CapOne upgrade to World Elite Mastercard - does it really matter?

[MileHigh96]

Just got this email this morning concerning my QS card.  I mean, okay, it's an upgrade, but does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?  Just looking at the benefits they're pushing, they really are meaningless to me.  I don't travel, which those benefits seem to favor, so what really do I get out of this upgrade, and why did they even bother with the upgrade?  I guess I just don't see the point.  And this upgrade shows up a couple of months after I pretty much stopped using this card as my go-to 1-1/2% daily use card, I use my NFCU card for that now.

[GZG]

Congrats on the upgrade!! 

I just got the same email for my QS as well. 

It was my understanding they like to issue these upgrades because they can charge more merchant fees for this type of MC as opposed to the platinum version. 

I wonder if this impacts PC possibility to the Savor One

There are the other benefits as you said, but they aren't likely to be things that get used. Have a look at the full benefits PDF, there might be something in there that the original email didn't mention? 

[StephenH]

I don't think there's much of an added benefit, specially if you had a world mastercard which just got upgraded to WEMC. 

I think this is a repeat of last years WEMC upgrade wave...and I don't think it will have an impact on S1 upgrade eligibility.

[SouthJamaica]

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@MileHigh96 wrote:

Just got this email this morning concerning my QS card.  I mean, okay, it's an upgrade, but does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?  Just looking at the benefits they're pushing, they really are meaningless to me.  I don't travel, which those benefits seem to favor, so what really do I get out of this upgrade, and why did they even bother with the upgrade?  I guess I just don't see the point.  And this upgrade shows up a couple of months after I pretty much stopped using this card as my go-to 1-1/2% daily use card, I use my NFCU card for that now.

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I never use those kinds of benefits. I don't even pay attention to them. Maybe I'm wrong to be that way, but they just seem meaningless to me.

[Zoostation1]

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@StephenH wrote:

I don't think there's much of an added benefit, specially if you had a world mastercard which just got upgraded to WEMC. 

I think this is a repeat of last years WEMC upgrade wave...and I don't think it will have an impact on S1 upgrade eligibility.

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I'm curious as to how they have determined when and which cards to upgrade to WEMC.  I've yet to see any V1 cards get upgraded to WEMC even though new approvals are often issued as WEMC.  

Regarding S1 upgrades I agree and there's at least one DP of someone with a card that was still plat upgrading to S1 (it became WEMC upon the PC).

[CatsFaninLex]

I also received this email this morning.  It seems like a big batch of us did.

[Anonymous]

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@GZG wrote:

It was my understanding they like to issue these upgrades because they can charge more merchant fees for this type of MC as opposed to the platinum version. 

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Basically this, a higher swipe for a higher-tier card and very little use of the benefts, so really all upside for the issuer (this is how $500 WEMC became a thing).   And if a benefit such as cell phone protection starts costing them too much, no problem, they can just opt-out of that benefit, while still keeping the enhanced swipe fee.

I assume there must be SOME restraining force somewhere, otherwise all issuers would make all cards premium, although it sounds like that is almost happening with some.

The justification behind the higher swipe fee is that premium cards belong to premium customers who are going to spend more.   With the complete breaking of this model, I would think merchants would try to rebel.   "Why I am paying top fees for a group of cards with often $500 CL and almost no MC benefits??"   Of course, most merchants who aren't on credit card forums might not realize that standards have changed so drastically.

[NoMoreE46]

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@Zoostation1 wrote:

I'm curious as to how they have determined when and which cards to upgrade to WEMC.  I've yet to see any V1 cards get upgraded to WEMC even though new approvals are often issued as WEMC.  

Regarding S1 upgrades I agree and there's at least one DP of someone with a card that was still plat upgrading to S1 (it became WEMC upon the PC).

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Aren't all of the Venture suite cards on Visa?

[Anonymalous]

I thought all the MasterCards were upgraded last year. But since that's not the case, I'm also wondering about the criteria. They're clearly not aiming at the more premium tranches first -- I was bucketed at $300 when they upgraded my QS Platinum to a WEMC. Though if it's based on credit score at the time of the upgrade (as opposed to the profile at time of application), I did have pretty high scores.

[Anonymalous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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I never use those kinds of benefits. I don't even pay attention to them. Maybe I'm wrong to be that way, but they just seem meaningless to me.

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The Cap1 WEMC benefits amount to a fairly broad range of travel and purchase protections. Combined with the no FTF, it becomes a decent basic travel card. Not something someone with a dedicated travel card with an AF would typically care about, but it provides a bit of a safety net to those who don't. The purchase protections are also decent for relatively high value/high risk purchases, like a new laptop.