Sallie Mae - strange....

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

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For me, I can achieve what I need with the Cash+ for the most part (at least, at this moment, with the categories). I have 2% dining, 5% fast food, and 5% furniture (IKEA for me) selected for Q4. I eat out more than I should probably, especially fast food so it suits me just fine. I rarely buy gas as my commute is about 60 seconds, I buy most of my groceries at BJ's with my BJ's card, etc. Having said that, the categories in the past were definitely broader and better but that's the case for most cards...they get worse over time.

The only real use for the Upromise card for me has been online shopping; having said that, I've gotten some good deals. 6% back on Ebay, 10% back on booking.com to book next summer's beach trip (haven't done it yet, but the percentage will be nice), etc. It's nice, but it's not an everyday spending type of card. The deals can be valuable if you like to shop online.

This can happen at any point with any card, so it's good we are mostly all diversified and with SM's caps, no one is going to lose out on a lot of money even if the card is actually discontinued/changed. 5% on "good" categories is just hard to sustain.

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Thanks for the heads-up, kdm.  I really like my Sallie Mae MC, but I can't say that I'm getting rich off of the rewards I get from this card (or any of these cards really).  So, it definitely won't be the end of the world if this card is in the process of being nerfed.  It will be interesting to see what develops though.

[kdm31091]

I don't know why everyone hates on the Upromise card so badly. No, it's not an everyday, lucrative card like Sallie is/was but let's be honest, 5% groceries/gas/bookstores/Amazon with no fee (and not rotating categories) is never going to last forever, even if it's not discontinued right now.

While Upromise isn't as great for brick and mortar everyday spending, if you like to shop online there are plenty of good deals. It's not a replacement as the structure isn't really the same, but it's not a bad card in its own right. The deals can even eclipse other options. For example, you can get 10% off on Orbitz or Travelocity. 10% off of ANY travel you book is pretty good compared to hassling with point programs.

Nothing one can do about it, so no point in worrying about it. If they convert it, they convert it. Your life will go on without 5% on groceries. Since there is no comparable no AF card with such rewards, I am hardly surprised. Like the above poster said, no one's getting rich from this card.

[Anonymous]

Im not going to sit and fret over what may or may not happen with this card. Received the same email as Irish and believe its more a website maintenance issue than anything but if its nerfed then life goes on. Maybe they discontinue apps for new customers only, maybe they nerf it for current customers, maybe absolutely NOTHING changes bc I have my doubts Barclay is losing much money with this card since I still have yet to even hear of it or know of anyone with it outside of this forum. Such is life.

I will say in regards to Upromise I'm not hating on it per se but for the purpose I intended, restaurants, it would have been an awful decision since the options in my area are terrible. 10% off Orbitz is appealing but Orbitz is consistently part of Discover Deals and always has promos of its own going which are quite nice. Travelocity....meh I've never found it to be one of the better discounts when searching so wouldnt use them.

[kdm31091]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Im not going to sit and fret over what may or may not happen with this card. Received the same email as Irish and believe its more a website maintenance issue than anything but if its nerfed then life goes on. Maybe they discontinue apps for new customers only, maybe they nerf it for current customers, maybe absolutely NOTHING changes bc I have my doubts Barclay is losing much money with this card since I still have yet to even hear of it or know of anyone with it outside of this forum. Such is life.

I will say in regards to Upromise I'm not hating on it per se but for the purpose I intended, restaurants, it would have been an awful decision since the options in my area are terrible. 10% off Orbitz is appealing but Orbitz is consistently part of Discover Deals and always has promos of its own going which are quite nice. Travelocity....meh I've never found it to be one of the better discounts when searching so wouldnt use them.

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Yeah, of the Upromise restaurants there are only maybe 2 in my area that I would even use. Good for online shopping, yes, but as you mentioned Discover Deals often has comparable offers. So meh. To each their own. Upromise is no replacement for Sallie for most people, but I'm just saying it's not that bad on its own right

[Sharingan]

Didn't the Arrival cards disappear for a while when Barclays was butchering some of their benefits?

If it is, indeed, the case that Barclays has stopped taking new applications for the Sallie Mae, I can't say that I'm surprised. I do agree with the notion that most cardholders probably only use it for its 5% categories and nothing more. Despite the cap, 5% cash back in such categories is still rather high with such low swipe fee charges and no AF. Seeing as how it is likely that there isn't a significant number of cardholders out in the public (impossible to determine for certain, but I'm willing to speculate), that would mean less opportunities for Barclays to offset the costs associated with the rewards structure with interest charges, fees, and members using the card for noncategory spending. 

If the card does end up being discontinued altogether, there are still other options to make up for the loss. For example, my PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Plus has replaced my SM for gas. It is 5% at the pump as well. The Sam's Club MC is another good alternative here. The BC/BCE(P)/ED(P) can easily cover groceries. As for Amazon, well, their own Prime card is 5% back. The rotating categories cards also have Amazon covered for a good portion of the year. Lastly, those of us with Citi Forwards have that for Amazon too. It's not as convenient as having all of this in one card, but people will just have to evaluate what's most important to them, get curious/creative, and make decisions accordingly.

Life goes on~ 

[Callandra]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Im not going to sit and fret over what may or may not happen with this card. Received the same email as Irish and believe its more a website maintenance issue than anything but if its nerfed then life goes on. Maybe they discontinue apps for new customers only, maybe they nerf it for current customers, maybe absolutely NOTHING changes bc I have my doubts Barclay is losing much money with this card since I still have yet to even hear of it or know of anyone with it outside of this forum. Such is life.

I will say in regards to Upromise I'm not hating on it per se but for the purpose I intended, restaurants, it would have been an awful decision since the options in my area are terrible. 10% off Orbitz is appealing but Orbitz is consistently part of Discover Deals and always has promos of its own going which are quite nice. Travelocity....meh I've never found it to be one of the better discounts when searching so wouldnt use them.

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Great post Heavenly. You summed up my feelings exactly. 

If the card gets nerfed (whether it be for current cardholders and new cardholders), then I will deal with it then. If for some crazy reason Barclays makes us get Upromise cards, I will try to PC to Rewards (2% groceries uncapped with Target/Wal-Mart counting would make it worth it); if not, that will be that and I will find other cards (probably Quicksilver for everything and Chase Amazon for all my Amazon shopping and restaurants). I just activated extra bonus SM categories through an email the other day so it appears I will have my SM for at least the rest of the year. 

I'm not sure why some here are gleeful/happy about this card being discontinued as a lot of us really like it. If you don't like it, it's okay but it's not really necessary to rub it in our faces IMO. And I haven't seen anything anywhere that implies that current cardholders will lose their benefits; Priceline allowed existing cardholders to keep their 2% on everything and the old Citi Forward hasn't changed the rewards structure for the people that had had the card even when it was nerfed. I think we all should just relax and see what happens. 

[kdm31091]

Thats all anyone can do. For the record, im not gleeful about it. Just thought people would want to know it was potentially happening

[Anonymous]

I just got the SM card couple of months back and this . In addition to the 5% rewards on the everyday spending (gas/groceries/amazon) , SM helped me to simplify my credit card portfolio . Since i am a low spender  , i am only using SM and Discover(Double cash back) as my primary cards . Rest of my cards are SD and used occasionally to only keep it active . Now , if the rewards are nerfed , i have to replace SM with atleast three of my other cards - BCE (3% groceries) ; Discover / Freedom (5% gas and amazon) - for rotating categories . So it is not just the rewards i am losing , i have to go the prior SM days of remembering  which of the three cards i should be using where  to maxmize the rewards , which is really inconvenenient at times .

[happypill]

I'd hate to see the SM card go, but I can definitely see why it isn't profitable for Barclays.  I use it only for category spend...of course they kind of force that with the small limit they hand out.  If it goes away, I'm covered for Amazon and could get covered at 3-3.3% for gas and groceries so it won't be too bad.

Barclay's does seem to change their reward structures more than other lenders.  Just off the top of my head, the Arrival+, Priceline, Wyndham & Black Luxury Card (har har) have changed in the past year or so.  If they do nerf the SM, I hope they keep existing cards with the same rewards structure.

[icyhot]

Plot twist: the card never existed and the rewards are all an illusion lol