Miles for Family posted a few days ago about a really weird potential restriction on Cardless credit cards: according to Cardless terms, it is only possible to get one Cardless card…..ever. I can’t imagine that they really intend for this to be enforced as-written, but it’s worth being aware as we are expecting coming card offerings for in separate partnerships with Qatar Airways and Avianca LifeMiles. You may need to be strategic in terms of deciding which Cardless card is the right one for you if they do intend to enforce rules as-written.
A strange application limitation
As a reminder, Cardless is a card issuer that has been best-known for some odd co-branded sports team cards, including an old Manchester United card, which was followed by a couple of random US sports team cards (there was a Miami Marlins card and a New Orleans Pelicans card) and a Simon Mall credit card. Then Cardless seemingly began to pivot away from those cards (which I believe are discontinued apart from the Simon one) to target foreign airline programs, with offerings coming out for a LATAM credit card and then a TAP Air Portugal card over the past year or two. Now we’re expecting the coming launch of Qatar Airways and Avianca LifeMiles cards.
I think that Cardless is smart to market to some of these foreign airline programs that have some foothold / popularity in the US. I have to imagine that foreign airlines are excited to potentially get a piece of the US credit card market.
Given that Cardless is such a small issuer, I haven’t heard data points on getting multiple Cardless cards (frankly, I imagine that few people have found their offerings compelling enough as to want multiple of their products). However, Miles for Family found the following important note in the Cardless frequently asked questions:
It sounds like Cardless is saying that it is neither possible to product change nor to close a Cardless product and then open a different one. That seems like an odd restriction, particularly for a company focusing on airline products since a customer’s airline needs may obviously change over time (with a new job, relocation, etc). Do they really want to lock customers out of ever getting a different Cardless product?
It’s possible that this FAQ item is mainly intended to say that you can’t product change. However, without further clarification, I would say that it would be prudent to carefully consider which Cardless product is right for you. For instance, if you’re interested in the Qatar Avios card but you’re also an Avianca LifeMiles fan, you’ll need to consider whether you should wait for details on both cards to be released before you decide to go in one direction or another (or either of them at all if you’re concerned that a different co-branded offering could be even more appealing someday).
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