I looked deeply into this card last year. I become leery after days of research and ended up not getting Capital One's GM BuyPower. I did the best I could to educate and understand the details, terms, conditions, program rules, etc. There seems to be quite a bit of 'fine print' for the GM BuyPower which ultimately kept me from acquiring this. Before learning more about this card months ago, I imagined how this Capital One card would be at the top of the credit card pile. I envisioned I would spend the first $5,000 for the 5% which would total $250 in a year for cash bonus towards a new vehicle. I personally don't need a vehicle at this moment, nor am I sure when I will. Using math I figured I could rack up $1,000 easily over 4 years. That would be for the first 5% up to $5,000 alone, which would replace all category spending. This isn't including "non-category", which would equal $420 or less during the year.So, lets say that over the course of the 4 years I rack up $2,680.Great, that's a nice chunk of change.
So, I can use that $2,680 for any vehicle, right? Wrong, you can't because there are redemption limits. If you want a Chevy Malibu, you can only use $1,500. For a Chevy Sonic, you can only use $1,000. For a GNC Yukon, you can't redeem. The vehicle with the highest redemption limit? The Chevy Camaro Coupe with Z28 for $4,000. This might be fine if you buy a new vehicle every 2 years, but after that you are leaving money on the table. I believe most people expect to rack up $15,000 over 10 years and use that towards a vehicle. Here's what one upset card holder had to say,
"My husband and I have had a GM card for 10 years. We went last weekend to purchase a GMC truck and were told that we were only able to redeem $1,500 of our $2,700 worth of points. We contacted Capital One and got a ridiculous response saying that our card isn't the card that's advertised (convenient) on the website showing that there isn't a limit of how many points you can redeem towards a purchase of vehicle. My husband sent a follow up response to Capital One and never received a response. My husband and I both work for a Fortune 100 company that prides itself on customer service. We couldn't imagine not responding to a customer of over 10 years! We will be canceling our card this week and will make sure to tell all of our family and friends how poorly our situation was handled."
Once again, there are redemption limits. This card holder however, didn't read the 'fine print' int his case. If you are wondering what the redemption limits are for each vehicle? You can find them here, remember these limits do change from time to time (which they are subject to): https://www.gmcard.com/grid-data?region=northcentral#2014models
So, you racked up enough cash rewards on your BuyPower. You want to use that along with a special discount? That's too bad! You can't have your cake and eat it too! Don't you know, you can't combine GM BuyPower's cash rewards with other special discounts. It's in the 'fine print' once again. I saw where one card holder was offered a special discount from the dealer, but couldn't use the cash rewards. The person ultimately ended up using the discount from the dealer instead of the cash rewards because these discounts are often more than the redemption limits themselves.
After all, at the end of the day. You are limited to one car manufacture. I'm extremely loyal to many different consumer products/services. I'm loyal to Apple, Target, Colgate, Old Spice, Taco Bell, Cleveland Golf and many more brands. However, vehicles are one of the few products I'm loyal towards. I imagine because a vehicle pales in comparison as opposed to other products because of the amount of these products, the quality that changes what seems to often and how hard it is to change your loyalty. If I don't like Old Spice anymore, I can pitch it, go out to the drug store and find a different brand. You can't do this with a vehicle nor is deodorant $20,000+. For example, say you have a Capital One ReMax Reality BuyPower (I made this up and it does not exist). You are limiting yourself to the realtor, which I believe is the same and would not feel comfortable doing. Point is, I don't feel comfortable limiting choices when it comes to a vehicle.
To sum this up, there are just too many limits, rules, details, conditions, etc. to make me feel confident in acquiring and using the GM BuyPower card. I get a $520 return on cash back rewards from other cards in the portfolio during the year. The extra $1,000 a year in rewards is simply not worth it enough for me.
