mzzxx11

Has anyone gotten the Alpha bank A3 card, either in Greece or Cyprus?

From http://goo.gl/p5xAfw it follows that booking an A3 flight will earn miles from the actual flight + award miles (2 x fare in euros), at least for the Cyprus-issued CC.

Any experience with this card? worth it?

BTW, the greek Alpha bank page (http://goo.gl/5yORGj) doesn't list the award miles earning rate. Any clues as to what it is?

Cheers

DELLAS

Some members of my Family have it. To be honest most people here are non Greek/Cypriot residents so wouldnt have it.

HEhatesusall

Hello,

The earning rates can be found here(unfortunately, only in greek):
http://www.alphabankcards.gr/Default...d=313&xmid=255

In case someone abroad wants a translation:
1 mile per euro for all transactions
2 miles per euro for selected "bonus" shops
4 miles per euro in aegean, vasilopoulos(a greek supermarket) plus a few other big compaines

7000 miles signup bonus.

I just checked that some greek alpha Amex's offer 2/4/8 miles for the same tiers as the aegean visa! Imagine earning 8 miles per euro spend in a supermarket...wow...

I dare say, these are excellent earning rates(especially the 4 miles per euro one) for a visa !
Where I live, 2 miles per £ is the best you can do with some expensive-to-maintain amex's. We do have better signup bonuses though...

frenchft

anyone knows about non resident able to sign in for those cards?

HEhatesusall

Unless you have an AFM ( Greek tax number), this is highly unlikely.
And even if you do have one, if you have 0 income in greece, they will probably reject your application. Also, there is the notorious greek bureaucracy, which means you can't apply from abroad... You probably have to physically be there for the application to be accepted.

Simply put, if you spend 5k in your card and never pay back, they can't do anything since prosecuting you in your home country is very very expensive.

frenchft

yes, so this on their new advertising on A3 site : need of AFM number.

NWIFlyer

The Cypriot version, I believe, is open to all - only the Greek one requires a local tax number. Realistically however, given it carries a fee, at the very least you'd want to be in one of the Eurozone countries so you could recoup that fee in day-to-day spend (assuming the foreign exchange effects make it unviable elsewhere).

johnirvine

The Alpha Cyprus A3 card is an excellent product but it is difficult to obtain and maintain. First, new applicants are required to open a Cyprus bank account and demonstrate at least having a holiday home. Second, Alpha Bank is very short of liquidity and they will require a blocked deposit of 110% of the card limit. If you can meet these requirements, easy miles are there for the taking. Alpha are also currently offering large numbers of miles for 3-monthly term deposits notionally committed for at least a year.

NWIFlyer

Interesting. So you effectively have to pre-pay your card balance, continuously, plus 10%? Doesn't sound quite like most people's idea of a credit card!

johnirvine

Yes, absolutely correct. You have a card limit and can use the card only to that limit. The balance will be charged to your current account each month and the blocked fixed deposit will remain untouched. All the Cypriot banks are using this approach for cards issued after the financial crash. The reason the banks want an extra 10% is to secure them against the lost interest if cardholders do not pay! Obtaining new credit in Cyprus is at present almost impossible.

frenchft

This is quite fair and happens in a lot of country (in eastern europe for non national, even residents it's like this).
It means if you want to be able to spend 10 000 euro a month with the card you have to make a deposit of 11000 euros at bank of cyprus.
I guess this deposit gives you interest, right?

johnirvine

Yes, you get interest - Alpha require a blocked fixed deposit. What I do is transfer cash into the Alpha visa account several times a month so it is basically a pay as you go card that generates large numbers of miles. In Cyprus, you can pay many government and municipality charges with a credit card so the benefits can be massive to the business user.

potjernik

Well, it happens, but it is not fair, as it is not really a credit card in this case. it is more of a "prepaid card" as NWIFlier and johnirvine said.

I myself have 3 of these from 3 different countries (though one of them is a real prepaid card), and that was the only way I could get VISA or MC, as I am not a regular employee whose employer deposits salary to those bank's account (which is a sort of a guarantee for the bank to give you a credit). and while they earn interest, it is minimal.

The situation in the US is totally different.
Sorry about this banking discussion :-)

Anyway, funny thing is that Bank of Cyprus Card & Fly does not list Aegean as partner, instead, you can redeem your points at KLM, Egypt Air, Emirates and LOT...

KLouis

Can't be, A3 already has Alpha as a partner!

wyvern

It's a shame the Alpha cards seem effectively pretty hard to get for most people living outside of Greece/Cyprus. Presumably, if it makes sense for M&B to do this via Alpha, it would make sense for them to do this in wiee ways too.

I'd like to see A3 link up with SPG or Amex, to allow points transfers into M&B miles, as this would broaden the reach of miles earning from purchases and would and enable M&B to gain revenue from effectively selling miles (via a card company or loyalty scheme) to a people from a much wider global footprint than the reach of the Greece and Cyprus Alpha cards.

I'd also like to see A3 link up with a bank like HSBC or Citi - the two main banks which allow customers to link their accounts in more than one country or open in account with the same bank in another country - which would also broaden the reach of credit-card earned miles to those outside Greece/Cyprus.

From a UK perspective I'd like to see A3 to follow Lufthansa, United, Etihad, Emirates and others and introduce an MBNA co-branded card in the UK - but I am not sure how likely this would be as UK may not be a big enough sector to make it worthwhile

If Alpha are requiring advance payment of 110% of the credit limit on their cards, this would suggest there may be less risk involved in their issuing cards to those outside Greece/Cyprus than if they granted traditional cards with a credit limit and no required deposit - but I guess they may not be set up for this.

Judging by the publicity around M&B's receipt of a Freddie award, it seems that A3 what to grow and develop the M&B scheme - so I hope they consider some kind of card product or points for M&B miles transfer accessible to those outside Greece/Cyprus.