# New Promotion?



## tonys96 (Aug 21, 2011)

Got a new promotion in the mail today from my Chase AGR Rewards card. Some of those ubiquitous "convenience checks", but with a twist that may be appealing:

3000 bonus points if I write one for 1500 dollars or more. 0% interest for 8 months (then the 13% afterward), but only 1% fee. Also this time it allows writing one to yourself for cash!

So I can write myself one for $1600, deposit it in the bank, wait two months then pay it off in a lump sum at 0 interest, and get the 3000 bonus points. Sounds like a deal to me!

Anyone else get this promotion? Am I missing something in the fine print?

Thanks!


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## Tumbleweed (Aug 21, 2011)

Dang....I think I ripped mine up and threw it away when I noticed the checks.......next time I will look closer......


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## OlympianHiawatha (Aug 21, 2011)

I would be afraid on a Promotion like this they would figure out some way to start running interest on your other purchases, even though you may pay them off month by month. They seem to always have some loophole to start charging interest and bury that loophole well into the fine print.


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## Dovecote (Aug 21, 2011)

tonys96 said:


> Got a new promotion in the mail today from my Chase AGR Rewards card. Some of those ubiquitous "convenience checks", but with a twist that may be appealing:
> 
> 3000 bonus points if I write one for 1500 dollars or more. 0% interest for 8 months (then the 13% afterward), but only 1% fee. Also this time it allows writing one to yourself for cash!
> 
> ...


This topic was first discussed in late July and can be found here


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## tonys96 (Aug 21, 2011)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> I would be afraid on a Promotion like this they would figure out some way to start running interest on your other purchases, even though you may pay them off month by month. They seem to always have some loophole to start charging interest and bury that loophole well into the fine print.


The fine print does say that I will not get the bonus points until "six to eight weeks after the last day of the promotional period" which seems to be July, 2012....even if paid back earlier, it seems. But, since I do not carry a balance over on this card monthly, but run about 500 points a month on it, I may just give it a try......looking for a number to call to speak with a rep about it, but don't see one on the mailer. :wacko:


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## tonys96 (Aug 21, 2011)

Dovecote said:


> tonys96 said:
> 
> 
> > Got a new promotion in the mail today from my Chase AGR Rewards card. Some of those ubiquitous "convenience checks", but with a twist that may be appealing:
> ...


Thanks! I read that thread, and it sounds like almost the same thing.

Only difference I saw was that mine said 1% fee and 0% interest till July, 2012....would be paying 15 bucks for 3000 points, it seems. Except, if I read it correctly, I won't get the points till around Sept. of 2012.

Maybe I will be a test case for this.


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## Dovecote (Aug 22, 2011)

tonys96 said:


> Dovecote said:
> 
> 
> > tonys96 said:
> ...


I forgot to mention on my prior post that this topic was also discussed on the Flyer Talk website. It can be found here


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## tonys96 (Aug 22, 2011)

Dovecote said:


> tonys96 said:
> 
> 
> > Dovecote said:
> ...



Thanks for that one, too! Looks like a targeted offer for sure, since mine is 0% interest and only a 1% fee. I called AGR MasterCard, and found out it is targeted differently depending on if your card is "Signature" or "World", evidently one is of a lesser risk than the other. The "World" offer is a little bit better than the "Signature" offer, according to the customer service (so called) manager that I spoke to. I asked if I could use one and pay it off a couple months later, and still get the points, she said I could, but likely would not get the points until Sept. 2012.


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## saxman (Aug 24, 2011)

I just got this same offer in the mail today. This is different than then one I posted about a few weeks ago. I just decided to scratch the previous offer and threw the checks out, as usual. That fee was something like $45. This is a little bit better, in that they charge only $15. It still makes me queasy writing these checks, so not sure if I'll do it.


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## gatelouse (Aug 24, 2011)

Got the 1% fee/0% interest variant myself. Chase doesn't allow you to pay more than your outstanding balance online, but will they accept a mailed check that results in a big credit balance, with no "pre-payment fee"? If they do, then all we'd be out is the $15 fee on $1500 and no interest. In that case, easy 3000 points if you have the checking account to support it.


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## trainman74 (Aug 25, 2011)

Got the checks in the mail, too, and promptly discarded them. The best thing about it was the fake credit card illustrations on the mailer, one with a photo of a Cascades train, the other with an Acela -- I wish the AGR Mastercard actually had those designs available!


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## tonys96 (Sep 17, 2011)

OK, as I suggested, I would try this one to see what happened, and here it is:

I had a balance of 52 bucks (round trip on Heartland Flyer tix) on the card when I went to my bank and, after first asking my banker to look for the fine print (I use a small local community bank,so actually know the bankers personally!), and then wrote a 1600 check to myself, deposited it, and waited..................today I got my statement and the amount due was 1668.......the 1600 bucks, plus the 52 balance, plus 16 fee (1% of 1600), and the total points sent to AGR was 3104 (3000 bonus + 104 for Flyer trip points)

Looked at my AGR account and it shows all of those points deposited!!!!

So, I sent a check today to cover the entire balance, and it does look like I just bought 3000 points for 16 dollars. Cool beans..............


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## gatelouse (Sep 17, 2011)

Great report! Glad to hear that the points posted so quickly. I've sent Chase an overpayment to prepay the $1500 and will cash my check soon.

Reminder to anyone else trying this promo: be sure to use the right check! My offer included 3 checks with different terms--two that would yield 3000 bonus points upon $1500 cashed, and one that would give no points but provide 0% interest. The check number used would determine the path taken.


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## tonys96 (Sep 18, 2011)

gatelouse said:


> Great report! Glad to hear that the points posted so quickly. I've sent Chase an overpayment to prepay the $1500 and will cash my check soon.
> 
> Reminder to anyone else trying this promo: be sure to use the right check! My offer included 3 checks with different terms--two that would yield 3000 bonus points upon $1500 cashed, and one that would give no points but provide 0% interest. The check number used would determine the path taken.


Yes, the right check is important! I did 1600 bucks just to make sure...even though the promo said 1500 would be enough. Made the check out to myself, deposited it in checking account, and just today mailed them their own money right back.

The 3000 bonus, plus the purchase + 50% have made me have enough to take a good trip using points. Got a great idea how to use them in a different thread. Still going to get a rail pass next year, I hope and take a month off work to relax and enjoy this great country!


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## gatelouse (Sep 18, 2011)

gatelouse said:


> Reminder to anyone else trying this promo: be sure to use the right check! My offer included 3 checks with different terms--two that would yield 3000 bonus points upon $1500 cashed, and one that would give no points but provide 0% interest. The check number used would determine the path taken.


A quick correction as I'm apparently too late to edit the original post: two checks will charge a 1% fee and 0% interest through next July. That's a good deal. The third check will charge a 1% fee and 1.99% APR through Jan 2013. Cashing any combination of these checks will net you the 3000 bonus points. So choose your offer carefully but note that all the checks are good for the bonus. My mistake.


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