$50 for your thoughts?

In addition to CardsFTW and product building, we conduct primary research at Totavi. We are working on a new survey about the perceptions of card networks and would love your participation. If you qualify and complete the survey, we’ll send $50! 

See You in Vegas?

I’m attending my first in-person Fintech Meetup next week in Las Vegas. I’ve heard good things about the conference, and I am looking forward to meeting some new folks and catching up with friends. If you’re in Vegas and want to meet, let me know. (Reply to this email!)

Happy 15th Anniversary, Chase Freedom

The Chase Freedom card holds a special place in my heart. It’s probably why I started Wallaby, and my career since then has focused on cards and payments in a way I wouldn’t have guessed when I first opened my account. Not to age myself, but the Chase Freedom Card program is celebrating its 15th anniversary.

A side note: I was trying to figure out when I first received my Chase Freedom card. According to my credit report, that account was opened in 2007. This would mean I received my card three years before the card was live. Bonus points to whomever can help me figure this one out; my record-keeping isn’t so good that I know which card I applied for in 2007 or if the product changed to Chase Freedom at a later time.

Frances Vespucci

The Chase Freedom is one of the rotating-quarterly-bonus-category cards. Cardholders earn 1% cashback daily, with 5% bonuses in a changing list of categories (with a $1,500 limit). Typically, these categories are related to the season, such as 5% cashback on gas in the summer. For this special anniversary, Chase is doing an additional bonus category for one month each quarter (still subject to the cap). Aligned with the season, the March category is insurance and tax preparation. These are not common bonus categories and represent an interesting addition to the standard ones this quarter: grocery stores, fitness clubs, and hair, nails, and spa services (new year, new you!).

The Freedom card's March-only insurance bonus, isn't the only Chase card with an insurance bonus this month, so is the Southwest Rapid RewardsCredit Card. Andrew Davidson at Mintel Comperemedia reported on a Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card deal that includes a different category each quarter for cardholders to earn double the Companion Pass qualifying points on their card. In Q1, that category is insurance. (Companion Passes, for the un-initiated, require earning 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year, after which a named person can fly free everywhere the companion pass earner flies on Southwest.) ^[1]

Bonuses for future quarters haven’t been announced yet (per usual), but I’ll be watching this throughout the year. The approach is clever, but I question whether the complicated messaging is worth it and whether anyone else cares about card product anniversaries.

Fold to Launch Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card

Crypto exchanges have been having a good past few months. We have seen crypto cards come and go (RIP, BlockFi). I missed this announcement a few weeks back, but thought it was interesting enough to highlight here: Fold, a bitcoin-focused debit card provider has announced a move to a bitcoin rewards card.

Imagine this, but in metal, with the word credit. Also, can crypto cards knock it off with putting Satoshi Nakamoto on the samples?

Users paying $100 per year for Fold+ membership (who already get bonus rewards on the Fold debit card and reduced bitcoin trading fees) will earn 2% cashback on their credit card (in the form of bitcoin). Regular users will earn 1.5% cashback. The core value proposition of these cards is typically the promise that the value of this crypto might go up. (It also might go down.) 

The card is launching on a waitlist (my referral link!) and has an associated sweepstakes, which seems a bit gimmicky. Given the card is on a waitlist, there is no information on the issuer yet, but I’ll be watching!

People Still Have Cash

I started my career in fintech at Green Dot in 2006, shortly after the company raised a Series B. I think there were about 65 people there when I joined. The most intriguing asset of Green Dot at the time was its cash load network. In a time well-before most folks were thinking about digitizing cash, Green Dot owned extensive money transmitter licenses and had real-time point-of-sale connections in approximately 50,000 locations across the U.S., including many 24/7 operations, like drug and convenience stores. 

how did they get that tagline past compliance?

For a small fee ($4.95 at the time, now $5.95) and a little bit of work (usually a call to an IVR or visit to a website), you could convert up to $500 in cash instantly (or within an hour) to digital currency to be applied to a debit card (Green Dot’s or someone else's), pay a bill, or other things.

The cash load network is still what interests me most about Green Dot, and it is a unique asset. Recently, the company announced a partnership with Marqeta (a next-generation processor) to enable cash loads. From the outside, I think this is about a direct integration. You can access Green Dot’s network via some other network arrangements (e.g., via Mastercard), so is this news? I guess it must be.

Let’s Fly to Japan

Japan has been a big travel destination the last few years. Besides it being beautiful and filled with history, it became a major points hacking topic on the Reddit forms about how to fly first class for very little points. Japanese airline ANA must have seen the potential in this trend and announced the launch of a new credit card this week for folks who want to earn ANA points. Issued by First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) the new ANA Card U.S.A. Plus is a decent deal for ANA loyalists living here. Cardholders will earn 2x miles per dollar booked on ANA, 1 mile everywhere else, and the card has no FX fee. The card is $85 per year, waived in year one with a 10,000 point bonus on this new launch campaign.

Ana Cardone

Cardholders also earn 25% Flight Bonus Miles when flying with ANA. These bonus miles are a feature we’re seeing more of lately to increase the benefits of a co-brand card.One small note: the only card images on the web have a Visa business logo, but I think this is a consumer card.

FNBO also offers the Japan Airlines USA Credit Card. This card has two tiers: basic ($35 per year, only 1 point per $2 spent) and premium ($85 per year, with 2 miles per dollar at JAL and 1 dollar everywhere else). There are a few additional perks, including a 10% mileage bonus on purchased flights and in-flight discounts.  This card also says it’s a business card. I don’t get this. If you know, please explain.

Same bank, but U.S.A. for one and USA for the other.

If you’re an American who wants to fly to Japan, these cards are probably not for you. A mileage site or AI can help you find travel hacks to Japan using other travel cards, but I assume that if you are a Japanese expat with strong loyalty, you’ll want one.

Splitting Rewards

We’ve talked about Kasheesh* before, which provides a card to consumers to split their payments (online and with mobile wallets) across two or more underlying card products. For consumers with limited credit, splitting a large purchase across multiple cards for a small fee can help to solve for limited credit lines or checking account balances (e.g., splitting a $1,000 purchase across two credit cards and a debit card at $333 each).

Multi-Pass!

Today, Kasheesh is announcing a rewards program linked to their platform. Users will be able to earn Kasheesh rewards on top of their underlying card rewards, up to an additional 1.5% cashback (with a $500 quarterly limit in rewards).

CardsFTW

CardsFTW, released weekly on Wednesdays, offers insights and analysis on new credit and debit card industry products for consumers and providers. CardsFTW is authored and published by Matthew Goldman and the team at Totavi, a boutique consulting firm specializing in fintech product management & marketing. We bring real operational experience that varies from the earliest days of a startup to high-growth phases and public company leadership. Visit www.totavi.com to learn more.

Interested in reaching our audience? You can sponsor CardsFTW.

1.  I earned a companion pass once the other way,which is to fly 50 round-trip flights or 100 segments in a single calendar year. That is a lot of flying. Luckily for me, 95% of those flights were Burbank to Oakland and back, so it was pretty easy. However, after flying 100 flights in 12 months (and continuing apace), I wasn’t too interested in flying other places with my companion (my wife). I think we only used it 3 or 4 times. Plus, I had to fly home first to get her on a flight with me. The irony of the companion pass is people earning one the hard way are probably quite sick of flying.↩︎