Update: It appears that this credit card is no longer taking any new applications.

Thank you for your interest in an ABOC Platinum Rewards Card! We have temporarily stopped taking applications while we work on an exciting new set of benefits and features. Stay tuned!

The ABOC Platinum Rewards Credit Card just got revamped to include 5X rewards on rotating categories each quarter. This card is a Mastercard issued by the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago (ABoC), a 100+ year-old commercial bank. Right now, it is offering a $150 sign-up bonus to new cardholders (see requirements below). There are a few quirks, so read on for the details.

• $150 statement credit after making $1,200 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. Your account must be open and in good standing to get the bonus.
• Earn 5x rewards on up to $1500 in combined purchases each quarter in popular categories such as dining, groceries, travel, and automotive.
• 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months. After that, your APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
• Late payments will not result in a higher interest rate.
• No annual fee.

2020 ABoC Platinum Rewards Calendar

Earn 5x rewards on up to $1500 in combined purchases each quarter. From January 1st through March 31st, 2021 you can earn 5x rewards on up to $1500 in combined purchases this quarter in the following categories:

• Groceries
• Fitness clubs
• Hospitals, vision services, pharmacies
• See full list of eligible MCC codes on their site.

You must first register each quarter at ABOCRewards.com or in your online account before you can start earning the 5X rewards.

Points redemption. You’ll note that it says 5X rewards, not 5% cash back. That is because you technically earn points, and the points can be transferred to travel, cash (in the form of a statement credit), gift cards, and merchandise at different ratios.

The best redemption rate is redeeming towards their travel portal at 1 point = $0.01 in value. There are limited details about this on their website. The key question is whether an airfare ticket or hotel night costs the same on the ABOC travel portal as on Expedia, Travelocity, etc. The cash back option is 1 point = $0.0075, which would turn the 5X rewards into 3.75% straight cash back in the form of a statement credit. The gift card redemption value is in between cash and travel credit, and may be worthwhile if its a merchant you shop at anyway.

Similar cards. I will be adding this card to my list of 5% back cards with rotating categories, including:

• Chase Freedom card
• Discover it card

I would personally get the Chase Freedom and Discover it ahead of this card, if only because they offer a straight 5% cash back on their rotating categories without having to go through a travel portal. However, if you already have those cards, this card would make a nice addition as the category calendars are not exactly the same, and you will get increased spending limits even if they do happen to match up.

Bottom line. The ABOC Platinum Rewards Credit Card offers a sign-up bonus and 5X rewards on rotating categories each quarter. The 5X points can be redeemed for an effective 3.75% cash back, or 5% back through their travel portal. If you already have similar rewards in your purse or wallet, this card can be a great addition as you can achieve higher spending limits and also possibly different categories in any given quarter.

Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) usually offers a special balance transfer promotion every January that is available to both new and existing NFCU credit cardholders. This year, I don’t see anything on their website, but I did just get a paper mailing from them. If you have an existing NavyFed credit card and are looking to lower your interest rates on balances, it may be worth checking in.

The Navy Federal Platinum credit card is still offering new cardholders 0% APR for 12 months on balance transfer with no balance transfer fee. This card is on my list of the best 0% APR balance transfer offers.

Balance transfer promotions can be good opportunities to lower the interest rate on your existing balances and accelerate any debt payoff plans. Try your best to finish your payments within the introductory period, as the rates will increase significantly after that.

Membership eligibility for NavyFed is restricted primarily to those with a military affiliation – including active duty, veterans, retirees, and family members – but also includes some civilian employees in the Department of Defense. NavyFed offers a variety of solid financial products including mortgage, car loans, and home-buying services.

Updated. After the Equifax hack and many subsequent hacks that affected so many Americans, there is renewed interest in the various ways you can monitor and/or protect your credit report. Below is a summary of the options available.

Free credit reports. Everyone should take advantage of the free copy of their credit reports (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and their bank report (ChexSystems, TeleCheck) available every 12 months. I would also add LexisNexis to the ones I personally check. This free access is mandated by the government. Here again is my Big List of Free Consumer Reports.

Free credit monitoring. There are many offers nowadays for free credit scores and partial snapshots of your credit report. These are provided by private services, either in partnership with or as a subsidiary of the major credit bureaus. In addition, some offer credit monitoring, where they will e-mail or text you when a significant change occurs (new accounts, etc). I choose to take advantage of this, knowing it is in exchange for some ads. Here’s a recipe for credit monitoring coverage across all three major bureaus:

• TransUnion: CreditKarma.com or CreditSesame.com
• Equifax: CreditKarma.com
• Experian: FreeCreditScore.com

Free credit locks. The credit bureaus now have a feature that allows you to instantly “lock” and “unlock” the credit report of a specific credit bureau and thus prevent access. These are nice because you can unlock it for a day or so when you need, but otherwise keep it locked. Again, if they are free, they are probably supported by ads and/or upgrades (which is fine by me, I just decline the occasional upsell and it stays free).

• TransUnion: TrueIdentity (free ongoing)
• Equifax: Equifax Lock & Alert (free ongoing)
• Experian: Experian IdentityWorks Plus (30-day free trial then $9.99/month).

Free Fraud Alerts. If you are concerned that your personal information is compromised (you should be!), you can contact any one of the three major credit bureaus and ask for a “Fraud Alert” to be placed on your credit report. This supposedly lets all potential creditors know that you are at high risk and that they need to do extra identity verification. Be sure that they have your current contact information as they will call you every time someone tries to check your credit report.

(Update: I’ve had a Fraud Alert on my account for over 12 months now, and I have not seen any special precautions taken despite applying for multiple credit cards during that time. No verification phone calls, no snail mail letters, etc. I wouldn’t depend on a Fraud Alert to stop any criminal activities.)

This is free of charge. It will expire automatically after 1 year but you can call in and renew by submitting a new request within 30 days of your current alert expiring. If you are a documented victim of identity theft, you can ask for an Extended Fraud Alert of up to 7 years. By law, you should only need to contact one of them, and they are supposed to contact the other two companies and thus have the Fraud Alert active on all three accounts. Taken from FTC.gov:

• TransUnion Fraud Alert: 1-800-680-7289
• Equifax Fraud Alert: 1-888-397-3742
• Experian Fraud Alert: 1-888-766-0008

Credit Freezes. This is the most comprehensive measure to take. Once you initiate a credit freeze, it will stay on there permanently in most states (or at least 7 years in others). In order for a business to check your credit report, you must manually “unfreeze” your credit temporarily. As of 9/21/18, this should be free by law at all three credit bureaus. You must contact each credit bureau separately.

• TransUnion Freeze: 1-888-909-8872
• Equifax Freeze: 1-800-349-9960
• Experian Freeze: 1-888-397-3742

In addition, the same law requires that free credit freezes also be made available for children under 16 years old. (I would warn folks that you have to send in multiple sensitive personal documents like birth certificate and possibly notarized forms to verify your kids’ identities. Makes sense but a lot of work.)

I decided to initiate a free 90-Day Fraud Alert to try it out (through Equifax since they should do the extra work).

I already access my credit reports/ChexSystems/LexisNexis every 12 months, and I continuously monitor my own credit using the services listed above. Here’s a sample free alert I got from CreditKarma:

I then cross-referenced with a similar free credit monitoring alert from CreditSesame (TransUnion) that included more info like date and card issuer:

Bottom line. That’s the menu; I would start at the top and pick what works for you. I tend to open a relatively high number of credit and bank accounts throughout the year, often for a time-senstive promotion, so I choose to decline the extra hassle and cost that comes with a credit freeze. I use the free monitoring services listed above instead to get an e-mail whenever a new credit check occurs or a new line of credit is reported. If you rarely get new accounts or simply feel otherwise, go more extreme.

The American Airlines AAdvantage® Mile Up® Card is the no annual fee co-branded American Airlines credit card. It replaces the former and not-very-publicized Citi/AAdvantage Bronze card and adds a few new features. Here are the card highlights:

• 10,000 bonus American Airlines miles plus a $50 statement credit after $500 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services
• 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
• 1 AAdvantage® mile per $1 spent on other purchases
• Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage(R) mile earned from purchases.
• Save 25% on inflight food and beverage purchases when you use your card on American Airlines flights.
• No annual fee.

I view this is a niche card for those that want to earn American Airlines, but don’t fly or spend enough to justify the annual fee of the other cards. Some folks just aren’t willing to pay an annual fee, no matter how good the perks are.

Bonus details. If you find the spending requirement too high on many cards, note that this one only requires $500 in purchases to earn the account opening bonus. Note the following language:

Statement credit and American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a statement credit or American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles for a new AAdvantage MileUp^SM account in the past 48 months.

This means that yes, you can still get the bonus on this card if you’ve had another co-branded American Airlines card from Citi in the last 24 months like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard or the CitiBusiness® version designed for businesses.

No waived baggage fees. As you might expect, being the no annual fee version also means less perks. Notably, this card does not include any baggage fee waivers, which was a big potential source of savings from the other cards mentioned above (with annual fees). Also missing are priority boarding and the ability to book discounted award tickets (“Reduced Mileage Awards”).

Redemption tips. American Airlines MileSAAver awards are still 25,000 miles for a round-trip ticket within the contiguous 48 states. Their online system is pretty good for looking for domestic AA awards. If the trip is less than 500 miles, then it is only 15,000 miles round-trip within the contiguous 48 states. Under-500 miles routes include Las Vegas to/from Los Angeles, Charleston to/from Miami, New York to/from Washington DC, Philadelphia to Boston, and many others.

Bottom-line.  The American Airlines AAdvantage® Mile Up® Card is the no annual fee credit card from Citi and American Airlines. This card is a good fit for folks that don’t want to pay an annual fee for extra features, but still want to earn American miles on purchases (and keep their miles from expiring from inactivity). As such, you may consider “downgrading” your other Citi/American cards to this card if you stop wanting to pay the annual fee. Note that if you downgrade you don’t get the sign-up bonus, and getting the bonus from this card is independent of the bonuses from other Citi/American cards anyway.

• American Airlines AAdvantage® Mile Up® Card application link