Link: Apply now for the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card
We’ve just seen the launch of the $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (review), which is the new premium personal credit card of Alaska & Hawaiian, coinciding with the introduction of the Atmos Rewards program.
There are lots of reasons to get this card, from a huge welcome bonus, to the great perks and rewards for spending on an ongoing basis. It’s a card I’ve already applied for. I’m sorry for the amount of content about this card at the moment, but this is truly innovative, and I know there are lots of questions, and I want to address as many as them as possible.
In this post, I’d like to talk about what might just be the most interesting aspect to spending on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, which borders on seeming too good to be true…
In this post:
The best one-size-fits-all card for foreign purchases
The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 3x points on eligible foreign transactions, with no caps. This applies to both the primary cardmember and to any authorized users (authorized users can be added to the card at no extra cost). Specifically, eligible foreign purchases include:
- Purchases made in a foreign currency
- Purchases made in US dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside the United States
In the interest of being thorough, let me copy and paste the portion of the terms addressing this:
3 Points for eligible Foreign Transactions: Earn 3 points for every $1 spent on eligible foreign transaction Net Purchases (1) made in a foreign currency, or (2) made in U.S. dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside of the United States and US Territories. Bank of America is not responsible for how foreign transactions are billed to the card.
Let me emphasize that the card has no foreign transaction fees, so not only are you not paying those fees, but you’re being rewarded very handsomely. Personally, I value Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, so I’d consider that to be a 4.5% return on all foreign purchases, which is unrivaled.
While there are some cards that might be slightly more rewarding for specific categories of foreign spending — like dining, airfare, or hotels — there’s not another card that’s broadly this rewarding for all foreign spending.
Keep in mind that this is only the start of the rewards you get for spending on the card:
- You earn one status point for every $2 spent on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, so if you’re trying to earn elite status, that will help you greatly
- If you have the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, you can earn a 100,000-point Global Companion Award if you spend $60,000 on the card in an anniversary year; if you can get full value from that certificate, that’s the equivalent of an incremental 1.67 points per dollar spent
Admittedly this is a very specific situation, but if you were to spend $60,000 abroad, you’d earn 180,000 Atmos Rewards points, 30,000 Atmos Rewards status points (not including the 10,000 status points boost the card offers annually), and a 100,000-point Global Companion Award.
If you want to take it a step further, those 40,000 Atmos Rewards status points are enough to earn Atmos Rewards Gold status, which gets you oneworld Sapphire, offering perks like priority services and lounge access. That’s a pretty incredible setup, eh?
Is 3x points on foreign spending too good to be true?
As you’d expect, there are a lot of questions about the Atmos Rewards Summit Card 3x points on foreign spending:
“I’ve looked but I couldn’t find what the terms are for the 3x points on foreign purchases. Is there an annual limit? Does it need to be combined with domestic spend?”
“Let me get this straight – any transaction outside the US will be in the x3 category? Is this capped? As someone living in Europe, that could make this card extremely valuable for me…”
Officially, there are no limits on how much you can spend abroad. Of course to get this card, you need to be eligible for credit cards in the United States, which requires having an address in the country, among other things.
As I look at the terms, there’s nothing there stating any limits as to how much you can spend abroad, both in absolute and relative (to domestic spending) terms. In practice, there are plenty of Americans living abroad who use US credit cards (given how much more lucrative they are than most foreign cards) without any issues.
So I don’t think there’s a catch here, but I will say this (and I’m not trying to fear monger, but am just trying to address the only potential concern) — keep in mind that banks can shut down your credit cards at will, and decide they no longer want to do business with you.
In the past, I’ve read reports where credit card issuers have shut down accounts because too big of a percentage of spending was consistently abroad. At the same time, that’s far from consistent, and I’ve also heard of people using their card living abroad for a decade without an issue.
My point is to say that based on how things currently stand, I think this benefit is as good as it sounds. At the same time, because of how generous it is, I wouldn’t be shocked if we eventually see some restrictions, whether that comes in the form of a cap on bonus points on foreign spending, arbitrary account shut downs, etc.
Again, I don’t have any inside knowledge here, I’m just sharing the (positive) reality of how I currently see things, and am also addressing the potential ways this could play out. It’s also entirely possible that this benefit continues as published now in the long run, and that we’re overestimating the amount of spending people will make abroad. After all, there are also lots of cards offering significant bonuses in other popular spending categories.
Bottom line
The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers 3x points on foreign spending, with no foreign transaction fees and no caps. This is an unheard of bonus category, and makes this by far the best card for foreign spending.
What makes this even better is that beyond the 3x points, you also earn one status point for every $2 spent, and if you spend $60,000 in an anniversary year, you can receive a 100,000-point Global Companion Award.
We’ll see how this all plays out in the long run, but for now, this return on spending is every bit as great as it sounds, and this is the card to have in your wallet if you travel abroad a lot.
What do you make of the Atmos Rewards Summit Card 3x points on foreign purchases?
What about Uber and Lyft? If I use the Atmos Summit to pay for Uber in another country is it 3x also?
So if I understand correctly, even if I'm physically in the United States, but make a purchase that charges in a foreign currency, I'd get 3x points? So you don't necessarily have to physically traveling abroad to qualify for the 3x on foreign transactions?
What happens if you eat at a restaurant in a foreign country? Can you double dip and get 6x points?
Just curious, does spending overseas cost anymore for banks/card issuers/payment processors? I live in Ireland most of the year and always put purchases on my US credit cards. I've definitely thought before that a bank might not be too happy about that but don't know of the underlying system to convert currencies and process payments. I do typically spend the summer in the US though and spend money there.
Yes, credit card interchange fees (which are the source of issuers' profits and fund credit card rewards in the US) are capped MUCH lower in the EU. So for example this 3X scheme is unsustainable if people use it enough.
Yes, but does BofA use a competitive exchange rate for charges made overseas in US dollars? In the past, they were non competitive vis-a-vis Amex, Citi, Chase. Barclays cards are another ripoff
BofA Travel Rewards (No AF) already has 1.5x - 2.6x cash back uncapped for both domestic and international transactions.
I guess the idea is that most people spend on hotels and restaurants abroad - which are bonus categories anyway
Am I going to get 6x if I spend at restaurants abroad. Dining 3x and foreign spend 3x. Maybe too good to be true huh…
No.
Bofa has the worst rates than Chase even with "no foreign transaction" fees. For CAD charge earlier this summer with the Aeroplan miles sale... Chase (CSP) was $3200 converted while Bofa (Alaska) was $3220 converted for the same CAD amount on the same day. (bought one on my account and one for a family member).
Are you sure the charges actually posted on the same calendar day?
Yes… posted on same day. Checking other FX charges, BofA rates are also a little more than Chase but general travel spending it’s only off by a dollar or so but seems like it adds up
This perk definitely falls under the "enjoy it while it lasts" umbrella. Yes, it will be abused, and yes, it will be reduced/scrapped over time.
But *how* it's reduced is relevant. A dollar cap wouldn't affect most of the target audience (but BoA will care a lot).
BoA is more risk-adverse than many other credit card issuers. This feature isn't going to last long, IMO.
I'd also assume this is less of a risk for a co-branded credit card than a CSR/Venture X or another bank card since it's the airline paying for the rewarded points?
Incorrect, as now-famously the banks buy the points from the airlines, which is how the airlines book any profit.
https://onemileatatime.com/news/airlines-operate-loss-leaders-loyalty-programs/
If I understand this write-up, we will get 3x points for foreign purchases. But for domestic purchases, we would only get 1 point for every $2 spent, so 0.5 USDCents for each dollar spent?
No. Foreign purchases are 3x AWARD POINTS. Domestic purchases are 1x AWARD POINTS. All purchases are 1 STATUS POINT per $2 spent.
Thanks, Jack!
I appreciate the clarification!
What we would get is 1 status point for every $2 spent. We would get 1 rewards point per dollars spent on everything except Alaska/Hawaii purchases and dining which also give 3x pts per $.
Hopefully,the 3X Points does not go the way of C1 Venture X unlimited PP visits for Friends & Family to only the Card Holder in a very short time.
By the way, I applied and was approved. so,here we go.
Trying to decide if it is worth the risk. I have a retail store in Canada and am trying to decide if it is worthwhile to switch card for inventory purchases, probably about $200-300K per year
Applied through your link. :)
@ Andrew -- Thanks so much for the support, I appreciate it! :-)
I have also applied using your referral link Lucky. I live in Europe so hoping the 3x on foreign spending pans out.
foreign interchange fees are far lower than in the US so offering top level US-style credit card rewards for foreign purchases IS too good to be true.
someone is buying that credit card business and the question is only when that someone decides they have had too much of it.
I don't think it'll be quite as great as it sounds for a lot of people. Unless you are living abroad, the majority of purchases abroad (for me at least) are hotels and food while traveling. I already get 3x points on those at a minimum from other cards. Obviously there are other ancillary benefits (earning status points, etc.) to consider as well. I'm getting the card, but I don't think it'll have a huge overall impact on my points earning.
I live outside the US so the 3x is very appealing even though costs are lower so relatively fewer dollars are spent on most things.
I live abroad and was excited about this card but aside from the 3x the benefits aren't really exciting. I get 3x at restaurants from chase and 5x on flights from amex and 2x on everything else from cap1 when not chasing SUBs. I'm going to pass on this and just get the regular card for the SUB which will get me 20x on the first four grand of spend.
Enhancement based on customer feedbacks coming soon.
"Our customers mostly don't make foreign purchase so we would replace the 3x to 1x but give you a $150 dining credit every 3rd Friday on a month starting with the letter "F".
I have several international flights booked over the next year so applying for this card is very tempting.
I have used a CSR and before that a CSP living abroad for the last 20 years without issue. 99% of spend on everyday purchases abroad or on travel in USD. No issue whatsoever at least with Chase.