g289t

I applied today, and got the same message.

Update: approved later in the day.

dhammer53

I pleaded with people on the various Amtrak Facebook pages to not get the card from the new bank with a 20,000 point bonus last fall when it came out. I suggested that in time a better bonus would appear. Most of those that ran to the 20k bonus weren't smart. They were in a rush to get the 20k bonus, and some posters made fun of me for telling them to wait.

I hate being right, but those that got 20k are feeling the pain now. Hello 40,000 points.

dh

beltway

I’m not one of those people, but I am curious how much we know about the churnability of the FNBO cards. (Might not be the optimal move because Chase 5/24 yadda yadda.)

progapanda

Applied today and got an even more foreboding “5-6 weeks” timeframe for a decision on my card application!

Update: Received a letter in the mail about 10 days later asking for copies of ID and tax documents. My application was approved approximately 5 days after mailing them in the information requested.

mileshound

App has been pending for several days? Should I be nervous???

discocoaster

No, mine was to then they called me about a credit freeze I had at Experian. It was approved shortly there after.

g289t

I applied for the 2nd card late Wednesday evening. It is still pending today, the 2nd full day. I called a couple hours ago. The agent just said that it's pending and to wait.

mileshound

It took 8 days but finally got the approval. How long does it take for the certificates to appear in the account?:

rewindrw

Does anyone have a sense of the timetable for the 20% rebate for Amtrak cafe purchases? I made a purchase on March 20 and still have not received the 20% back. This is a lot longer than the first time, which was two days, immediately after the transition to FNBO. Thanks.

April 18 update. The 20% rebate for this purchase (made on March 20) has just posted to my account.

Long Train Runnin

I made some cafe purchases last night, so I will let you know when my rebate posts.

FrensicPic

With the BofA card, the 20% "rebate" appeared as a credit on the next statment (the same statement as the purchase).
I haven't made such a purchase since the change to FNBO.

murphy

Can you get the rebate using Apple Pay in the cafe? I always forget to grab the card before a train trip.

g289t

The certificates were in my Amtrak account a few days after the card was approved. I don't know exactly when they appeared because I wasn't checking every day.

GrayAnderson

Does anybody have a data point on the $5000 spend/1k TQP incentive not having a limit? Yeah, this actually matters...if I can mostly spend my way back to Select Plus/Select Executive, it affects the calculus both for handling tickets with points vs cash spend and whether the AGR card resides in a sock drawer for the next seven months or becomes a frequently used card for me. In terms of un-bonused spend, AGR points right now compete with...most other cards, really...for not-bonused spend. Heck, I'd have to do some scratch pad math to compare 2 AGR points with 3 Chase points on the dining front. The issue on Amtrak has been needing cash spend to retain status...

...but a lot of programs are moving away from focusing exclusively on with-the-company spend and towards counting CC spend in some manner (e.g. Hyatt's two night credits for each $5000 in CC spend, AA and B6 more-or-less totally integrating CC spend as part of their program), so this wouldn't be shocking.

hhdl

I got a fifth thousand TQP last month (and might well have gotten one last year through a bug that counted some BofA spend as FNBO spend). I've got far more AGR points than I can plausibly use, so I'm going back to my Flying Blue card for Plastiq (for which a Mastercard is useful), but I'm keeping the Amtrak card in the wallet as my Mastercard until October rolls around (when I'll be working toward the 60 Flying Blue XP with that card).

I don't expect to put enough on the Amtrak card to get Select Plus, except if combined with some possible cash AMTK travel later this year (though if that travel won't get me Select Plus, I may finally start burning AGR points).

At this point, we have AMTK/B6/AA allowing unbounded elite credit from a single credit card, and UA/DL counting award travel (the miles redeemed for which are likely mostly received from credit card spend: claims about the provenance of overall mile balances notwithstanding) equivalently to cash for elite credit, on top of the hotel programs largely doing both... I don't think this genie is going back in the bottle for decades as a lasting scar from the pandemic era.