Update: Airfare is not currently devalued, so you should be able to still get 1-1.1¢ in value there. If you have points I’d recommend redeeming them for airfare ASAP.
Recently it was possible to get a sign up bonus of up to 50,000 points on the Terps credit card. You could redeem 24,000 points for a $200 Visa gift card, now that same gift card is costing more than double the amount of points at 50,000. Third party cards have also been hit, with a $100 card now costing 25,000 points. This means people that were previously getting a bonus worth $400 are now getting a bonus worth $200. I guess they were overwhelmed with applications and rather than reducing the points sign up bonus (which they have now done) they decided to massively cut the points value. The problem with applying for these sort of cards is that there isn’t really much you can do about this and it’s not like they are that worried about their brand.
Hat tip to reader @rent_is_high
One other decent redemption option that remains is for event tickets. I was able to redeem 53k points for 2 US Open tickets for Arthur Ashe on 9/1. The tickets were fulfilled by a reseller; Based on prices at the time that I made the redemption, I got close to 1 cpp in value.
For those who have no pending travel plans, this option could be a nice way to cash out – lots of other events were available through the portal as well. Note that the UI is terrible and it took me a while to get my order to go through.
TERPS card holders,
Direct contact info for the director:
Rachel Gimer
Associate Director of Service Center
TERPS Card Services
[email protected]
217-239-4450 Office
217-278-7700 Main
uoficreditunion.org
I got my sign up bonus and requested $450 in Amazon cards the same day. Never sit on points! I hope they dont find a way to claw back already spent gift cards. I’m sure some bank will try it at some point…
Good call Nostradamus! Looks like Terps is now clawing back points even as we speak …
Anyone else so out of viable card options they still might apply?
If I book a WN flight, the cancel can I get a voucher for use later?
Yup. I’m waiting for my wife’s points to come through and thought I’d check out the rewards portal. I was shocked at how bad the redemption value was and came here to see if anyone else saw it. If travel is still ok, we’ll probably redeem them towards flights. I can’t believe they slashed the value in half like that. Geez.
glad they denied me
Here is what I got for a response: Thank you for contacting rewards. We administer the program for your financial institution. Points level are subject to change