austin - lots of travelers boarding and in fact one group supposedly

filled up a coach. With my sleeper car at the end of the consist - which I always appreciate! - the foto opportunities added to the fun of it all.

Seems that the only sleepers routinely at the rear for western runs are with #421/422 and #727/828 (Texas Eagle/Sunset Ltd & Empire Bldr, Portland section).

Yeah I know, off topic - a bit!

Foto is from our Austin stop on a beautiful Sunday morning . . .

Cheers from Missouri!

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Nice pic and trip! What are those tall buildings in the background, what City is that? LOL

As for Chase, I was told that I couldn't opt out of the replacement Freedom VISA for the AGR MC!

Another example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing! I'll cancel mine once I receive it since three Cards are enough for a poor retired person. We'll see!
 
Thanks to all who posted that the new BoA card was showing up on their online account list. I already have one other BoA card, so I checked, saw my new card, and immediately signed up for "paperless" (postal mail delivery out here in the toolies takes an extra day each way, so I prefer electronic business). I know it is probably too late to avoid getting some "intro" paper, but at least by the time my first bill comes in October, it will come to my email inbox.
 
My BoA Reward Coupons are already in my AGR account but I am confused by what is meant by Full Fare on the Companion Coupon. Does that simply mean whatever the current low bucket before any AAA, etc discounts or is it Full Pull Unrestricted High Bucket?
 
Well, I got the additional companion and upgrades appear in my AGR account. Which probably means that there is a very high likelihood that the card will appear in a week or two too. Which is all good news. Now to go and find a thousand dollars worth of charges to bag the bonus.
 
Well, I got the additional companion and upgrades appear in my AGR account. Which probably means that there is a very high likelihood that the card will appear in a week or two too. Which is all good news. Now to go and find a thousand dollars worth of charges to bag the bonus.
Just spend a couple of Days @ Mickey's World, problem solved! LOL
 
Well, I got the additional companion and upgrades appear in my AGR account. Which probably means that there is a very high likelihood that the card will appear in a week or two too. Which is all good news. Now to go and find a thousand dollars worth of charges to bag the bonus.
Just spend a couple of Days @ Mickey's World, problem solved! LOL
I was thinking of doing a points run to Tahiti :p . More seriously, I do have several things to still pay for in the way of advanced purchase for tickets etc. for my Thanksgiving trip to the UK and the January trip to India which I can take care of in the next 90 days and which may get me pretty close. Unfortunately I had to buy the Britrail Pass by today to get the one additional free day deal which ended yesterday.
 
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I don't see any agr rewards in my account (I did get the annual fee World card). Wondering if I put my agr number in my application which will be another phone call....doh.
 
My BoA Reward Coupons are already in my AGR account but I am confused by what is meant by Full Fare on the Companion Coupon. Does that simply mean whatever the current low bucket before any AAA, etc discounts or is it Full Pull Unrestricted High Bucket?
On FT it was stated by the AGR representative that it is not neccesary to purchase a "Flexible" rate (i.e. unrestricted high bucket) fare to use the companion coupon. But he was not clear whether the coupon could be used for a "Saver" fare or simply for a "Value" fare.

Is it possible to do a dummy booking to find out? And report back here? I am on the fence about applying for the Fee card versus the non-AF card.
 
One area of discussion within this thread has been discussion of credit scores due to inquiries, new credit cards ,etc. (Not a major concern for me).

I did receive a notification last night from the "identity protection" service I subscribe to that Experian reported an inquiry by Bank of America into my credit (I was approved Monday morning via the website).

I have not (yet) noticed any such activity by Chase, nor do I expect any, as my current World AGR card is replaced by a Freedom card.
 
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