New Amtrak Guest Rewards Master Card - Fall 2015

[rusty spike]

Yep, I have 4 words for AGR and BofA..."Thanks, but No Thanks"

I might reconsider if they sweeten the pot on sign-up bonuses. (3 years ago Chase/AGR offered 32,000 points after spending $500 in new purchases). Being out here in "flyover country" with zero Amtrak service in the 6th largest U.S. city it is very hard to earn points on Amtrak travel. I must rely on the 1% rebate for other purchases and the shopping portal. So I will look into other travel cards. Plus the devaluation of points will most likely make Amtrak travel a rare experience for me in the future. Like Bob Hope used to say, "Thanks for the memories...."

 

[blondninja]

Yeah, same thing happened to me! Excellent credit, had a B of A mortgage (paid off), had MBNA and B of A credit cards in past, AGR member, other credit cards, never late, have my credit reports and score too.

B of A is closed last night. What major bank is closed nowadays? I waited until 9 am EST per their recording to call in today, it was almost 11 am EST and recording still says closed to call back after 9 am!

Spoke to someone, cannot do anything, no way to be transferred somewhere else or find out why you were denied. Must wait for letter in mail to then get your free credit report (which I already have.)

What a joke! They made a big blunder on this. Could there be a worse launch? I will think twice about this in the future.

 

[Anderson]

I've got two words for AGR right now, and they're not "Merry Christmas". I'm actually mad enough to consider complaining to Congress for the handling of this whole affair; worse for Amtrak, my "hot anger" from the devaluation is giving way to "cold anger" over what is now a complete disaster. The whole handling of the devaluation/reshuffle was bad enough, but when you've got multiple high credit score customers unable to get the new credit card (pretty much regardless of why) it tells me that AGR did not, at a bare minimum, ask the right questions. I'm not going to hold anyone at AGR personally responsible, but I AM going to hold AGR management collectively responsible for this mess.

FWIW, I went and got a fresh credit report right after this. Like I said, numbers from both agencies showed me over 760 (one was substantially over it).

I just wish the airlines on the East Coast didn't collectively suck so badly.

Edit: I went ahead and filed for the Virgin Atlantic card from BOA that I'd been looking at for a while as well, mainly because...well, if I'm going to take a lump for an application going out, I'm going to try and hope that multiple rapid-fire hard pulls doesn't do as much damage as a batch of them scattered over several weeks or months would (I think several of the reporting agencies handle a bunch of similar "hard pulls" at once as a single one because, for example, people end up needing to do them when shopping for a mortgage). THAT one, from the same bank, did not get a summary refusal. No idea what the difference is, but now...ARGH!

 

[me_little_me]

http://agr.amtrak.com/apply/

Now the question - which to choose?

World card - $79/year more ($0 vs $79)

WC gives you 8K more points (valued at $0.0289/point = $231 in points (but only first year)

WC More travel points - value depends on how much paid travel you do but 2pts/$ is good: "Earn 2 Points for every $1 of Net Purchases charged at eligible Non-Amtrak travel merchants, which include: airlines, car rental agencies, hotels, motels, inns, and resorts, steamship/cruise lines, and travel agencies."

WC Companion/upgrade/Acela lounge pass - useful if no other free way into clubs

WC TQP - useful if you can hit the TQP number

Conclusion (for me) - definitely worth the world card for anyone for the first year.

Future years probably worthwhile but not necessarily.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

With some of the perks coming from the new AGR Cards, that may help soften the nastiness of the 2.0 Program.

What perks?

Can someone post here a copy of the new AGR card perks, or post a link to the webpage for such?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/65160-new-amtrak-guest-rewards-mastercard-arriving-fall-2015/page-15

Post #288

 

[TinCan782]

http://agr.amtrak.com/apply/

 

[pennyk]

MODERATOR NOTE: many comments that related to the new credit card that were posted in the "general" AGR 2.0 thread have been moved to this thread.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

Well the signup bonus (20k) is worth as much as $2,000 under the current system and $579 under the new system, so I think that's a pretty good reason to sign up now.

That's a pretty valid point if you're going to sign up, bang out the required spend to collect the 20k and then book a trip under the old rules? That is a nice little loophole.

That's my current plan - to me, the 20,000 points are totally worth the initial $79 annual fee (I'd reevaluate after having the card for a year or so). I was planning on applying for the card & using it immediately, as they say in the fine print that it takes 8-12 weeks for the bonus points to apply to your account. Assuming I got the physical card by early October and started using it right away, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time to get the bonus & make a reservation before AGR 2.0 rolls out. I hope they get this fixed soon...

 

[Jim G.]

Has anyone been approved by BOA for the new Amtrak card?

 

[pennyk]

A friend of mine just applied on line and was approved.

 

[SteveSFL]

I just reapplied and got "Pending".

 

[oregon pioneer]

A friend of mine just applied on line and was approved.

I am glad to hear that, but I am still going to wait a few days.... Hubby and I have excellent credit (ALWAYS pay our bills on time and in full), but very low income right now. I would like to hear some more success stories before I risk that application.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

MODERATOR NOTE: many comments that related to the new credit card that were posted in the "general" AGR 2.0 thread have been moved to this thread.

Ah, that's why answers to my question appear above/before it.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

A friend of mine just applied on line and was approved.

I am glad to hear that, but I am still going to wait a few days.... Hubby and I have excellent credit (ALWAYS pay our bills on time and in full), but very low income right now. I would like to hear some more success stories before I risk that application.

I wonder if some people are getting denied because they are applying for "too many" credit cards at nearly the same time. Remember, many of us are also applying for a new Chase Freedom card (even if we don't want it).

 

[StanJazz]

We are not applying for the Freedom. Our old Amtrak card is changing into a Freedom. It will be the same account, not a new account. Just a different account number.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

A friend of mine just applied on line and was approved.

I am glad to hear that, but I am still going to wait a few days.... Hubby and I have excellent credit (ALWAYS pay our bills on time and in full), but very low income right now. I would like to hear some more success stories before I risk that application.

I wonder if some people are getting denied because they are applying for "too many" credit cards at nearly the same time. Remember, many of us are also applying for a new Chase Freedom card (even if we don't want it).

Just to be clear you're claiming that Chase is running an unsolicited hard credit check on every single holder of the current AGR card and then handing everyone a new Freedom card regardless of the score?

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Just to be clear you're claiming that Chase is running an unsolicited hard credit check on every single holder of the current AGR card and then handing everyone a new Freedom card regardless of the score?

Credit Card companies do that periodically anyway. Why do you think Chase needs that six to eight weeks between closing our old AGR Mastercard, and issuing the new Freedom Visa card?

And yes, it would not surprise me if some AGR MasterCard holders, aren't issued a new Freedom Visa card, if their score is low, or substantially lower than it was when they applied for the AGR MasterCard.

 

[blondninja]

I hadn't applied for a credit card at all in 2015, so that can't be the reason why for me.

 

[Carolina Special]

AGR Insider on Flyertalk has posted a short note that Amtrak has been notified of "some technical difficulties with the application process" by BOA. Issue is said to be fixed now and previous applicants deferred or declined will be contacted by BOA.

Personally, I'm going to hold off applying for a couple of days to make sure this is correct, though.

 

[CHamilton]

From http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25416154-post178.html

We were notified of some technical difficulties with the application process from Bank of America. The issue is fixed and previous applicants who received a denied or referred message will be contacted by Bank of America with further resolution.

Anthony Rizos

 

[me_little_me]

With some of the perks coming from the new AGR Cards, that may help soften the nastiness of the 2.0 Program.

What perks?

Can someone post here a copy of the new AGR card perks, or post a link to the webpage for such?

The post just before yours has a link to the AGR page of Amtrak where you can see the differences between the two cards and apply.

 

[pennyk]

I just applied and was approved. According to the website, I should received my World MasterCard credit card in the mail in 7 -10 days.

 

[TinCan782]

Haven't seen anything as to when earning AGR points with the new card begins...October 1, the day after it ends with the Chase card?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Has anyone been approved by BOA for the new Amtrak card?

Nope, they're Closed! LOL