AOPA rebate gone?

Rich Badaracco wrote:
I'm also not sure what net retail dollar means but it smacks of
some legal mumbo jumbo to disqualify some or all of a purchase from
receiving points.

More likely it's to disqualify returns from earning any points.

.... Alan
--
Alan Gerber
gerber AT panix DOT com

"xxx" wrote in
ups.com:

I also got the letter from them and initiated the correspondence
reprinted below. I can't say as the end of the rebate comes as a total
surprise, given the bank consolidation going on and the fact that many
of us only used the AOPA card when it would generate a rebate.

The note from Ms. Adams says that it will be a 2% rebate on all
purchases. This does not correspond to the original letter, which says
1% for most purchases, 2% on purchases from a list of qualified FBO's.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your email to AOPA. While you no longer will receive 5%
cash back from the FBO rebate card, the new terms provide for you to
receive 2% on ANY purchase you make - not aviation specific. You are
not limited in the amount you can receive annually and you don't have
to go through the "rebate process" like you have in the past. The
updated program was designed to provide you with more options and to
make it more user-friendly.

If you have questions about the new program, please don't hesitate to
call 800-872-2672.

Barbara Adams
Aviation Technical Specialist
AOPA Pilot Information Center
800-USA-AOPA
301-695-2372 fax

Do your part to help GA. Find a new pilot today.
Sign up for PROJECT PILOT!
www.AOPAProjectPilot.org

--- Original Message Below ---

I have just received a letter from you detailing the changes to my
AOPA credit card account.

In my opinion, the new rebate formula is far, far worse than the old.
Either
3% worse of 150% worse, depending on just how you do your
calculations.

In either case, I don't like it.


The letter I got said nothing about % rebates. It clearly stated I
would get 1 "World Points" reward point for each dollar purchased and
"double points (two points for each dollar spent) for purchases made at
over 4,000 qualified FBOs and other select aviation merchants."

MBNA started offering an AOPA "World Points" card almost three years
ago. At that time, I called them and they simply asked me how I wanted to
divide my credit limit between the two cards. So, I've had an MBNA AOPA
MasterCard which gets me the 5% FBO discount, and an MBNA AOPA World Points
Visa Card which gets me the World Points at the rate of 1 point for each
dollar spent.

I took a quick look at the rewards schedule just now. If you select
cash, the value of each points is the equivalent of a 0.5% (1/2 of 1
percent) for redemptions of 2,500, 5,000, or 7,500 points, 0.8% (8 tenths
of 1 percent) for 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 points, and 1% for 25,000,
35,000, and 50,000 points. Double the rebate value for qualified aviation
purchases.

For air travel, 25,000 points gets you a coach round trip in CONUS.
Alaska or Hawaii run 45,000 points. First class can be had for abut the
equivalent of a 1.5% cash rebate (ie, $1,500 first class ticket costs
100,000 points).

Merchandise appears to be approximately in this range. A Staples $100
gift certificates is 13,000 points.

In my opinion, this is a significant diminunization of the value of
the AOPA FBO rebate programs. I'm only surprized that it took this long
for BofA to take this action.

When I first obtained the AOPA FBO rebate card, it was on of the
better deals avaialbe. Not only did I get the rebate on FBO purchases, but
MBNA gave you 30 days grace period and did NOT add the unconscionable rip-
off surcharge of 3% to foreign currency transactions (you were already
paying a 1% surchage above the interbank rate to MasterCard or Visa to
convert the currency, and the bank provides absolutely no additional
service or value add). Now, were down to "at least 20 grace days", and the
3% foreign surcharge, which applies even if the foreign merchant charges in
US dollars.

IMHO, the Capital One Rewards card is a much better deal and I'll
probably switch to them at the end of the year. Capital One still gives
you 30 days grace and does not add the rip-off foreign surcharge.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

A friend of mine just sent me an email that he got a notice from MBNA
that the AOPA 5% rebate would be discountinued after this year and
instead he would get "2 points" for every dollar spent. I haven't
checked my mail yet today but I didn't see anything about this on
AOPA's web site.

I too received the death letter, from AOPA. Curiously it doesn't
mention Bank of America (or even MBNA) but I'm sure the takeover is
what's behind this. MBNA WorldPoints cards haven't been that great in a
while. Sure you earn one "point" for every dollar charged. (AOPA says
you'll get double for certain (undefind) aviation purchases for their
card.) However the current, reduced redemption value makes the rebate
yield far below one point=$0.01, unless you redeem in huge quanitites.
The AOPA letter says "Many members have told me they want something
different." AOPA likes to tout their "we represent 400,000 members"
around, so I wonder how many members is "many members." I smell a rat.
They could have just said BoA is cancelling on us.

I'm going to miss the 5% card a lot, especially with costs rising. I had
problems once back when you had to fax, and last year they suddenly
started rejecting my valid rebate purchases. After calling MBNA and the
CSR was having trouble figuring out what the deal with this car is, I
called AOPA instead. They contacted MBNA, resolved the problem and let
me know that everything was straightened out. Never had a problem after
that.

AOPA has also had a money market account and CD program with MBNA for
years. That apparently is continuing with BoA, but the mm competitve
rates set to the IBC index is going away next week. (boo!!) Oh well,
high yield savings accounts are easy to find elsewhere. For nearly 10
years, I have used that account to fund ACH transactions and the only
thing I didn't like about it was they never offered online access, which
BoA now promises to do.

I suspect the MBNA credit card bill pay system will go next. Now that
I'll really miss. Where else can you combine all of your bills into one
convenient credit card account?

Curiously my AOPA credit card is about 10 years old and I have a much
more recent separate Worldpoints card. The Worldpoints has a longer
grace period, and the foreign transaction fee stayed at 1% for a year
after the AOPA went to 3%. But I never really spent that much on my
MBNA card, and it now has a credit limit of $30,000(!) To the banks, I
am a "deadbeat," I always pay my bill in full. Credit card rebates seem
to be declining a lot this year, the Citi Dividend Plus card is about to
end its 5% rebate on gas, groceries, and drugstores.

Marty Shapiro wrote:

The letter I got said nothing about % rebates. It clearly stated I
would get 1 "World Points" reward point for each dollar purchased and
"double points (two points for each dollar spent) for purchases made at
over 4,000 qualified FBOs and other select aviation merchants."

MBNA started offering an AOPA "World Points" card almost three years
ago. At that time, I called them and they simply asked me how I wanted to
divide my credit limit between the two cards. So, I've had an MBNA AOPA
MasterCard which gets me the 5% FBO discount, and an MBNA AOPA World Points
Visa Card which gets me the World Points at the rate of 1 point for each
dollar spent.

I took a quick look at the rewards schedule just now. If you select
cash, the value of each points is the equivalent of a 0.5% (1/2 of 1
percent) for redemptions of 2,500, 5,000, or 7,500 points, 0.8% (8 tenths
of 1 percent) for 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 points, and 1% for 25,000,
35,000, and 50,000 points. Double the rebate value for qualified aviation
purchases.

For air travel, 25,000 points gets you a coach round trip in CONUS.
Alaska or Hawaii run 45,000 points. First class can be had for abut the
equivalent of a 1.5% cash rebate (ie, $1,500 first class ticket costs
100,000 points).

Merchandise appears to be approximately in this range. A Staples $100
gift certificates is 13,000 points.

In my opinion, this is a significant diminunization of the value of
the AOPA FBO rebate programs. I'm only surprized that it took this long
for BofA to take this action.

When I first obtained the AOPA FBO rebate card, it was on of the
better deals avaialbe. Not only did I get the rebate on FBO purchases, but
MBNA gave you 30 days grace period and did NOT add the unconscionable rip-
off surcharge of 3% to foreign currency transactions (you were already
paying a 1% surchage above the interbank rate to MasterCard or Visa to
convert the currency, and the bank provides absolutely no additional
service or value add). Now, were down to "at least 20 grace days", and the
3% foreign surcharge, which applies even if the foreign merchant charges in
US dollars.

IMHO, the Capital One Rewards card is a much better deal and I'll
probably switch to them at the end of the year. Capital One still gives
you 30 days grace and does not add the rip-off foreign surcharge.

I agree with your analysis. (See my other post). The Worldpoints schedule was
much better in 2004 when I got my card (at the time it also had a 10% rebate on
the first $250 each month for a year) but quickly was reduced.

For foreign transactions (US dollars or not), Capital One is the best of the
commercial banks in the US. They not only do not add on a rip-off surcharge, but
they actually eat the Mastercard and Visa 1% conversion fees. Now if you can
find a card that ONLY charges you that 1% conversion fee, you're doing well (most
credit unions still do this for debit/credit cards). I figure the 1% fee is
fair, but you can't beat Capital One in that department. I've never had a card
from them, but I've heard either love or hate experiences. Hopefully they'll
keep their foreign transaction policy, they're probably getting a lot of business
from it.

Jim Burns wrote:

I got the letter today in the mail. Mine wasn't sent by MBNA, it was sent
by AOPA

Double check that. Mine had AOPA letterhead and was sent in an envelope with
AOPA on the return address, but the postage was actually metered/sent from
19713, which is Newark DE, which just happens to be the site of the Headquarters
of the former MBNA Corporation.

I'm sure they must have had permission, but it was pretty clever of BoA/ MBNA to
send this as if it was being sent from AOPA and Phil Boyer himself. "Many
members have told me they want something different." Hah! Might be worth
asking AOPA what the real story is. Although I can guess, it would be nice to
hear it straight.

Trevor wrote in :

Jim Burns wrote:

I got the letter today in the mail. Mine wasn't sent by MBNA, it was
sent by AOPA

Double check that. Mine had AOPA letterhead and was sent in an
envelope with AOPA on the return address, but the postage was actually
metered/sent from 19713, which is Newark DE, which just happens to be
the site of the Headquarters of the former MBNA Corporation.

I'm sure they must have had permission, but it was pretty clever of
BoA/ MBNA to send this as if it was being sent from AOPA and Phil
Boyer himself. "Many members have told me they want something
different." Hah! Might be worth asking AOPA what the real story is.
Although I can guess, it would be nice to hear it straight.



I called MBNA today to find out about combining my AOPA MasterCard
with the 5% rebate and my AOPA Visa World Points card so all my points
would pool after January 1. In the course of my conversation, the
representative I spoke to let on that they are getting may calls from
pilots, none of whom are very happy about this. It really doesn't take a
math genius to figure out that at 2% (double points and large point
redemption) one needs to charge $12,500 before you exceed the $250 maxium
reimbursement you reached with $5,000 in charges on the 5% rebate program.

BTW, to pool the points, I need to cancel one of the cards, but they
will give me a new credit limit equal to the sum of the two separate credit
limits.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)