# Couple of questions about new Credit Card



## RailFanLNK (Aug 19, 2007)

Hello Everyone,

My girlfriend has decided to go to the forum gathering in October. She was kinda "on the fence" thinking that I would have so much fun "without" her and the whole time I couldn't figure out "why she didn't want to go to Chi-town." She thoroughly enjoyed using Amtrak this July so she has applied for the new AGR CC and will be recieving 5,000 bonus points. She wants to know when is that card coming? Should she book the trip now on her current credit card (non-Amtrak) and then when she recieves the new AGR CC book the trip on the new card and cancel the old reservation? She's not much into the credit card thing but when I learned how much my 40,000 points was going to get us for a possible trip next year to NY and DC, she thought it was such a simple way to earn free travel. She has also been impressed with the Online Mall merchants. Thanks for your answers. And to let you all know, she is a "lurker" here and I don't know how many times she's asked, "have you posed that question to the forum" or "hey Al, did you read that latest topic on Amtraktrains".

Al


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## gswager (Aug 20, 2007)

There are two things that you can earn point- Guest Rewards credit card and Guest Rewards Membership. The new credit card will not be activated until September or October, according to the press release. The Guest Rewards Membership allows you to add up the points when purchasing Amtrak tickets.

I have one question- if I have both Guest Rewards credit card and Guest Rewards Membership, will I get more points when buying Amtrak tickets than Guest Rewards membership alone?


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## AlanB (Aug 20, 2007)

gswager said:


> There are two things that you can earn point- Guest Rewards credit card and Guest Rewards Membership. The new credit card will not be activated until September or October, according to the press release. The Guest Rewards Membership allows you to add up the points when purchasing Amtrak tickets.
> I have one question- if I have both Guest Rewards credit card and Guest Rewards Membership, will I get more points when buying Amtrak tickets than Guest Rewards membership alone?


Yes, you get more points if you buy your Amtrak tickets with the AGR credit card. Normally AGR gives you two points per dollar spent on a ticket. If you buy those tickets with an AGR credit card, then you get an additional two points per dollar spent on a ticket, for a total of 4 points per dollar.

If you buy your tickets with another credit card, then you only get the normal 2 points per $ from the AGR program. And other items purchased with an AGR credit card only earn 1 point per $.


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## AlanB (Aug 20, 2007)

rail rookie said:


> Should she book the trip now on her current credit card (non-Amtrak) and then when she recieves the new AGR CC book the trip on the new card and cancel the old reservation?


Al,

I would definately not wait until the new credit card comes out. As much as it would be nice to get the 4 points per $ spent, waiting could see the price of the ticket jump up by $20 to $30, maybe even more. I don't think that garnering the extra points is worth that price increase.

If it turns out that the price remains the same as it currently is by the time the new AGR credit card comes out, then fine cancel the reservation and rebook. But otherwise, if there has been a price increase, just chalk things up to bad timing unfortunately. There's always that next Amtrak trip where she can use the new credit card.


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## RailFanLNK (Aug 20, 2007)

You know...that was what I was thinking but I wanted to bounce it off of you all! Thanks for the help!

Al


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## BobWeaver (Aug 20, 2007)

In actuality, we do not get 5000 points. I read the fine print and only 2500 points go to our AGR accounts.

"You will receive a total of 5,000 points with this Bonus Offer. 2,500 bonus points will post to your Chase credit card account and appear on your Chase statement and an additional 2,500 bonus points will post directly to your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and appear on your Amtrak Guest Rewards statement."


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## AlanB (Aug 20, 2007)

BobWeaver said:


> In actuality, we do not get 5000 points. I read the fine print and only 2500 points go to our AGR accounts.
> "You will receive a total of 5,000 points with this Bonus Offer. 2,500 bonus points will post to your Chase credit card account and appear on your Chase statement and an additional 2,500 bonus points will post directly to your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and appear on your Amtrak Guest Rewards statement."


While I'll admit that the wording is confusing, what that is really saying is that Chase will send a 2,500 point bonus over to AGR and pay for it, which is why it will show on the Chase statement. Once AGR sees that bonus post, they will add yet another 2,500 AGR points to your account. Those points however will not be reflected on the Chase side of things.


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## BobWeaver (Aug 20, 2007)

AlanB said:


> BobWeaver said:
> 
> 
> > In actuality, we do not get 5000 points. I read the fine print and only 2500 points go to our AGR accounts.
> ...


Ah ok, awesome.


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## RailFanLNK (Aug 20, 2007)

I'm anxiously awaiting my 8,000 bonus points for pre-registering. I'll tell ya, sometimes all this stuff can get a tad confusing. :blink:


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