Schwab dropping its Visa cards
 

This in the mail today:

Charles Schwab Bank will no longer sponsor the Schwab Bank Invest First Visa card of the Visa credit card with WorldPoints rewards. FIA Card Services will become the sole sponsor effective October 1.

Just got the same letter... most unfortunate.

I just called the number on the back of the card and the terms have NOT changed. The only difference is that you now can choose to have your cash back deposited in any account.

The only change for now. I think it's pretty clear the 2% will be gone at some point in the future.

Discussion in progress, begin reading at about post 694:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...l#post14658772

Once the 2% is gone, I think a good alternative is the Capital One Venture Card. You get 2 miles per dollar on every purchase which can be used like cash, and no foreign transaction fees. The catch is the annual fee of $59 (no fee first year). Venture = Schwab Visa + annual fee.

I won't cross-post my reply to your cross-posted comment-see the 2% thread.

I've been thinking about what might happen here and I have another thought. Chase and Citi are paying whopping bonuses to get new customers, and while they have credit reports on those applicants, they really don't know a lot about the revenue flow they are paying up for. On the other hand, FIA has more than 18 months of actual credit card use history on the Schwab book of business. It may seem foreign to FTers, but I think a good chunk of those Schwab customers may have been running large amounts of charges through the Schwab card, and those are customers FIA would very much like to keep (and Citi and Chase would like to get), not only for their credit card business but for broader banking relationships.

While many on FT view the Schwab card as a fat deal, FIA and Bank of America might view it as a low cost (or low profit) item that opens doors to banking customers. If so, and that's a big if, they might well not change the Visa terms much if at all.

I agree with Mountain Trader. The terms and rewards may not change for a long time.

While many on FT view the Schwab card as a fat deal, FIA and Bank of America might view it as a low cost (or low profit) item that opens doors to banking customers. If so, and that's a big if, they might well not change the Visa terms much if at all.

We would be a great market to advertise to cheaply via inserts.

Follow at link above.