# AGR credit card



## crescent2 (Oct 18, 2012)

At present there is a 12,000 point sign up bonus for the credit card, if you spend $500 the first three months. Is this the usual number of points? Good deal, or wait? Thanks!


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## Shortline (Oct 18, 2012)

crescent2 said:


> 1350538516[/url]' post='399980']At present there is a 12,000 point sign up bonus for the credit card, if you spend $500 the first three months. Is this the usual number of points? Good deal, or wait? Thanks!


It's the norm. There was a 32,00 point sign up earlier this year (I got lucky and got that deal) but the link for that offer is dead. Up to you, if you need a card, and want 12,000 points go for it. If you don't need a new card, I thnk I'd wait and see, who knows.i personally wouldn't sign up for a card just for the 12,000 points alone, there are probably better offers out there, and I'm just not a huge fan of credit cards anyway, I just decided I wanted one as a backup plan to my backup plan for emergency use and the AGR card fit my needs.


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## Porter20 (Oct 18, 2012)

crescent2 said:


> 1350538516[/url]' post='399980']At present there is a 12,000 point sign up bonus for the credit card, if you spend $500 the first three months. Is this the usual number of points? Good deal, or wait? Thanks!


I was looking at this the other day also. It was a couple weeks ago but if your went to the AGR card through the AGR site then you got 12,000 points & a free companion ticket. It's not a much better deal but still it's more than just the 12,000 points.


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## crescent2 (Oct 18, 2012)

You are correct. I forgot to mention the companion coupon. Thanks for adding that!

I don't need the credit card but I do need some points, just wondering if the deal is likely to get better anytime soon?

I would like to buy or exchange for enough points for a one zone bedroom for the CZ next spring. I have only about 8,000 points now. I have lots of Hhonors points that will expire in Oct. 2013, but the exchange rate isn't very good, although it's better than exchanging HH for airline miles. (10,000 HH = 1,500 AGR or 1,000 airline miles). I could also possibly use the HH for hotel nights in Denver or Emeryville or LA. I'm not sure what is the best way to use them.

I'm not experienced using these points, so all tips and advice are appreciated! Thanks~


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## the_traveler (Oct 18, 2012)

I'd say wait, if you don't need the credit card right now. Chances are a better offer will come along. I've seen offers of 15k, 18k, 25k and 32k in the past! Ad remember tat you can also purchase up to 10k points (not including bonuses) each calendar year. And as mentioned before, 12/31/12 and 1/1/13 are different calendar years!


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## rrdude (Oct 18, 2012)

the_traveler said:


> I'd say wait, if you don't need the credit card right now. Chances are a better offer will come along. I've seen offers of 15k, 18k, 25k and 32k in the past! Ad remember tat you can also purchase up to 10k points (not including bonuses) each calendar year. And as mentioned before, 12/31/12 and 1/1/13 are different calendar years!


Agree with Dave, I'd wait if you can, that's their first offer, if your credit is halfway good, they'll likely send you another offer, can't hurt to call them too, and simply say "I'd sign up today if I'd get 25K, what can you do for me". I've seen it work, sometimes not for the full 25K, but for more than 12K.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 18, 2012)

crescent2 said:


> 1350538516[/url]' post='399980']At present there is a 12,000 point sign up bonus for the credit card, if you spend $500 the first three months. Is this the usual number of points? Good deal, or wait?


You can only get the bonus once, so you'll probably be much better off waiting for the 32,000 point offer. Otherwise you may be losing 20,000 points for no good reason. That many points would normally take around $10,000 in Amtrak related spending or as much as $20,000 of non-Amtrak spending. I can't imagine you'd want to start out $10,000-$20,000 in the hole right from day one.


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## Texan Eagle (Oct 18, 2012)

I got 32,000 AGR points when I signed up for my AGR credit card. I wouldn't go for the 12,000 offer, it's too less. If you really want a credit card that gives you more points right now, you can consider Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you manage to spend $3000 on this card in the first three months, you get upto 40,000 points that can be transferred to 40,000 AGR points. This card is free for the first year and $95 per year then on, but if you do not want to pay that, you can probably cancel this card before one year and pocket the 40,000 points. Then when you see the 32,000 point AGR offer come again, go ahead and apply for it then instead of doing right now. That way you can potentially gather 72,000 AGR points.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 18, 2012)

Texan Eagle said:


> If you manage to spend $3000 on [the Chase Sapphire Preferred] in the first three months, you get up to 40,000 points that can be transferred to 40,000 AGR points. This card is free for the first year and $95 per year then on, but if you do not want to pay that, you can probably cancel this card before one year and pocket the 40,000 points. Then when you see the 32,000 point AGR offer come again, go ahead and apply for it then instead of doing right now. That way you can potentially gather 72,000 AGR points.


Agreed. If you have good credit Chase Sapphire Preferred is a better point earner than anything from Amtrak directly, both in terms of initial bonus and daily earning opportunities. With the CSP you get 2x points for many travel related expenses and restaurants. You can also turn that into 3-5x points through the Ultimate Rewards membership and tag team it to a Freedom Card that adds even more 5x points earning opportunities. 



> This post has been edited by the_traveler: Today, 11:24 AMReason for edit: Corrected language in post as it may be objectionable to some readers


If you really want to edit my posts so bad you can start by fixing the quote tags you just broke for the Nth time. :wacko:


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## Linda T (Oct 18, 2012)

I agree with "Wait!" I would NOT transfer Hilton as that is not a good deal at all. As you suggested, save them for hotels during your journey. If your credit is good enough, I second looking into:

Chase Sapphire Preferred 40,000 point bonus. Check and make sure, but I think it transfers 1:1 as well to AGR. Not sure about the spending on it. With your 8,000 points plus this card, you'll be just 2,000 points shy of a round trip one zone BEDROOM (25,000 each way=50,000). We cancelled our card at the end of the first year so as not to pay the annual fee -- and still have our points, so that is doable.

Starwoods American Express. With Starwoods you get 10,000 just after your first purchase (which could be as small as a $1.00 candy bar). You get an additional 15,000 points after 6 months spending $5,000. Starwoods transfers 1:1 to Amtrak. Actually, I'll be using some SPG points for a hotel in CHI next fall. So besides being transferrable to AGR, they're good also for hotels close to the stations. And to top off this one, American Express has a Small Business Saturday that's coming up on Nov. 24. On this day if you purchase $25 worth of goods from a small business they'll give you a $25 credit on your statement. That means $25 worth of goods free, course that's not WalMart or Amtrak, but small hardware stores, pharmacies, etc.

The spends may seem high, but I use my cards for everything from doctor's charges, insurance, groceries, bill payment, etc. and it adds up quickly. I never use my cards for frivolous things, just things I would normally have to pay for, and pay them off each month. I've had no trouble filling spending levels this way, however you may want to keep in mind that you don't want two cards with high spends at the same time, unless you're a BIG spender. :giggle:

Also, one last thing, if you're married, don't forget husband and wife can apply for these cards and thus get twice the number of points in the household. Also check and see if you can refer the other. There are some things where I referred my husband and we've gotten extra points that way -- been a while and can't remember which ones. If you're traveling together you can buy the trip out with your 25,000 points, and your spouse can by the way home with his/her 25,000 points.


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## crescent2 (Oct 19, 2012)

Wow, lots of ways to get many more points!

I think I will wait before getting the Amtrak credit card in hope of a better deal. I may try the call-and-ask thing, though, as it can't hurt! The Sapphire card points are awesome and my credit is good, but I have all recurring bills on bank drafts and don't want to change those. Unless something major breaks (please, NO!), I don't anticipate charging $3,000 in three months, even with Christmas coming up, so I probably need to pass on that one.

Still debating about the HH points. We want hotels close to the stations, and I'm not sure the ones that take HH points will be the ones we'll want to use on this trip. And I'm a little uneasy about letting them sit there too long, as they are in my late husband's name instead of mine. Plus, I was told they will expire in Oct. 2013. *sigh*

I have an Amex card, so thanks for telling me about the small business day!

I'm going to get those points someway, thanks all!


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## AlanB (Oct 19, 2012)

I wouldn't expect the "call-and-ask" to work very well at all. Assuming that Chase even decides to honor that old promotion, something that I think unlikely, here's the kicker. Chase only pays for half of the points in these promos. Amtrak buys the other half on your behalf. So even if you get lucky, Chase would buy 16,000 AGR points on your behalf. Amtrak & AGR would not buy the other half.

Granted, you would still be 4,000 points better off than the current offer.

But there is no hope of getting the 32K.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 19, 2012)

AlanB said:


> I wouldn't expect the "call-and-ask" to work very well at all. Assuming that Chase even decides to honor that old promotion, something that I think unlikely, here's the kicker. Chase only pays for half of the points in these promos. Amtrak buys the other half on your behalf. So even if you get lucky, Chase would buy 16,000 AGR points on your behalf. Amtrak & AGR would not buy the other half. Granted, you would still be 4,000 points better off than the current offer. But there is no hope of getting the 32K.


The thing about Chase is that today's "old" promotion may be tomorrow's "new" promotion. A handful of changes to the benefits and requirements and some slightly reworded promotional material and voila you have the same or a similar offer all over again. Not to mention that unpublished offers can be almost anything depending on whoever Chase is trying to target in any given quarter.


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## crescent2 (Oct 19, 2012)

Thanks, if I phone I may ask if there is "a better promotion that I don't know about" rather than ask if they would honor an older one. I suppose the worst they can say is No.

OT but possibly of interest to someone: I emailed Delta yesterday to ask if my late husband's Skymiles could be combined with mine. They said yes, if I fax a copy of his death certificate, without a transfer fee. If he had over 50,000, it would require more paperwork, but I was pleasantly surprised they said yes. So, it doesn't hurt to ask...

I'd already paid to combine his AGR points with mine, guess I should have phoned AGR first. Oh, well!


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## AlanB (Oct 19, 2012)

crescent2 said:


> I'd already paid to combine his AGR points with mine, guess I should have phoned AGR first. Oh, well!


Actually, NO. If you had called you would have lost all those points. From the AGR Terms & Conditions, rule #9:



> 9.Accrued Points are not transferable in the event of Member death or divorce.


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## AlanB (Oct 19, 2012)

Texas Sunset said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > I wouldn't expect the "call-and-ask" to work very well at all. Assuming that Chase even decides to honor that old promotion, something that I think unlikely, here's the kicker. Chase only pays for half of the points in these promos. Amtrak buys the other half on your behalf. So even if you get lucky, Chase would buy 16,000 AGR points on your behalf. Amtrak & AGR would not buy the other half. Granted, you would still be 4,000 points better off than the current offer. But there is no hope of getting the 32K.
> ...


None of which changes the fact that it's not just a Chase promotion. It's a Chase & AGR promotion, or rather it was. Chase can decide to change what it offers, but it cannot change what Amtrak decides to offer. Granted the two typically do work together on the joint promotion. But for the time being, and my guess is that with all the new credit card rules now pretty much in place, you will never see such a promotion again. It's too expensive from Chase's perspective and AGR membership has grown by leaps and bounds from what I've seen, so they have less incentive to give away the store now.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 19, 2012)

AlanB said:


> Texas Sunset said:
> 
> 
> > AlanB said:
> ...


I've been offered 32,000 points on a targeted account while the public offer was only 12,000 points in the recent past. I've also been offered 12,000 points on another account while the public offer included the full 32,000 points. Go figure. Most of the new rules you seem to be referring to deal primarily with debit card rates and fees and have virtually no impact on credit card bonuses. We've actually enjoyed some of the largest and most advantageous credit card bonuses ever seen in the last few years, including during the period _after_ the new rules had already gone into effect. The most likely explanation for the loss of the 32,000 point public offer is that new members didn't put enough voluntary spending on their cards to make the large bonus worth the lack of a minimum spend. Today Chase seems to have caught on to the problem and now they want you to spend $500 to unlock less than half the points from before. Apparently $500 is only worth 12,000 miles to Chase and Amtrak. If Chase thinks they can convince some folks to spend $1,500 or more to unlock the bonus they may very well bring back another 30,000+ point offer in the future. Another possibility is that Chase recognizes that AGR may be faced with a limited lifespan if Romney and the GOP follow through with their threats to dismantle Amtrak. In any case, no matter how big AGR may or may not be today it's still miniscule compared to other points programs Chase buys from like those run by United and Marriott. As a result I somewhat doubt size of the program is the primary issue here. Now that the sign up bonus offer has been substantially reduced and the new minimum spend is in effect we'll just have to see if Chase is still able to convince new customers to bite. The way I see it the fewer the folks who go for the $500/12,000 points offer the better the chances that a thirty-something offer may be offered again in the future. Here's hoping anyway.


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## AlanB (Oct 19, 2012)

Texas Sunset said:


> I've been offered 32,000 points on a targeted account while the public offer was only 12,000 points in the recent past. I've also been offered 12,000 points on another account while the public offer included the full 32,000 points. Go figure.


Once again you are talking about what the credit card company did for you. But Chase does *NOT* control AGR. It took Chase buying 16K and AGR giving 16K to get to the 32K offer. Chase cannot force AGR to match their 16K. That was how the deal worked.

As to why Chase & AGR changed the offer, it's all speculation. But it is dead for now.


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## PRR 60 (Oct 19, 2012)

AlanB said:


> Texas Sunset said:
> 
> 
> > I've been offered 32,000 points on a targeted account while the public offer was only 12,000 points in the recent past. I've also been offered 12,000 points on another account while the public offer included the full 32,000 points. Go figure.
> ...


The present 12,000 point offer is 100% Chase. Amtrak's contribution is now a companion travel coupon. The coupon can be used for one-way or round trip travel, and is good for all Amtrak services in coach or, for Acela, business class. It requires a paid adult, senior or disabled fare on the same PNR, and is restricted only by blackout dates. For someone with access to Acela travel, a companion round trip could be far more valuable than the 12,000 points.

CORRECTION: The coupon is only good for one-way travel using Acela Business Class. I knew it was too good to be true.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 20, 2012)

AlanB said:


> There is no hope of getting the 32K.


No hope eh?



AlanB said:


> You will never see such a promotion again.


Never again eh?



AlanB said:


> As to why Chase & AGR changed the offer, it's all speculation.


Well, at least finally you admitted the blindingly obvious.



PRR 60 said:


> The present 12,000 point offer is 100% Chase.


That can't possibly be true or Alan would have heard about it by now. :lol:


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## crescent2 (Oct 21, 2012)

Hey, at least I phoned the right one (Delta), and paid the right one (AGR)! 

Guess I'll wait on the credit card thing to see if a better offer comes along later. Might buy the points if the trip gets firmed up a bit. Right now, my friend is thinking she can't go because of the length of time she won't be able to smoke on the train. *sigh*

Thanks, all, for the info and suggestions!


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 21, 2012)

crescent2 said:


> Hey, at least I phoned the right one (Delta), and paid the right one (AGR)! Guess I'll wait on the credit card thing to see if a better offer comes along later. Might buy the points if the trip gets firmed up a bit. Right now, my friend is thinking she can't go because of the length of time she won't be able to smoke on the train. *sigh* Thanks, all, for the info and suggestions!


I think you're making the right decision by waiting. The AGR credit card has had different bonuses over time but 12,000 points is one of the lowest bonuses in recent memory. Supposedly it's gone as high as 36,000 points in the past. I caught it at 32,000 points with no minimum spend and no annual fee, which I consider to be a great value and much better than the current 12,000 points for $500 in spending. Chase has been cutting back on bonuses and/or upping minimum spending on many cards lately, but if things go Amtrak's way this election then it's quite possible that Chase and/or Amtrak will feel confident enough to offer a larger bonus in the future. If things don't go Amtrak's way the size of the sign-up bonus will probably be the last thing any of us will be worrying about in the end.


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## Texan Eagle (Oct 22, 2012)

crescent2 said:


> Right now, my friend is thinking she can't go because of the length of time she won't be able to smoke on the train. *sigh*
> 
> Thanks, all, for the info and suggestions!


I don't know if you know this, most Amtrak trains give the passengers a "smoke break" (or fresh air break for those who do not smoke) every 4-5 hours or so depending on schedule of halts. I am not the one to judge anyone but if your friend already knows about this and still hesitant to take Amtrak because she won't be able to go without smoking even for few hours, she needs to get herself some deaddiction help.


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## dvdapex (Oct 24, 2012)

I remember reading in a few posts that if you had a paid fare, you'd be more likely to be offered one of the big point bonuses for the credit card sign-up (instead of the standard 12,000). Is that the case? If so, I see a deal to get short-haul seats for $16. I can't use them, but I thought if I bought the seat and spent $16 with a probable result that I'd be getting a bigger offer in the future it would be worth it. Thoughts?


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## Ispolkom (Oct 24, 2012)

dvdapex said:


> If so, I see a deal to get short-haul seats for $16. I can't use them, but I thought if I bought the seat and spent $16 with a probable result that I'd be getting a bigger offer in the future it would be worth it. Thoughts?


I don't think that it's a probable result. Banks are very opaque in how they offer credit card bonuses, and in this case it's in conjunction with AGR, whose interior processes are also a mystery. Even if in the future you'd get a bigger offer after buying and not using a ticket, that doesn't mean the ticket purchase led to the bigger offer.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 24, 2012)

Ispolkom said:


> dvdapex said:
> 
> 
> > If so, I see a deal to get short-haul seats for $16. I can't use them, but I thought if I bought the seat and spent $16 with a probable result that I'd be getting a bigger offer in the future it would be worth it. Thoughts?
> ...


I have been granted access to multiple AGR accounts (all by the book) and the ones that have more activity have generally had better offers over time, sometimes much better. However, I cannot say at which specific point the activity has crossed whichever thresholds are important to Chase and/or AGR. This is due in part to the opaque nature of the beast and in part due to the fact that at any given moment I'm accessing the account there may or may not be a unique offer for that particular account's set of variables. With some of the larger airline and hotel loyalty programs there are so many millions of active members that even internal thresholds are much better understood through simple deduction. But with a much smaller program like AGR it's still a mystery in many ways.


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## PPorro (Oct 24, 2012)

Just in case. I signed up yesterday (newest AGR member for a few moments?) And called CHASE asked if I could change my current card into an AGR card, they said, no "we're partners" you need to get another card. Just what I need. But the other part of the question from the OP was points. Here's what I got on Oct.23rd (and still the same today)

_You will qualify for and receive 12,000 bonus points after you make purchases totaling $500 or more during the first three months from account opening. _

I also got 100 points for linking to my FB account, which already showed up. Next I need to make a trip so the referring member gets his 500 points. Kind of interesting because I followed the link and saw nothing in the code that showed who had referred me. Maybe it's a connection to the reason why they have us send an email, and that links the membership?

Nice to know that in the future I'll be gaining rewards for spending and maybe can save enough for an upgrade on my Amtrak Photo Adventure Trip.


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