Thursday, September 4, 2008

Reward Program affiliated Credit Card in China is a joke

I am about to go to China for an indefinite period, so I think I should get a credit card in China to earn some rewards like I do in the states.

I was in shock when I saw the earning ratio for credit cards. the "best" I found for airline program is you get 1 km for every 11yuan( 1.6USD) charged to the credit card and you get no signup bonus or very little like 1000km. In addition, most miles program have fixed expiration date and the redemption rate is horrible. For Air China program, a RT award ticket for flight less than 800km is 14000km, so I need to charge more than 20,000USD to get a free ticket I can buy for 40 USD. Unbelievable.

The only one card has so so earning rate is Priority Club Gold Credit card issued by SPD bank(上海浦东发展银行), you earn 10000 bonus after signup and 1 point for every 4yuan(.60 USD) charge to the card or double points on all Intercontinental hotels Group purchase. With point breaks award, I can get a free night for approx 3000USD. Well, better than nothing.

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