Chase has sent out a targeted bonus to some cardholders of the IHG Rewards Club Select credit card. So far, it looks like only cardholders of ~6 months or more have gotten the offer. (Note that the e-mail comes from Chase, not IHG.)
The Offer
No direct link.
- From April 1, 2017 to August 31, 2017, earn 600 bonus IHG points each month when you spend at least $750 per month with your IHG Rewards Club Credit Card. The maximum is 3,000 bonus IHG points.
The Fine Print
- You will qualify for and receive your bonus if you make purchases with your credit card that total an amount at or above the specified target amount ($750) during each month of the promotional period. note: this language is at odds with the offer text & other fine print because it makes it sound like you need to hit $750 each month. as far as I can tell, that is not the case; each month has a discrete 600 IHG points bonus.
- Please allow 6 to 8 weeks after qualifying for bonus points to post to your account.
- “Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.
- Maximum bonus point accumulation during each month of the promotional period is 600 bonus points.
- Credit card product changes during the promotional period will forfeit this bonus offer.
- To qualify for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.
- This promotional offer is non-transferable and applies only to the account ending in the last 4 digits referenced in this offer.
Our Verdict
This is an astoundingly mediocre offer, as it only works out to an extra 0.8x IHG points (if you hit the $750 spending exactly). I have a hard time believing any cardholder not already putting about $750 per month on this card will be swayed by such a tiny bonus.
What IS interesting is that IHG seems to be making a real play to get their card to the front of people’s wallet (albeit badly, in this case). Recent targeted e-mails from IHG for their credit card have offered 60,000 points after spending $1,000 or 80,000 points after spending $2,000 in spend plus an additional 20,000 points for spending an additional $8,000 during the first year of cardmembership. IHG has also partnered with Fuel Rewards to offer a discount at Shell stations; although you don’t need to use their card to get the discount, I imagine it’s swayed some cardholders to do so given that gas is a 2x category on the IHG card.
It’ll be interesting to see if IHG rolls out more offers incentivizing use of their card over the next few months.
h/t u/paandemic on r/churning
