This is a reminder post about the not so well publicized limited time offers for MBNA’s proprietary rewards cards. These are the cards that
underwent some changes earlier in the year and late last summer. The
cards were very popular up until the middle of 2018 as the points there
earned could be redeemed for travel or cash back at the same rate. Some
of the value was eroded when the annual fee on the World Elite Version
was bumped to $120 per year from $89. This was with no increase in
benefits or sign up bonus. It was also announced at that time that the
redemption rate for cash back was changing in February 2019 from 2% to
about 1.67%. The good news was the redemption rate for travel was
not changing which meant it was still a really good 2%. The Platinum
Plus version is essentially a 1% back version of the World Elite when
redeeming for travel however it does offer 2 points per dollar (2%) on
eligible gas, groceries and restaurant purchases on the first $5,000 in
spending in each category, which is pretty good for a No Annual Fee
card.
If really flexible travel rewards are key for you and you are not
interested in cash back or a ton of extra benefits these cards are ones
you could consider, especially with these new limited time welcome bonus
increases:
For the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® the welcome bonus has been doubled to 20,000 points, which is worth $200 towards any travel redemption. The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard®
also sees its welcome offer double to 10,000 points worth $100 towards
any travel redemption. To take advantage of these new increased welcome
offers you have to apply for either card by October 31, 2019.
The card details below show the latest offers on these cards and may not be representative of the discussion above: