fidelity 1.5% cashback - am I missing something?

For those of you who have the Fidelity 1.5% cashback card, are there any downsides to this at all? How long has it been around?

I have been using my citi dividend 5%/1% card for a while now, but am close to reaching the $300 limit. I also just opened a Fidelity account for mutual funds, so having an account there is no problem.

Im interested in knowing some people's experiences with this Fidelity card. Thanks.

I've had the Fidelity 1.5% card for a while and it works just fine. The only issue is that MBNA does not always get you Fidelity account number when you apply for the card. This happened to me. Make sure that you call MBNA after you get the card to confirm.

No issues whatsoever -- this is my main card.

CashBack is completely seamless. I gave MBNA my Fidelity acct #, and it's been showing up then every quarter. I then just transfer the CashBack to my external checking account that I already had linked there. Alternatively, I could use it to fund my Roth. The whole thing is totally automatic, could not be easier.

I use it everything except foreign currency transactions because they charge 3% -- for that I just use MBNA Merrill Lynch (no foreign %)

i have the card, with about $80 in rewards, but i'm not sure it's automatic?? i thought i had to call and request a xfer to my fidelity account. i'm not worried, 1.5% back is better than 1 or 1.25!

archived thread

My comment about "total earned" at the end of that thread is not correct. It's the total since last rebate payment.

doesnt matter, this card will be GONE once the BofA/MBNA merger is complete. BofA is not likely to continue issuing a Fidelity-branded card.

Dont plan on keeping this card and accumulating rewards long term.

didYOUsearch said: doesnt matter, this card will be GONE once the BofA/MBNA merger is complete. BofA is not likely to continue issuing a Fidelity-branded card.

Dont plan on keeping this card and accumulating rewards long term.

Hope not. Just maybe bofa has learned from past M&A and will actually try to maintain the affinity business that's made MBNA worth 35B to them.

Ah well, you're probably right.

In the meantime I'll take the 1.5 on my wife's card and the 0% BT I've got going on mine.

didYOUsearch said: doesnt matter, this card will be GONE once the BofA/MBNA merger is complete. BofA is not likely to continue issuing a Fidelity-branded card.

Dont plan on keeping this card and accumulating rewards long term.

That's plain wrong. Ken Lewis, BoA's CEO, has been questioned about issuing cards for other finanicial by analysts because they're worried not that BoA will drop them, but that other financial instituions will drop BoA. His quote - "Where else will they go?" Hence, his intent is not to drop them.

More discussions of the 1.5% Fido card in BofA/MBNA merger thread DYS already quoted.

I do not think that we can conjecture about the fate of the 1.5% Fido card one way or the other. It will purely be a business dicision. That is, is it more profitable and/or more efficient for BofA to keep the 1.5% Fido card?

On the plus side, it is still a positive on the balance sheet with a 1.5% rebate considering the merchant cc charges (2-3%?). The corporate relationship with Fidelity is certainly worthwhile. BofA may want to stay competitive in the rebate cc business.

On the negative side, BofA may want more aggressive profit with the "cc debt-oriented" consumers rather than "rebate-oriented" consumers. There are some BofA hidden agenda (partnership) like DYS rightfully pointed out.

BofA (or MBNA) has already started to consolidate the numerous accounts that were developed during the HGW1/HGW4 and recent CGE4/CGFX eras. That is definitely necessary from the efficiency perspective.

Learning from the BofA/BofBoston merger, it (the change) may be be a gradual process.

I certainly hope that BofA eventually keep the 1.5% Fido card from the competitive standpoint.

JMHO.

Can I convert my MBNA Worldpoint card (HGW1/HGW4) to this Fidelity investment 1.5% CashBack card?

Try to save my credit score here ...

Is this one of the "points" cards that doesn't give you any rewards for the last $99.99 you spend? Say, if you spend $175 in a month, do you get 1.5 points or 2.6?

I have a BofA rewards card that is like that. The terms are phrased the same way as these "1 point per every $100 spent" but if you spend 99, you get nothing.

simonyu1 said: I just called MBNA, the CSR told me that I cannot convert my Worldpoint card to Fidelity card without a new application. Anybody got a different answer?

simonyu1 said: Can I convert my MBNA Worldpoint card (HGW1/HGW4) to this Fidelity investment 1.5% CashBack card?

Try to save my credit score here ...

i tried to convert my fidelity worldpoint to this and they wouldnt let me, so i just applied for new card. saved my 5.9% apr on the worldpoints for a rainy day too.

they usually make me open a new card (with credit check) and close out the old one, keeping the same CL, but no app questions re income, etc

Why do a conversion instead of new application? Two of the reasons are to avoid a hard pull & keep the old card history (open date etc.).

I suspect that MBNA just close your old account & create a new one. If the CSR didn’t disclose it, some people may feel they did a conversion successfully. You may want to check your credit report.

I got my answer from a supervisor (or credit analyst) and she is 100% sure about it. So it may be the MBNA's official rule no matter if the CSR can do the conversion or not.

xoneinax said: simonyu1 said: I just called MBNA, the CSR told me that I cannot convert my Worldpoint card to Fidelity card without a new application.Yeah, I always seem to get the same response when I try to convert from non-affinity to affinity. Some posters have supposedly had success, but I think it just depends on how many times you call and try, how insistent you are, and how well-trained the CSR is. Some just say, whatever, cancel. Others seem to have more creative solutions and may lead you down the correct path.

Yes.

I think you may be right. Both of my Fidelity (the 1.5% and the points card) are 'Platinum Plus'.

Some of them just have more benefits like insurance for car rentals, higher payments if you die on a plane, etc. Its not that big of a deal, but I would prefer to have them than not have them.

horizon6 said: by the way, there is a version of this card to fund 529 college savings accounts that has 2 percent CashBack

smahs said: MBNA / Fidelity removed the extended warranty feature just now? That bites because I just bought a digital camera with the card and I was hoping to use the extended warranty feature of this card. I was debating whether to use my AMEX or this card, and I went with the MBNA / Fidelity MC because of the CashBack.... I just hope now that my camera doesn't break....

the guide sent to me a couple of days ago by mbna said it was effective on purchases made on/after sept 1, 2005. if that includes your camera you might see if you can do a return/re-buy with another card that has the extended warranty as that was less than three weeks ago.

Would be a good offer, too bad the 0% BT rate has a 3% transaction charge with NO CAP!