The $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card is the premium personal credit card of Atmos Rewards, which is the combined loyalty program of Alaska & Hawaiian.
There are lots of reasons to get this card, from a huge welcome bonus, to a great return on spending, to valuable perks just for being a cardmember, like free points sharing and waived partner award booking fees. It’s a card I’ve already applied for.
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…
Link: Learn more about the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card
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. The exchange rates used by the card are also totally fair, and competitive.
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. If you have an eligible Bank of America account, you can even get a 10% relationship bonus, meaning you could net 3.3x points per dollar spent.
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 3x 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) — 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. That’s far from consistent, though, 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, and I wouldn’t expect any major changes (though who knows, maybe at some point down the road we’ll see a cap on how much foreign spending can earn bonus points).
Many people may wonder if this is sustainable in the long run, so let me point out a few things:
- Outside the United States, interchange fees are often capped much lower than in the United States, meaning card issuers are typically getting less in interchange fees, making the math on this even more challenging
- Nonetheless, plenty of competing cards offer bonus points on things like travel, dining, hotels, airfare, etc., which for many people, make up a large percentage of their spending while abroad
- I figure the logic here is that they assume that since a majority of spending on many other cards qualifies for bonus points while abroad, they might as well make a very special, all encompassing bonus category for foreign purchases, so that it’s less important to bonus things like gas and groceries
- Ultimately the profitability of a credit card isn’t as straightforward as whether money is made directly on interchange fees in comparison to rewards, but it also factors in the annual fee, financing of charges, etc.
My point is simply to say that this doesn’t strike me anywhere near the top of the list of unsustainable credit card benefits, though we’ll see how this plays out.
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. 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?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.