Recently there have been a number of credit cards that have been discontinued, if you still have these cards they will continue to operate as normally but you can no longer sign up for these cards and it’s no longer possible to downgrade to these cards either.
Barclay
- US Airways Business Card. A lot of people (myself included) were waiting for an increased sign up bonus on this card, as the regular bonus of 25,000 miles was not very attractive. I was hoping that Barclay would increase the bonus on this card to 50,000 miles, which is in line with what the personal bonus is currently offering. Unfortunately it looks like Barclay has gone the other way and discontinued this card instead. It is worth noting that Barclay did not confirm this card has been discontinued when I asked for an official confirmation, so maybe it will make a come back – although I strongly doubt it.
Chase
- Chase Ink Bold. I’m not surprised this product was discontinued, the only difference between this product and the Ink Plus is that one is a credit card and the other is a charge card. Chase likely saw no real benefit in offering these similar product, they were also probably paying out a lot in sign up bonuses (lots of people were switching between the two cards and getting the bonus each time, this not only avoided the annual fee it also lead to a lot of bonus points).
- Chase Sapphire. This was a no annual fee version of the popular Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can’t transfer to any of the travel partners though and it only earned 2x points on restaurant purchases. I’ve always thought that the Chase Freedom card was the better downgrade option but for those who value Chase UR points highly this wasn’t a bad choice for restaurant expenses given that the best option only gives 3% cash back.
Citi
- Citi Dividend. When Citi launched the Double Cash card, the Citi Dividend was removed from their credit card pages and it’s no longer possible to apply for this card directly. You can still downgrade to this card, you just can’t apply for it directly. This is particularly interesting because of the fact that this card earns 5% cash back in rotating categories, so it essentially needs to be actively managed by Citi.
[Read: Citi offering a sign up bonus on their Double Cash card]
Diners Club
This card hasn’t really been discontinued, but it’s no longer available to new sign ups whilst they make new improvements. It’ll be interesting to see when this card does become available to new sign ups again.
Our Verdict
Credit cards come and go, none of these are a big loss apart from maybe the Ink Bold. Thankfully I applied for this earlier in the end, whilst Chase cards are churnable the general wisdom is you can only get them once every 24 months so this really won’t make much of a difference until 20 months time – I am sure something else will pop up between now and then.
The US Airways business card is a bit of a shame as well, but I wouldn’t have applied for it unless there was an increased sign up bonus anyway so no great loss there either. Have I missed any other credit cards that have been discontinued recently? Let me know in the comments.
I’d also like to know your thoughts on the cards that have been discontinued.
