Ultimate Rewards

Last night (Sunday, May 23, 2010) I decided to try wrastling with Chase Bank’s Ultimate Rewards program.
Chase Bank is our credit-card, the only one we have, which we’ve had since 1969.
When we first opened it, it was Lincoln-First, maybe even Lincoln-Rochester.
It's come through various owners, but now it's Chase Bank.
We pay it off in full every month; no debt.
It's really just a way of deferring payment on things.
And by paying off in full we avoid interest charges.
Some time ago the bank offered to upgrade our card to what seemed to be the norm; cash rebates.
I went with that.
Before that we got no rebates.
Not too long ago the bank switched from rebates to a points program.
No longer direct cash rebates, but I can use accumulated points to get merchandise.
Recently the bank informed me that I had accumulated thousands of points.
This was partly because I had never used any.
“Why can't the bank just credit our account?” my wife asked.
“What's with this silly points system; a way to avoid directly rewarding our credit-card use?”
And we use our credit-card for everything. We hardly use cash any more; and never pay by check — e.g. groceries or gas.
Thankfully, we're both pretty much on the same page regarding money; i.e. stingy.
We don't buy anything we can't afford; no Corvette, no boat, no motorized camper. —And our house isn't the Taj Mahal.
So I decided to try to make sense of this points program.
Online it seemed to want some sort of log-in. I figured perhaps the log-in I used to my old Chase credit-card account.
“Please help us verify your identity. You seem to be logging in from a different computer.”
“Yeah well,” I thought to myself; “I have a new rig.”
“You need an identification-code. We can e-mail it to you, or text it to your cellphone.”
Um, my cellphone is currently disabled, and not text enabled anyway; so e-mail it will be.
I sat quietly. Nothing in my e-mail.
“I have a hunch it's e-mailing my old MyWay account, which I no longer have; yet I see no way of changing that.”
I noticed perhaps they were e-mailing to my wife, her Yahoo account.
“Their e-mail may be coming to you,” I said to her.
“Yes, it is,” she said.
Three identification-codes so far, maybe more.
We got the last one, and cranked that in.
VIOLA! In!
Now, need new password.
I cranked in my old Transit badge-number, the password I use on everything.
“Not a valid password!”
I looked at what passed for validity. “Can't be one of your five past passwords.”
I cranked in a minor variation.
Accepted.
Now, log in......
In!
Verify credit-card account as in the past, but still no “Ultimate Rewards.”
I noticed an “Ultimate Rewards” link, and clicked that.
“You have ??,??? points.”
Okay, intent is to get an iPod Nano — but where?
Cruises and airline-tickets, etc, but no iPods.
Electronics; TVs and video-cameras, recorders and players, etc, but no iPods.
Movies and music: Avatar, Lost, etc. No iPods.
I happened to see “Get Check;” perhaps a cash disbursement of point-value.
I get it to issue a check for almost all of my accumulated points — not the iPod I intended, but a cash disbursement.
It will be interesting to see if they issue me 89 bazilyun $20 checks......
I went back and logged in later, and found the iPods. I coulda got a Nano.

• “Our” is me and my wife of 42+ years, “Linda.”
• In the '60s it was “Lincoln-Rochester,” a Rochester, NY based banking organization. About 1969 Lincoln-Rochester merged with other banks throughout the state — mainly Syracuse — to become “Lincoln-First.” Eventually Lincoln-First was purchased by Chase Bank in New York City, although I think there was a Chase-LincolnFirst along the way.
• “Rig” equals computer.
• “MyWay” was a web-mail, my previous e-mail account. It was much like Yahoo. —I gave up on it, because they made it too messy and slow.
• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service, the public transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY.