It has long been a required course for many credit card users to swipe credit cards and accumulate points for exchanging gifts. Nonetheless, recently a number of users found that the threshold for exchanging rewarded credit card points for gifts had been raised quietly. How can credit card users protect their rewarded points from shrinkage, with which they can exchange gifts they like easily?
Our reporter interviewed Chen Han (pseudonym), procurement manager of a trade company in Shanghai, who is a “credit card expert” in the circle of her friends. She is usually wild on studying various functions and preferential activities of credit cards. Upon the mention of tactics on rewarded credit card points, she came up with great ideas. “Now, the handling charges for card swiping have been lowered. There are an increasing variety of channels for earning rewarded points and gifts for exchanging, and there are more ways for points-based consumption. Thus, we should beat our brains frequently as we are managing our wealth.”
Accumulating Points upon Preferential Promotions
According to Chen Han, there are much more ways to assemble rewarded points now than before, but we should pay special attention to the preferential promotions launched by the card issuers.
“To assemble rewarded points in great number quickly, one should have a pair of piercing eyes that can follow such promotions closely”, said Chen Han. Upon special festivals and holidays as well as the birthday of a cardholder, he or she can enjoy substantial rewards such as “doubled points” and “presented points”. In order to develop customers, some banks may even launch preferential promotions like “presenting points to new customers swiping cards”.
For instance, from now on till March 31, 2014, Industrial Bank (IB) Credit Card release the preferential promotion with three rounds of gift presentation titled “Great Gifts for New Users with Rewarded Points” toward new users of credit cards of IB, namely presenting points to new customers swiping credit cards, presenting 50,000 points for overseas transactions amounting to RMB 3,000, and presenting 3-fold points for cash advancing, all of which can be enjoyed at the same time.
In the program of “presenting points to new customers swiping credit cards”, if a holder of IB credit card consumes up to RMB 128 in a single prescribed transaction within 60 days after card checking, he or she can receive 10,000 rewarded points; or if he consumes up to RMB 228 in each of three prescribed transactions, he or she can receive 45,000 rewarded points. Suppose that a new gold credit card customer of the Bank has three point-related transactions, each of which amounts to RMB 228, he or she can receive 684 rewarded points by the book, and an additional 45,000 points in the program, which is 65 times higher. It is said that the program is subject to the highest threshold met by the customers, and each one can only enjoy the presentation of rewarded points once, without overlapped presentation.
A Big Variety of Commodities Exchangeable with Rewarded Points
If you think that the rewarded credit card points can only be used for exchanging gifts, you are wrong.
Besides gifts, Chen Han said, rewarded credit card points could also be used for taking lucky draw, offsetting air miles, making consumption (offsetting cash), and even making donation. They can be used in a variety of areas and in flexible forms.
Let’s take points-based consumption as an example. When doing shopping with your IB credit card at special merchants, such as New Huadu Supercenter and Shandong Uni-Mart, you can convert your rewarded credit card points into cash to offset the commodity price at the rate of RMB 1/500 points by telling the cashier that you want to make points-based consumption. Assuming that Chen Han has 5,000 rewarded points in her credit card, she can convert them into RMB 10. If she buys a commodity worth RMB 12, the 5,000 points will be deducted and the remaining RMB 2 will be paid with her credit card; if she buys a commodity worth RMB 9.8, 4,900 rewarded points will be deducted.
Chen Han reminded, “When doing shopping at any designated merchant on Taobao.com with an IB-Taobao.com co-branded credit card, not only can one enjoy the rewarded points, but also offset cash at the rate of RMB 1/500 points by way of fast payment – this is a substantial convenience for shoppers at Taobao.com”.
Donation of Rewarded Points for Charity
Another innovation in exchange with rewarded credit card points is to convert rewarded points for “charity funds”, which provides convenient channel for cardholders to pay attention to and participate in activities for “charity and public benefits”. From now on till December 31, 2014, IB Credit Card Center, in collaboration with China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, calls cardholders to donate books and intellect-encouraging teaching and tutorial supplies including projectors, computers, digital cameras, and colored mobile desks and chairs, create three-dimensional and lively education classrooms, and build the “Future Space” in children’s dream.
Chen Han has taken actions already. She learnt from IB Credit Card Center that the rate for the above donation with rewarded credit card points was RMB 1/750 points. During the period of donation, holders of principal credit cards of IB may exchange the rewarded points in their cards for charity funds in the “all-point” mode to participate in the donation activity of “Future Space” in the following three approaches: first, log on the credit card points mall of the Bank, click the item of “Points Based Love – Future Space”, select and submit any multiple of 500 rewarded points; second, write and send the short message of “CCAE + space + amount of donated points” with the mobile phone number bundled to the bank’s system to 95561, the customer service hotline of IB; third, write and send “CCAE + space + mobile phone number + space + amount of donated points” to the public official WeChat account of IB Credit Card (cib_creditcard). For instance, if a cardholder intends to donate 15,000 points in his credit card account to the “Future Space”, he or she may send “CCAE 15000” to 95561 with the bundled mobile phone number to finish donation.
It is reported that, when the amount of donated points hits 75 million, namely RMB 100,000, about the construction cost of a “Future Space”, IB Credit Card Center will accomplish the construction of a “Future Space” in the name of IB credit card holders with such donated points. The top two customers making the greatest donation of points in each natural year will also have the opportunity to attend the activity of “Face to Face with the Aided” organized by IB in collaboration with public benefit organizations, extending love to the aided persons to promote social positive energy.