Read this Amtrak Guest Rewards Credit Card review to decide if you should apply for an Amtrak Credit Card offer. Travel-based credit cards are quickly growing in popularity. Many people travel for business purposes and an added perk of paying for one’s own travel is that the travel is usually reimbursed by the employer, while the employee gets to keep all the rewards credits on the credit card.
People who travel frequently can collect points quickly, which means that they can reap many rewards, such as free personal travel, upgrades on business travel, retail merchandise, and even cash back. If points are used strategically, the savvy traveler can get a lot of rewards for simply having a job that requires them to travel.
Most travel credit cards are affiliated with airlines, hotels, or car rental companies. But one card is unique in that it focuses on a lesser-known mode of transportation: the train. Amtrak is actually a federally-owned corporation that provides city-to-city passenger train service. And now, like many airlines, Amtrak offers a credit card to frequent travelers so that they can get rewards for their loyalty to the company.
This credit card is a collaboration between Amtrak and Chase Bank USA, N.A. Chase is a respected financial institution and offers some of the best rewards programs that are available today.
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Amtrak World Card & Amtrak Platinum Card
There are two types of cards that you can get: the World card and the Platinum card. The World card has a lower interest rate than the Platinum card, and only those with top-notch credit will qualify for this type of account. Here are the details of the fees and interest rate for this card:
- No annual fee
- 13.24% APR for purchases and balance transfers on the World card, and between 16.24% and 19.24% for the Platinum card, depending on your credit
- 19.24% for cash advances and overdraft advances
- 29.99% for penalty APR, which applies if you fail to make timely payments, exceed your credit line, have a payment returned unpaid, or fail to meet these obligation on any other Chase accounts you have
- There is a fee of 3% on balance transfers, with a minimum of $5
- There is a fee of 3% on cash advances, with a minimum of $10
- There is a fee of 3% for foreign transactions
- There is a fee for late payments: $15 if your balance is less than $100, $29 if your balance is more than $100, and $39 if your balance is more than $250
- There is a $39 over-the-limit fee on the Platinum card (there’s no fee if you have a World card)
- There is a $39 fee for a returned payment or bounced check.
Now to address what everyone really wants to know about: the rewards. You earn two points per dollar for every purchase you make with the card at Amtrak and other specified retailers, and one point per dollar on other purchases. There are often special periods during which you can earn double or even triple points on all purchases.
Amtrak Credit Card Rewards
As for the Amtrak rewards themselves, they’re nothing spectacular, really. The best rewards for your points are Amtrak travel vouchers, of course. You can also trade your Amtrak points for points at other rewards programs, which is an interesting thought: you can buy Amtrak travel and use the points towards a hotel stay at your destination. But that will require even more research, since those hotel rewards programs may have varying point redemption values.
If you’re looking to trade in your points for gift certificates, then this probably isn’t the card for you, since the redemption ratios are pretty bad. All in all, if you travel by train a lot, this card might be worth your while, since it does offer two-to-one points on Amtrak purchases. But if you only travel by rail once a year or so, then you’re probably better off with a more flexible card that can offer you a better return on your spending.
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I no longer use the amtrak train and am interested in redeeming my points. Please tell me what’s the best deal to do this.
I would like to know where the 15,000 points are for opening the credit card account
I disagree with your oversimplified assessment. The redemptions are a greater value when you consider that you can lock in a train trip for the minimum fare on any available route (subject to blackout restrictions). You can “double dip” Amtrak travel points routinely when buying on your rewards card you get the 100+ points for the trip and the 2 additional points per dollar, not to mention the frequent promo deals offered only for amtrak rewards cc members. You even get a 5% rebate on any points used to redeem for tickets.
All these distinctions add up to a much better card than you give credit for here, IMO. Even for someone who will only make one or two train trips per year, there is the simple potential for them to book that train trip for free, and save well over $200+.
Re
ixie Shetler: It takes a few weeks for any travel and promotion AGR points to post. After that, you can just call the rewards hotline and ask.