Originally Posted by
Middle_Seat
My daughter does not speak Tagalog and hasn't spent a lot of time in HKG, but maybe her experience this evening will be of interest here.
This evening she called to cancel her BOA Alaska Air Visa. She was offered, and accepted, a no-annual-fee "123 Cash Rewards Visa," which the CSR said has a chip "for international travel."
Seriously, most people in Manila or Philippines for that matter, speak English, not Tagalog... Dont you all notice these days the call centers have moved from Bangalore to Manila now? With the historical American influence, the Filipinos are very fluent in English and their accent is easier to understand than the Indians.
I have the 123 card that is from the old Schwab conversion. It is not a CHIP card. And I never see it advertised in BofA branch that this is a CHIP card. When you walk into a BofA branch, the 123 card ads are prominently displayed everywhere. You cannot miss it. Not a single word mentioned it about being a CHIP card good for international travel. The 123 card is geared to the 1%, 2% and 3% earnings (with a very low cap that the BofA ad never mentions.)
BofA has a Travel Award Card which someone has posted it just 2 pages upthread - that one is a CHIP card. I believe the rep is mistaken.