Hi, I am sort of new to the forum (I used to be a member 2 years ago).

I have a marketing question for all of you in the forum. If you were able to design your own credit card (i.e. the program associated with it, be it miles, cashback, points) what would it be? What would be the ultimate offering that would make you switch to this new card (within reason of course). I understand that they are many variations, and many reasons why you like a program versus another; but I am curious what you guys think would be an offer that would make you think twice about which card to use in your wallet at the time of purchase.

I, for instance, use my Starwood Amex for everything, and the only thing that would make me switch is if a CC would offer four seasons hotel points.

I am just wondering what people's ideal CC is. Thanks

Well, I too use the SPG Amex - it's my favorite card. I use a few others as well.

Speaking purely from my own experience, I:
* considered moving some spend to the Merrill+ Visa b/c you'll get 4 Ritz-Carlton nights @ $50k in spend, plus you can redeem the points you earn, etc. I still decided that 50k on the SPG Amex is more valuable... barely. I value the coach tickets you could get with the Merrill card at close to zero.

* I actually did move some spending, just a small amount, to the Hilton Amex -- grocery and restaurant charges, mostly, things that they're giving bonus points for. A credit card company can direct some of my spend via bonus points. The card also offers elite status for $20k in annual spend, but I'm already Hilton Gold so this is of no benefit. I'll probably give them $15k or so.

I have an Amex Plat but I only use it for very large charges -- larger than what I can put on the SPG Amex. I don't use it as my every day card b/c I really don't want Membership Rewards points if I have a better alternative. Still, there are some nice benefits to the card -- lounge access, minor status, better concierge than VIPdesk, the Fine Hotels & Resorts program. It would be my favorite card by far if it earned Starwood points (1 per $1 spent) rather than Membership Rewards points.

My perfect card:
* Earns flexible points, Starwood is my #1 while Diners Club Club Rewards would be #2 (I don't even really mind the transfer fee that much on the latter).

* Provides access to aspirational awards. This may be a subset of #1. I like Starwood points far better than Hilton points because of ease of award redemption and that Starwood has more high-end properties that I really want to stay at. Plus the flexibility of the points means that lots of FTers flew the Concorde before it was retired using SPG points transferred into QF miles.

* Elite status earned via spend. Several airline cards give bonuses towards elite qualifying. Hilton gives you Gold @ $20k in spend. Would sure be nice if someone offered top-level elite based on spend, I'd give Starwood $150k in Amex spend year in year out if they offered Platinum.

* Good customer service, the way Diners used to be.

* Other great benefits: lounge access, Amex FHR program, primary rental car insurance.

Too much to ask? Maybe, which is why I have an SPG Amex, Diners Club, Amex Plat, and Hilton Amex. I also have a UA Visa, mainly b/c I've carried it for about a decade... but other than bonuses for United spend there aren't a whole lot of unique things about it.

Flexible conversion of points to real miles on many airlines, with no threshholds.

Equivalent of more than one mile per dollar spent.

No rip off 3% currency conversion fee. (No fee would be nice.)

Visa or Mastercard, so all merchants accepting credit cards will accept it.

No annual fee.

25 day grace period, or more.

0% teaser interest rate on purchases and balance transfers, with no fee for balance transfers.

Execellent, well trained customer service delivered by reps who are empowered to do what is needed to deal with my needs and are part of my American culture. (I.e., I can expect them to know the difference between Starwood and Starbucks.)

The Starwood AMEX is my preferred card and I try to direct the bulk of our charges there. However, the HHonors AMEX with 5 points for charges at HHonors properties, supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations really beats Starwood AMEX for those types of charges. Even so, we don't use the HHonors AMEX card for those charges as Citi Dividend Platinum provides 5% cash back for those charges up to $300/year. 5% easily beats both 5 HHonors points/$ and 1 Starpoint/$. Had AAA Visa which provided 5% back on gas, but they are cutting to 3% on September 1 so we will jettison that card. Instead, I had Mrs. MileKing apply for her own Citi Dividend Platinum card so we effectively have $12000 worth of gas, grocery, and drugstore charges per year (more than enough) before we max out the 5% cash back.

The perfect card would be an enhanced Starwood AMEX, perhaps offering triple points for purchases at Starwood properties, gas stations, groceries, and drugstores. Double Starpoints would not beat 5% cash back for me so it would have to be triple points. Everything else about the card is just fine.

A Starwood Visa Card
60 Day Grace Period
5 Starwood points for eating at Idine restaurants
Double points for gas, cell phone, groceries, pharmacy
3 points for Hotel expenses
No annual fee, or very cheap
SPG Gold for spending $20,000, plus a 5,000 point bonus.

I am hallucinating

Give me a simple 3-mo, ok 2-mo AMEX/spg double starpoints promo, no min threshold and no cap, and I'm set .

Unfortunately, it looks like AMEX/starwood is skipping the double starpoints promo this year. Real disappointed about this. But then AMEX was loading the promo up w/ so many gotchas it was restrictive to a fault anyway...almost embarrassing for AMEX IMO.

Separately - Got notice this week that AA/Citibank is doing a 1% cash back for 3mo starting Aug 1st (yes, got my postcard on/about 8/8 - thanks Citibank for the 8-days "tardy" advance notice) on targeted expenses (drugstores, gas, you know that drill) ON TOP OF the aadvantage miles one already earns. This is novel and a first-time I've ever seen Citibank do ANY SORT OF PROMO on the charging-side w/ their Aadvantage card...which indirectly tells me their AAdvantage program is probably on the decline. AA's milesaaver initiative has sure zapped the life out of their AAdvantage/Citibank card for me. Went from strong seven figures a year...to under five figures a year...and I believe the numbers scale downward nationwide for other Citibank/AAdvantage members if they studied the dysfunctional AAdvantage program like I finally [woke up and] did. Airline-pure cards are dead these days. I get a cynical kick out of Delta and US Air doing all their [desperate] promos...after all, who wants Delta or US Air miles ? Starwood's card gives us the ultimate flexibility to avoid having to accumulate airline-pure miles. But I digress.

Since we know AMEX "currency" is more potent than Visa/MC, I doubt we would ever see a Visa/MC/starwood card at a 1:1 ratio like we do w/ AMEX, and a 2:1 starwood/Visa (like in Canada) would be a non--starter for me anyway.

P.S. gleff and/or mileking...can either of you comment on the rumors in the Hilton thread that Hilton was awarding Diamond for "x"-level charging on the AMEX/HHonors card ? Just got a promo in to apply for this card (20K HHonors points bonus) and would otherwise not engage in HHonors after 2004's massive dilution - but to get to HHonors Diamond level....sure is tempting. Have either of you been awarded HHonors diamond due purely to AMEX/HHonors charging ?

Indeed, Amex charges a higher interchange rate than V/MC does... so a co-branded V/MC likely will not be able to afford SPG points on a 1:1 basis.

There are reports on this in the Hilton forum but it's clearly not a documented benefit of the card ... and there aren't enough reports to suggest to me that this is standard or a defined benefit for X amt of spend. I have the card and am not directing enuf $$ to it to find out, since I'm not confident enough in receiving the benefit. Now, if this were a published benefit for say $125k in spend I'd do it.

I just received and started using the AA Mastercard because of the 15K bonus miles and no annual fee for first year. Have not seen the 1% cash back offer you mention, but 1% + AA miles still does not come close to 5% cash back on the grocery, drugstore, and gas purchases from the Citi Dividend Platinum card. We only use the AA Mastercard when AMEX is not an option. I know you continue to report problems with AA MileSaaver, but AA availability still looks very good to me, especially in comparison to most other airlines.

No idea on the HHonors AMEX Diamond offer. I've been Diamond for 10 years by doing the stays.

I agree that airline cards may be starting to lose their steam. With the in-roads of the cash back cards and the Capital One campaign, coupled with rising mileage costs for awards, perceived (and I believe real) reduction in award availability, and draconian fees on redeeming & changing award travel, it is no wonder people are moving their spending elsewhere. They have simply had it.

gleff wrote:
There are reports on this in the Hilton forum but it's clearly not a documented benefit of the card ... and there aren't enough reports to suggest to me that this is standard or a defined benefit for X amt of spend. I have the card and am not directing enuf $$ to it to find out, since I'm not confident enough in receiving the benefit. Now, if this were a published benefit for say $125k in spend I'd do it.

gleff, I am surprised *one* of the more innovative cards out there have not added this to their perk...for a high-level of spending grant a specified-elite level outright. spg tap-dances around this by tying SPG/PLAT to CENTURION cardholders, but don't know of any affinity card that grants an outrigth highest-level tier to high-level spending. As you know, some of the airlines are allowing a very low amount of charging to count towards elite, but not enough inducement and always towards second-level tiers (typically). So, non-starter for me and definitely not enough inducement to d r a g me away from my spg/AMEX accumulation. From my vantagepoint, the spg/AMEX card is by far stronger than any other out there. I think we are all in agreement here.

mileking wrote:
I just received and started using the AA Mastercard because of the 15K bonus miles and no annual fee for first year. Have not seen the 1% cash back offer you mention, but 1% + AA miles still does not come close to 5% cash back on the grocery, drugstore, and gas purchases from the Citi Dividend Platinum card. We only use the AA Mastercard when AMEX is not an option. I know you continue to report problems with AA MileSaaver, but AA availability still looks very good to me, especially in comparison to most other airlines.


mileking, this was definitely targeted...as my spouse got the invite while I did not, and our cards are essentially the same duration (over 10yrs) and volume (especially in past 2 yrs - semi-dormant). So it was puzzling to me why she got one and I did not for the exact same card w/ very similar spending patterns. But - the novelty was profound, in that Citibank has never so much as added any sort of bonus or higher-ratio (double miles for example) to their Aadvantage affinity card in all the years I've held them...and now to be adding this 1% cashback "concurrent" perk on a airmiles affinity card. BTW - it is capped at $1000/for this promotion.

Finally, re: milesaaver...I have concluded that many of the posters who maintain that milesaaver works for them are likely obtaining 1-2, maybe 3 seats...whereas I am routinely needing 5-6 seats for my family, and I openly acknowledge I typically need an Orlando or Anaheim-type city (domestic only), so if AA has declared "open season" on family travel (which otherwise is usually cheap to find tix for) then I will continue to take my business elsewhere and let the Citibank/Aadvantage card collect dust. IOW - I am beyond the frustration and recognize it is what it is = A bad program for a family that needs 4-6 seats to a popular domestic destination. Oh well.

I would provide flexability. Determine the cost of every service and let the cardholder ad them for one time fees or annual fees. Start with a stripped down card and let the holder choose everything.

9% interest $20/YR 19% free
US customer service $20 Overseas (India) free
Airmiles $30 No miles free

The importance of giving the holder such flexability is that credit scoring dings you every time you ad an extra card chasing a new benefit and the old closed card dings you a little if you have too many for 7 years, so you may save $50 per year on some benefit but if it ends up costing you on insurance or mortgage interest you might be loosing hundreds or thousands every year chasing benefits around. If I had a reasonably priced card like this comitted to being the only card I would ever need you bet I would get rid of the others, and I might happily be paying several hundred dollars in fees. Some people pay thousands per year for some AMEX cards.