Watching An Old Card Come to Life
My wife and I have an old credit card that none of you have probably ever heard of. It isn’t an obscure product in the purest sense of the word, but it just isn’t very popular either.
This card is now called the HSBC Platinum MasterCard with Rewards. It used to just be called the Platinum Mastercard, but at some point over the past ten years they have fancied it up. The card comes with a $0 annual fee and earns 1 point per dollar. Each point is worth $.01 for cash and you can get merchandise and other rewards too!
Why Keep This Terrible Card?
Most of you probably don’t have a card from HSBC and to be honest there isn’t really a need to. This is their best rewards card and it is terrible. So you are probably asking yourself why I have this card? Well it is all about the history. My wife and I have had this card for over a decade and we all know that average age of accounts is important.
So you now know why I keep the card, but what about the title? Well I have been noticing that HSBC has started tinkering with targeted spending offers like we have seen from Citi, US Bank and others. Over the past couple of months they have sent a few very weak offers. Most of them involved earning no more than 500 bonus points, which wasn’t enough to get me to dust off the card.
The Offer
Then the other day this offer came in:
“Earn up to $1001 in Statement Credits
Spend $250 each month from May 1 through August 31, 2015 and earn a $25 Statement Credit for a total of up to $1001 back in Statement Credits.”
Excitement
Wow! HSBC really wants me to use this card. If I spend $250 in a month, I receive a $25 statement credit. Remember I already earn 1x on normal spend, so this is basically an 11x return on spend. Getting a $110 rebate for $1,000 in spending is definitely worth it.
While I haven’t decided how I will rack up this spending, the easiest way would probably be to just pickup a $500 variable Visa card at a local grocery store. They cost $5.95 or Walmart sells them for $4.94. If I go the Walmart route I would pay ~$20 over the four months and earn a $100 bonus plus $20 from the spend. Not bad!
Conclusion
This is a good reminder of why it is important to opt-in to receive marketing offers on your accounts. 99% of the time they may be junk, but then something like this comes along and that old card that has been collecting dust suddenly turns into an 11x earning beast!
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It should actually be 12x as there is also the following offer to earn 2x points or $0.02 per dollar received in a March 27, 2015 e-mail.
“Receive 2X Rewards Program Points on new, net retail purchases using your HSBC Platinum MasterCard® with Rewards credit card from 04/01/15 through 06/30/15 (“Promotional Period”). 2X Rewards Program Points consists of one base Rewards Program Point and one Bonus Rewards Program Point. The maximum number of Rewards Program Bonus Points that can be earned during the Promotional Period is 4,000. Rewards Program Bonus Points will be fulfilled by 08/31/15. Your personal enrollment code must be correctly entered and submitted on the enrollment site to be considered fully enrolled. The enrollment period runs through 06/15/15 11:59 p.m. ET. Purchases during the Promotional Period will be eligible for the offer upon enrollment. This offer does not apply to balance transfers, credit card checks, cash advances or overdrafts. Your HSBC Credit Card must be open, and in good standing, at the time of offer fulfillment to qualify. ”
This one is a targeted offer as well as there is a code you have to enter on the website to enroll which is specifically personalized.
I started with a HSBC Premier World MasterCard and then when I left the Premier program, they converted me to a HSBC Platinum Cash or Fly Rewards MasterCard. The renewal card was a HSBC Platinum Cash Back Rewards MasterCard, about the same time they sold off all the credit card accounts to Capital One for those who were not HSBC Bank, NA deposit customers. Then earlier this year, I received the HSBC Platinum MasterCard which is the same as the picture on this site instead of the HSBC Platinum MasterCard with Rewards version of the card as seen on their website even though my account is actually the later.
HSBC which is Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation did not exist in the US until they acquired 51% of the shares of Marine Midland Bank of New York State and then fully acquired it in 1987. The banks continued to operate under the Marine Midland name until 1998, when the offices were rebranded as HSBC Bank USA as part of the global identity HSBC. The credit card division was basically what was known as Household Finance Corporation which HSBC acquired in November 2002 that was a US credit card issuer that finance for retailers and credit cards and also a subprime mortgage lender and basically the reason HSBC suffered big losses in 2008 and started the mortgage crisis.
Sorry for the double post. For some reason, when I refreshed the site, it didn’t show the earlier comment until after I posted this comment.
It should actually be 12x. I originally had a HSBC Platinum Cash or Fly Rewards MasterCard, then the renewal card was Platinum Cash Back MasterCard then the one they sent earlier this year is a HSBC Platinum MasterCard with Rewards except which has the chip unlike their website, the card I received just says HSBC Platinum MasterCard with just the word Platinum like your picture and not Platinum Rewards. In any case, there was a $25 statement credit for spending $500 in April. There is also the offer that came on March 27 by e-mail that basically gives 2x reward points so it’s $0.02 per dollar that says.
Receive 2X Rewards Program Points on new, net retail purchases using your HSBC Platinum MasterCard® with Rewards credit card from 04/01/15 through 06/30/15 (“Promotional Period”). 2X Rewards Program Points consists of one base Rewards Program Point and one Bonus Rewards Program Point. The maximum number of Rewards Program Bonus Points that can be earned during the Promotional Period is 4,000. Rewards Program Bonus Points will be fulfilled by 08/31/15. Your personal enrollment code must be correctly entered and submitted on the enrollment site to be considered fully enrolled. The enrollment period runs through 06/15/15 11:59 p.m. ET. Purchases during the Promotional Period will be eligible for the offer upon enrollment. This offer does not apply to balance transfers, credit card checks, cash advances or overdrafts. Your HSBC Credit Card must be open, and in good standing, at the time of offer fulfillment to qualify.
[…] When Old Credit Cards Come to Life & Provide 11x Earnings! […]
[…] When Old Credit Cards Come to Life & Provide 11x Earnings! by Miles to Memories. Yet another reason not to close those old cards, you never know when they will incentivize you to spend. […]
On a similar note, Barclays has upped the game on their older 2% Priceline card that is not longer available. Mine has changed into their more popular and currently available Arrival Plus card basically (10% reduction for points used against travel purchases and lowered point totals at which one can redeem now $25 vs. $50 before). Wife has gotten rotating category bonuses, ala Chase Freedom, for continued spend on card. It’s fun to get these enhanced features for being long time loyal users, instead of them just product changing you out and cutting all the benefits which obviously would make them more money.
I guess when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything else looks like a nail.
Why not just buy groceries every week? You were going to do that anyway. And if you cannot figure out how to spend about $65 per week on food, then you have a real problem.
The best part? It don’t cost you NOTHING.
But whatever.
Your points are definitely valid. The gift card approach is perhaps the simplest since I don’t have to worry about keeping track, but using the card for everyday spend is definitely a very valid option.
Why not load the redbird for $250 at target and save the processing fee on the Visa GC? Does HSBC charge cash advance fee?
I don’t understand why you would pay the extra cost of the visa card.
why not just buy a $250 gift card each month for that local grocery you shop at anyway, at no fee. Or a gas card?
Those are good options. The main benefit of doing it the way I describe is liquidating the money quicker. The truth is I am buried in gas cards from the Smart & Final deal, although there are plenty of ways as you say to do this without a fee.
is this offer targeted? do you have a link to the offer?
This offer is targeted and there is no enrollment. It is automatically linked to the card.