My Atmos Summit Application: Annoying & Strange

This was a very annoying and strange credit card application.

I applied online, and it went “into review”- meaning that I wasn’t instantly approved, but I definitely wasn’t instantly denied. In this case, I always call the “Reconsideration Line”, which is used to talk to someone to provide more information or clarify something in your application.

I called the Bank of America Reconsideration Line and was on hold for 30 minutes, so I gave up. Called again, was on hold for 30 minutes, and gave up. Finally, I called while I was making my lunch, eating my lunch, and watching the news. This time, I was on hold for 60 minutes before finally getting to talk to a live person!

That was the annoying part.

Here comes the strange part.

The Representative wanted to confirm my identity. Normally, that’s simply confirming your date of birth, address, and last 4 of your Social Security number. But not this time!

This time, the Rep wanted to know my previous address. I’ve lived at my current address for almost 20 years! I told the Rep my previous address. Check. Then, the Rep wanted to know a nearby cross-street. Told him the nearest cross-street. Check. Then, the Rep wanted to know the name and date of birth of someone in my household. Told him P2’s name and date of birth. Check.

Then, the Rep put me on hold for 10 minutes. Finally, the Rep came back with an approval and a $20K credit limit!

The Rep said they had been getting a lot of fraudulent applications, and were asking additional questions to verify the identity of the person applying for the card.

Finally, I did get the card and an unusually high credit limit, but it was painful!

The card does come with 100K Alaska Miles after $6.5K in spend, and a “Companion Voucher” for 25K Miles. When you book two Award tickets, you can get a 25K discount on the miles for the 2nd person. This will be easy for us to use.

It also rebates the “Partner Booking Fee”. This is charged when you use Alaska Atmos points to book a Partner flight. I often book American flights using my Atmos points, because Atmos usually charges fewer points than American for an American flight! But they charge that Partner Booking Fee, which was $12.50 but is now $20 per person per flight. So when my spouse and I go somewhere, I like to book two one-ways; that would be $80 per trip. That’s a nice rebate.

There’s also some quarterly Wi-Fi credits and Alaska Lounge passes. But I don’t see much value in either. Free Wi-Fi is becoming standard. I’m usually booking American flights (where I have status), and the lounge passes can only be used when you are flying Alaska.

One very unique feature is 3X on all foreign transactions with no foreign exchange fees. If I lived outside of the US, this would be huge. But when I travel outside the US, most of my spend is at restaurants, and I have the Amex Gold, which is 4X for restaurants, and the Citi Premier, which is 3X. So the Summit’s 3X does help for miscellaneous purchases. I consider this feature a nice-to-have, but not going to move the needle on keeping the card.

The sign-up bonus, including that 25K Companion voucher, makes the card worth at least the first year. That 25K Companion voucher is actually an annual benefit. So that plus the Partner Booking Fee Rebate makes this card a likely keeper.

Win!!