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If I'm understanding this correctly, they're only devaluing points when you redeem them for cash or transfer them to another points system. In so doing, they'r

If I'm understanding this correctly, they're only devaluing points when you redeem them for cash or transfer them to another points system. In so doing, they're effectively creating lock-in for their own points redemption programs. The cynical part of me wonders if they timed this change to coincide with the SVB debacle in the hopes that the negative PR would be drowned out.

drstewart 4y ago
You think they planned, executed, and released this change in under 48 hours, mostly over a weekend?
- mateo- 4y ago
  based on headlines, it looks like they've been working all weekend
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- teaearlgraycold 4y ago
  You know it’s easy to have a change staged and only pull the trigger at the right moment, right?
  - drstewart 4y ago
    So they had the change staged and were waiting on the off chance a bank collapsed?
    - teaearlgraycold 4y ago
      Waiting for any big news. Maybe waiting for a specific known event in the future but pulled the trigger early. Or it’s just a coincidence.
- throwaheyy 4y ago
  Yes. It would just be a constant in the code somewhere.
itake 4y ago
Every time I’ve used a platform OTA, the prices were way higher and less choices (even with the point discount) than I could purchase on another OTA. I never considered platform OTAs a reasonable option.
- CPLX 4y ago
  There are good ones. Chase Sapphire is an example, and I think people like Amex too though I don’t use it.
  - mvid 4y ago
    Correct. Chase and Amex use the prices from the airline. They aren't as good as the scammy aggregators, which try to upsell you further in the purchase process or tell you the price is no longer available
    - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
      Don’t they have more blackout dates than the airlines?
      - atdrummond 4y ago
        For fare sales or awards? If anything, I find it is the opposite. The US Big 3 have very little inventory open - and what is open is super expensive. (Let’s say $10k worth of airline miles for sake of argument.) You’re better off using CC points for tickets through the card’s OTA where you can get the above $10k itinerary for $2k worth of points - and since the value per point is known and fixed, this price is never a surprise.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    There are no good travel portals. If you need to change anything or if there are any issues, going through a portal is alway a pain compared to booking directly. Amex in particular for domestic flights have Delta and JetBlue as a partner. You get much better value by transferring to one of those two than booking through a portal. You will only get 1 cent per point by using the portal. You can routinely get 1.2 - 1.5 cents per point for Skymiles
CPLX 4y ago
Yes that’s the consensus. It was a tool to drive new accounts and now they don’t need that tool. The fact that it’s wildly unethical to do it this way without notice is something I guess they feel isn’t important to them. Not a good look for someone in the financial services business. I was a client up until last year but I closed my account because they seemed shady.
paxys 4y ago
> The cynical part of me wonders if they timed this change to coincide with the SVB debacle in the hopes that the negative PR would be drowned out. Being in the news for any reason is the last thing a bank wants right now. With startups and the public so much on edge, a simple "omg look at this, Brex is in trouble" tweet can be enough to cause them serious harm. My guess is the exact opposite – the announcement was pre-planned and they went ahead with it, but some middle manager is going to be getting an earful for not delaying it until the sector is out of the woods.
- fairity 4y ago
  Brex isn't a bank. They partner with a dozen or so banks including JPMorgan (https://www.brex.com/legal/brex-cash-partner-banks https://www.brex.com/legal/brex-cash-partner-banks). And, it's clear keeping out of the news was not their strategy this weekend bc the CEO has voluntarily been making public statements in a successful attempt to drive account signups.
  - paxys 4y ago
    Tweeting "we will help startups affected by SVB" is very different from announcing major policy changes in your own operations.
- btown 4y ago
  There's a third possibility: "get our rewards terms stable and sustainable before we have a massive influx in new accounts so we don't shock the new accounts by clawing things back any time soon." I have a feeling Brex was quite prepared for this whole thing to play out. With the degree of polish on https://www.brex.com/svb-emergency-line https://www.brex.com/svb-emergency-line, and the ability to double in a single weekend the number of banks they spread deposits into... whether it was simply because their own analysts saw this happening at some point and had a proactive play-by-play of what to do, or something more coordinated with the VCs advising their companies to move their funds to Brex, is something that I'm sure will be of interest to many in the industry.
  - 4y ago
tempsy 4y ago
…how else are you supposed to use your rewards outside of cash redemption or airline transfer airline transfer is generally the best ROI way to use credit card points so this is a massive unannounced devaluation by any measure

drstewart 4y ago

You think they planned, executed, and released this change in under 48 hours, mostly over a weekend?

mateo- 4y ago
based on headlines, it looks like they've been working all weekend
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
teaearlgraycold 4y ago
You know it’s easy to have a change staged and only pull the trigger at the right moment, right?
- drstewart 4y ago
  So they had the change staged and were waiting on the off chance a bank collapsed?
  - teaearlgraycold 4y ago
    Waiting for any big news. Maybe waiting for a specific known event in the future but pulled the trigger early. Or it’s just a coincidence.
throwaheyy 4y ago
Yes. It would just be a constant in the code somewhere.

itake 4y ago

Every time I’ve used a platform OTA, the prices were way higher and less choices (even with the point discount) than I could purchase on another OTA. I never considered platform OTAs a reasonable option.

CPLX 4y ago
There are good ones. Chase Sapphire is an example, and I think people like Amex too though I don’t use it.
- mvid 4y ago
  Correct. Chase and Amex use the prices from the airline. They aren't as good as the scammy aggregators, which try to upsell you further in the purchase process or tell you the price is no longer available
  - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
    Don’t they have more blackout dates than the airlines?
    - atdrummond 4y ago
      For fare sales or awards? If anything, I find it is the opposite. The US Big 3 have very little inventory open - and what is open is super expensive. (Let’s say $10k worth of airline miles for sake of argument.) You’re better off using CC points for tickets through the card’s OTA where you can get the above $10k itinerary for $2k worth of points - and since the value per point is known and fixed, this price is never a surprise.
- scarface74 4y ago
  There are no good travel portals. If you need to change anything or if there are any issues, going through a portal is alway a pain compared to booking directly. Amex in particular for domestic flights have Delta and JetBlue as a partner. You get much better value by transferring to one of those two than booking through a portal. You will only get 1 cent per point by using the portal. You can routinely get 1.2 - 1.5 cents per point for Skymiles

CPLX 4y ago

Yes that’s the consensus. It was a tool to drive new accounts and now they don’t need that tool. The fact that it’s wildly unethical to do it this way without notice is something I guess they feel isn’t important to them. Not a good look for someone in the financial services business. I was a client up until last year but I closed my account because they seemed shady.

paxys 4y ago

> The cynical part of me wonders if they timed this change to coincide with the SVB debacle in the hopes that the negative PR would be drowned out. Being in the news for any reason is the last thing a bank wants right now. With startups and the public so much on edge, a simple "omg look at this, Brex is in trouble" tweet can be enough to cause them serious harm. My guess is the exact opposite – the announcement was pre-planned and they went ahead with it, but some middle manager is going to be getting an earful for not delaying it until the sector is out of the woods.

fairity 4y ago
Brex isn't a bank. They partner with a dozen or so banks including JPMorgan (https://www.brex.com/legal/brex-cash-partner-banks https://www.brex.com/legal/brex-cash-partner-banks). And, it's clear keeping out of the news was not their strategy this weekend bc the CEO has voluntarily been making public statements in a successful attempt to drive account signups.
- paxys 4y ago
  Tweeting "we will help startups affected by SVB" is very different from announcing major policy changes in your own operations.
btown 4y ago
There's a third possibility: "get our rewards terms stable and sustainable before we have a massive influx in new accounts so we don't shock the new accounts by clawing things back any time soon." I have a feeling Brex was quite prepared for this whole thing to play out. With the degree of polish on https://www.brex.com/svb-emergency-line https://www.brex.com/svb-emergency-line, and the ability to double in a single weekend the number of banks they spread deposits into... whether it was simply because their own analysts saw this happening at some point and had a proactive play-by-play of what to do, or something more coordinated with the VCs advising their companies to move their funds to Brex, is something that I'm sure will be of interest to many in the industry.
- 4y ago

tempsy 4y ago

…how else are you supposed to use your rewards outside of cash redemption or airline transfer airline transfer is generally the best ROI way to use credit card points so this is a massive unannounced devaluation by any measure