AGR Credit Card change (October 2022)

[TinCan782]

That seems to be the standard notice that they send when you're a month out from the annual fee posting. I got the same letter last month but with the note that it'd be on my September statement. I cancelled the card before it posted, but it's a standard letter that they send each year before the annual fee posts.

All it really indicates is that BoA hasn't sunsetted the card in their system yet.

The "standard notice" is what I'm thinking as well.
I won't expect to see mine until November.

 

[mgeller]

I decided to go to the source and emailed Amtrak three weeks ago and just received the following response:

"Thank you for contacting the Amtrak Guest Rewards Service Center.

The Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard is affiliated with the Amtrak Guest Rewards frequent traveler program. This credit card allows cardholders to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points for all their Amtrak and retail purchases made with the card. However, as you have learned, Amtrak will no longer be affiliated with Bank Of America, and points will no longer be earned for purchases as of September 2022, The points earned up until then will remain in your account. Amtrak has not provided any information if and when there will be another Credit Card offer.

We thank you for being a valued Amtrak Guest Rewards member.
Sincerely,
Vicki
Amtrak Center Of Excellence"

 

[pennyk]

I decided to go to the source and emailed Amtrak three weeks ago and just received the following response:

"Thank you for contacting the Amtrak Guest Rewards Service Center.

The Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard is affiliated with the Amtrak Guest Rewards frequent traveler program. This credit card allows cardholders to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points for all their Amtrak and retail purchases made with the card. However, as you have learned, Amtrak will no longer be affiliated with Bank Of America, and points will no longer be earned for purchases as of September 2022, The points earned up until then will remain in your account. Amtrak has not provided any information if and when there will be another Credit Card offer.

We thank you for being a valued Amtrak Guest Rewards member.
Sincerely,
Vicki
Amtrak Center Of Excellence"

Thank you for posting that letter. The person in charge of AGR first name is Vicki and this may be from her. If so, I will bet it is accurate. I have an Amtrak trip that will show up on my September statement and I hope I get those points.

I am not overly optimistic.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Amtrak will no longer be affiliated with Bank Of America, and points will no longer be earned for purchases as of September 2022, The points earned up until then will remain in your account. Amtrak has not provided any information if and when there will be another Credit Card offer.

Thank you for posting their response.

Members with an August or September renewal might want to take a look at post 118.

I have an Amtrak trip that will show up on my September statement and I hope I get those points. I am not overly optimistic.

I would expect it to post but if it does not I would expect them to make a reasonable accommodation so long as your account is active when you make your request.

Did we ever find out if it was Chase or AGR that severed the Ultimate Rewards relationship?

 

[pennyk]

Members with an August or September renewal might want to take a look at post 118.

Thank you for that reminder. I will certainly keep it in mind.

 

[StanJazz]

While there was nothing official It may have been Chase that ended the deal because I remember reading online that at the same time the Chase card ended Chase dropped a number of other cards. People who had a number of the dropped cards were complaining that they had 3 or 4 Freedom Cards.

 

[jis]

Did we ever find out if it was Chase or AGR that severed the Ultimate Rewards relationship?

I don't think we ever learned the details of what transpired. But IIRC we did receive notification from Chase about the discontinuance and the consequent conversion of the AGR Card into Chase Freedom Card (or whatever it was called back then), and this happened over a month before the change.

Anyway, it is good to get something definitive from AGR saying that the relationship ends in September.

The question that arises is whether AGR and Amtrak plan to not have any affiliated credit card going forward.

 

[dlagrua]

If AGR becomes a thing of the past the customer and Amtrak will both lose out. Each time you purchase using the AGR card Amtrak makes money selling the points to B of A. Its like an advance payment on Amtrak trip purchases for them. When we lose our ability to earn points the bank also loses and we then can charge our purchases to another credit card where we feel there is a better reward. For instance when the Chase agreement ended I no longer did any business with them and used B of A. In the worse case if the AGR program is not picked up by another bank; I will say goodbye to B of A and use the Discover Card that offers 2% cash back at year end.
My guess is that another bank will partner with the AGR program so lets wait and see.

 

[jcastallack]

I decided to go to the source and emailed Amtrak three weeks ago and just received the following response:

"Thank you for contacting the Amtrak Guest Rewards Service Center.

The Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard is affiliated with the Amtrak Guest Rewards frequent traveler program. This credit card allows cardholders to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points for all their Amtrak and retail purchases made with the card. However, as you have learned, Amtrak will no longer be affiliated with Bank Of America, and points will no longer be earned for purchases as of September 2022, The points earned up until then will remain in your account. Amtrak has not provided any information if and when there will be another Credit Card offer.

We thank you for being a valued Amtrak Guest Rewards member.
Sincerely,
Vicki
Amtrak Center Of Excellence"

Thanks for this. I am one of the people who just received their renewal email and it's jarring to hear "you'll continue to enjoy card benefits such as [list of Amtrak points earning items and coupons]" from Bank of America, and at the same time "points earning ends in September" from Amtrak. I am curious if it is 9/1 or 9/30. "September 2022" could mean either, although the 1st seems the more likely interpretation.

 

[TinCan782]

Thanks for this. I am one of the people who just received their renewal email and it's jarring to hear "you'll continue to enjoy card benefits such as [list of Amtrak points earning items and coupons]" from Bank of America, and at the same time "points earning ends in September" from Amtrak. I am curious if it is 9/1 or 9/30. "September 2022" could mean either, although the 1st seems the more likely interpretation.

Where/when did Amtrak actually announce "points earnings ends in September"?
In in an official announcement...not hearsay.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Where/when did Amtrak actually announce "points earnings ends in September"?
In in an official announcement...not hearsay.

See post 152

 

[pennyk]

Thank you for posting that letter. The person in charge of AGR first name is Vicki and this may be from her. If so, I will bet it is accurate. I have an Amtrak trip that will show up on my September statement and I hope I get those points.

I am not overly optimistic.

I am editing to add that the person that I assume is the head of AGR spells her name differently than Vicki (the signatory of the letter posted in 152). That may or may not make a difference, but I still believe the content of the posted letter (whether or not it is from the director of AGR or from an AGR agent).

 

[TinCan782]

See post 152

OK thanks. That, however is an answer to a single inquiry, not a notice sent (emailed) to all AGR card holders.
There is not even an "announcement" regarding this on the AGR page, even when logged in.

 

[TinCan782]

I am editing to add that the person that I assume is the head of AGR spells her name differently than Vicki (the signatory of the letter posted in 152). That may or may not make a difference, but I still believe the content of the posted letter (whether or not it is from the director of AGR or from an AGR agent).

The Amtrak points earned via the credit card will be posted by the credit card when you charged the fare to your card. Points received for a paid trip are received from Amtrak and are posted after the trip by Amtrak, not the credit card.

 

[joelkfla]

The Amtrak points earned via the credit card will be posted by the credit card when you charged the fare to your card. Points received for a paid trip are received from Amtrak and are posted after the trip by Amtrak, not the credit card.

The credit card points are actually posted to Amtrak at the end of the billing period in which the trip was purchased. So "as of September" could also mean as of the billing period starting in September, or it could even mean points that would have been earned in the billing period ending in September (but I think that's less likely.)

 

[TinCan782]

The credit card points are actually posted to Amtrak at the end of the billing period in which the trip was purchased. So "as of September" could also mean as of the billing period starting in September, or it could even mean points that would have been earned in the billing period ending in September (but I think that's less likely.)

Correct regarding end of billing period. Thanks.

 

[GAT]

Thank you for posting that letter. The person in charge of AGR first name is Vicki and this may be from her. If so, I will bet it is accurate. I have an Amtrak trip that will show up on my September statement and I hope I get those points.

I am not overly optimistic.

"As of September" is almost meaningless. September 1? or September 30? If Vicki is in charge of the program, she needs to learn to be more precise.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe If you paid for your trip before the deadline, whenever that is/was, you'll earn your points. The dates of your trip don't matter except that the points will not appear in your AGR account until you complete your trip. (Just in case you cancel, of course.)

 

[NorthShore]

So, might we expect to see a notice on this month's statement that there will be no more points after the monthly cycle just ended?

I'd appreciate a month's warning to plan for purchases with or without the card. I might even prepurchase some things to add a few extra points while I can.

 

[joelkfla]

"As of September" is almost meaningless. September 1? or September 30? If Vicki is in charge of the program, she needs to learn to be more precise.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe If you paid for your trip before the deadline, whenever that is/was, you'll earn your points. The dates of your trip don't matter except that the points will not appear in your AGR account until you complete your trip. (Just in case you cancel, of course.)

Almost right. As I said above, the credit card points are posted on AGR a day or 2 after the end of the billing period in which the tickets were purchased. The regular AGR points (2/$) are posted after completion of the trip.

So if the B of A base and bonus points don't show up on the Amtrak website within a few business days of the billing cycle close, they're probably not coming.

 

[Old MM]

Everything is clear as mud now. If it ends "in September" how can it be anything before the end of the month, if they don't identify the date? That would mean they are going to retroactively deny points (for example, the charging I did yesterday...) An email to AGR members seems to be in order, you know, basic transparency!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I read "points will no longer be earned for purchases as of September 2022" as no points will be earned for any purchases made in September. I will be switching to my hotel card as of today and build up those points until we find out if there will be a new provider for AGR credit card(s).

 

[TinCan782]

I read "points will no longer be earned for purchases as of September 2022" as no points will be earned for any purchases made in September. I will be switching to my hotel card as of today and build up those points until we find out if there will be a new provider for AGR credit card(s).

Pending an official notice (not comments on FlyerTalk, Facebook or here) from BofA and/or Amtrak regarding this, I'm staying put. I'll find out with my wife's statement at the end of this week and mine at the end of the month.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Pending an official notice (not comments on FlyerTalk, Facebook or here) from BofA and/or Amtrak regarding this, I'm staying put. I'll find out with my wife's statement at the end of this week and mine at the end of the month.

Well, I have a lot of AGR points right now and could use hotel points. I'll get the first of my two statements this week also.

 

[jis]

For what it is worth, the AGR web site appears to no longer lists the Credit Card as a way to earn points.

 

[TinCan782]

For what it is worth, the AGR web site appears to no longer lists the Credit Card as a way to earn points.

I think its been that way for a while...even as far back as when they pulled soliciting new card holders. Could be wrong as I haven't been looking closely at that as I already have a card.
There's a lot of AGR members without a card so they don't want to confuse them with an earning method no longer available to them.