# Can AGR points be earned on other credit cards?



## igor (Jan 30, 2017)

When AGR was using Chase, it was possible to earn points on other Chase cards, and then transfer those points into your AGR account.

Now that AGR has switched to Bank of America, is there a way to earn points on another Bank of America credit card, and transfer those to AGR, or is AGR now a closed system?


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## newlatidude (Feb 7, 2017)

I don't know about other BofA card options, but the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) hotel loyalty program has 1:1 transfers to AGR (just without the 5K bonus per 20K transferred that comes with SPG to airline transfers). There is an SPG co-branded American Express card available and usually has an initial spending bonus in the 25K or so neighborhood.

Also, since the Marriott-SPG hotels merger, currently points can be transferred from the Marriott Rewards program to SPG at a ratio of 3 Marriott points to 1 SPG point. Chase offers a Marriott co-branded card. Also since Marriott is a Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) transfer partner, one of the Chase UR credit cards that includes travel partner transfers as a benefit, would also allow you to eventually transfer to AGR. However the Chase options are less than ideal for daily spending compared to the SPG Amex, since the Amex effectively earns 1 AGR point per dollar, while the Chase options earn 1 AGR point per three dollars. But the (UR)--Marriott--SPG--AGR route could be useful in some situations, such as having a bunch of points you wouldn't otherwise use or depending on your alternative uses for UR/Marriott points.

A big caveat regarding SPG, is that eventually the two loyalty programs will likely be combined in some form, due to the merger. It's anyone's guess whether the SPG-style generous transfer scheme will remain...but we don't know yet when any major changes will occur so the SPG Amex would still be useful for daily AGR earning, as an alternative to the BofA AGR card, for some time to come at least.


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## VAtrainfan (Feb 7, 2017)

Amtrak has deals with several hotel companies. None of them use BofA for their credit card programs.

You could probably find out by calling Bank of America and asking if points are transferable between their credit cards.


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## igor (May 31, 2017)

A follow-up to my own post.

I just noticed that on the guest rewards portal, one can transfer points into your Amtrak account from a variety of other sources:


Audience Awards - on a 1:1 basis
Choice Privileges - about a 6:1 basis (32K choice privilege points become 5K Amtrak points)
Hertz - on a 6:5 basis
Hilton Honors - on a 6.66: 1 basis
La Quinta - on a 6:1 basis
Starwood - on a 1:1 basis
Wyndham Rewards - on a 6:1 basis
I have no idea if any of these are a good deal (i.e. what the cash value of points in these other systems are), but at least it opens the door to some other offers.

For instance, signing up for a Hilton Honors Surpass American Express card can garner you 100K Hilton Honors points if you spend $3K in the first three months. That's about 15K Amtrak points for $3000, which is 5x better than what you'd do if you were spending money using your standard Amtrak card.


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## NE933 (Jun 6, 2017)

How does it work, to transfer from Choice to AGR? What are the steps? I used my current Chase Freedom, which used to be Chase AGR, to pay for the hotel stay.


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## the_traveler (Jun 6, 2017)

Are you a member of Choice Privileges, and did you specify at the time of the stay that you wanted the points earned by the stay applied to your Choice Privileges account? :huh: That is the only way to transfer the points earned for that stay to be transferred. (If there are -0- points in your Choice Privileges account, the most you could transfer is -0- points.)

It doesn't matter how you pay for the stay. Each program is separate. You could use your Visa, Master Card, American Express, cash (whatever that is :giggle: ), have your mother pay, have your friend pay, etc... - but that doesn't have anything to do with earning Choice Privileges points. Some people do not want to even Choice Privileges points for their stay. You have to specify you do.


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## NE933 (Jun 8, 2017)

I have Choice Privileges Points, but never officially registered. My current Chase card has some AGR points left over, and would like to bring over the Choice Privileges points, if doable. Is there a Choice phone number to call to do that?


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## igor (Jun 20, 2017)

NE933 said:


> I [...] would like to bring over the Choice Privileges points, if doable. Is there a Choice phone number to call to do that?


The Transfer/Buy tab of the Guest Rewards site says to call 1-888-770-6800.


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## igor (Sep 2, 2017)

Another offer to get you some Amtrak points....

The Hilton Offers Surpass Card is being offered through October 4th, 2017 with 100,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3K in the first three months.

You could transfer those points to Amtrak and get 15K points. At $.029 per point, that's worth $439 on Amtrak.

There is a $75 annual fee for the card, but it comes with a free weekend stay at a Hilton Honors hotel on your first cardmember anniversary.


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## TinCan782 (Sep 2, 2017)

NE933 said:


> I have Choice Privileges Points, but never officially registered. *My current Chase card has some AGR points left over*, and would like to bring over the Choice Privileges points, if doable. Is there a Choice phone number to call to do that?


The credit card does not have *AGR* points; your AGR account has the AGR points. The card may have its own (not AGR) points however.


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