Canceling USAirways MasterCard
 

My wife called today to cancel her USAir Credit Card.
She has had it active since last November and paid the original $79 fee, got the 25K miles etc.
Before canceling it, the agent told her she would lose all her miles she earned using the card...27K in total (I guess the 25K bonus and the only transaction she has ever had on the card other than the $79 fee which totaled about $1900).

Has anyone heard of something like that?
She currently has about 20K miles on her account, it will be ridiculous if she would lose it.

Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Thanks.

FC O/W upgrade. Use the remaining 5K to get a newspaper subscription.

This has been reported before, but no one has ever come back and said they actually took the miles. I would think you would lose any miles that haven't been credited for the current month's purchases, but I can't imagine them going back to your original bonus. I think these reps from Barclays will say anything to get you not to cancel. Did you get transferred to a "retention" rep, or was it the original person who said this? I would call back and ask for a supervisor.

Let us know how it turns out.

Wait a second. Where in the US MC T&C does it say that you will lose your miles if you cancel your card?

Last time I wanted to cancel a US Card:
1. They gave you $40 off the annual fee just for asking
2. There was an option of a no annual fee version (earns less miles and no club day pass).
3. When I did eventually cancel I did not lose any miles.

I am going to have this issue again soon, so let us know how it goes

It doesn't. It's a common "warning" made by agents who are trying to retain a customer. Poor training or shady practice, who knows.

You'll lose any miles earned since the most recent statement closing date, typically. That's normal across the industry. I surmise this is what the agents really mean but they either don't understand the difference or for some reason it just gets explained this way.

Chase is the one who has been known to pull bonus miles for canceling less than 6 months after opening the credit account but even that's never a certainty.

Very shady business practice.

And this is not the only shady practice of Barclays. World known bank in the USA became a champion of incompetence and arrogant ignorance by buying a small crooked credit card operation and not reforming it.
The T&C do not specify that one must retain the card or else the previously given (de facto contracted) miles shall be taken away. The miles are given for opening of the account and doing one transaction.
I cancelled my card long time ago.

Any updated experiences with this?

I got the same speech how I would loose all 35,434 miles I earned with the card (35K sign up bonus, one first use and one use for a Grand Slam hit).

They claimed the terms of use require me to be a credit card holder in good standing to earn and redeem miles.

The person also told me I could keep my "frequent flyer" miles, but I would lose my "dividend" miles. This distinction sounds odd. US only gives out Dividend miles, there are no other kinds of miles they gives out.

Best to redeem before cancelling the card or you'll lose the cardmember discount of money and 5k miles when you do a booking.

Wait till the card hits it's annual fee before you cancel and see if they'll waive it.

Canceling My USAirways MasterCard, Too
 

I've had a USAirways MC since 2006, paid on time and never over limit. I earned enough miles for a 1st class ticket to Italy...still haven't cashed in, though. I'll let you know what they tell me about all the miles I've earned.

I told USAirways how their "partner" treated me, and may follow with a BBB case if they don't make it right. I don't need the credit, and I surely don't need the pain! DL & CO/UA will be seeing more of me--life is too short to mess around with crooked people or companies.

I would hate to think that you would blame the actions of the credit card company on the airline. It seems to me that pretty much all 'branded' cards can cause a headache somewhere along the way for someone. I don't particularly have a fondness for Barclay's because of their initial actions when I was approved for a card. It is now in a drawer and I pulled it out and used it for Grand Slam - back in drawer. Barclay's may work well for some - just not for me.

I wish US Airways had continued their partnership with Bank of America...

I believe that if an airline contracts with a company to serve the airline's customers in any capacity, that company should uphold the same standards of service as the airline. The US Airways logo and name filled the front of the affiliated MasterCard, are on its website and every statement and form of communication. Just as I am responsible for the satisfactory performance of those who work for me, I expect an airline to be so responsible.

If someone working on my behalf engages in unethical or "shady" practices, it looks bad for me, too. I make sure to correct the problem quickly and effectively in order to retain the valuable relationship with my customer, and if that means letting go of that middleman/contractor/licensee/affinity partner if they don't see the wrong in what they've done, I'm better off for it. There is no halfway in good business practices.

Your issue is with Congress not USAir.

This is the law of unintended consequences for the financial reform law - the banks now feel the need to raise interest levels to the highest levels allowed under the law.

Also, if you carry a balance from 1 month to the next you are expected to pay interest on the days of the month you carried the balance, regardless of whether you pay in full or not. This is not shady business practices, this is pretty basic and common across all credit cards.

And it was a Visa!