The Costco card from American Express will stop working on June 20, 2016. Also on that day, Costco will stop accepting Amex cards, and will switch over to accepting only Visa credit cards.
We learned last month that the Costco transfer will happen at some point in June, and we now have a lot more details on how it will play out:
- The last day American Express cards will be accepting at Costco will be June 19. Beginning June 20th, only Visa credit cards will be accepted. (Other accepted forms of payment are debit cards, cash, check, EBT, and Costco Cash cards.)
- After June 19, the Costco Amex card will not be valid for use anywhere.
- Costco Amex cardholders will automatically get a new Costco Citi card, no need to apply.
- Citibank will not pull your credit as part of the account transfer process, and cardholders will maintain their credit line. (It appears that your credit history will be retained in the transfer.)
- All cashback will automatically transfer over to the new card.
- You will get the new Citi card in May or early June.
- On March 24, the new Costco Citi card will be available for signup at this link.
Key links:
Chase Freedom 5x at Costco
The Chase Freedom card is offering 5x rewards at grocery stores during the months of April, May, and June, and it appears that Costco in-store purchases will work to get the bonus rate as well.
Since Visa acceptance at Costco will begin on June 20th, that leaves us eleven days to earn 5x at Costco with the Freedom card; June 20 – June 30. (HT: @buickmuscle)Â An easy way to maximize this is to buy Costco Cash cards which can be used at a later date.
Other Costco/Citi/Visa/American Express posts:
- American Express to Finalize Costco Portfolio Sale in June
- New Citi Costco Visa Personal & Business Card Reviews
- Amex Costco Cardholders Transition Offers + No Hard Pull
- American Express, Costco Partnership to End Next Year
- Costco Strikes Deal with Visa, Citi
- Leaked Letter Regarding Costco, Citi, American Express & Visa Partnerships
- Leaked Details on Costco-Citi Credit Card Rewards
5/24/2016 amex says >> If you cancel your amex true earnings account on or prior to June 16, 2016, your account will not be transferred to Citi, even if you have already received the new card from Citi.
will this have any effect on previously purchased costco gift cards?
No, gift cards are sold online and they accept all the major payment networks. Gift cards purchased previously will not be effected at all.
I’m not seeing any advantage with the Citi card, if it is going to be the same structure as the Amex. My Quicksilver will give me 1.5% for all warehouse purchases and other cards give me 2% or higher for the rest. Anybody thinking of doing a product conversion after getting the Citi costco?
Easy top-off. Just purchase cash card in store. But for some small family, maybe they’ve already got enough cash card via BCP>V/M/AGC or Access more
I don’t think Costco codes as grocery, at least where I am. All three Costco locations near me show as Discount Stores/Warehouse/Wholesale when I look them up on the Visa Merchant locator. So I don’t think that will trigger the 5% bonus.
Okay, having looked at the Freedom 5% calendar, I see this quarter includes wholesale clubs, which wasn’t mentioned in the article. So I guess Freedom should work for Costco.
there’s only 30 days in June.
Yup, June 20 – June 30 is eleven days 🙂
Ahhhh, I see the typo, let me fix that. Thanks
The question is- will the Chase Freedom earn 5x at Costco.com? If so, there is no need to wait until June 20- Costco has always accepted Visa online. You could simply buy the Costco cash cards that way anytime in the quarter.
Per Chase website it should work online at all warehouse clubs, agree no need to wait. You could simply buy the Costco cash cards that way anytime in the quarter on line
I don’t know if it will work online or not.
“Costco.com is 5399, and will therefore be included with the category bonus.”
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/4agymr/freedom_q2_includes_sams_club/
I’ll be happy when I can free up a slot that’s currently being reserved by a lame duck cc, haven’t had a good Amex Offer on that card in a while.
Why won’t it work online?
I don’t know of online will work on not. Maybe it will.
Any word on product changes?
See this post https://www.doctorofcredit.com/costco-cardholders-product-change-with-bonus-no-hard-pull/