topic Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value in Credit Cards

Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

craig10x — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 20:37:55 GMT

I recently learned on a discussion on Reddit that as of this month, while you still get 2 points for every dollar spent, they are now only worth around .66% per point thus reducing the card from a 2% cashback card to around 1.5% cashback, I sent a secure email to Alliant and they confirmed this was true

Was really surprised that they did this, and there is no mention on the website, you'd find out when you go to cash your points

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:02:58 GMT

@craig10x wrote:
I recently learned on a discussion on Reddit that as of this month, while you still get 2 points for every dollar spent, they are now only worth around .66% per point thus reducing the card from a 2% cashback card to around 1.5% cashback, I sent a secure email to Alliant and they confirmed this was true

Was really surprised that they did this, and there is no mention on the website, you'd find out when you go to cash your points

Thanks for sharing this information. I was just this morning considering Alliant's Visa Rewards to PenFeds and wondering which I should go for when I come out of the garden. This news makes the choice oh so much easier.

It is disappointing, to say the least.

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:14:50 GMT

@craig10x wrote:
I recently learned on a discussion on Reddit that as of this month, while you still get 2 points for every dollar spent, they are now only worth around .66% per point thus reducing the card from a 2% cashback card to around 1.5% cashback, I sent a secure email to Alliant and they confirmed this was true

Was really surprised that they did this, and there is no mention on the website, you'd find out when you go to cash your points

Often issuers are somewhat quiet about the value of the points (and I guess they can argue there are different value redemptions). And this gives them the opportunity for silent nerfs, as Penfed did some years back, and it sounds like Alliant did now.

Much easier for an issuer than say, USAlliance announcement that the card is going from 3x to 2x

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

PullingMeSoftly — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:52:58 GMT

It would seem PenFed has shared their playbook, points devaluations are disappointing.

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

PullingMeSoftly — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:58:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@craig10x wrote:
I recently learned on a discussion on Reddit that as of this month, while you still get 2 points for every dollar spent, they are now only worth around .66% per point thus reducing the card from a 2% cashback card to around 1.5% cashback, I sent a secure email to Alliant and they confirmed this was true

Was really surprised that they did this, and there is no mention on the website, you'd find out when you go to cash your points
Thanks for sharing this information. I was just this morning considering Alliant's Visa Rewards to PenFeds and wondering which I should go for when I come out of the garden. This news makes the choice oh so much easier.

It is disappointing, to say the least.

The PCR is a great card from PenFed, but not the Plat Rewards (or Pathfinder, total value of card benefits aside), which has a similarly gimped points value.

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

craig10x — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 16:50:50 GMT

Funny part is i had just applied for the Platinum Rewards Visa Card and was approved and should be receiving it in the mail soon (it's already linked to my Alliant Online)...They gave me an initial line of $5,000 which i hope to eventually increase to $10,000....

I guess i will use the card anyway...but would have been happier if they had left the points at full value...

I do use Alliant for my day to day banking so i thought it would be nice to have their credit card also on there...

I was curious if others here that have the card will be continuing to use theirs...

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

coldfusion — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 17:06:11 GMT

Mine got some use as a 2% card but now that it's closer to 1.33% it's going to get sockdrawered.

I did go and quickly eyeball my last several statements and didn't see any kind of notification regarding the devaluation, but I did log in and confirm it is in effect for both cash equivalent and gift card redemptions. IMO the way they processed this is a bit underhanded.

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

craig10x — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:07:26 GMT

I hear you....in my case i will use it as it is convenient and goes along nicely with my Alliant Online Banking...Perhaps though, if enough people stop using the card or greatly reduce their usage of the card in mass, then they might have to reconsider and restore it back to the way it previously was...

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

Azza — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:25:28 GMT

So much for them being able to call it "a true cashback card."

This is almost infuriating, it was my only general spender!

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

Ragdollkitty — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 10:22:14 GMT

Had this card for less than a year. First they raised the minimum redemption to $50 and then this.

I had $80.something worth of points. I had been debating withdrawing all or leaving $50 worth so I could be at minimum.

Obviously I wish I had withdrawn it all. If I had left $50 worth, it would now have been under the minimum and I would have been forced to keep using a lower % back.

I guess this makes it easy: sock drawer the card and withdraw all the points I have which luckily is over the $50 min still.

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

craig10x — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 17:10:57 GMT

I was looking at the Alliant Cu thread on a site called Fragile Deals and it was mentioned that the point value seems to have been restored...I went to Alliant's rewards link and although i don't have enough points to cash out to my checking account, i took a look at the gift cards section and sure enough...it was showing full value (ex: an AMC Theatres $50 gift card requires 5000 points)...has anyone else noticed the change and if you have the card...please check and see if you are seeing it also...

Perhaps they changed their mind when they saw a big drop in the card usage...Looks like it's back to a 2% cashback card again...

Re: Alliant Platinum Rewards Points Reduced In Value

coldfusion — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 19:12:37 GMT

I just checked and checking/savings/statement credits are in fact again valued at $0.01/point.

Alliant Rewards restoring point values to 1 cent per point

Azza — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 22:14:35 GMT

From my email:

Fantastic news!

Re: Alliant Rewards restoring point values to 1 cent per point

K-in-Boston — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 22:17:57 GMT

I don't have the card, but that is a great response to customer feedback and surprisingly quick.

Re: Alliant Rewards restoring point values to 1 cent per point

Ragdollkitty — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 01:35:09 GMT

I was surprised when I saw the email today reverting the devaluation of points. It even says I'll be credited for the points I lost when I cashed out all my points at the lower rate.

We'll never know but I wonder if it was customer complaints or just data showing people cashing out and/or ceasing usage that prompted the reversal.

While I'm happy with the change, I don't know if how much I'm going to use the card fearing that they might do it again. It would have been one thing if they had announced that they were downgrading points (like I believe USA alliance did) but instead I learned about it here on forums before Alliant announced the change (and again it was a stealth nerf initially).

Re: Alliant Rewards restoring point values to 1 cent per point

Ragdollkitty — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 03:23:23 GMT

My points haven't been restored yet but I realize I have to use the card for about $1500 to get the points to $50 so I can cash out and sock drawer. Again, I'm not going to risk them doing this again so I will use ASAP to get to $50 and then cash it out.

I might have kept using it but the $50 min redemption and the possibility of a.devaluation is just not with it.