Confirm Your Credit Card Bonus and Terms When Activating and Take Screenshots

You probably do this already, but make sure you always confirm your credit card bonus and terms when activating the card. My experience today activating my new Chase Ink Bold Charge Card business card illustrates why.

I wasn't expecting anything unusual when I called up to activate my card–the usual verification questions, chit chat about my business, confirmation of credit line, etc. But then I remembered to ask about the 2 points per $1 categories. When I applied for the card, I was pleased to notice that the Offer Details specified that spend on travel agencies receives an additional bonus point, in addition to spend on hotels directly, and gas stations. Why? Well, TravelSort is a licensed travel agency, so for our clients that have the Ink Bold card, I can advise them that they'll get 2x points on all TravelSort hotel reservations.

I noticed, however, that in the Ink Bold welcome materials, it merely said 2x per $1 for gas and hotels, without mentioning travel agencies. So I asked the representative, and he said he was only familiar with 2x for gas and hotel spend, but that he'd escalate it.

Then I asked to confirm my signup bonus, which is to be 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $5000 spend in 3 months, but the representative said he only saw 25,000 in the system! He confirmed that on the Web site he could also see the 50,000 offer, and would have changed the point bonus if he could have, but that he was required to escalate it to Marketing, which would call me within 7-10 business days.

This isn't the first time I've encountered some issues with a bonus, although the other time was a referral for an AMEX card, where I had to resort to Twitter for customer service, and the application for the Ink Bold was more straightforward, so I didn't expect this snafu. Hopefully both issues will be resolved positively.

Lessons learned:

• Always take screenshots when applying for credit cards (or any other miles or points bonus offer)

• Confirm your bonus and terms when activating your new credit card