Comments on: MBNA SPG Credit Card Discontinued?

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:51:14 +0000

Ok, the information is out. Looks like $120/year annual fee with the AMEX. I’m waving Goodbye to the SPG program I guess. It was nice to have a free way to slowly gather SPG points, but I guess it was too good. Off to the Smart Cash card.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:19:39 +0000

Oops, you are right the conversion goes the other way around. And points.com is a horrible option.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:15:48 +0000

Yes you can. Aeroplan miles can be converted into Starpoints by logging into Aeroplan, clicking on Earn Miles | Conversion Programs | Travel | Starwood.

You can also convert Reward Miles into Starpoints. No shocker that Reward Miles is the program used by AMEX. Aaargh.

By: David

David — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:59:50 +0000

Ray: Agree – trying to use Amex as the main credit card is a pain in the butt. You raise an interesting point about conversions. I see that it’s possible to convert Starpoints into Aeroplan, but not the other way around. Is it possible to convert ANYTHING into Starpoints? SPG seems to have the best hotel deals.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:05:39 +0000

An AMEX piece of crap? Has anyone done the analysis on how many of the typical Canadian vendors that we bill pay, etc, can not be done on an AMEX? That would be a great post – a post showing that a Canadian cannot survive with *just* an AMEX because it is not accepted at X number of places. So now we have to do some hybrid thing? This AMEX for Front-of-the-line and whatever place will accept it and then the next best cash-back Visa/Mastercard for everything else. Given that several other programs convert to starpoints now at 1:1 like Aeroplan Miles, do we have some options there for our 2nd card?

By: Daniel McLaren

Daniel McLaren — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:35:21 +0000

I just got the email as well and it looks like I’ll be shopping for a new card. Fail.

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:23:22 +0000

Yes, I received the email as well. Perhaps I will post about it so that everyone will have the heads up.

By: David

David — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:14:40 +0000

SPG has announced a few details on the new Amex card scheduled to be released in Q1.

http://www.spgpromos.com/canada_creditcard/

By: coachdave

coachdave — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:12:11 +0000

This is ridiculous…don’t know who to blame more MBNA or Starwood.

This was a great No Fee card…I wouldn’t be with MBNA otherwise…their credit card information was compromised last year as well when a new card was issued to me. Is this a regular occurrence at MBNA?

The new Card needs to be NO FEE. For the love of God, do not make it an Amex…other than Costco who in the hell accepts American Express??

If the new Starwood Credit card is Amex or has a hefty fee, I’m considering the Marriot Rewards Visa. I haven’t run the numbers yet, but I have enjoyed my Marriot stays and the rewards are easy to redeem and tie in with the places we visit. Thanks for this blog – I’ll keep watching for updates… I hope those idiots at MBNA and SPG read these posts. I’m sure the Hyatt Gold and Marriott folks are happy.

By: CreditCard Junkie

CreditCard Junkie — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:01:26 +0000

I will probably switch to the Shopper Optimum MasterCard it is offered by MBNA and should be easy to switch over plus It is anywhere between 3-6% cash bach depending on shopping habits at and outside of Shoppers Drug Mart

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:53:58 +0000

Just a few more months to wait…

http://www.spgpromos.com/canada_creditcard/index.cfm

By: Medved

Medved — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:37:26 +0000

To sneaky88,
Please, give us some hints… How you submit an app w/o US Social Security Number or ZIP code/State?

By: sneaky88

sneaky88 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:29:44 +0000

There are Canadians with SPG Amex. You just have to be persistent !
It can be done…. heh heh.

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:08:34 +0000

My understanding is that the SPG Amex is available to U.S residents only.

By: leeloo76

leeloo76 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:56:01 +0000

What about the SPG reward card offered by Amex? https://www143.americanexpress.com/apisites/LandingAction.do?partnerId=95&channel=1000&landingCode=25

Is it a suitable replacement to the SPG Mastercard?

By: used tires

used tires — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:42:21 +0000

I am not a big fan of credit cards, I have one just in case of extreme emergencies, so I don’t personally have a favorite one, but this credit card sounded like a great one, maybe that is why they got discontinued it? Because it was so good that they were losing money from it, compared to the others? hehe

Till then,

Jean

By: anon

anon — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:42:20 +0000

Blah, I just got this card 2 weeks ago. :(

By: London Rental Man

London Rental Man — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:52:52 +0000

My favourite read was “The Trouble with Rewards Points”
Thank you for recommending them, I find this kind of link list with short summaries very usefull. thx

By: canabiz

canabiz — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:47:47 +0000

I got this card last year but locked it up soon in a safe soon after because I got the 0% balance transfer promo put on it.

I haven’t used the points for anything, not that there are many points on it to begin with but it seems like this is another one of those *all good things must come to an end* stories.

I am sure something else comparable will come along. I am using a low-limit RBC Rewards VISA card that I have got for about 10 years but i may look at the MBNA SmartCash.

By: 35mm Slide Conversions

35mm Slide Conversions — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:55:28 +0000

Yeah, merchants typically pay between 1.5% and 3% of EVERY transaction on your credit card, along with you paying the interest & annual fee. Believe me, they aren’t hurting. Google gave me a figure for australia (I assume they would be similar to canada) of $232,380,000,000 in credit card spending per year, so their take would be a round 3.5 billion, or $160 for every person in the country.

Compare that with Canada (higher population) and you get about 5 billion in fees alone… obviously infrastructure & other costs are there, but thats a huge chunk of change for “processing” our payments, and THEN they add our annual fees & interest for people carrying balances.

I highly, highly doubt they are hurting. They can afford a LOT better (although AMEX isn’t accepted in many places due to the higher transaction costs (they are up near 3% when I checked), although they give their users better rewards…

Anyway I’m certainly disappointed that this card is gone, I use this as a primary and my GM visa (3% earning towards GM cars) as a backup (first card, don’t want to cancel).

I’m about 20k in spending away from getting all the nights & flights + extra points I need for a trip to Europe with flights & hotels. Hopefully I hit that before Feb, as owning my own new business proves to be a pain in the ass getting credit cards.

I’ll probably try to get the new card for my wife & I, keep the MBNA card long enough to get the bonuses and then switch it out. I really want to figure out how to get an American Amex though!!!