BJ's apples to apples

It was pointed out to me that the comparison I did on BJ's rewards and Fidelity's rewards was not apples to apples. BJ's is a membership upgrade and Fidelity's is a credit card.



If the writer is correct, you can upgrade to a BJ's rewards membership and pay with Fidelity's AmEx card - effectively doubling down on savings.

The earlier reason for BJ's hitting the Company Acting Badly list holds - don't market me at $35 feature that will save me $24.21 a year. And... if you want real savings, apply for a Fidelity card or a similar one from another company.

BJ's fine print

As I received another email from BJ's asking me to spend $35 a year to save $24.21 (click here for earlier post), I thought it would be worth checking out the fine print and conditions on BJ's rewards membership and comparing it to a Fidelity Rewards AmEx card I'm considering getting.

BJ's has a fee. Fidelity doesn't.
BJ's has a cap. Fidelity doesn't.
BJ's rewards expire. Fidelity's don't.

I've put a quick comparison chart together.

BJ's remains a Company Acting Badly for marketing me a rewards card that will lose me money each year and is not competitive across a range of features.

Citi Targeting Kids

As a loyal Citibank customer for almost 20 years now, I get disappointed when I see them acting badly and doing dumb things. Like targeting my son for a credit card. My seven year old son.

Below is the application that arrived yesterday. It's not the first time they've sent him one of these (click to enlarge).

It's not just any card. It's a Citi Gold card. For a seven year old? They'll give him 25,000 points with $750 in spending. That's about five years worth of allowance money. And if you read the fine print on the back... they are offering him a 13.99% interest rate. Not great. Not killer. If a seven year old should miss one payment... it shoots to 28.99%. He'll owe Citi for life.

How did Citi decide to target a seven year old? It's obvious that they bought or bartered for a list of American Airlines Advantage members (frequent fliers). They then determined who on the list didn't already have this credit card with Citi. I got my son his own Advantage number a few years when he flew American.

Innocent mistake? Or stupidity? American airlines knows my son's age as I've purchased tickets for him and flagged him as a minor. Either American can't scrub their list and send Citi only those over 18, Citi didn't think to ask American for a list of those over 18 or Citi actually wants to load debt on kids.

Once Vik figures out how to pay the US taxpayer back for its bailout, maybe he can ask his staff to stop targeting kids for credit cards. Citi, a company that acts badly once again.

Blink Goes Your Credit

A number of credit card companies have started embedding RFID (radio frequency) chips in credit cards so they can be read over the air without having to swipe the cards at a terminal. The advantage to these credit card companies is that paying with a credit card becomes faster.

The risk to individuals is that your private information usually retained on the card may now be transmitted over the air and readable by someone with the right technology. Some banks encrypt the data. Some don't. You can read more about the risk here and here. Some people like the technology. Some don't. I don't want it in my credit card.

Citibank makes RFID an option for its customers. You have to specifically request the technology if you are comfortable with it.

What does Chase bank do with it's Blink branded RFID chip? It ships it without your request when your card is up for renewal. Chase includes a pamphlet that says the card now has 'blink!'. I bet that many Chase customers don't know they have Blink and don't know what it does.

Would Chase make a customer whole if someone stole their id off a Blink card and used their credit? I'm not waiting to find out.

If Chase doesn't replace my credit card with a non-Blink version, I'll resort to a drill or punch press to get that chip out. Click on the image below for a video on how one guy removed his RFID chip from his credit card.



Chase is a company acting badly for assuming I want technology in my wallet that is broadcasting my credit card information.