@Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I really wonder why certain cards don't get more traction. For about 1/2 year solid, you could hardly find a thread here that didn't mention the CSR. It was the holy grail. People singing its praises, hoping for it, longing for it, languishing because 5/24 prevented them from getting it. It was the FOTM for many months. That faded pretty quickly once the big bonus went away, with many a tearful regret about not getting into CSR in time.
Then comes along the USBank Altitude card. A virtual carbon copy of the original CSR offer; metal card, generous startup bonus, travel credit, Precheck/Global Entry, airport lounge access, 1½ x point redemptions on travel, etc. And no 5/24! I figured, this is going to be the next FOTM. And then, yawn. Despite some initial chatter, nobody seemed to care.
Can't figure it out. Have we just all become so spoiled that each new card has to be twice as good as the last over-the-top card to get people excited?
Chris.
The CSR's initial sign-up bonus was certainly very nice, but for me personally it is really just a small drop in the bucket tbh, at least in the grander scheme of things each year. I don't really app for cards just for the bonus alone -- if the card's basic features don't meet my needs, I won't apply for it, no matter how big the bonus is. In the case of the CSR, the huge AF was the deal-breaker for me. I know that after the CSR's travel credit, the AF is significantly less and much closer to that of the CSP, but I also don't travel enough to be able to get the full usage of it. I was honestly much more impressed by the FNBO Travelite card than the CSR, since with Travelite, you get the free annual $100 travel credit (and without any AF to need to break even with at all whatsoever), Global Entry and TSA-Pre credits, plus 3% rewards on travel and 1.5% rewards on everything else, along with trip cancellation, etc. insurance features. I wish FNBO would reopen the AF-free version of the Travelite to new apps 
But yes the Travelite card made me very excited; the CSR, not so much...
@Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many people typically sign up for a new offering from a major issuer like Chase. Thousands, tens of thousands? I just have no concept of the scope we're talking about here. Conversely, let's say you're a little credit union and one of your cards suddenly gets "hot" because word got out online...what kind of chaos could that create for a small bank or CU if suddenly 100 people throw app's at them, or heaven forbid, 10,000 people do that.
I'm not a big fan of FOTM...I try to think long term and stay within my ever-evolving strategy. Having said that, a really cool unusual offer of some sort might get my attention.
One thing that I've heard on here (that I still am looking for a source on) is that banks have to be able to cover all purchases by their cardholders, up to the credit limits they're given. I believe I heard it in one of the Capital One CLD threads, but I can't find it. Googling those words leads me nowhere other than "Should you ever take a cash advance?" and "Banks blame credit card fraud on consumers." 
This would explain why we see smaller CU's like NASA chopping people's limits after handing them $25K - they can't cover transactions for 10,000 people with $25K credit limits. I doubt they could cover it for 2,000 people.
@DeeBee78 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many people typically sign up for a new offering from a major issuer like Chase. Thousands, tens of thousands? I just have no concept of the scope we're talking about here. Conversely, let's say you're a little credit union and one of your cards suddenly gets "hot" because word got out online...what kind of chaos could that create for a small bank or CU if suddenly 100 people throw app's at them, or heaven forbid, 10,000 people do that.
I'm not a big fan of FOTM...I try to think long term and stay within my ever-evolving strategy. Having said that, a really cool unusual offer of some sort might get my attention.
One thing that I've heard on here (that I still am looking for a source on) is that banks have to be able to cover all purchases by their cardholders, up to the credit limits they're given. I believe I heard it in one of the Capital One CLD threads, but I can't find it. Googling those words leads me nowhere other than "Should you ever take a cash advance?" and "Banks blame credit card fraud on consumers."
This would explain why we see smaller CU's like NASA chopping people's limits after handing them $25K - they can't cover transactions for 10,000 people with $25K credit limits. I doubt they could cover it for 2,000 people.
NASA has over $1 billion in assets so I'm pretty sure that they could cover $50 million
@Anonymous wrote:
@DeeBee78 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many people typically sign up for a new offering from a major issuer like Chase. Thousands, tens of thousands? I just have no concept of the scope we're talking about here. Conversely, let's say you're a little credit union and one of your cards suddenly gets "hot" because word got out online...what kind of chaos could that create for a small bank or CU if suddenly 100 people throw app's at them, or heaven forbid, 10,000 people do that.
I'm not a big fan of FOTM...I try to think long term and stay within my ever-evolving strategy. Having said that, a really cool unusual offer of some sort might get my attention.
One thing that I've heard on here (that I still am looking for a source on) is that banks have to be able to cover all purchases by their cardholders, up to the credit limits they're given. I believe I heard it in one of the Capital One CLD threads, but I can't find it. Googling those words leads me nowhere other than "Should you ever take a cash advance?" and "Banks blame credit card fraud on consumers."
This would explain why we see smaller CU's like NASA chopping people's limits after handing them $25K - they can't cover transactions for 10,000 people with $25K credit limits. I doubt they could cover it for 2,000 people.
NASA has over $1 billion in assets so I'm pretty sure that they could cover $50 million
Well, they're a lot better off than I thought, lol! I stand corrected.
Shouldnt complicate it, its a flavor of the MONTH
Its not meant to be longterm
Its not meant to be longterm
@Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many people typically sign up for a new offering from a major issuer like Chase. Thousands, tens of thousands? I just have no concept of the scope we're talking about here. Conversely, let's say you're a little credit union and one of your cards suddenly gets "hot" because word got out online...what kind of chaos could that create for a small bank or CU if suddenly 100 people throw app's at them, or heaven forbid, 10,000 people do that.
I'm not a big fan of FOTM...I try to think long term and stay within my ever-evolving strategy. Having said that, a really cool unusual offer of some sort might get my attention.
Omg. You just reminded me of the Oregon CU (Quack, quack) Duck Card and the Beaver.
They were smothered with apps, gave instant approvals and kept dishing out $20K lines like no tomorrow before long they were reeling a whole bunch back in (closing accnts)
A classic MyFico effect 