@CreditCuriosity wrote:
@JNA1 wrote:I had been getting $10K+ on the ClearPoints and Rewards cards for many months, but mine also dropped to $7500 in June. I presumed maybe they had tightened up things because of COVID.Would be my guess as my income is certainly six figures so felt it was pretty low where-as highest card is 60k+ and normal cards are in the 20k-30k range. I dont need a 20k clearpoints, but expected between 10k-15k range. I will hold off till better offers come as no rush to get the card other than possibly sub as have a 3% everday card and well tons of other cards as well
My experience post-covid is that either:
(1) lenders have tightened up *ALL* their underwriting, regardless of credit factors on a file or application (OR)
(2) lenders may have become more sensitive so that it takes lower inquiries, lower new accounts, or lower debt to trigger a change in whatever they would have previously given.
So unless you've had nothing change on your credit file since the last application, I'd estimate it's hard to determine which is the driving issue.
Like you, @CreditCuriosity, I would have marginal value for a BBVA card with what else I have in my wallet. But I've been widening my net with new banks and BBVA is in my geo-area with physical branches. And I think their cards are better than some other mid-tier or regional banks. So that's what keeps me looking at their cards more than anything. I've definitely come to appreciate diversity.
Clear Points is not a bad card with up to 3% back in categories of your choosing. But also, if you want to do some banking with them, their Rewards card is a 2% card with $1K Direct Deposit. (Only 1.5% without.) They also have their 'premium' (if you want to call it that lol) "Select Card" with $99 AF waived year one, $500 SUB, and 4% on entertainment, 3% Dining, 2% travel, and 1% elsewhere. I'm in their geofence in for this card since it's limited to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, California, and New Mexico. (Where it shines is the SUB, free year one AF, and 4% on entertainment but I can't find what they code as entertainment and doubt I could benefit enough from that to pay for the AF long-term. And I can do much better on all other categories with existing cards.
Ahhh .... first world problems. When you start to exhaust your possibilities for maximizing your credit card rewards payouts! Lol 
@Aim_High wrote:
@CreditCuriosity wrote:
@JNA1 wrote:I had been getting $10K+ on the ClearPoints and Rewards cards for many months, but mine also dropped to $7500 in June. I presumed maybe they had tightened up things because of COVID.Would be my guess as my income is certainly six figures so felt it was pretty low where-as highest card is 60k+ and normal cards are in the 20k-30k range. I dont need a 20k clearpoints, but expected between 10k-15k range. I will hold off till better offers come as no rush to get the card other than possibly sub as have a 3% everday card and well tons of other cards as well
My experience post-covid is that either:
(1) lenders have tightened up *ALL* their underwriting, regardless of credit factors on a file or application (OR)
(2) lenders may have become more sensitive so that it takes lower inquiries, lower new accounts, or lower debt to trigger a change in whatever they would have previously given.
So unless you've had nothing change on your credit file since the last application, I'd estimate it's hard to determine which is the driving issue.
Like you, @CreditCuriosity, I would have marginal value for a BBVA card with what else I have in my wallet. But I've been widening my net with new banks and BBVA is in my geo-area with physical branches. And I think their cards are better than some other mid-tier or regional banks.
Clear Points is not a bad card with up to 3% back in categories of your choosing. But also, if you want to do some banking with them, their Rewards card is a 2% card with $1K Direct Deposit. (Only 1.5% without.) They also have their 'premium' (if you want to call it that lol) "Select Card" with $99 AF waived year one, $500 SUB, and 4% on entertainment, 3% Dining, 2% travel, and 1% elsewhere. I'm in their geofence in for this card since it's limited to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, California, and New Mexico. (Where it shines is the SUB, free year one AF, and 4% on entertainment but I can't find what they code as entertainment and doubt I could benefit enough from that to pay for the AF long-term. And I can do much better on all other categories with existing cards.
Ahhh .... first world problems. When you start to exhaust your possibilities for maximizing your credit card rewards payouts! Lol
Funny thing my verizon Visa basically has the same sub and same cats as the BBVA "premium card" although only verizon dollars, but works for me and who would of known the sub would of been so high or speculate it would of got a few other MF applications 
Anyways will look at the clear points sometime early next year when i think lenders will be more relaxed again.
@CreditCuriosity wrote:Funny thing my verizon Visa basically has the same sub and same cats as the BBVA "premium card" although only verizon dollars, but works for me and who would of known the sub would of been so high or speculate it would of got a few other MF applications
Yeah, you guys that grabbed the Verizon Visa in that early promotion really cleaned up. After the money was divided, that SUB was something like $412 per person, right? Congrats on nabbing a sweet deal! 
Actually the Verizon Visa is much more useful card for everyday spend than the "BBVA Select." Verizon gives you 4% on gas and groceries, not entertainment. That is huge to most people and I think the best thing about this card! And then also the same 3% on dining. All without the BBVA annual fee! Verizon give 2% on your Verizon bill while BBVA gives you 2% on a potentially much higher spend category, travel. However, many of us already have a 2% (or higher) card for everything without that annual fee, plus many of us have premium travel cards with much better rewards and benefits. And then there is the 1% on everything else with either card which is where they are equally subpar! 
I really disliked having a credit card's usefulness tied to keeping a Verizon plan and only being able to use the rewards for bill credits. (That is also why I question keeping my Apple card sometimes.) And as much as I've tried to diversify banks, Synchrony is not on my list of banks I want to be a customer for various reasons. I already get great value from my Chase INK Cash card for cellphone bills (7.5% return for travel when UR points rolled over to my CSR), so the Verizon card doesn't even save me money over the long haul on my cellphone bill (excluding the first 24 months where you're getting the additional monthly credit.) I liked the 4% categories as much as anything. But I already get 4% gasoline on my Costco Visa up to $7K annually and sometimes 5% on my rotating category cards. And I already get 3% on groceries on my AFBA/UMB card (including discount stores like Walmart or Target) or my AOD FCU, plus I picked up the AMEX Gold for 4x MR on groceries up to $25K annually. That's not counting the quarters where I get 5% on groceries on my rotating category cards. All-in-all, the additional incremental value was marginal for me.
But for the right person without as many other options, that Verizon card is a great card! It may shake up some of the other reward offerings.
Since I now have the AOD card, my most value on my ClearPoints card comes from the targeted offers that I get almost monthly. We have 6X (I have my 2X Category set as restaurants and the offer adds another 4X) points on restaurants for September, but I’ve got an offer like this 7 of the 9 months this year. I got 4X dining in Jan, 6X gas in March, 5x groceries in April, 5X groceries and pharmacies in May, 5X dining in Jun, 5X gas in July, and 4X restaurants in Sept. These extra points stack on top of any existing points you already have selected.
@JNA1 wrote:
Since I now have the AOD card, my most value on my ClearPoints card comes from the targeted offers that I get almost monthly. We have 6X (I have my 2X Category set as restaurants and the offer adds another 4X) points on restaurants for September, but I’ve got an offer like this 7 of the 9 months this year. I got 4X dining in Jan, 6X gas in March, 5x groceries in April, 5X groceries and pharmacies in May, 5X dining in Jun, 5X gas in July, and 4X restaurants in Sept. These extra points stack on top of any existing points you already have selected.
Wow, I did not know that @JNA1! Clear points just became a much more attractive card for me! I didn't realize they gave such lucrative and frequent targeted offers! Maybe I need to put it higher on my list for the future, but I'm gardening now. As I mentioned earlier, I just hit the prequal page out of curiosity and wanted to report my findings. Thanks for that update!
Thanks for those links @Anonymous.
What happened to all your cards in siggy? 
My post on the link below shows screenshots of all the ones I had gotten until that point. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/BBVA-targeted-offer-4X-bonus-points-on-groceries/m-p/6...
@Aim_High wrote:
@JNA1 wrote:
Since I now have the AOD card, my most value on my ClearPoints card comes from the targeted offers that I get almost monthly. We have 6X (I have my 2X Category set as restaurants and the offer adds another 4X) points on restaurants for September, but I’ve got an offer like this 7 of the 9 months this year. I got 4X dining in Jan, 6X gas in March, 5x groceries in April, 5X groceries and pharmacies in May, 5X dining in Jun, 5X gas in July, and 4X restaurants in Sept. These extra points stack on top of any existing points you already have selected.Wow, I did not know that @JNA1! Clear points just became a much more attractive card for me! I didn't realize they gave such lucrative and frequent targeted offers! Maybe I need to put it higher on my list for the future, but I'm gardening now. As I mentioned earlier, I just hit the prequal page out of curiosity and wanted to report my findings. Thanks for that update!
@Aim_High wrote:Thanks for those links @Anonymous.
What happened to all your cards in siggy?
I got tired of the clutter lol.
I got rid of my $10K PayPal and Capital One slashed my QS (I PC'd the V1 back to QS) from $8250 to $2K. Other than that, no changes since I added AOD in April. $87,100 TCL at present.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:Thanks for those links @Anonymous.
What happened to all your cards in siggy?
I got tired of the clutter lol.
I got rid of my $10K PayPal and Capital One slashed my QS (I PC'd the V1 back to QS) from $8250 to $2K. Other than that, no changes since I added AOD in April. $87,100 TCL at present.
Ahhh ... I thought maybe either simplifying or else "under construction." It can be cluttered but I find the siggys very interesting to see each other's profiles. I wish everyone here had one! The real thrill would be to see details for @Mahraja! Lol, Mr $1.6M+