Mini Credit Card Review | Mini Cooper - Coolest Card Around?

Mini Cooper Credit Card Review

Summary - I've got a few friends who have the Mini. And I must say that it is a really cool car (made popular by the film "The Italian Job"). They also have a credit card for their fans. And now, I'm going to have a look at it and see how it stacks up.

Reward Formula - The Mini Credit Card allows you to earn double points on what they term "Motoring Purchases". Motoring purchases includes purchases at their dealerships, gasoline, car washes, bridges or toll charges! That means you should autopay your EZPass with this card!

What Can You Use MINI Points For? - The points that you earn can be used in a couple of ways. You can get up to $5,000 in rebates when you purchase a Mini. If you wish to finance it with MINI financial service, you can use another $5,000 in rebates. You can also use points to get additional miles on your lease, for car servicing, auto parts. You can even donate MINI points to other members! Points can be redeemed in $50 increments. And 5,000 points is worth $50.



MINI Points Can Be Donated To Charity - Your MINI points can also be donated to charity. You can see their list of charity partners here.

Customize Your MINI credit card - You can also customize your MINI credit card by choosing the car color, rims etc.

MINI Platinum Benefits - This card is actually a Platinum Visa and comes with the following benefits.



Fees and Rates - The is no annual fee for the MINI credit card.

In terms of points earning capacity, this card lags compared to other cards. For example, the GM Card, Toyota credit card and Lexus credit card all allow card members to earn 5 points from spending at their dealerships. Other cards like Chrysler, Jeep, and Subaru allow you to earn three points for every dollar spent at their dealerships. Hence, the MINI joins European auto makers like Audi, Volkswagen as the most stingy in terms of allowing card members to earn points. But it makes up for by allowing you to earn double points on gasoline, car washes and bridge an toll fares. No other auto cards lets you earn double points on car wash and toll fares!

The strong point about this card is that you can use points to get rebates on both purchase, lease and even on the financing part. The typical auto card allows you to use points on purchase or lease (like the GM Card for example). Some like Chrysler allow you to use only for car servicing and auto parts. The BMW card only allows you to use points to reduce your lease or car financing. This card allows you to use your points for all of the above.

Verdict - The MINI Cooper is a really cool car that will appeal to certain folks. And for those folks, it may make sense to get this card because you can save quite bit on your next MINI purchase (a total of $10,000 if you purchase and finance it - if not, just $5,000 if you pay in full). It is unique in that you can earning double points on gas and car wash and bridge and toll fees (which no other cards offer). Sure, other cards like Toyota and GM allow you to earn 5 points, but I'm sure the MINI owner does not really care about it. The only other thing I would suggest is that you get another gas credit card that pays higher than than 2% rebates.