Audience Rewards Credit Card Review – 2x On Live Entertainment

Today is Wednesday which means it’s time for another post in our Weird Wednesday series where we take a look at a little known/slightly different credit card. This week we will be looking at the Audience Rewards credit card which is issued by FNBO.

Earlier today we had a look at the Audience Rewards program and also the answer to some of the trivia questions to get free points. Now it’s time to have a better look at the Audience Rewards American Express credit card by FNBO.

Main Selling Points

• Earn 3,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 within the first three billing cycles
• No annual fee
• Card earns at the following rates:
  • Earn 2x points per $1 spent on live entertainment up to $12,000 each billing period (24,000 points), then 1x points
  • Earn 1x points on all other purchases
• Free FICO score (Experian Bankcard Enhanced score, 2008)

Earning Points With Spend

As mentioned above the card earns at the 1x everywhere and 2x on live entertainment. They also say you can earn up to 4x points per $1 spent, but these extra 2x points are coming from entering your Audience Rewards number when purchasing tickets to specific shows – which you can do without having the credit card. I think calling this card a 4x is pretty deceptive personally.

What counts as live entertainment? 

Something will only count as live entertainment (and thus earn 2x points), if it codes under one of the following merchant category codes according to American Express:

• “Theatrical Producers Ticket Agencies” (MCC 7922)
• “Bands, Orchestras, and Miscellaneous Entertainers” (MCC 7929)
• “Athletic Fields, Commercial Sports, etc.” (MCC 7941)
• “Tourist Attractions and Exhibits” (MCC 7991)
• “Amusement Parks, Carnivals, etc.”(MCC 7996)
• “Aquariums, Dolphinariums, and Seaquariums” (MCC 7998) or “Recreation Services (not elsewhere classified)” (MCC 7999)

Unfortunately American Express doesn’t let you search to see how a merchant will code before you make a purchase with them, but Visa does. Most of the time merchants will code the same, but this isn’t always the case so be careful relying on the Visa tool.

How Much Are Points Worth?

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like these points can be converted to Amtrak points at a 1:1 rate (as they weren’t earned from eligible shows). The value you get will depend on what you redeem them for, in my opinion the best value is redeeming them for tickets to shows. Let’s have a look at a few options:

• Book of Mormon (Orchestra & Mezzanine): 1¢ – 1.17¢ per point
  • Audience Rewards cost: 17,000 points
  • Actual cost: $169-$199
• Wicked (Orchestra and Front Mezzanine): 0.85¢
  • Audience Rewards cost: 16,000 points
  • Actual cost:  $136+

What you also need to keep in mind is that if you paid cash you would have been able to earn credit card points on those purchases and you would have earned audience rewards points as well (e.g Book of Mormon would’ve been 2,500 bonus points + 2x per $1 spent). Personally I value these points at less than 1¢ a piece which is quite disappointing.

Final Thoughts

I was first interested in this card as I thought it had the ability to transfer to SPG at 1:1 ratio (not possible), then I was interested because it could transfer 1:1 to Amtrak (it can, but only certain points). As soon as I realized that points were worth less than 1¢ my interest levels dropped considerably. Even if we’re generous and say they are worth 1¢ let’s just recap this card in dollar terms:

• $30 sign up bonus
• 2% cash back on live entertainment
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

It’s possible to earn 2-3% cash back on ALL purchases, so 2% at live entertainment is hardly exciting. A cash bonus of $30 is woeful considering you can get $400+. For me this card is a real disappointment. Let’s hope they decide to improve it considerably, as I really do like FNBO as a card issuer.