By Justin McHenry

Discover announced on Monday that it has added the Meijer chain of grocery stores to its list of partner merchants in the “Cash Over” program. The program allows Discover Card users to request additional cash (from $20 to $100) on top of the price of any purchases they make with Discover. The “cash over” is treated as part of the regular purchase price instead of as a cash advance, meaning that cardholders have the regular credit card grace period in which to pay off the cash loan interest free. Meijer will offer the service at all of its 176 locations in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio.

Discover is the only credit card payment network that allows cardholders to get extra cash at the point of purchase.  With the addition of Meijer, Discover says it now offers the Cash Over program in over 8,700 retail locations, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Heinen’s, Giant Eagle, and Dominick’s.

No news is good news for consumers, as credit card rates continue to stay fairly steady as we near year-end. According to this week’s IndexCreditCards.com Credit Card Monitor, rates are still relatively close to where they were in mid-summer.

The average credit card rate for non-reward consumer credit cards stands at 14.15%, up slightly from 14.10% previously but still almost equal to the 14.16% average of July. The average consumer reward card rate is 15.58%, actually a slight decrease from the 15.62% seen in July and consistent with more recent reports.

These rates indicate what an “average credit” consumer could expect to be offered, but those with excellent credit are usually offered better rates. For consumers with excellent credit, the average credit card rate stands at 10.94% for non-reward credit cards and 13.14% for rewards credit cards.

Students haven’t been quite as fortunate; their rates continue to slowly climb. The average student credit card rate stands at 16.61%, up from 16.41% just four months ago.

Business credit cards continue to offer the lowest rates for good credit customers, but the rates have been rising in recent months. The average rate for non-reward small business cards stands at 12.24%, while the average rate for rewards business cards is 14.21%. These numbers were 12.08% and 13.99%, respectively, in mid-July.

Financial institutions represented in the survey include Advanta, American Express, Bank of America/MBNA, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Discover, National City, Providian, Pulaski Bank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and more.

By Justin McHenry

If you enjoy Ellen DeGeneres’ commercials for American Express, you just might enjoy American Express’ latest brainstorm—a virtual DeGeneres that you can customize to create your own video message.  Playing off DeGeneres’ latest commercial, built around her professed love of animals, the online “avatar” of DeGeneres is paired with various animals in different situations.  As a user, you can type in a message that is translated to audio and intermixed with the DeGeneres character, or you can even call in and have your real voice be a part of the show.  When finished, you can e-mail friends to show them your creation or even add the video to a MySpace page.

As an example, in one possible video scenario, DeGeneres is shown with a beaver (?) and talking about karaoke. She then tells the beaver, Craig, to do his favorite number–this is the point at which you can customize the presentation by adding your text or actual voice message, which the animal will then say as part of the overall piece.

We created one and had the animal sing the Bank of America “One” cover, which made us laugh to no end–your idea of comedy may be different.

By Seth Harbison

U.S. Bank announced on Monday that it will begin testing “contactless” credit card payments with a limited number of customers in the Denver, Colorado area.  Customers in the pilot program are receiving their cards this month. U.S. Bank says there are over 600 locations in the Denver area that accept contactless payments, which use radio frequency technology to allow consumers to pass their credit cards next to a card reader without swiping them in a machine or giving them to a retailer to swipe.

Visa and MasterCard have rolled out so-called contactless cards with various issuers, including Chase, Citi, HSBC, Wells Fargo and Advanta. American Express also offers cards with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.  In order for the credit cards to be used in a contactless manner, merchants must have the proper card readers installed at their locations.  If they don’t, the cards can still be used in the traditional way to make purchases.

Some consumer advocates have been critical of the RFID technology, saying it makes identity theft a greater possibility.  A recent, widely-publicized experiment at the University of Massachusetts showed that a makeshift card reader that could read cards without encryption could be built fairly cheaply. At least one card company spokesperson said it was a flawed experiment that wouldn’t be feasible in the real world.

By Justin McHenry

American Express is bringing back its My WishList program for the second holiday season in a row, giving cardholders the potential to grab big wishes at small prices.  My WishList actually consists of two different contests.  In the first, cardholders can create a “WishList” of items they want, along with the prices they are willing to pay for them. Three of these wishes will be granted, both for the person making the wish and for any other American Express cardholders who want the same deal.  The second half of the contest is a weekly first come, first served  “Wish Tuesday” in which American Express puts a certain number of items up for sale at prices of up to 90% off.  For example, a $50,000 Porsche Cayman Coupe will be sold for $5,000.

American Express cardholders have until November 20th to submit WishLists.  The “Wish Tuesday” sales start on November 28th and continue through the end of the year.  Other items and prices American Express mentioned in a press release include a Tahiti cruise package for $2500.00, a set of Callaway golf drivers for $175.00 and a Sharp Aquos TV for $900.

In addition to the deep discounts the My WishList promotion promises, more modest discounts from major retailers will also be offered at a My WishList storefront on the site. To check it all out, go to www.theholidaywishlist.com.

By Seth Harbison

Insurance company Aetna has teamed up with Bank of America to offer a new Aetna Healthy Living credit card for many of Aetna’s health insurance customers. Available later this year to qualifying Aetna customers, the Healthy Living card will offer reward points for all purchases, but increased points for certain medical purchases as well as discounts on activities that promote healthy living.

Aetna’s medical, dental, pharmacy and behavioral health members can earn three points for every dollar charged on health-related purchases including hospital treatments, doctor and dentist visits, sporting good store purchases, fitness and weight loss center purchases, vitamin store purchases and others. They will receive one point per dollar on any other purchases with the card.

Points can be used in a variety of ways. If cardholders use their points for certain health-related merchandise rewards such as gym equipment, bikes or blood pressure monitors, they’ll get a 10 percent point redemption discount. Alternately, they can redeem points in the form of statement credits or cash rewards, including the option to deposit reward cash in a health savings account (HSA).

While the Healthy Living credit card is currently available only for Aetna’s Small Group customers, Aetna plans to expand the offering to other customer groups next year.

By Justin McHenry

American Express announced yesterday a new rewards program called First Collection for its high-spending cardholders that significantly ups the ante on traditional credit card rewards. Big spenders who hold the American Express Platinum Card or the American Express Centurion Card (sometimes called the American Express Black Card) can choose rewards from initial partners that include high-end brands such as Baccarat, Chopard, Davidoff, Eos Airlines, IWC, Lamborghini, Mikimoto, Monarch Billiards, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Piaget and Steinway & Sons. Soon to come: Bergdorf Goodman, Ermenegildo Zegna, Neiman Marcus, Pebble Beach Resorts, Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Tiffany & Co.

While American Express notes that rewards start for as little as 20,500 points, that’s definitely the low-end of the scale.  The high end includes rewards such as:

• A one-year lease of a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, for 10.5 million points
• Chopard “Ice Cube Collection” 18-karat white gold and diamond watch, for 93,200,000 points (you read correct)
• A Steinway Model O Grand Piano, 7,200,000 points

While American Express does not divulge the exact standards it uses in deciding on which cardholders qualify for the Platinum and Centurion Cards, it is known that the Centurion Card is by invitation only and rumor has it that American Express only offers it to those charging $10,000 to $15,000 per month. The yearly fee for the Centurion Card is said to be $2,500.

By Seth Harbison

With the introduction of a new online shopping portal, ShopDiscover, Discover Financial Services is offering its Discover Card cardholders a new way to earn 5% to 10% cash back on their purchases. To use ShopDiscover, cardholders log in at http://www2.discovercard.com/shopcenter/ and then click through to Discover’s retail partner sites. When they make a purchase at those retailers, the enhanced bonus is automatically given on those purchases. Initial retail partners include Target, iTunes, Carnival, Foot Locker, Drugstore.com, and Beauty.com.

ShopDiscover is the latest way for cardholders to bump up their rebates from the standard CashBack Bonus, which allows for up to 1% cash back on purchases. In addition to ShopDiscover, Discover offers a “Get More” program that gives 5% cash back on certain purchase categories throughout the year. The Discover Gas Card offers a different spin, giving cardholders a 5% Cashback Bonus just on gas purchases.

According to Discover, its cardholders earned more than $600 million in Cashback Bonus rebates in 2005 and have earned more than $5 billion since 1986.

By Justin McHenry

Discover Financial Services made its foray into China official last week, when CEO David Nelms purchased a bronze horse with his Discover Card at Qianmen Quanjude restaurant in Beijing. It was the first transaction in a partnership between Discover and China Unionpay that allows Discover credit cards to be accepted at merchant locations where China Unionpay is accepted. This includes over 480,000 merchant locations and 90,000 ATMs across China. As part of the partnership, China Unionpay cards began being accepted at Discover Network merchants in the United States last December.

Discover signed a long-term agreement with China Unionpay in May of 2005, as part of a multi-pronged strategy to increase its reach internationally. One of Discover’s shortcomings in trying to compete with larger rivals Visa, MasterCard and American Express has been the fact that it can be used in few locations outside of the United States. In addition to extending into China, Discover has agreements that will allow it to achieve merchant acceptance in Japan and in some Central American countries in the near future.

By Justin McHenry

Sam’s Club, the warehouse club arm of Wal-Mart, announced yesterday that it is now accepting MasterCard credit cards for purchases at its 589 stores.  Previously Sam’s Club had accepted only Discover Card and its store brand credit cards, as well as debit cards.  Visa will continue to be shut out of Sam’s Club.

The move is a blow to Visa, but may be an even bigger blow to Discover, which up to this point was customers’ only choice if they wanted to use a general-market credit card at Sam’s Club.  This no doubt attracted many customers to Discover who may not have applied for one of their cards otherwise.

A Sam’s Club executive said that the move was in response to customers’ desires for more purchase options at its stores.