topic Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board???? in Credit Cards

Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards on ALL purchases!!

primechicken — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:38:44 GMT

https://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/credit/sportchalet/usb_sc.cfm?ics_src=87004

See for yourself and tell me what I'm missing here. It's a Sports Chalet Visa that comes in Signature and Platinum. According to the pitch, both offer 2% cash back on across-the-board purchases in addition to the rewards on Sport Chalet purchases. See below:

Exclusive Sport Chalet Visa benefits:

Over 6% in rewards at Sport Chalet1
2% in rewards everywhere else2
Get automatically enrolled in Action PassTM when you apply if you are not already a member
Receive a $10 Action PassTM Reward Certificates3 automatically when you reach 300 points

Sport Chalet Visa Signature® card benefits:4

No Pre-Set Spending5
Visa Signature Concierge6
Premium Offers7
Special Dining Privileges7

When I read the correlating footnote, it says:

"Sport Chalet Visa Cardmembers receive .60 Action PassTM point for each dollar ($1) of Net Purchases (purchases minus credits and returns) made everywhere else Visa is accepted and charged to a Sport Chalet Visa Card Account. This translates to 2% back on qualifying purchases. "

It is certainly asserted that one can earn 2% back. Not sure how to confirm it though. At least a couple questions... What is an Action Pass point? And how do they define a qualifying purchase? Seems like a 2% 'all other purchases' card would be a topic of conversation somewhere on these forums if it was legit. I tried to read through some of the fine print on the page but it's a little nebulous. Any ideas or experience or words of caution or clarity on this card?

Thanks.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

primechicken — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:25:38 GMT

What is Action Pass? link...

http://www.sportchalet.com/category/action+pass/what+is+action+pass+%26%238482-.do

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

primechicken — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:32:34 GMT

From the link above:

As an Action Pass™ member it is easy to earn rewards and stay informed. Best of all it's yours FREE.

Use your Action Pass™ member number every time you shop and:

Collect PointsYou'll earn one point for every dollar you spend*
Receive RewardsWhen you reach 300 points, we will automatically send you a Reward Certificate
Save Money:Use your Reward Certificate the next time you shop
RepeatWhen you reach 300 points, we will automatically send you a $10 Reward Certificate valid for anything sold at Sport Chalet.

10 bucks for every 300 points? Not bad. That's about 3.33% rewards by my calculations, I guess the catch is that it must be spent at Sport Chalet. I don't see anything saying it can be applied to a statement. But this is stuff I'm looking at from the Action Pass card page. Far as the Visa goes, I'm still baffled as to where they're getting the 2% figure from. But I'd sure like to understand. Anyone have this card?

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

primechicken — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:41:06 GMT

OK so I just spoke with a very helpful person from cardmember services at US Bank and got some information on this. It actually sounds pretty appealing to me. Basically, the card earns 5% rewards on every purchase made at Sport Chalet. The catch is that every reward dollar earned (which come in a $25 gift card after a fixed threshold is met) must be spent at Sport Chalet.

Eh... Nothin to write home about there. BUT...

All other purchases made with the card outside of Sport Chalet wherever Visa is accepted earn 2% rewards (0.6 action points per dollar spent with a $10 reward certificate for every 300 pts) which can be used one of two ways:

1) It can be used to get $10 off your next Sport Chalet purchase, OR...

2) It can be applied as a $10 credit toward your statement.

This is true of both the Signature and the Platinum on this card. So, for a person who is ok with applying their earned rewards to their statement, this card functions as a 2% cash rewards card across the board on all purchases including those that don't fall into particular categories such as gas, groceries, bills, restaurants, etc.

So, for example, you take a card like the Priceline Visa Sig. Its appeal (for me) is in its 2% rewards across the board because that is very hard to find outside of categorically allocated rewards. Here's a card that seems to match that and, I suspect, may be easier to get. (It is US Bank, but it's a store card, and at least the Platinum version provides the same rewards as the Signature version.)

Hope this is valuable info to someone. Feel free to make any corrections or point out any oversights. It's a pretty fresh investigation at this point. Looks pretty decent to me though.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

Exonumist — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:14:08 GMT

Interesting... I'm was looking at either the Fidelity AMEX or Priceline for a spree in January. I'll have to look into this more as well now.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards on ALL purchases!!

BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest — Sun, 12 May 2013 00:32:09 GMT

Yes my dad and sister have this card. And the rewards really add up QUICK especially since we use it at Sport Chalet the most. They are always constantly sending offers if you use card in store. They are very happy with the card since Sport Chalet carries a lot of sporting equipment.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards on ALL purchases!!

BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest — Sun, 12 May 2013 00:33:08 GMT

I wanna say that its pretty easy to get approved with good credit.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

Themanwhocan — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:04:54 GMT

@primechicken wrote:
OK so I just spoke with a very helpful person from cardmember services at US Bank and got some information on this. It actually sounds pretty appealing to me. Basically, the card earns 5% rewards on every purchase made at Sport Chalet. The catch is that every reward dollar earned (which come in a $25 gift card after a fixed threshold is met) must be spent at Sport Chalet.

Eh... Nothin to write home about there. BUT...

All other purchases made with the card outside of Sport Chalet wherever Visa is accepted earn 2% rewards (0.6 action points per dollar spent with a $10 reward certificate for every 300 pts) which can be used one of two ways:

1) It can be used to get $10 off your next Sport Chalet purchase, OR...
2) It can be applied as a $10 credit toward your statement.

This is true of both the Signature and the Platinum on this card. So, for a person who is ok with applying their earned rewards to their statement, this card functions as a 2% cash rewards card across the board on all purchases including those that don't fall into particular categories such as gas, groceries, bills, restaurants, etc.

So, for example, you take a card like the Priceline Visa Sig. Its appeal (for me) is in its 2% rewards across the board because that is very hard to find outside of categorically allocated rewards. Here's a card that seems to match that and, I suspect, may be easier to get. (It is US Bank, but it's a store card, and at least the Platinum version provides the same rewards as the Signature version.)

Hope this is valuable info to someone. Feel free to make any corrections or point out any oversights. It's a pretty fresh investigation at this point. Looks pretty decent to me though.

The Sport Chalet web site seems to contradict this information. It says when you reach 300 points, they automatically send you the $10 via email, which then has to be used at Sport Chalet. Without additional information, its not clear how a person could change this, if it is automatic, and if no alternative is mentioned in writing...

Does anyone here have actual experience with using the points for a statement credit?

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

primechicken — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:32:06 GMT

I'm tempted to call again fresh and see what another CSR says for the sake of consistency.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

Anonymous — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:53:09 GMT

primechicken, do you shop at sport chalet a lot?

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

primechicken — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:31:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
primechicken, do you shop at sport chalet a lot?

No.

Re: Sport Chalet Visa 2% rewards across the board????

primechicken — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:34:18 GMT

@Themanwhocan wrote:
@primechicken wrote:
OK so I just spoke with a very helpful person from cardmember services at US Bank and got some information on this. It actually sounds pretty appealing to me. Basically, the card earns 5% rewards on every purchase made at Sport Chalet. The catch is that every reward dollar earned (which come in a $25 gift card after a fixed threshold is met) must be spent at Sport Chalet.

Eh... Nothin to write home about there. BUT...

All other purchases made with the card outside of Sport Chalet wherever Visa is accepted earn 2% rewards (0.6 action points per dollar spent with a $10 reward certificate for every 300 pts) which can be used one of two ways:

1) It can be used to get $10 off your next Sport Chalet purchase, OR...
2) It can be applied as a $10 credit toward your statement.

This is true of both the Signature and the Platinum on this card. So, for a person who is ok with applying their earned rewards to their statement, this card functions as a 2% cash rewards card across the board on all purchases including those that don't fall into particular categories such as gas, groceries, bills, restaurants, etc.

So, for example, you take a card like the Priceline Visa Sig. Its appeal (for me) is in its 2% rewards across the board because that is very hard to find outside of categorically allocated rewards. Here's a card that seems to match that and, I suspect, may be easier to get. (It is US Bank, but it's a store card, and at least the Platinum version provides the same rewards as the Signature version.)

Hope this is valuable info to someone. Feel free to make any corrections or point out any oversights. It's a pretty fresh investigation at this point. Looks pretty decent to me though.
The Sport Chalet web site seems to contradict this information. It says when you reach 300 points, they automatically send you the $10 via email, which then has to be used at Sport Chalet. Without additional information, its not clear how a person could change this, if it is automatic, and if no alternative is mentioned in writing...

Does anyone here have actual experience with using the points for a statement credit?

Well I called back to speak with another rep, and you are correct. He initially said they cannot be redeemed for a statement credit, and when I asked him why the contradiction from a different rep, he placed me on hold to double check and see if policy had recently been changed without his knowledge. It had not. Indeed Sport Chalet wants any money you earn in rewards coming right back to them and them only. Glad you said something. Looks like I can X this one off my list and maybe consider putting the Priceline card back on.