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American Express just released a new promotion—“On the Card” which enables American Express card members to get $30 statement credit after committing a series of purchase requirements. This is really nice to all American Express card members since all of the purchase requirements are really easy to fulfill. As an American Express card member, I’m really satisfied with their high-quality customer service. As a matter of fact, in 2008 J. D. Power Credit Card Satisfaction Study, American Express was ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction. If you don’t have an American Express, you should try to get one.

What’s “On the Card”?

On the Card is a program from American Express that provides Cardmembers with an opportunity to get a $30 statement credit. The $30 reward will be in the form of a statement credit on the American Express Card that you will use to register for the program. To receive the $30 credit, you have to go to www.amexnetwork.com/bac30 to register your American Express card.

During the registration process, you have to choose 8 merchants from a list of pre-determined 20 merchants. The 20 merchants are categorized into 4 categories. You have to pick up 2 merchants from each category.

“On the Card” lasts for 8 weeks, beginning on September 23, 2008, and ending on November 16, 2008. Please keep in mind that once you’ve selected your 8 merchants and registered for the program, you can’t change the merchants. Otherwise you can’t receive the $30 bonus.

Both in-store and online purchases will count toward your eight purchases. And there is no minimum amount requirement you should spend at each merchant. You can spend as much or as little as you like on each purchase.

Please note that there are only 12,000 registration slots available. Cardmembers can register for the program on a first-come, first-served basis. This promotion is start today, so you can go ahead and register you American Express card to reserve your slot. Once your registration completes, you will receive a confirmation e-mail.

If you can’t register your American Express at above mentioned website (according to program FAQ):

1. You did not receive an invitation to participate in the “On the Card” program.
2. You did receive an invitation but are trying to enroll a new Card or recent replacement Card which we may not have recorded for the promotion.
3. The program if full. There are only 12,000 registration slots available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once you have successfully shopped at all 8 merchants, you will receive a statement credit from “On the Card” generally within 5 business days.

It really a great chance to get some small money for using American Express credit card. In this way, American Express just wanted to tell Cardmembers about the many places they can use their American Express Cards.

Update: the invitation email is attached. This email is targeted to my Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express.

Each credit card issuer will run some customer appreciation promotion some times per year. Perhaps the most popular ones are the American Express’ My WishList Promotion and Discover’s Mall Promotion. The latest Discover Card mall promotion was ended on September 7, 2008 (reported here). Today I noticed that Discover Card has released the detailed promotion plan for the next mall promotion starting from November 1, 2008.

The promotion rules are really simple (How to turn receipts into rewards?):

Get a $20 Discover Gift Card when you make $200 in purchases with your Discover Card at a participating mall between 11/1/08-1/4/09, while supplies last. To redeem the $20 gift card, the original receipts must be presented to a participating mall’s Customer Service.

Two noticeable differences from previous promotions are:

1. This promotion has expanded to over 160 malls nationwide.

2. The promotion period has been extended—over 2 months now!

The promotion page can be found at:http://www.discovercard.com/mallpromo/index.html

Following is a non-complete list of participating malls.

If you shop a lot at Amazon.com, the new Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card is a good choice for you. I have a brief introduction of this credit card back in this July. (Maybe this is the first report of the new Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card.) I also pointed out that you can get $100 off your Amazon Kindle with a new Amazon.com Visa Card. The new Amazon.com visa card will give you 6 points for every dollar spent at Amazon.com for the first 90 days. This is a great feature which will save you a lot for the first 90 days.

Today I receive an email from Chase Amazon.com Visa Card indicating that I can upgrade my Amazon.com Visa card for free! This upgrade offer is targeted to current Amazon.com Visa Card holders.

After upgrading your Amazon.com Visa Card:

For first 90 days, you can get 6 points for every Amazon purchase, 4 points for gas/drug store/dining purchases and 2 points for everything else. After 90 days, you can continue to get 3 points at Amazon.com, 2 points for gas/drug/dining and 1 point for everything else.

There will be no new card issued to replace your current Amazon.com Visa Card. There is no hard pull during upgrade process. All you have to do is call customer service at 888-247-4080 and simply tell them you want to upgrade your Amazon.com Visa Card. After you get approved, it will need 3 days to take effect.

I would say this is a good promotion since the Thanks Giving and Christmas are coming in 3 months. If you shop regularly at Amazon.com, you can save a lot during the 90 days promotion period.

I always use this Amazon.com Visa Card as my primary payment method. The other Chase credit card that I use frequently is the Chase Freedom Card. With a Chase checking account, you can get 3% cash back from 5 pre-set categories. It’s pretty easy to accumulate $50 and redeem it. A lot of MyCardBlog.com readers have this credit card. I you still don’t have one, you’d better get one. You will be surprised how fast you can accumulate your cash rewards.

The Discover More Card is a really cool credit card with many exceptional features. However, the most disappointing thing about this Discover More Card is it rarely offers sign-up bonus. Today when I received my new issue of SmartMoney magazine, there is a sign-up bonus code from Discover More Card which is offering $100 bonus after you make first $500 in purchases. I think this would be a great opportunity for those who want to apply for the Discover More Card.

To get the $100 bonus, you have to apply for a new Discover Card through apply.Discovercard.com and put the code: DBBA. Or you can call Discover Card at 800-206-4960 and mention the code to get this offer. This offer expires on December 2, 2008.

Besides the $100 bonus, there are other great benefits from the Discover More Card.

1. Get 0% APR on balance transfer until October 2009.

2. Get 5% cash back on regular categories which are change every quarter like travel, groceries, restaurants and more.

3. If you visit China, the Discover Card is accepted anywhere that accepts the China UnionPay credit card which is the largest credit card network in China. Currently, the Discover Card is the most widely accepted American credit card in China.

However, the cash back calculation method for the Discover card is kind of complicated.

You can earn a full 5% cashback bonus on category purchases throughout the year by signing up for each program. In addition, earn full 1% unlimited cashback bonus on all other purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3,000; other purchases that are part of your first $1,500 earn 0.25% and other purchases that are part of your second $1,500 earn 0.5%. Warehouse purchases earn 0.25%. (Sam’s Club for example)

You only need $20 cashback bonus to start to redeem your cash back rewards. The other reason that I like the Discover Card a lot is the excellent ShopDiscover Program. The cash back rates at ShopDisover are unbeatable. You can get 5% cash back from BestBuy, Apple Store, Dell Home etc. It’s a good choice to make online purchases at ShopDiscover. You can earn extra cash back.

Today a reader sent me an email about the damn hot deal from Chase Sony Card. Of course, this deal is only attractive to those who want a Sony DSLR camera.

From now on, if you apply for a new Chase Sony Card through the following link: http://www.sonyrewards.com/en/gateway/?offerlink=snal, you can get a new Sony DSLR A350K for only $449! The retail price for the Sony DSLR camera is $799. So with a new Sony Card approval, there will be a $350 discount applied to this camera! If you are waiting for a camera, this is a good deal to catch.

The Sony A350K features:

Live View LCD Monitor: The camera features a Live View mode which allows you to use the camera’s LCD monitor to take photos similar to a point-and-shoot camera. As far as I know, this is the first DSLR camera that has the live view function. This camera uses a 2.7″ Clear Photo LCD Plus screen with 230,4000 pixels and adjustable brightness.

14.2 MP Super HAD CCD: A large 23.5 x15.7mm APS-C size imager with Sony’s advanced design allows more light to pass to each pixel, increasing the sensitivity and reducing noise. With 14.2 MP resolution, the picture can provide greater detail when you make big prints.

Super Steadyshot In-Camera Image Stabilization: The in-camera image stabilization technique allows you to shoot pictures in low-light situation. You can also spend less money on the lens because all of VR/IS lenses are very expensive.

Anti-Dust Technology: This feature can help you to keep the CCD imager clean for better pictures. This camera utilizes both static-free anti-dust coating on the CCD filter and ant-dust vibration that automatically shakes the CCD to dislodge dust each time the camera is shut off.

There are more features that can be found at SonyStyle.com. If you are seeking for a digital camera, I would suggest you consider this offer. The picture quality from a DSLR camera is much better than a general digital camera.

The Chase Sony Card is running another promotion in September. I received a mail from Sony Card stating that I could get $25 credit if I spend more than $100 during 09/12/2008 and 10/09/2008. This is a good deal since I can get about 25% cash back for the first $100.

My friends who also have this card also received the offer but in email. They have to sign up through the link in the email. Personally, I think the Chase Sony Card is a good credit card to own. Because it always offers some great deals to its cardholders. The most recent one is the “10 Below” from Sony Card. If you sign up a Sony Card according to this post, you can get $150 credit for purhcase of $299 or more.

Following is the content of the mail:

You already know that you Sony Card gives you the financial freedom you need to take care of whatever life brings your way. It’s also the only card that rewards you with the best of Sony, including electronics, CDs, DVDs, movie tickets and live entertainment. And when you use your card right now, you can also receive $25.

It’s easy to receive your statement credit-just use your card. As long as your purchases add up to $100or more from September 12 through October 9, 2008, you will automatically receive your $25 statement credit. And since every purchase counts-from a week’s worth of groceries to a weeklong getaway-chances are you’ll reach $100 in no time!

I don’t know whether this is a targeted offer or not. But you should keep an eye on this offer.

I should also admit that the Sony Card is good to keep but it’s not the card we should use daily. My top choice credit card in my daily life is the Chase Freedom Card which offers 3% cash back (or 3.75%) on everyday purchase. Another credit card from Chase is the BP visa card which is offering 5% cash back on gasoline purchase at BP locations (10% for the first 60 days).

The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express is one of my favorite credit cards. With this credit card, you can accumulate starpoints for free hotel stays. You can also use starpoints to redeem a gift card from Amazon.com or Banana Republic, GAP and Starbucks etc. If you like, you can also transfer starpoints to many airline miles including AA, UA and Delta Airlines. If you apply now, you can get 10,000 bonus starpoints.

Starwood Preferred Guest program introduced the SPG Flights yesterday, a new redemption opportunity, which allows you to redeem your starpoints for a free airline ticket without any restrictions. This is the first hotel rewards program to offer airline ticket redemption option. This truly will benefit all starwood preferred guest members. Another obvious advantage of the SPG Flights over other airline rewards programs is you can redeem Starpoints for airline tickets whenever you choose, even during peak periods such as holidays.Thus you can avoid the standard restrictions that limit most frequent-flyer awards program.

With SPG Flights, you can choose hundreds of airlines over the world with no blackout dates. If there’s a seat available for purchase with cash, you can use your Starpoints. If you don’t have enough starpoints in your account, you can buy starpoints and use them for airline ticket redemption immediately.

Use your starpoints at SPG Flight is very easy:

1. Search for flights at www.spg.com/flights

2. Select your flight from many available options

3. Redeem Starpoints for an airline ticket

4. Fly

According to the SPG Flights Starpoints Chart, I think redeem airline ticket is much better option than other kinds of redemption choices.

SPG Flights Starpoints Chart (Thanks Sander for reminding me of this!)
up to $150 10,000
$150-$215 15,000
$215-$280 20,000
$280-$345 25,000
$345-$410 30,000
$410-$475 35,000
$475-$540 40,000
$540-$605 45,000
$605-$670 50,000
$670-$735 55,000
$735-$800 60,000
$800-$865 65,000
$865-$930 70,000
$930-$995 75,000
$995-$1060 80,000
Higher prices (examples)
$2,880-$3,140 235,000
$4,960-$5,220 395,000
$9,900-$10,160 775,000

Starwood Preferred Guest has been known for having the industry’s best redemption program.I hope they can keep current excellent work and offer more rewards opportunities.

J.D. Power and Associates just released the 2008 Credit Card Satisfaction Study yesterday. According to this study, American Express ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction with credit card issuers for a second consecutive year! Yes, American Express should pride itself on its outstanding customer service.I would also vote for American Express.

The Credit Card Satisfaction Study measures customer satisfaction with credit card by examining five key factors according to J.D. Power and Associates: interaction; billing and payment process; fees and rates; reward programs; and benefits and services. I would say this study really encompasses every factor of a good credit cards. The study is based on a 1000 point scale and relies on more than 7,600 customers’ responses. American Express scored 783 points and ranked highest. Discover Card followed American Express with a score of 751.

Ironically, although the industry average score is 721, only American Express and Discover can score higher than that. HSBC scored the lowest score—667. Capital One also performed not well with only 10 points higher than that of HSBC.

As indicated by the study, American Express performed well in every category. American Express got the highest score out of any of the other credit card companies in all of the five categories. Discover Card performed well in only 3 of the 5 categories: interaction, billing and payment processes, and reward program sections. In the press release of this 2008 Credit Card Satisfaction Study, Rocky Clancy, executive director of financial services at J.D. Power and Associates, pointed out that “American Express and Discover Card are very different in their fees, reward programs and incentives, and their strong performances indicate their ability to suit the various needs that dissimilar types of cardholders have.”

The study also revealed that people who pay off their balances every month tend to choose their credit cards based on rewards programs (77%). People who carry balances on their credit cards pay more attention on interest rates and fees when choosing their credit cards (65%).

This study also found that 72% of cardholders use some kind of reward program. And the most interesting part is free hotel stays are the most satisfying type of reward! I think the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express and the Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card from American Express will be very popular in the near future.

Another find of this study is 25% of all cardholders don’t know if their card offers them additional benefits and 33% haven’t used any during the past year. (If you are reading this post, you should look at your credit card benefits now.) I hope this will change in the future as mycardblog.com becomes more and more popular among general American readers.

The pdf version of the press release of 2008 Credit Card Satisfaction can be viewed here.

My question is which credit card company can surpass American Express the next year.