Originally Posted by
Super Mario
None of this is surprising. It's pretty clear that Chase intends for the welcome bonus to attract new users that will use their products. Even though all of the internet deal hunters feel entitled to churn whatever they want, that's not the case. These people just ruin it for everyone.
I'm glad I can sit here and earn big returns from my CSR, CF, and CIC while the whiners complain about unjustly being 5/24.
This seems to be the direction Chase is going, especially with the increasing crackdowns on anything remotely looking like MS. This just further discourages heavy, or even moderate, churning by users.
The flip side is it may end up being more beneficial for users keeping their card(s) for longer periods of time. Either by less reduction in benefits than if they hadn't put these in place, or by an expansion of benefits/rewards. (OK, the second may be laughable, but still plausible no matter how slim of a chance.)
The direction it seems the major players are headed is to get people in the door and keep them there. So what was once a broad strategy across many programs and many facets therein, is now heading towards a scenario where you really, really need to focus on where you plan to use points (meaning through which partner, etc) and then concentrate on products to get the most points for that partner.