The legacy cards issued by Citi and sold to BMO are still charge cards, but the new cards (briefly) issued by BMO are credit cards. The consumer products aren't dead, but on autopilot. They still offer transfer bonuses, send glossy mailing touting various features, and tinker with details. There is just no way to open a new account, no new transfer partners, no smartphone account management etc.
Makes me wonder what their overall plan is for the brand...if they have one.
Originally Posted by
sdsearch
Special is in the eye of the beholder. The PIN priority of the card is quite special for those who care about that, but only for those who care about that. The only credit card program that transfers to Alaska Airlines will seem more special once SPG goes "poof" in the merger with Marriott to those who care about that, but only to those who care about that.
Meanwhile, it continued being a charge card when they went from Citi to BMO, but there were some other changes both before and after (that you may have gotten confused with whether it was still a charge card). It went from 2 months to pay to just 1 month to pay, it went from no preset credit limit to preset credit limit, and it went from not reporting to credit bureaus to reporting to credit bureaus. But the cards transferred from Citi are still charge cards because you have to pay the statement amount in full each month.
I'm honestly surprised they didn't nuke the contactless functionality--since they claim that it doesn't have it--and convert all the cards to chip and signature. Heck, my other PIN-preferring credit card's issuer now allows the PIN to be bypassed in the US if prompted, probably because of issues with restaurants and similar. (Guess which card declines if you try that.) Of course, I probably fully jinxed it now.
Anyway, I think it's not just that DC has one feature or another; it's more that all of them combined can be a pretty good package deal. Sure, there are other cards that prefer PIN for instance, but they don't have a transferrable points program or primary CDW or DC's other features.
(Forgot to mention that this is regarding the consumer cards. The charge cards are a different story.)