I currently have a B&N credit card with MBNA which is being discontinued as of April. THerefore, they are making my card into a WorldPoints mastercard. I don't find the Worldpoints program extremely competitive in and of itself and was trying to convert my card to either the Defenders of Wildlife Mastercard or American Express card or trying to get an MBNA American Express rewards card. The person I talked to said that the only card he could convert me to was the WorldPoints mastercard and that any other card I wanted would require a new credit card application and they would then close my old card down. In addition to not keeping my existing APR and credit history I would suffer an additional inquiry on my credit report. Is the information that the representative told me true? If so then MBNA is way behind other credit issuers like American Express, BankOne, Chase, and Bank of America which will all let you convert one card to another without an additional inquiry and you can keep the credit history from the old card as part of your new card. Obviously, the interest rates change from card to card but all of the above banks also let you keep your grace period. Does anyone have any suggestiosn about ways I can convert my MBNA card to various other MBNA cards without losing my credit history and suffering an inquiry. Becaue if not this new card will just simply collect dust unless I need to transfer a balance since the APR is 5.9% fixed since my other cards offer far better rewards structures.

Sincerely,

JC

Hm. Not sure it'll be of any use, but I did convert my MBNA card some years ago. I had an original Platinum Plus card, and I had them convert it to the LL Bean card when that came out. The first issue was very interesting actually: instead of being green like the standard LL Bean cards, it was gray with the card design done only in grayscale. I thought it was much cooler looking, but when it expired the one I got was green. I think by that time with the "card inflation" they were all platinum or whatever.

Anyway, frivolous stuff aside, I know such conversions have happened in the past. I think they're just trying to push the Worldpoints card on you, but the reality should be that an MBNA card is an MBNA card. I dunno about the Amex, but in the end even that should be an MBNA account. I'd try again, talk to someone else. Try telling them you want to cancel your account, as they probably have a retention department. Those folks may have more leverage to make a conversion happen for you. If you're a valuable enough customer to them, I suspect they'll convert to what you want as opposed to dropping you. Of course, this would force you to assume the risk that maybe they don't care about you as a customer, in which case you'll have to decide if you want to go through with the cancel or take the Worldpoints card.

I did something similar a while back and kinda wish I hadn't. I was cancelling an unnecessary UA Visa from First USA/Bank One/Chase (was coming up on fee due; I had gotten it just for the signup bonus), and they sold me on some kind of points card with no fee rather than actually closing the account. Then they forgot to reverse the fee, then when they finally did reverse the fee they forgot to reverse the finance charge. Argh. Meanwhile, that card is in the drawer. I have too many other rewards cards to start using that one right now.

Once I had an MBNA Eite Rewards card and wanted to convert to Amtrak card in Septmeber 2004. Those were the days when you could convert Starwood points into Amtrak and then into United. There was no problem and done in a few minutes. Maybe there are certain cards which they are happy to change and others not or maybe now the policy has changed. As mentioned in the above post, I suggest you talk to someone else this time and also let me know because I again want to change my card to something different as Amtrak/United deal is over and I have no use of this Amtrak card.

Thanks for the replies. I will once again be calling up sometime this week since the department I need to talk to is only available from M-F between 8am and 5pm. Hopefully, I can covert to one of their other products. If not, I will just keep the current card in case I need to make balance transfers. Other than that it will just collect dust.

Sincerely,

JC

I don't like MBNA for this very reason. I had a RadioShack MasterCard (from the days a few years ago when I worked at RadioShack) and called to convert it into an Amtrak card. The account reps, and supervisors, said "no can do." So I just cancelled the card, as I no longer shop much at RadioShack and those rewards aren't worthwhile to me.

List of credit card companies allowing us to convert between credit card types

My husband and I also had the soon-to-be-defunct MBNA Barnes and Noble Mastercard. He called tonight to ask if we could switch to the Cash Back Platinum Mastercard instead of the World Points card, and they did it without any hassle.

I called up mbna again and they wouldn't allow me to convert to any of their branded cards. The only cards they would offer me were the worldpoints card or the CashBack Card. I asked about the American Express rewards card and they told me I could get that. Therefore, that is what I chose since I have quite a few other cards and the worldpoints program is pathetic compared to most of my other programs. At least with the double points on dining and travel through January 2006 I might benefit somewhat.

The representative explained to me that each cobranded and affinity card has a separate agreement with different terms and conditions and thus the only cards one can convert to are MBNA only cards (cards that don't have a different organizations name on them.) She told me that I could apply for a new card and when I told her I didn't want a new inquiry or to ruin my average age of accounts she claimed that both of them do not hurt your fico score. Obviously this is not true. Additionally, she really seemed to want me to keep my existing card and get a second card from them. There are much better credit card companies out there with better rewards and offer the ability to convert between cards. As such, MBNA is not my first credit card company of choice.

Sincerely,

JC

Almost never can convert from one affinity to another affinity, or from affinity to non-affinity.

Might be able to convert from non-affinity MBNA to some affinity cards that dont require special membership criteria.

FYI
The AMEX Rewards program through MBNA is the same exact thing as WorldPoints. So if you are switching to avoid WorldPoints, you'd might as well cancel.

MBNA has really gone downhill with their offerings of quasi-mileage award programs. I originally started with them as a customer with the NEA charge card, which allowed redemptions within zone ($300 max) for 10000 points, and anywhere in the 48 for 15000 ($500 max). They cancelled this program after about a year, and moved me into the prior WorldPoints program.

Over the past year or so WorldPoints has seriously changed it's T&Cs that severely limit your ability to pick which flight you want to take. They automatically book you on the cheapest available flight, even if it is with a ridiculous connection. They also lowered the cap to $400 and no longer offer an in-zone redemption level (helpful for me with frequent travel EWR-Florida and Atlanta).

Other programs (such as Chase Travel Rewards) give you up to $500 in credit for essentially any flight you want. I have switched over to this card and will soon be cancelling my MBNA after redeeming my remaining 25000 points. I would prefer to switch this over to a Merrill Lynch card, but it does not seem possible based on the posts here (I will still call and find out).

The only thing I will miss is the very competent and helpful people that work in customer service at MBNA - I have never had a problem with them and always hang up the phone satisfied.

Thanks for the info about the Amex Rewards Program. I actually knew that it was worldpoints and agree that the terms and conditions changes for worldpoints make the program pathetic. I remember when redeeming for cash was 1% for almost all levels and the zones existed and they had the lower rewards levels. The reason I got this card is for the dining and travel double points through January 2006. Additionally, I am hoping that if I wait a while MBNA might allow me to convert to other MBNA affinity cards. Plus my interest rate on this card is 5.9% fixed so I want to keep that for as long as possible. I actually also have the Chase Travel Rewards program with a 7.9% fixed APR and it is better in many respects. You can redeem points on a 1 to 1 basis to Continental airlines but only a max of 10,000 points per year. Also there 25000 points award is for the 50 US states which includes Alaska and Hawaii with a max value of $500. On the other hand MBNA let you go anywhere in the 48 states canada or mexico for 25000 points with a max value of $400. This option is better for travel to mexico. Also, chase cost 45000 points with a max value of $800 to go anywhere in the 50 US States, Canada, mexico, or the carribbean.

Chase Travel Rewards
25000 points 50 US States ($500)
45000 points Mexico, Carribbean Canada ($800)
60000 points Europe, Mexico, Canada, Carribbean ($1000)
70000 points South America, Europe, Mexico, Canada ($1200)
90000 points Asia, South Pacific, South America, Europe, Mexico, Canada, Carribbean ($1500)

Worldpoints
25000 points 48 US States, Canada, Mexico ($400)
35000 points 48 states, Canada, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, Carribbean, Bahamas, Puerto Rico,
Bermuda ($600)
50000 points Europe ($800)
75000 points Central or South America, Africa, Asia, South Pacific ($1200)

First class awards are different. As you can see each program has its benefits although chase appears to give you more value for the number of points redeemed but several of the rewards cost more points than the corresponding worldpoints program. I have other cards that earn frequent flier miles like Amex Preferred Rewards Green Card and a USAirways card so for the limited spending I place on either the WorldPoints or Chase Travel Rewards card, I will choose the Chase card for the ability to convert into continental OnePass miles since I don't know what my travel plans look like for the next 5 years.

Sincerely,

JC

good info

One of my main irks with WorldPoints is that they refuse to give you a choice of flights without using more points and getting less dollar value. The person on the phone gives you BS about "what do you prefer in your airline...customer service, on-time arrivals, onboard comfort?" I always would respond "I prefer the Continental non-stop flight at X o'clock." They put you on hold and come back with some flights that connect with a 4 hour layover and say they are "great flights" because they got you a non-stop on the return...the redeye! Anyway, I really just don't like how the WorldPoints program does business and treats its customers like idiots.

Well, I also would agree that the WorldPoints program does look devalued because you can't choose your own flights. It almost sounds like you are bidding on priceline but instead of paying cash you are using their points. Obviously this is not the way it really works but I would expect MBNA to improve the worldpoints program if they expect to maintain the high spending cardmembers and attract new cardmembers to their rewards program. After all, citibank, Bank of America, Chase, BankOne, and other card issuers offer programs for airline tickets so in this competitive market I would hope the program gets better once again. I mean at least if I don't like the choices chase travel rewards gives me I can put my miles into continental and then book a rewards ticket with them. There is an added degree of flexibility that the worldpoints program does not offer unless you are willing to devalue the points to a level between .5% and 1% to take cash.

Also, I think it is funny that when I called to ask having my card converted i mentioned the letter and the customer service representative was praising WorldPoints and saying how I could get flights or I could even get rewards certificates at B&N and how it was such a great program with better rewards and more flexibility. The funny thing is when I had the B&N card, almost all of my spending was at B&N for this card so I was averaging almost 2% back yet with the worldpoints program if I go to B&N I have spend $13,000 to get $100 gift certificate so the value is less than 1%. It is just pathetic. I will hang onto this card for dining and travel and for balance transfers but probably will give it up after that unless MBNA makes the program more lucrative.

Sincerely,

JC