October 5, 2009
-
News: Egg Card Pulls Cash Back Rewards
The world's largest internet bank announced the company is eliminating their cash back reward effective November 1st. Egg, the internet bank that first began offering the credit card cash back reward since its inception, said that the original Egg Card customer will no longer receive the 0.1 percent cash back reward. According to Egg, a subsidiary of CitiGroup, over 200,000 credit card customers will be affected by the move. A representative of Egg said that although the number of credit card accounts affected is significant, the majority of those account holders have not earned enough points to receive any cash back rewards. In fact, only about 17,000 actually earned any cash back reward last year.
Although the original Egg credit card will no longer offer the cash back perk, those customers wishing to earn cash back rewards can apply for the Egg Money Card. However, customers will be paying more for the perk as the Egg Money card comes with a nominal money fee and imposes a maximum amount of possible cash back rewards. It's important to note, customers who apply for the Egg Money credit card are not guaranteed approval simply because they already hold the original Egg card. Although their chances are good, all applications are subject to approval. The bank also noted that they will pay out any qualified cash back reward for October and earned prior to the November 1 cutoff.
Like most credit card companies and banks, Egg has undergone transformation in the wake of the recession. At one time one of the most competitive card companies, Egg was forced to close over 160,000 card accounts due to high risk factors. They have received criticism from many of its customers this year as they increased interest rates and banking fees. In a strategic move to increase earnings, the company launched its Egg Money World MasterCard that offers a 1 percent cash back reward. In addition to its card business, the company also offers a variety of other financial products including savings accounts, insurance, and the Citi ISA investment opportunities.