Diners Club Club Rewards - Should I become a Diners Club member?

OK.. I have not been exposed to the DC program much. But interested in it as I read they have Primary rental car coverage, which I would use. Also going to Italy and will have a rental car there for a week (in the coutryside - not Rome)

I assume this works pretty much like any other Credit card, or am I wrong?

Are there any sign up bonuses?
What in annual cost?
How does one apply? I read no on line. Must you call to apply?

Any other comments appreciated. Thanks.

OK.. I have not been exposed to the DC program much. But interested in it as I read they have Primary rental car coverage, which I would use. Also going to Italy and will have a rental car there for a week (in the coutryside - not Rome)

I assume this works pretty much like any other Credit card, or am I wrong?

Are there any sign up bonuses?
What in annual cost?
How does one apply? I read no on line. Must you call to apply?

Any other comments appreciated. Thanks.
Diners Club is not a credit card, so doesn't work "pretty much like any other creidt card".

If you are talking about the card itself (not the car coverage), it's a charge card, and in that sense works much like the traditional AMEX. Except that Club Rewards is way better than Membership Rewards IMHO, the annual fee is a bit less, they are more likely to give retention bonuses (but no signup bonuses any more apparently).

The collision/theft coverage is indeed primary, but only applies if you turn down EVERY LAST CENT of that coverage. There are a few countries where that may be hard to do, and Italy may or may not be one of them, so make sure you know you can do this with your particular rental company before you rely on Diners for that particular rental. (And remember that, unlike in the US, CDW in Europe is not complete coverage, it's more like a "doughnut" coverage! You have to typically get something like "Super CDW" to really cover it to the last dime. So if your European rental car reservation says it includes CDW, be very concerned, because it may not cover you all that much, yet will preclude Diners from covering you.)

The annual fee is $95. After your first year (once you have accumulated points), you can choose to pay it with points, although it tends to be a poor redemption ratio. :)

Yes, you must call to apply. (They used to have an online app but it disappeared a while back.)

A few years ago Diners Club went from being literally a Diners Club card that was accepted mainly at hotels/airlines/car rental/better restaurants to instead being a Diners Club MasterCard with pretty much universal acceptance. In the past several years they've also severed ties with several airline partners (UA, CO, NW among others) and started charging a small fee when making Club Rewards redemptions (95 cents per 1K points). Due to these changes many FTers now virtually turn and spit upon hearing the Diners Club name being mentioned, however after 15+ years as a cardholder I'm still a huge fan.

Concerning the $95 annual fee - for the past 14 years upon card renewal/annual fee time I've always called and spoken to their retention department. Every single time I've been offered and accepted points - from as low as 5K to as many as 10K - to renew. Since I've always valued DC points at over 2 cents each (and still do) at worst I've broken even and some years I've turned a profit by renewing.

To my understanding, the previous replies are valid for Diners Club US cards issued by Citibank. In other countries the license for Diners Club brand has been given to other banks.

For example here in Finland the card is issued by SEB Kort. Here the DC card is not Mastercard, but it works as Mastercard when using the Finnish card in US/Canada.

The annual fee varies from issuer to issuer, as well as the benefits from the Club Rewards program.

ps. as a general comment to fellow club members, I'd like to ask you to mention the country or the issuer you are talking about.

ps. as a general comment to fellow club members, I'd like to ask you to mention the country or the issuer you are talking about.
A good point in general. Although in this case this was a specifc question from an FTer whose profile snapshot at the left of the original post clearly shows they're in the US, and furthermore I know SAPMAN from, among other places, the Southwest Airlines forum (Southwest being an airline that flies within the US only and that doesn't partner with any airlines outside the US so far).

Which is why my answer in this case was automatically based on Diners Club US.

Btw, the mention should of the country in place of (or in addition to) the issuer. The issuer alone doesn't clarify much. For example, even though Citi is the issuer in several countries, the costs, benefits, point earning and redemption ratios, etc, still vary widely even among the Diners Club cards Citi issues in those different countries.

Thanks for the info. I did read about DC requiring one to turn down all other coverages. In Italy, I think theft coverage is mandatory -- so I guess DC would not cover the car for me. So might as well use my Cr. Card which has secondary coverage??

Yes, sdsearch, I do fly WN a lot -- but also Lifetime Plat with AA which I am still using up my miles.... by the way, Argentina on AA Award is a super deal.

Back to topic, still not sure - sdsearch and yanxfann seem to diasagree. sd says not a credit card (more of a charge card like Penny's?) and yanx says it is a DC Mastercard. Guess that makes no difference to me as I pay off monthly anyway.

Thanks again for the feedback.

In Italy, I think theft coverage is mandatory -- so I guess DC would not cover the car for me. So might as well use my Cr. Card which has secondary coverage??

That may not help either. Your secondary coverage may exactly the same restrictions. Understand it very thoroughly.

Meanwhile, I suggest you call Diners and get clarification of whether mandatory theft coverage affects Diners collision coverage or not. (It's official called collision coverage, but in the benefits it states it also covers theft. So I'm not clear to what degree these are linked, because i"ve never yet rented in a country where theft coverage was mandatory.)

sdsearch and yanxfann seem to diasagree. sd says not a credit card (more of a charge card like Penny's?) and yanx says it is a DC Mastercard. Guess that makes no difference to me as I pay off monthly anyway.
These statements are not in conflict. MasterCard can be a credit card, a debit card, a preloaded card, or -- in the case of Diners Club (North America) -- a charge card. MasterCard is simply the merchant card network that Diners Club now runs on. The merchant card network has only to do with the acceptance side of things, it's still the bank that determines the payment structure of the card (and thus charge vs credit).

Similarly, there are AMEXs that are charge cards (Gold with Membership Rewards, for example) and AMEXs that are credit cards (Blue, for example) from AMEX itself (ie, you don't even have to consider things like Citi's AMEX's to see that).

The difference would be in the way it reports to credit bureaus (charge cards don't report a credit limit, but instead report a high balance, which to a stupid computer can look like high utilitization), except that apparently (based on threads I've read here previoujsly) Diners US has not been reporting to any credit bureaus for quite a while.

Meanwhile, you can pay Diners US over time, but you have to "transfer" to a linked loan account manually, and there are restrictions on such transferring. (Though it's typically not a particularly good deal, it's a backstop that's there for emergencies at least. In mnst cases, if you have promotional balance transfer offers at other cards, those would be preferable.)

If you have an IRA or mortgage or do a lot of business with Citibank, you may be eligible for Citigold membership, which yields a free Diner's Card.

If I wasn't required to have a Diners Club for work, I wouldn't dream of applying for this card. It sucks :td:

If I wasn't required to have a Diners Club for work, I wouldn't dream of applying for this card. It sucks :td:

Uh...why does it "suck"? :confused: (As in, what are your reasons for the sentiment?)

Uh...why does it "suck"? :confused: (As in, what are your reasons for the sentiment?)

For $95/year it's just not a good value for me.


No more 2 month float period ever since MasterCard took over
No redemption with my preferred airline (United)
Charge for mileage redemption (find me ONE other card that has this lovely "feature")
Vast reduction in hotel partners over the last few years
Continually shrinking list of airport lounges
An absolutely ATROCIOUS website
Inability to schedule automatic payments
Inability to have paperless billing



That's why it sucks.

Ahhh... thanks!

One man's trash is another man's treasure. For $95/year it is a good deal for me:

* A full month from the time your bill closes until payment is due, mine bill always closes on the last day of the calendar month and isn't due until either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd of the month. For example I just placed a $18K tuition charge on July 1, it won't be due until the beginning of Sep.
* Mileage redemption for almost 20 airlines (not to mention hotels etc) - how many other cards offer this many choices?
* DC charges 95 cents per 1K points redeemed, I consider this a minor nuisance at most - a drop in the bucket barely worth mentioning
* Their website has never been an issue to me
* Numerous FTers - including me - say that they've always been able to negate the annual fee by choosing a retention bonus of either a fee refund or bonus points (I've always chosen the points)
* With the exception of only three of their airline partners (BA, Frontier and Korean) Diners offers the ability to transfer miles into anyone's frequent flyer account - this is HUGE. If cousin Ellie Mae needs 3K more AA miles in her account to get that dream vacation to Hawaii call DC and in 2 Business Bays - or less - the miles are there, total transfer cost $2.85. I've transfered literally hundreds of thousands of miles to other people's frequent flyer accounts thanks to Diners Club.

PS: Diners points are in huge demand on FT's Coupon Connection.

To each his own!

I'd still rather have an AMEX ;)

After over 25 years of being a cardholder, I finally got so fed up with the ever-declining level of customer service that I canceled mine last month.

The final straw was a clearly duplicate charge (same merchant, same amount). They simply refused to investigate my dispute and insisted that I pay twice. I did. I also told them I was canceling. And I did.:td:

To each his own!

I'd still rather have an AMEX ;)
And that helps you with United how? :confused:

The very same airline that won't allow you to transfer from Diners at all any more (yes, it's United via Chase that put a stop to DC->UA transfers, it wasn't Diners or Citi's doing) is also the very same ailrine that only gives you half the miles from SPG Amex compared to other airlines.

And AMEX MR doesn't allow transfers to UA either.

And that helps you with United how? :confused:

The very same airline that won't allow you to transfer from Diners at all any more (yes, it's United via Chase that put a stop to DC->UA transfers, it wasn't Diners or Citi's doing) is also the very same ailrine that only gives you half the miles from SPG Amex compared to other airlines.

And AMEX MR doesn't allow transfers to UA either.

It doesn't help with United. But at least I don't have to pay for miles!!!!