In Case You’re Interested in the 5x BBVA NBA Card and Timing…

Here’s some miscellaneous information we picked up on the BBVA NBA card.

In case you weren’t following until now:

• BBVA has a credit card which earns 5x twice a year during NBA finals and All-Star. We are currently in the Finals season, started June 4 and goes until June 19. (More on exact dates below.)
• They now added a limited time offer to get the card with no annual fee for life, plus a $100 signup bonus.

We picked up some info from people in the comments of the previous posts and from the CSR at BBVA.

Here’s what we found out…

• CSR informed me that the 5x is on all purchases from June 4 – June 18 (2015). She clarified for me that the dates won’t change based on who win or loses etc. I asked her if she’s sure and she said, “yes”. Feel free to call in and ask yourself, but that’s the info I got.
• Note that the end date is June 18, despite the fact that the Finals may continue until the 19th. Apparently, they decided to lop off that last day.
• Note that for online purchases, the purchase date doesn’t always count with regards to credit card rewards, see Online Credit Card Purchases – Transaction Date and Post Date.
• One reader mentioned that you may have to enroll your card in rewards first in order to start earning rewards. It sounds odd, but it can’t hurt doing that first as a precaution.
• UPDATE: Knowing this was a long shot, I called in to ask if I can get the card number over the phone before the card comes in the mail. The response was that this is actually possible for someone who has a BBVA branch nearby. They can go into the branch, verify their identity, and get the card info.

For those still thinking about applying….

• The card ships out the day after you’re approved. (Probably the next business day, but I don’t know this for certain.)
• Ships USPS from Alabama. The official estimate is 5-7 business days. I don’t see why it would take longer than typical USPS mail and thus you should hopefully get it within 2-3 days if you live in states nearby Alabama. Reports indicate that it comes pretty quickly.
• You can pay $40 to get it expedited. In that case, it ships FedEx and you’ll get it in 2-3 business days.
• On Creditboards, there are mixed reports of Experian pulls and Transunion pulls. All recent data points I’ve seen are Experian pulls.
• The application is the simplest I’ve ever seen. Just Name, Address, DOB, Phone, SSN, Income.
• We’ve seen many positive reports recently of approvals and high credit lines. (The high credit line is imperative for maximizing the 5x in a short period of time. One report indicates that it’s not so easy to prepay the card.)
• Many people get a request for additional verification in order to be approved. Seems to be an address verification or something. Reader Zach tells us: “A note to all those who do not get approved instantly. Be patient and wait for the call for information verification. You will then have to wait a day or two to get the e-mail saying you are approved. There is no other process that I know off to get your approval status.”
• The actual application mentions a $50 annual fee. Apparently, they didn’t update it with the temporary offer of no annual fee. May be worth taking a screenshot of the fine print on the main page where it mentions this.
• It’s quite possible that this 5x everywhere benefit will be scrapped in the future when they see themselves getting hit hard this season (or more likely they’ll put a cap on it). Keep that in mind when applying.

See also Maximizing the NBA Card 5x Rewards for Two Weeks.