Pragmatic Finance

I sat down to write a post about one of my favorite cards, the Chase Cash Plus Rewards Card. There’s a reason I didn’t provide a link on that phrase to apply for it which I’ll go into in a moment. In case you haven’t seen it, its one of the cards that gives 5% back at gas stations, grocery stores, and pharmacies. It also gives 1% back on all other purchases and mine came with a 0% apr on purchases for 12 months. You can request a check when you get to $50 earned so its better than the others that you have to use points for gift cards. I have received about $200 from them in the last year, well worth it.

I was getting things set up to write about it and I couldn’t find it on the Chase credit card website. Both the cash plus rewards and rewards plus cards are missing. After consulting with the oracle of finance, aka the fatwallet finance forum, I discovered that they are no longer issuing the card. Current members will get to keep their cards and rewards programs, at least for now. I would not be surprised if they converted the cards to some other program in the future. It was supposed to have expired a few weeks ago, but some people have still been able to apply for the card by calling the number on this scan and giving the code 2YL. It also gives a $100 bonus. So if you want to have this card it might be a good idea to apply now. It probably depends on what CSR you get as to whether or not they will accept it.

If you have the AT&T Universal Cash Rewards card you should have gotten at least one letters by now telling you that they are canceling their 5% card. They are keeping the AT&T Universal Rewards, which gives thank you points instead of cash. It appears they will allow you to convert it to the universal rewards version or a Citibank Dividend Platinum Select Card, which is similar to the At&t version, minus the phone related benefits. Better be sure to get your rewards out before they cancel it or you convert it.

These two instances seem very interesting to me. Chase appears to be leaving the 5% for everyday purchases game. I think if they were going to change the terms they would just make a new card and convert everyone to it. The Citibank/AT&T situation is peculiar. If they thought the cash program cost too much but the points version was ok, it seems like they would have gotten rid of the Dividend card too. If AT&T was trying to end their partnership of cards with Citibank, why just get rid of that one card. Maybe they just decided that the phone benefits and cash back was just too much and maybe its a coincidence that Chase is also ending their 5% cards, but it does make you wonder how long we will continue to have 5% cash back cards available.